On my mind this week:
When I was at uni I was asked to create an art project that represented something important to us. We had to journal and diarise our creative process from conception to the final product in a portfolio. I chose Melbourne. I wandered the laneways and streets for hours wrapped in a duffel coat and knitted scarf, hands wrapped firmly around a Mr Tulk coffee (my favourite café for a laptop session backing onto the soaring ceilings of the state library). With no kids, no boyfriend and no where to be other than my part time job at a tiny bakery, I had a lot of time to soak up my city. I collected business cards from gorgeous drinking haunts like Cumulus, the deliciously dingey Saint Jerome’s that is no longer or the Toff (to be found up some very serious winding stairs) and the beer hall, eating house & disco that is Cookie. I picked up napkins from Italian stalwart Pellegrini’s, postcards of Flinders Street Station from Federation Square and tiny colourful posters for band nights at Cherry Bar or laneway exhibitions. I scooped up the city’s free magazines on everything from the city circle historic tram ride to glossy listings of the best eateries or live music venues. Between lectures I relished those long walks through the city I loved and like some kind of giant, sentimental bower bird I collated all my scraps of paper, ticket stubs from footy games at the MCG, shiny magazine photos of Chinatown, a red leaf found fallen perfectly onto the pavement, meal receipts and tiny, cardboard works of art in the form of restaurant logos or Collins Street's Dymocks bookmarks. I turned this jumble of collected bits and bobs into a long mosaic cityscape, creating the night sky and stars, graffiti, buildings, laneways and pavements from the bits of stuff I’d uncovered. I’ve never been an artist but I loved this project so much and my teacher Mardi, seeing that I’d poured my very amateur, primary school teacher heart into this thing gave me top marks.

Why I bring this up is because I feel that within the depths of yet another lockdown I fear I’m losing my city. The one I remember so vividly. The place of memories and hidden spots that only locals will really know how to find at 11pm when the good dumplings are a must or just one more drink is needed somewhere warm and cosy with a bar tender that will give you the perfect recommendation. I walked through the streets a few weeks ago and the foreclosure signs were hard to miss. Places and spaces of our thriving metropolis going under one by one as the city’s workers connect via screens and we are all unable to venture beyond our familiar doorsteps.

A city is not a person or even something as concrete as a childhood home and yet something about her changing face feels like a bereavement. Melbourne may not be the grandest of cities, it is not Sydney with it’s warmer weather and spectacular harbour but what has set her apart is the ingenuity of it’s people. The culture, the food, the art, the comedy, the music, the pulse of our city is much more about artistry in all it’s forms than the buildings within it, though Flinders Street Station still stands proudly beside our Yarra river and the Arts Centre spire continues to light the night sky. I think part of this is the feeling of losing something that I never thought I could lose. Never expected to lose. Which I think is, more broadly, how Covid makes us all feel. That we are losing things we didn’t know we could lose like our freedom, lazy catch ups with mates or our kids attending school, our ability to kiss strangers, dance on heaving dance floors with no fear, plan a wedding and feel sure that whatever happens we will be allowed to go. And heartbreakingly, the very nature of the place we call home.

In the glorious movie that is Richard Curtis’ About Time the lead character Tim makes an observation that we spend our whole lives worrying about things going wrong and it is usually the things that never even occur to us that bring us to our knees. I never in my wildest moments of worry (and there have been a lot) ever thought about a pandemic. And well here we are. Digging deeper into this Melbourne feeling is the overwhelming understanding that each of those businesses that closes, each event that doesn’t happen, each birthday that goes past without dinner dates booked, each zippy working lunch that is missed or morning coffee made instead at home, each represents a tiny loss and the cumulative loss of livelihoods. At it’s very core that’s a mosaic of the people of Melbourne. All the millions of lives and their stories of loss and recovery and loss again. None of us can know exactly what the future holds for us all, for the people who built their lives around our city, but what I do know is this. Melbournians have been through some of the harshest restrictions in the world and we have made it through and will continue to make it through because of our sense of community spirit and the strength and resilience of our people. That and the strength of our coffee.

Something to watch:
The Paralympics! The news cycle has been so full of doom and gloom and as much as I know there are risks involved in the Tokyo games watching the opening ceremony of both the Olympic and Paralympic games I suddenly became really emotional. Because in this new world we are in of counting cases and testing rates and cynicism, having our screen fill up momentarily with clever, hardworking, fresh faced athletes representing their country and striving for something they have worked so hard and dreamed so much for is just perfect. Also Japan is such an incredible country and is first on my list when this is all over to visit. 

Something to listen to:
TONTS. pod has an interview with a very old friend of mine Marty McGauran. We met when we were both studying and volunteering with under privileged kids. Marty is a primary school teacher but he also runs a business educating schools, kids, parents and teachers about how to navigate the internet and technology for little people. Turns out what started as a business about how to help teachers utilise the best educational apps and programs has become a deeply important program specialising in empowering kids about how to be safe online and educating parents and teachers about just what kids are facing online in 2021 including explicit content and pornography. Yikes! Marty together with his sister, psychologist Carly McGauran, created Inform and Empower. I thought I knew a lot about the online world but talking to Marty I realised there is just so much as parents and humans we need to be aware of if we are going to help our young people navigate through the maze of the internet. Essentially we talk through how to protect and educate kids about what constitutes healthy sexual relationships, what will keep them physically and emotionally safe and what will keep their own sense of self and self esteem intact while still also utilising the power of technology. I also have an interview with his sister Carley and we dive deeper again into strategies that will help us be better parents and also just help us navigate the world as humans. The best advice from my talk with Carley came in the form of the idea that emotions are energy in motion and that we need to feel them and then let them pass. Also drink water and more sleep. Advice for life.

Something to cook:
My wise and wonderful pal Laura (talented crotchet lady and owner of the best wardrobe I've ever seen) gave me this recipe and it is another of my favourite one pot wonders. Even better this one is gluten free and vegan friendly while also being incredibly delicious. I made this in her kitchen with my mate Jess who is one of the kindest and most efficient people you'll ever meet. I cherish this dish for the washing up speed but also because cooking and eating it was the last time I visited a friend's place before lockdown hit. While Lau settled her new baby, Jess and I buzzed around her cheerful kitchen, stirring, chopping and drinking Pepsi max - chatting lazily about our babies and our lives. A good dish in even better company.

Tomato and Olive Baked Paella

Ingredients

• olive oil 2 tbsp
• onions 2, thinly sliced
• red pepper 1, sliced
• yellow pepper 1, sliced
• zucchini 1, halved and cut into half moons
• garlic 2 cloves, thinly sliced
• sundried tomato purée 1 tbsp
• arborio rice 300g
• vegetable stock 850ml
• chargrilled artichokes 100g, large pieced halved
• mixed pitted olives 75g
• Sundried tomatoes 75g
• flat-leaf parsley a small bunch, chopped
• lemon 1, wedged

Method

• STEP 1

  Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Heat the olive oil in a shallow 30cm casserole dish (or magic blue ceramic pot) over a medium-high heat and cook the onions, peppers and zucchini with a pinch of salt for 10 minutes or until starting to caramelise and soften. Add the garlic and cook for a minute before stirring in the tomato purée and rice, stirring until all the grains are coated.

• STEP 2

  Pour in the stock, artichoke pieces, olives and Sundried tomatoes, season and mix well. Put into the oven for 45 minutes or until the rice is cooked and crisping on top.

• STEP 3

  Scatter over the parsley and serve with lemon wedges and Tabasco, if you like.
  
  And that's it from me this week. Sending you lots of love and some Paralympic joy!
  Tonts x