Weekend of Sunshine in Melbourne
Date: 17 - 19 January 2025
Summer weekends full of sun, warmth, delicious food, and time to unwind. Ah, absolute perfection. I am so grateful for this life; to be living in this country, to have health, financial stability and a most wonderful, loving partner.
Our weekends usually start off with a walk to the grocery store, a hearty and healthy breakfast, some tea and then lots of time to relax and do whatever we want. Lately, since leaving full-time employment, Max has been spoiling me by cooking me breakfast. He makes steel cut oats during the week, and on the weekends we make breakfast together - usually beans, avocado, bread and veggies. I love the steel cut oats he makes, full of fresh fruits and berries, nuts, seeds and peanut butter. I've discovered Mayver's smooth peanut butter and now any other peanut butter just won't do! It's divine....the peanuts are roasted just the right amount and it has a tiny bit of salt, which brings out the taste even more.
Here is my most wonderful, lovely, super husband making breakfast:
After breakfast, we went for a walk around our neighbourhood. We are so lucky to be living where we are right now. There is a lake just a few steps from our house and a lovely walk around the lake. Sometimes, it feels like something from a movie set. And sometimes it feels a bit unbelievable. There are multiple connected lakes, walking paths, bridges and huge mansion-like houses around the area (we are renting one of the smaller houses). There is also lots of wildlife - swans, different kinds of ducks, purple hens (also known as Pukekos in New Zealand), geese, even a turtle (or two) and pelicans coming to visit sometimes too!
This is the lake right by our house:
On Sunday, Max and I went for our usual walk to the grocery store. It takes about 90 minutes or so there and back. My parents often ask why we walk instead of driving to the grocery store. We do it because:
- it's a good way to get exercise in while enjoying the fresh air;
- we get to slow down and enjoy our surroundings;
- there are no other distractions during that time. It's just the two of us. We talk about everything from our dreams, hopes, everyday things, what we've been reading or working on, our struggles and worries, philosophical thoughts about our lives and the world at large.
Bit hungry after the walk, but I didn't want to have a big breakfast because Sharlene and I had planned to go to Tofu Shoten that afternoon, and I had learnt from my previous experience not to eat before going! So we had some rock melon instead:
Soon after that Sharlene came over and we went to Tofu Shoten. She found it on Insta as usual haha. It was on a little side street in Brunswick. Being there brought back memories from when Max and I used to live in Parkville and our walks around that area. I love the vibe in Brunswick and surrounding surburbs. It's very hip, vegan-friendly with lots of youngsters.
I tried their peach soft tofu pudding, which was delicious! The tofu was yum and the syrup was just the right amount of sweet.
I also got their tofu nuggets, which were yummy but unfortunately made my tummy a bit upset (and I wasn't a fan of the bbq flavour they sprinkled on it). The place itself didn't have any seating so once our order was ready (the the tofu nuggets were freshly made so it took some time), we found a bench outside in a small bit of green area and enjoyed our snacks.
Our view:
We decided to explore the area a bit and came across a library. We both love libraries and books so we decided to have a quick look inside the library before making our way back home.
It was quite pretty inside:
