Category Archives: free stuff

Melbourne Food and Wine Festival – IGA World’s Longest Lunch giveaway!

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Oh my!

It’s giveaway frenzy this week and today’s giveaway is an experience that maybe money can’t buy…because tickets to the IGA World’s Longest Lunch are almost sold out!

The Melbourne Food and Wine Festival is opening at midday Friday 2 March with its showcase event, a three-course lunch designed by hatted regional chefs George Biron (Sunnybrae), Patrizia Simone (Simone’s) and Annie Smithers (Annie Smithers’ Bistrot) with matched wines from Yering Station.

The 500m long table will be set by the banks of the Yarra under the trees of Alexandra Park  – the perfect location for a long, leisurely lunch.

I attended the longest lunch a few years ago with some friends and it’s a memorable experience (let’s just say that I wore a silly hat, ate and drank under the sunshine and missed my train after falling into a tipsy snooze on the way home). You’re in for a treat!

Giveaway! Thanks to Bank of Melbourne, the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival presenting partner, I have one double pass to the IGA World’s Longest Lunch to give away. To win the tickets, all you have to do is leave a comment and one lucky person will be drawn randomly on Monday 27 February as the winner. Good luck!

PS Visit the Bank of Melbourne website, share your Melbourne food tips and you could also win a year’s worth of dining for two for 12 months, valued at over $10,000.

Melbourne Museum SmartBar giveaway

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If you think Melbourne Museum is a destination only for the pram-pushing set, think again.

For one night only on Thursday 1 March, Melbourne Museum is hosting SmartBar a summer pop-up bar that presents drinks and DJ tunes along with a dose of science and history, taxidermy and a dissection. Dazzle your friends with your wealth of knowledge, browse the Science and Life gallery exhibits after hours without tripping over toddlers or just enjoy a bar experience that’s a little bit different.

A limited number of tickets are available by phone 13 11 02 or online or you can enter this giveaway!

Thanks to Melbourne Museum, I have 2 x double passes to the SmartBar to give away. To win, all you have to do is leave a comment and the winners will be drawn randomly on Monday 27 February. Good luck!

Thursday 1 Mar 2012
6:00 PM – 10:00 PM
SCIENCE AND LIFE GALLERY
Adults $18, Concession $16 (includes entry and one complimentary beer, wine or soft drink)

La Madre Bakery Giveaway!

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Following on from my carb-fest at La Madre Bakery recently I am excited to offer a giveaway of a selection of La Madre‘s new Christmas range!

The sweet and savoury treats come presented in a reuseable cookie tin and inside you’ll find a sample of:

  • Vanilla Snowflake Shortbread made from Heilala Vanilla vanilla paste and topped with a sweet snowflake shaped fondant;
  • Dark chocolate dipped dehydrated blood orange slices;
  • Gingerbread Angels;
  • buttery Stained-glass Window Shortbread, which make lovely edible Christmas ornaments;
  • Bite-sized Parmesan and Nigella Shortbread;
  • Cranberry & Pistachio Shortbread; and
  • Almond & Vanilla Biscotti.


To win this box of deliciousness all you have to do is leave a comment below and a winner will be drawn randomly. Good luck!

If you’re keen to try some La Madre Christmas treats for yourself, check out their list of stockists. If you’re in the Geelong area, this year La Madre are making a limited run of 100 gingerbread houses, which can be bought constructed or flat packed for construction and decoration at home. Orders must be placed via phone () or email () by Friday 9 December for pickup from their bakery in Geelong.

The winner of last week’s giveaway for The Casual Cyclist’s Guide to Melbourne is Valissa! Your prize will be sent to you very soon.

PS If you want another chance to win La Madre Christmas goodies – pop over to my parenting blog TOT: HOT OR NOT for your chance to win a La Madre Gingerbread House!

HOT: Adriano Zumbo at Books for Cooks, 233-235 Gertrude St, Fitzroy

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We’re so lucky to have Books for Cooks in our city.

This independent book store in Fitzroy is Australia’s only retailer specialising in books on food and wine. The five rooms of an old Victorian terrace typical of the area are filled floor to ceiling with densely packed books, from the popular to the obscure. There are couches and chairs for browsing and the staff are always on hand with information and advice.

Books for Cooks also occasionally hold events in their small store. Talks and signings from visiting authors are normally accompanied by a free glass of bubbles and some tastes from the featured cookbook made by Amanda, one of the owners of the store.

From their mailing list I found out that Australia’s own Willy Wonka Adriano Zumbo was going to be visiting to promote his cookbook Zumbo: Adriano Zumbo’s fantastical kitchen of other-worldly delights. I am a huge desserts fan and I love Zumbo’s cakes and macarons, so I was not going to miss this event.

Adriano was a very personable speaker, even though he described himself as ‘not much of a people person’. We learnt about his beginnings baking in his parents’ supermarket in store bakery, his stint at a French sourdough bakery, his favourite cookbooks (Larousse des Desserts, Ramon Morato’s Chocolate), his favourite bakeries and patisseries in Paris (a long list, including Laurent Duchene, Fauchon, Pain de Sucre, Pierre Herme, Arnaud Delmontel, Laduree – but only the macarons, not the cakes), the challenges of managing 97 staff and looking forward to mechanising his processes, his most outrageous failed dessert (chocolate eggplant macaron, anyone?), his new dessert train at The Star and finally, the key to making winning macarons (finely processed almond meal, knock the air of the meringue, don’t eat macarons fresh but leave for 24 hours).

Books for Cooks have lots of other great events coming up in November, including a dinner with Luke Nguyen at Eat Drink Man Woman on 7 November, dinner with Andrew McConnell at Cumulus Inc and evening tastes with Janet de Neefe, author of Bali: the food of my island home. To keep up to date with their news, sign up to their mailing list.

As for my next Books for Cooks purchase? I reckon it’s going to be the Vintage Edition of the Australian Women’s Weekly Children’s Birthday Cake Book. Retro-fabulous!

Books for Cooks, 233-235 Gertrude St, Fitzroy +
Sun 11am-5pm; Mon-Sat 10am-6pm

HOT: Quartetthaus, Melbourne Festival, Ngargee Centre for Contemporary Art, Sidney Myer Courtyard 111 Sturt St, Southbank

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Something very curious has landed in the courtyard of the Malthouse Theatre.

What is it? It looks like a big wooden box. No obvious doors or windows but if you listen carefully you can hear the faint scraping of string instruments.

It’s the Quartetthaus! The Australian National Academy of Music and lighting and design studio bluebottle have built a temporary space for the performance of string quartets during the Melbourne Festival. The venue only seats 52 people who sit in two rows encircling the round stage at which the four musicians play.

From the outside, no clues are given as to what lies within. The door opens mysteriously and you’re ushered in two by two between a row of coat hooks (very practical idea for an intimate space) and an inky black curtain adding to the air of anticipation. The bare wood of the outside of the Quartetthaus has been varnished on the inside to enhance the grain, bringing a warm hue to the interior very much like that of a violin.

At last the curtain is drawn back and we take our places. The lighting is subtle, turning the small room into a contemporary take on an 18th century candelit salon. The audience is hushed. No talking, no coughing, no fidgeting – the space is too small for that.

Each night there are three performances featuring musicians of the Academy. The night of my visit two of the works were unfamiliar to me – String Quartet No 1 Metamorphoses nocturnes by Gyorgy Ligeti (1953) and String Quartet No 3 (2007) by Richard Mills (2007). They were powerful works, at times discordant, at times melodic.  Being more of a classical music traditionalist, my favourite was the Schubert String Quartet Number 12 in C minor (1820).

At such close quarters you can hear the musicians breathe, see their brows furrow with concentration, admire the precision of their fingerwork and catch the tiny snippets of eye contact they make with the other members of the quartet. The stage rotates at an imperceptible rates, so you’re never stuck behind someone’s back. I watched the musicians sway on their stools and be transported by the music.

The Quartetthaus makes the string quartet experience visceral and incredibly powerful – even if you’re not a classical music fan I think you’ll like it. Tickets are free and while it is booked out there is a waiting list as inevitably people drop out. You can book at ANAM http://www.anam.com.au/qhaus. Don’t miss it!

