Surviving the Spring Racing Carnival

Verema didn’t survive

Melbourne’s Spring Racing Carnival has been depressing – especially when Verema was euthanased on the track after breaking a leg (or something like that). I tried not to read any of the articles on any of it, because it just made me feel sick – especially this article by Michael Lynch in the Age, which totally misses the point. RIP Verema.

Miss Chu

If you could manage to avoid the horse racing, the almost-long weekend was lovely. We finally got some glorious Spring weather!

We started off with an after-work dinner at Miss Chu in Exhibition Street. I’ve been past there so many times, but it’s been so packed, I haven’t gone in. This time we were lucky. There was a table out the front (not jammed into the crowded back room) and no queue, so we grabbed the opportunity to give it a go.

I took a copy of the menu so I’d remember what it was that I ordered, but then I lost it (and their online menu doesn’t look the same), and now I can’t remember what it was called. The best I can do is show you what it looked like, and tell you that it was really delicious…and I will go back and get the details (sorry).

The best part about Miss Chu is that they have actual ‘vegan’ items marked as ‘vegan’ on the menu, which I appreciate so much. Is it just me, or is this becoming more common suddenly? I’m thinking it’s a really good sign!

Pet shop puppies

On Saturday I got sad again, because I visited a Northland shopping centre (a horrible experience at the best of times) and walked past a pet shop with puppies in the window! It made me realise that it’s been ages since I’ve seen that, and I was actually quite shocked and angry. Poor little things. I wonder where they’ve come from.

Mister Nice Guy’s healing properties

On Monday I didn’t have to work, and H was feeling a little bit better after having been sick (for her exams, of course).  I decided she needed a day out, and she’d heard Mister Nice Guy was open, so we grabbed a couple of his cupcakes and headed down to Williamstown to sit by the water for a morning tea picnic in the sun.

I know, a huge dose of sugar is probably not the best food to help her recover from illness, but it was really good and made her happy…and the next day she woke up fully recovered, so maybe there is healing power in Mister Nice Guy cupcakes!

Loving Hut comes to the neighbourhood

On Tuesday (Cup Day) a really exciting thing happened. We were driving down High Street, Northcote, not too far from home. Most of the shops in High Street are lovely with interesting clothes, jewellery, food and stuff, but it’s still notorious for having lots of empty shops. They sit there empty, with piles of mail and layers of graffiti building up by the week. So, you can imagine my excitement when I looked up to see that our crappy old NQR (Not Quite Right – an old supermarket chain for out of date and un-sellable food) was having some work done…and there is a sign up saying Loving Hut Northcote!!! (that deserves multiple exclamation marks, I reckon.)

Northcote’s postcode is actually 3070, but that’s fine.

I squealed – quite loudly, I was told – and I’m lucky B (my husband) didn’t slam the brakes on because I gave him quite a fright. It’s just that I was expecting another $2 shop selling plastic boxes and hideous ornaments. I walked past later in the afternoon to have a closer look. The windows are covered in paper and there is no information about an opening date – but I’ll be there!

So that was a nice way to end the almost-long weekend.

And we saw movies

Oh, well that wasn’t really all we did. We also saw About Time (LOVED it, because it was written and directed by Richard Curtis, who is brilliant and funny) and Gravity (appreciated it, because it was spectacular and clever, but it made me a bit dizzy in 3D).

Bondi Vet supports ‘1% to stop the slaughter’

But back to Verema, because the Race did cast a shadow over the whole weekend. I was happy to see that Dr Chris Brown, the handsome Bondi vet, was promoting ‘1% to Stop the Slaughter’ on The Project last night. Finally I’m hearing people talking about it, so here’s hoping the plan will be introduced soon and there will be fewer horses killed in the coming year.

If you missed it, you can watch the report from The Project online.