Trivia, sourdough and Downton Abbey!

On Tuesday evening, I went to my first vegan social group event!! It was a trivia night at Whole Lotta Love on Lygon St in Brunswick. Being the nervous nelly I am, I was quite scared going in there on my own, but once I got my glass of wine and spotted an empty spot at a table, I took a deep breath, made a beeline and introduced myself!! It ended up being an enjoyable night (even though my team lost miserably – we came second last – hahaha!).

On the way home, I came across my first tram surfer. I cannot comprehend how anyone could be so stupid.

Yesterday was a truly fun day! For the next couple of weeks, I’m taking Wednesday off work to spend some time with my nieces (long story) and it was such a beautiful day.

I arrived to 2 gorgeous girls excited about the day ahead. We played some chasey and hide & seek, before heading down to the local park where we played on the play equipment and had lots of fun. We came back and played some more, before settling down into doing some watercolour painting. My artistic skills are lacking, however I enjoyed doing some painting with Z-monster, whilst S-monster was happily playing with some toys.

Best painting of a butterfly in the history of the world :o)

After I said goodbye to them for the day, I had to run a few errands and decided that I would swing by a couple of foodie places to see if they had something that tickled my fancy. And I was in luck!

I stopped by Northcote Bakeshop, which is a new bakery in the ‘dead’ area of High St, Northcote (if you drive along Darebin Road and didn’t turn at the T-intersection you would pretty much drive into the shopfront!). Their selection looked amazing, and so fresh. I ended up picking up a loaf, as well as a vegan empanada (which I will have for dinner tonight!). Their prices are very reasonable, almost TOO reasonable – I really hope they’re not introductory prices!! The loaf was $5 and the empanada was $5. I will post a pic of the empanada in the coming days.

7 grain sourdough from Northcote Bakeshop

After stopping by there, I kept driving up to Piedmonte’s which is on St George’s Road in Fitzroy North. They stock Tofutti, and I was in luck as they had replenished their stock!! I bought a pint of Vanilla Almond Bark, and Wildberry Supreme – yum! Of course, after that I drove home (dying from the delicious smell of fresh bread!) and eagerly sliced into the sourdough for a few pieces. It was YUM!

Of course after this, I had to go to the gym (for my impending food baby) so off I went to huff & puff and sweat my brains out!! It felt good, but I was pretty knackered by the end of it.

Last year, I missed watching Downton Abbey on TV. So I bought the DVD from eBay and caught up that way. Then I got impatient and ordered series 2 on DVD. So that’s when Channel 7 announced it was airing series 2. Oh well. My copy arrived on Tuesday, so I am revisiting series 1 before I get into series 2. I much prefer watching TV shows on DVD anyway – no ads, you can pause as you like, and watch as many episodes as you like in one sitting. I have a number of series lined up – Grey’s Anatomy (season 7), Mad Men, Brothers & Sisters. Woot! I’m almost done with Glee (season 2) and L-whack and I are about to start on season 2of Modern Family. So I think I’m all set for the long winter ahead of us…