Barbagallo Trattoria e Pizzeria
On the weekend we went to Barbagallo Trattoria e Pizzeria. Dad loved it so much that I thought I’d interview him on what he thought:
Hello Simon, How are you?
I’m very well!
That’s good to hear! First question is: What was your favourite meal? Was it good?
Mmmm… have to say the tortelli. The pumpkin and sage was very delicate and very, very silky.
What was your favourite type of mushroom on the pizza! (I love all of them so pick your favourite!)
The King Browns! Big old chunky mushroom goodness 
What country do you think it was from?
I think you can grow them here
What was your most tasty dessert?
Oooohhhh… the three-chocolate calzone
I absolutely love that one! Did it have a real full-on taste? (I bet it did).
You bet right The chocolate was just divine.
What were it’s features?
Sticky, melting hot chocolate in a wrap, dusted with icing sugar.
If you were to help in this restaurant, what would you help with?
I’d love to be the drinks waiter!
Do you think it would be hard?
Yep, you have to remember a lot of orders in your head and if you get them wrong you get yelled at.
If you were a bowl of pasta, what type of pasta would you be?
Linguine – my favourite!
Thanks Simon! Did you enjoy it?
Nope. I completely adored it!
Great, maybe we could come back! Would you like to do it again?
You’re on – same time next month
Thanks again! Cheers, bye!
Seeya Orla!
Barbagallo Trattoria e Pizzeria
103 Lonsdale St, Melbourne, Victoria 3000
03 9639 6222
Hot pies!
I entered the MGC. It was buzzing with people! We took our seats and sank down into them, glad to have the time to relax. We had fantastic seats in row 4. That was almost in the front row! The tickets were very cheap, so I pondered about whether it was just a streak of luck or something bad was going to come!
Dad opened up his bag. “I’ve got a suprise for you” he said. He rummaged inside his bag and pulled out a …. tea bag! “That’s not what I’m looking for”. We all laughed. But then he grinned and summoned a Dr Who storybook. I LOVE Dr Who! He is so cool! I fell in love with it.
The game had a already started. Collingwood were doing well. Dad was having a great time. This is the time that all men can exercise their lungs. “Go pies” yelled all the punters, beer spilling onto the ground. “Bad boys” yelled the supporter, chips in their hands. I wasn’t listening. I was completely absorbed in my Dr Who book. But, I couldn’t resist the temptation to look up. The Magpies were 11, the Bombers on 7.
At half time we made some green tea. Plip went my green tea. That’s strange I thought. Plip plop. I look up at the sky. Plip plop plip plop plip plop plup. It was raining. Bother!
Before I knew it, it was the fourth quarter and we have 30 seconds to go. Yay! To entertain myself I started counting down. There was no way the Bombers would catch up. The Bombers fans were already leaving, giving up. I could see Essendon flags slowly being tucked away.
“3 … 2 … 1″. The Collingwood anthem started playing. I threw my scarf up in the air! I hugged Dad, and Dad hugged Mum. We’re now one happy Magpie family!
Anzac Day
Anzac Day feels like the bullets that once
went through your friend’s heart.
The bugle breaks the thread entwined
with anger and fear.
It sounds like silence. The world is quiet.
Three gunshots fill the air.
The taste of bully beef is reappearing in
my memory.
The ditches’ foul stench wafts to my nose.
As I march along the streets, the hole in
my heart fills with pride.
Lest we forget.
By Orla
Grigans and Orr
Grigans and Orr is fantasmagorical!
It does the best food and drinks ever invented. Wait until you try the muddled juices – they have all different types of vegies and fruit in it (like grapefruit and cucumber). I know it sounds weird, but it is really nice!
I tried (drum roll….) the wonderful pancakes, and to the side, juicy pink peach. They were smothered in maple syrup and dusted with icing sugar. Oooh.. it is all so delicious. But be careful! Even the tastiest things can play tricks. Mum warned me that the pot full of tomato and egg is very spicy.
Grigans and Orr has a little joke too. it is a milk bar with a lot of history, but it was established in 2009!
PS If you go to the website you can get a free lolly coupon
PPS Dad loves the coffee, so it must be great!
Grigans and Orr
Corner of Queensbury and Chetwynd Streets
North Melbourne Victoria
http://www.grigonsorr.com.au/
Dad's thumbs up coffee
Sweet chicken (filled with sugar!)
Muddled juices!
Shakshouka (spicy yums!)
My pancakes (sticky yums!)
