01. It’s Melbourne Food and Wine Festival! Two dinners and an event:

• The Lost Recipes of the Belle Époque at Smith Street Bistrot – perhaps the best MFWF event we’ve ever attended (in terms of food, company and atmosphere). Everything was outstanding but the chicken liver parfait with sauternes jelly, and the saddle of lamb ‘Belle Époque‘ were so, so delicious.
• Six courses with James Lowe @ Harriot – incredibly impressive, technical dishes but two standouts: raw Hereford rib & grilled oyster vinaigrette (I realise that’s not everyone’s scene but the flavours… so good), and the main course – duck galette with plum (pic above). The pastry! Can you see how buttery and flaky it is? Incredible.
• …and my daughter endured the queues at Bakers Dozen and carried home a bunch of pastries, including the maple bacon danish from Amann Patisserie – perfection.

02. Our first Melbourne Theatre Company production of the year, West Gate – go, if you’re in Melbourne. I laughed and cried (a lot). A reminder of how the collapse of the bridge changed industrial relations and work safety in Australia. It also introduced grief counselling into the workplace (I hadn’t known that!). I might need a re-read of Enza Gandolfo’s excellent novel, The Bridge.

03. Watching: Shrinking S3 (Apple) – it’s rare that a series continues to get better but this one does. I laugh and cry in every episode. Brian and Liz are the best.

04. Watched: a documentary about a year of ‘extreme’ bird-watching, Listers (Youtube). It’s very well done and so funny.

05. Wearing: obsessed with this shade of blue (they call it ‘ink’ but IRL it looks like cornflower to me).

06. Listening: podcast Therapuss (especially the Role Model episodes).

07. Voted in Australia’s Eurovision Top 100 (the countdown is broadcast April 6 on Joy 94.9).

08. If our MFWF events weren’t enough… also eating the Lune March specials. Hello Chocolate Crackle croissant. Chocolate Crackles rock (and shouldn’t be reserved for kids parties).