France - Nice

After our three night stay in the lovely city of Barcelona we headed back to the South of France to bother our friends in Bargemon. On the last night, Barcelona won their soccer game against Madrid and the city was a cacophony of car horns, cheering, fireworks and more car horns for several hours after. It reminded me quite a bit of my time in Dusseldorf, Germany, when I had a bunch of Mexicans as my dorm mates, who would be up in the wee hours of the night causing alcohol induced havoc....

We had another two days in Bargemon, which was lazy and beautiful. So lazy that I can't be bothered editing more pictures to show you. Just imagine croissants in the morning, Nicoise salads for lunch and more bottles of rose.

However though, on our last day in France, our hosts drove with us to Nice to check out the market. Oh, I so regret not being able to spend more time here!

Hello cyclists...!

As we entered Nice, we drove by the waterside, which absolutely went on forever. It was so gorgeous. It happened to be one of those perfect days as well without a cloud in the sky, so the water glittered and danced forever into the distance. Sadly Nice doesn't really have much of a 'beach', it's kinda, road, rocks and then water. Apparently Saint Tropez is where the real sandy beaches are at....still gorgeous regardless though.

Apparently this is where Queen Victoria used to stay when she would visit Nice...

Ah, the market. Nice market was quite a colourful sight to behold, masses of people, masses of stalls, and some absolutely gorgeous looking products. I especially like the side we came in through had so many flower stalls, so bright and colourful and inviting!

Look at the white asparagus!! I died. Totally.

The above is a speciality from Provence, I can't remember exactly what it was called but they're essentially marzipan biscuits with a tiny bit of flavoured icing over the top. I loved how colourful they were and although I'm not usually the biggest fan of marzipan, I really, really, really liked these. Dense but crumbly and not overly sweet. Kind of almond-y really.

We continued from the market and walked into the old town, with it's narrow entryways and tall buildings, which were all quite colourful. You could certainly see the beachside and Italian flair expressing itself in the city.

My dad bought some 'Soca' or 'Socca' (I forget how many c's), which is apparently another local delicacy and can be bought all over the place. It's apparently a chickpea flour crepe, thicker than most crepes you come across but quite savoury and nice to nibble on.

We eventually ended up here. I can't really figure out which is the name of the restaurant, but it was quite cute and quaint. I was so tickled by how many pizza and gelateria places there were, considering we were still technically in France.

Mum's fish soup, which smelt gorgeous from my side of the table even!

I ordered the 'Salade Chvre Chaud', which came with salad, tomato, a goats cheese I think, jamon and mushrooms. Oh my goodness, the cheese was to die for, slightly warm, slightly fall apart-y, and just rich and sumptuous. Really quite delicious. Was kind of tempted to get more. Just quietly.

We also did the typical french thing and got escargots, which were quite tasty and well seasoned.

We also got frog legs, but disappointingly the meat was a bit...stringy. My parent's guess was that the legs had been frozen prior so were not as tender and dense as they should have been.

I had a bit of an obsession with windows while I was in Europe. There's just something about the old school, wooden shutters and the long rectangular shape that just appeals to me. Yeah I'm a little crazy. I knew this already!

After Nice, we bid farewell to our loveliest of hosts and hit the road again for a 4-5 hour drive to Tuscany....with a pitstop in Pisa first...

And of course some macarons I picked up at the market. Which can I say, were just perfection. They even had two macarons in that pack that were sparkly, and still delicious! Nice I hope to see you again soon....

Penny Farthing Espresso

Isn't it funny, that what is old, always becomes new again. Fashion is the most vicious and well known of these cycles, with even the fashions from the 80s making a come back with their power shoulders (albeit with more black and more studs) and even denim on denim (urgh).

At Penny Farthing Espresso, the name is apparently homage to the humble Penny Farthing, those funny bicycle things with one massive wheel at the front and a small one at the back. And whilst the Penny Farthing dates back to the 1800's, Penny Farthing Espresso in Northcote, is certainly a little more current.

Brad and I visited on a darling Sunday, the sun was out, it was breezy, but I still slipped on my pretty printed dress, very high platforms (that just beckoned for Spring) and strutted about Northcote.

When we first go to Penny Farthing it was a bit after 12 and very, very busy. We were told it would be a 10 minute wait, so we walked around the area and I eyeballed where else I would like to visit.

I'm not usually in Northcote, but after this visit, and actually realising how not far away it is, I do hope I can find more time to be here. It's a gorgeous little area, with lots of cute cafes and some fancier looking places dotted here and there.