Coddled Eggs (cuddled in his tum yums!)
Lolly heaven
Dreamy girl
En garde!
My favourite sport is fencing! I have a great fencing coach called Neil, who showed me around the new fencing centre at North Mebourne. Here’s a couple of pictures …
Grill’d
Grill’d is a hamburger joint in Melbourne. It’s a really yummy place and it has cool names for each of the burgers. My favourite burger is the ‘Field of Dreams’ because it has a huge chunk of mushroom in the middle. This burger is about as big as my head!
The staff there are really special – they even offer you big or small packets of chips.
Don’t worry, some of the stuff there is vego like ‘Field of Dreams’, ‘Garden Goodness’ and ‘Bombay Bliss’. It was my first time a Grill’d, so for my rating I think it is a 10 out of 10! Grill’d has quite a relaxed setting. There is a little space inside for ordering and cooking, and then you come out and eat while you watch the sun come down.
I think Grill’d is my heaven!
PS It would be even better if there was a kids sized vego burger!
We went to:
Grill’d
Degraves Place
Melbourne Victoria 3000
www.grilld.com.au
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO)
The MSO is an orchestra that is known all throughout Melbourne. I was lucky enough to go to one of their performances on the weekend at Hamer Hall in the Arts Centre. It was called ‘Beethoven’s Eroica’. Eroica is one of Beethoven’s pieces and the MSO were talented enough to play this amazing piece.
One of my favourite MSO strings performers is a lady called Miranda Halls and she played the double bass. She loves stomping between intervals when she is playing and had a great sense of humour. I saw her at the MSO, she was on stage and doing a great job. I feel sorry for her because she has to stand up for a very long time! The performances sometime go for 20 minutes. Some even went for an hour. I would feel very tired if I had to do that.
Three pieces were played – The Creature of Prometheus, Metamorphosen and Eroica! They were each very relaxing and I felt like I was drifting off to sleep. I liked ‘Creatures of Prometheus’ the msot because it was very sly … the music could creep up on you at any moment.
I love MSO!
Rosa’s Kitchen (Journal Canteen)
Rosa is a lovely lady who runs this wonderful restaurant called ‘Rosa’s Kitchen’. Rosa is Italian, so there is lots of gnocchi and spaghetti there. The food is really wonderful.
My favourite dessert is the ‘Bombelette’. It’s a type of Italian doughnut, except without the hole in it. Rosa says she got the honey to go on the doughnut from her neighbour who has a bee farm!
Rosa is a very passionate lady and has even written a recipe book with some her her recipes in it. Unfortunately it isn’t all vego, but all the same, her food is very tasty.
The thing I love about Rosa is that she doesn’t just own the restaurant, she works in the kitchen too doing the cooking. I think that would be a very hard job! She is one of my favourite cooks and I think she deserves a rest! I would be exhausted at the end of the day if I cooked like that!
Rosa’s Kitchen/Journal Canteen
253 Flinders Lane
Melbourne Victoria 3000
(03) 9650 4399
Dr Who?
Dr Who is a cool guy
As he speeds through time we say “Oh my!”
Admire his doggy pal, K9
Electricity runs down his doggy spine!
Doctor Who has a sense of fashion
power, strength and heaps of passion!
He wastes no time, works day after day
No time to rest, no time to play
Aliens fall down one by one
Doctor Who has finally won!
No use for guns, only him
The web of time he does spin
He is very useful to you
He is the amazing Doctor Who!
Matt Smith is the latest hero
Custard and fish fingers, before Prisoner Zero
David Tennant, the Scottish guy
The last episode makes me cry!
Tom Baker and Sarah Jane
All of them are exactly the same
Check out the new Doctor Who on ABC1 on Sundays
Dad’s big cuddly birthday (cake)
On Monday we celebrated Dad’s Birthday a day early by making a cake called ‘Bruce Bogtrotter’s cake’ (a recipe from Matilda, by Roald Dahl – find his book “Revolting Recipes”). We had to hide it from Dad to make it a surprise and so we made a codename up – “We’re cooking brussel sprouts”.
Halfway through the making of it the cake started to smoke. Smoke poured out through the 3 holes Mum poked in to see if the cake was done. Uh-oh. Mum had to scrape the burnt bits off the cake and to disguise it we poured chocolate syrup over the top of the cake.
After dinner we turned the lights off so Dad wouldn’t see anything, Then we lit 4 sparklers and put them onto the cake. We all enjoyed a lovely dessert that night.
