Today, my tourist itinerary was dictated by the need to
stock the empty kitchenette in my hotel room.
Thus I took a ten-minute walk to the Queen Victoria Market.
The best way to describe QVM, at least for Philadelphia readers, is as a much larger
Reading Terminal Market. One large building is rows and rows of butchers and
fishmongers. Another, covered outdoor area is a big produce market. Go through
a door and into another area with at least fifty purveyors of deli-related and
fine food items – salami, cheese, olives, chocolate and the like. And a big
food court, with independent vendors selling prepared food that was several
notches above mall fare. And then, because it was Sunday, there was a “food
truck rally” outside.
This was an overwhelming experience. So I went conservative.
I picked sausages with rice and sautéed veggies, and lentil stew: two meals I
could make with the utensils I had and without having to buy lots of
ingredients that I would only use a little of. I then bought an assortment of
veggies (including lentils), some kangaroo (!) and goat sausages, and a hunk of
goat stew meat. I also got a Korean BBQ burrito for lunch from a self-styled LA
knockoff food truck. This gave me plenty to carry home, with an additional resolution
to hit deli-land another day.
I dropped all this good stuff off at my hotel and then set
out in search of a coffee shop where I could hang out and spend the afternoon
writing. One of the projects I’m working on here is a study looking at the
dynamics by which bad health increases risk for homelessness. Guy Johnson, one
of my collaborators, was gracious enough to pick me up from the airport on
Friday morning, but then informed me that we would meet that afternoon with our
other collaborator, Yi-Ping Tseng, to map out finishing a paper draft before
Monday’s (tomorrow’s) date. Nothing like working all day to fend off jet lag.
And nothing like homework to give me an excuse to find a public place with a
good cup of coffee so that I could take in Melbourne’s famous coffee culture. But
coffee shops in Melbourne close on Sundays.
So instead Plan B evolved. My hotel is on Lygon Street,
which is known as Melbourne’s little Italy but has storefronts with all types
of restaurants and other foodie establishments (click on this link and you can
check it out, if you click on the “evens” link and scroll to about an inch and a half from absolute right, you can see my
hotel peeking through the end of an alley next to the Bottle Shop). I gave up
on finding a cozy hangout and I made some other stops.
First was Market Lane Coffee, which has takeaway coffee only but also sells beans, so now I have ground
Santa Isabel (Guatamalan) coffee for the French press that comes with my
kitchenette, coffee that has “toffee sweetness with notes of plum and orange”.
Next door I got a fancy loaf of white bread at Baker D. Chirico’s. Then,
heading back to the hotel, I just stepped in to look around at Gewuerzhaus
(German for Spice House), and left with little baggies of fancy curry, Ethiopian
berbere, and black lava sea salt (“large black crystals activated with charcoal
from volcanic areas in Cypress”). On a roll, I went into the D.O.C.Delicatessen, where in the middle of contemplating paying $8 for butter said “Enough”
and left the store. And there lies the crux of my problem. I can readily get
way-cool black sea salt but have yet to find a place close-by where I can buy
reasonably priced staples.
And the upshot... I got back to my hotel, brewed me up a great tasting and wonderfully aromatic cup of coffee, followed by some lentil and goat stew that, with a tablespoon of the berbere, tasted so much better than the so-so Thai food that I ate last night. And I finished writing my piece of the paper. And I was very pleased with myself. And tomorrow I will find a regular food store.
