sea breeze

Occasionally I go somewhere for breakfast and immediately feel more beautiful and more relaxed just for being there. Parlor Milk Bar & Kitchen is one such place, and not just because the name itself is so darling. It's a combination of, well, everything about it - the provincial decor, the perpetual smell of baking, the shuttered windows and the open fire. It's like going home to see your parents, if they were tasteful and elegant French people.

It may come as a surprise to you to learn that I'm rarely stuck for words. But this morning at Kicko, I couldn't make them go. I couldn't find any words. To be frank, I spent most of the meal blinking at my children, wondering why they couldn't be more like the breakfast I was eating.

Cleverly, the morning I visited Third Wave Cafe was the morning I left my eftpos card at home, meaning whatever I ordered had to come to a maximum total of $13.65. Luckily, there are so many menu options that I found myself hyperventilating at the thought of being able to order a breakfast and a coffee for less than that. Sure, I was forced to sit outside with all the bike riders/gym enthusiasts/people who walk their dogs while wearing Lycra pants, but it was a small price to pay.

Sometimes you sit down to eat and you just know it's an off day. You can see the look on the wait staff's faces as they explain why things are delayed, cold, burned or wrong. And you can totally understand that it's no one's fault and that it's the kind of thing that occasionally happens in the hospitality industry. But still, you were hoping for food that tasted good, at the end of the day, and you didn't get it.

I love Italy. I want to live in Italy, whimsically run through Italian vineyards with a hot Italian guy (sorry to my partner. You’re hot too, of course), make my own Italian wine and eat Italian olives. But since I can’t do that due to a complete lack of financial planning and a pretty average face (Italians love the hotties), I sniffed out Bella Cosi instead, a new cafe in Port Melbourne opened only a few short weeks.