The Local Press

My flat white in its heavy blue teacup was just $3. It is creamy (I don’t do skinny coffee) and nutty and smooth. It could be a little hotter – I risk having a cold last mouthful or two. But they roast their own beans, and I can see them in the hopper, bouncing around like popcorn. The staff seems friendly, smiling even at the various small people who accompany their parents. They must had a recent shop makeover, as one of the regulars (who was called by name) says it’s become very bright and open. The man behind the counter said they’re getting a lot of good feedback and had a write-up in a magazine last week. Oh! And they make their own muffins. I will have to try one. I generally find café muffins bland and artificially over-fluffy.

 A small breakfast menu is chalked on one wall, including sourdough toast with ricotta, tahini and honey, or smoked trout with poached eggs, goats’ cheese and hollandaise. They also advertise an apple pie and cinnamon milkshake for $5.50. There’s a full menu but I haven’t taken a peek yet.

There’s a regular stream of customers – half a dozen ambulance workers, locals out for their morning walk, moms and dads in casual wear, and a few people in business clothes. There are four staff members behind the counter for the morning rush, one of whom pops out to tend to the beans. It’s amazing how fast they roast to a rich brown. Mmmm coffee!

I went back for a little pot of English Breakfast and a muffin. I picked strawberry and found mango hidden in its depths! The muffin is substantial and cakey, but in a good way - dense and perfectly baked. And the teapot has a silly bit of script on it: oh darling, darling, stand by TEA.

Lemon Blueberry Poppyseed Muffins

These muffins graced my table on Monday morning, and they were just the thing to start the week. Joy the Baker has an excellent food blog, so if you haven't already checked it out, I suggest you bookmark it for later :)

I knew I wanted blueberry muffins, and wondered if there were any online recipes that incorporated poppyseeds, since I had some in the cupboard. Joy's Lemon Blueberry Poppyseed Muffins to the rescue! I even had a lemon sitting in my fruit bowl, but it was a bit sad, and didn't give me a great deal of zest, so I upped the lemon flavour in the recipe by adding a squeeze of the juice.

The only persnickity bit was browning the butter. I don't know if it's because I used frozen blueberries, but my batter was very heavy - it clumped into my muffin cups, rather than poured. If this happens to you, do not overmix the batter. Do not. These muffins came out with a lovely crispy crust, even though I skipped the crumble topping.

I shared two with the owners of our local cafe, who are practically friends after two years of seeing Mr J and I. They asked if I could make more to sell them for the cafe, and declared them to be among the best muffins they'd ever eaten! Since my kitchen will never be commercially certified, though, I just pointed them to the recipe.

Happy baking!

Chugga Chugga to the Ekka!

I was a nervous wreck on Sunday morning as I prepped for the Ekka (which is some kind of short form of "Exhibition"). What to wear, what to pack, how to get there? I'd been told there would be masses of people at the Showgrounds. The Queensland tradition includes fair rides, animals on show, edible and wearable goods for sale, fairy floss (cotton candy), dagwood dogs (corn dogs), and the iconic Ekka Strawberry Sundae (left). It tastes a lot better than it looks. Also -- the $5 bag of cotton candy may not look like much next to the $10 bucket, but once you get it home, it's more than enough sugar.


When Jody and I finally got to the train station, the railway staff were very helpful. We were finally on our way, and the wait was worth it... we got to ride on a steam train! My Grampa loves steam trains, and my Grampa is awesome, so I love steam trains too :)

My beginner hip hop class was performing on one of the stages, and although I was sure the crowd would be friendly, we'd only been learning the two routines for three weeks. The emcee called our group to the stage 10 minutes early, so we missed the essential walk-through before going on. Eeeek! I fumbled a couple of steps and turned the wrong way once, but I wasn't the only one. I'm still glad I got up there, and overall, our group looked pretty good.

We started out old-school with Run DMC's "It's Like That," then continued with T-Pain. I was a bit shocked that the audience got into it - some of the crowd squealed when they heard, "Turn all the lights on!"

In case you don't believe me... I'm in the black hoodie and shiny pants :)

It's no Central Perk

Cafe Che Co Cho is for hippies, and West End-ers. It's one of those rare Brisbane beasts, the late-night cafe. Monday is raw food night, the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of each month are set aside for poetry, and Tuesday is chess night.

Che: Chess

Co: Coffee

Cho: Chocolate

They have delicious hot chocolate, which is what Jody and I opted for Thursday night. We also shared a slice of blueberry cake. The bill was just over $15 and we had to wait at least twenty minutes for a place to sit, but we didn't really mind, even when our seats were outside. A young woman was singing and accompanying herself on guitar, so we listened in the doorway. A few girls sat cross-legged on the floor with their beers.

When the singers and poets took a break, the patrons broke out a harmonica and piccolo. Dreadlocked heads nodded along. A guitarist started strumming not long afterward, and soon three or four locals - including the singer - huddled around him, adding scat-style lyrics and sounds. There was no showing off, just a relaxed group making music together, soaking up life in the West End.