After strolling around, we eventually got a seat right inside, next to the window. Views of outside and inside, fantastic! It stayed busy all afternoon, it's snug and it's simple. There were a few tables outside, one or two small tables inside, one communal table and some tables out back, which I didn't get a peek at. Chalkboards, simple wooden tables and little knick knacks and cogs lying about the place. All quite quaint.

This guy was parked outside our window most of the time we were there. He was massive! Brad commented that if the comedian Billy Connolly was a dog, this is exactly what he would look like. I really couldn't agree more!

Brad had his latte and I, my chai latte. It came to me unsweetened and I loved that they had the honey and cinnamon like little condiments on the side. Was really lovely.

Brad got the 3 egg omelette, with chorizo and Spanish onion...and some other things. It's one of the prettiest omelette's I've seen in a while, a perfectly half moon shape and fluffy, just look at the volume it has there!

I opted for the baked eggs with rosemary roasted pumpkin, spinach and a side of garlic sourdough. Isn't it just pretty? The eggs were a little more cooked through than I'm used to having, but I suppose that's when I generally have saucy baked eggs, with the pumpkin, I quite liked it being a little more thoroughly cooked. It felt so clean and healthy! I wouldn't have minded a little more pumpkin, but otherwise this dish left me feeling content.

Someone's pretty content I think....

I'm quietly a little surprised that for being so busy, Penny Farthing Espresso staff were very friendly, apologetic for the wait and attentive to our needs. I very much enjoyed our quiet corner in the bustling atmosphere and am quite keen to come back to try their dinners one night...

Penny Farthing Espresso

206 High St

Northcote, 3070

Burch and Purchese

Brad and I often spend our Saturday or Sunday mornings or lunches in South Yarra, usually because I'll say 'We can get lunch at [insert Mad Mex, Dukes, or other delicious cafe type places]', he'll go 'Sounds good', then I'll sheepishly finish up with... 'AND THEN! ....we can go get sweets....?'

To which he looks at me, sighs, laughs, complains how I always have ulterior motives, but goes with me anyway.

I do tend to be a little bit devious like that, I'll always suggest lunch or dinner somewhere...because there might be another place I would like to visit as well.

Well today's agenda after brunch was Burch and Purchese, the delightfully pink sweet studio on Chapel Street, belonging to Ian Burch and Darren Purchese, from the UK (if I'm not mistaken..?)

When I told my friend of the place, she commented 'Oh it's a dessert place? I thought it was a new make up store!'

One can understand where she is coming from, it you were to look from across the road, it does look rather pink and girly inside. But not that silly fluro pink colour, it's that soothing rosé wine colour with matching brown tones for the counters and desks. It's a little bit of a wonderland with bursts of colour coming from the cake display, which were being refilled as we walked in, elegantly packaged goodies tidily lining the shelves and edible artwork with flowers coming out of the wall. It certainly grabs your attention quite quickly.

Some ladies had arrived before us and were giddily running around touching and trying everything and talking to Ian Burch himself who very kindly took them around the little shop. I'm a bit shy when it comes to chefs, I'm not very good at taking pictures or saying hi, I tend to feel a bit intrusive...need to work on that.

Each mini cake in the cake display comes with a neat card listing just about every ingredient in each of the cakes. It's amazing how much stuff is in there! How on earth do they pack it all in there?!

It was incredibly difficult to decide which to bring home with me, but with some help from Brad, I decided to veer away from my usual chocolate goodies and try something a little bit different.

I apologise for the weird lighting, terrible pictures and odd coloration. I was shooting them inside when I got home, got frustrated with the shadows, took them outside and got lazy to adjust my white balance. Blah blah photographer talk.

Anyway. I also feel a bit stupid because I was going to hold on to the paper describing what was in each of these and I've cleverly lost them both. Ah well.

The square cake with the macaron on it is a green tea concoction with lemon, white chocolate and some pistachio (I think....). Oh my goodness. So yum. It was so light, maybe a touch heavy handed with the lemon but still fantastic. The white chocolate mousse bit was like air, it was that fluffy!

The round cake, was a beautiful mix of raspberry, lychee and champagne...amongst other things. But why is it so white?

Well surprise, surprise, it's all pink on the inside! I think this might have been my favourite of the two, although it was hard to pick, it was light and berrylicious. My mother doesn't usually like buying cakes from stores as they tend to be too sweet for her (and hence why she is amazing at baking), but she really enjoyed both of these cakes as well, commenting on how the flavours were great and that they weren't too sweet.

So whilst I do enjoy my rich chocolate indulgences now and again, Burch and Purchese's playful and colourful approach to their cakes was very enjoyable.

Burch and Purchese Sweet Studio

647 Chapel Street

South Yarra, 3141