Quartetthaus, Melbourne Festival, Ngargee Centre for Contemporary Art, Sidney Myer Courtyard 111 Sturt St, Southbank

Sun 16 – Sat 22 Oct
6.30pm, 8.30pm & 9:45pm

1hr no interval

HOT: Icons of Style, Mad Men Costume Exhibition, Chadstone Shopping Centre, 1341 Dandenong Rd, Chadstone

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Mad Men is probably my favourite television series. Besides the tight script and convincing acting I really enjoy seeing the beautiful 60s costumes and set design (I have a penchant for vintage lamps and mid-century furniture).

So I was quite excited to discover that from Thursday September 8 to Sunday October 2 Chadstone Shopping Centre is hosting Icons of Style, a free exhibition of some of the costumes from Mad Men. In all my years living in Melbourne I have never been to Chadstone (unbelievable, I know) but Betty Draper’s Grace Kelly inspired wardrobe to Joan’s Va-va-voom tailored dresses was enough to draw me there. (Note that this is a picture-heavy post!)

I went with the ever-lovely Marianne from Esme and the Laneway – elegantly dressed in vintage, perfectly coiffed and with immaculate make up.

Mad Men’s Costume Designer, Janie Bryant, has curated a selection of looks worn by the main characters in the show. They have been set up on a round stage in the luxury precinct along with some furniture and objects of the era – such as the covetable desk, vintage typewriter and drinks trolley – and Mattel’s Barbie Collector Mad Men Dolls.

The podium is bounded by perspex which is understandable as you don’t want people touching the garments, but on the other hand there’s no way to avoid the ring when taking photos, so please bear with the faint line and slight reflections that you see in the images.

While the womens clothes were pretty (I didn’t bother with the mens’ garments – a suit is a suit is a suit) they had been put on standard sized modern mannequins, which meant that some of the clothes didn’t quite fit properly (especially Joan’s dresses) and the vintage inspiration behind the costumes was kind of lost.

If you’re in Chadstone I suggest popping by to have a look. But I don’t think there’s any need to cross town to see this exhibition – just check out my photos or Marianne’s blog post :–)

Icons of Style, Mad Men Costume Exhibition, Chadstone Shopping Centre, 1341 Dandenong Rd, Chadstone

Thursday September 8 to Sunday October 2

Giveaway: Beginners

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A few days ago I went to see the new Mike Mills new comedy/drama Beginners on the strength of several recommendations from friends. I loved it! Funny, quirky, sweet and honest. I think the official film website describes the plotline the best:

Beginners imaginatively explores the hilarity, confusion, and surprises of love through the evolving consciousness of Oliver (Ewan McGregor). Oliver meets the irreverent and unpredictable Anna (Mélanie Laurent) only months after his father Hal Fields (Christopher Plummer) has passed away.

This new love floods Oliver with memories of his father, who, following the death of his wife of 45 years, came out of the closet at age 75 to live a full, energized, and wonderfully tumultuous gay life – which included a younger boyfriend, Andy (Goran Visnjic). The upheavals of Hal’s new honesty, by turns funny and moving, brought father and son closer than they’d ever been able to be. Now Oliver endeavors to love Anna with all the bravery, humor, and hope that his father taught him.

I have several 2 for 1 ticket passes for the season. You can use the passes Mondays to Fridays at participating cinemas. Here’s the to whet your appetite.

If you’d like a pass, just include a comment below and the winners will be drawn randomly at the end of today. Good luck!

HOT: Orchestra Victoria, NGV International, Great Hall, 180 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne

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For those of you lucky enough not to work on a Friday, did you know you can give yourself a dose of classical music with your art every few months at NGV International?

Orchestra Victoria, the orchestra which accompanies Opera Australia and the Australian Ballet is presenting a series of free lunchtime concerts every few months in conjunction with NGV’s current Winter Masterpieces exhibition Vienna Art and Design. The orchestra is presenting a series of classical Viennese works in the glorious Great Hall under the stunning stained glass ceiling by Leonard French.

I attended a concert with a delightful Strauss, Mahler and Beethoven program and I’m already looking forward to the next concert on Friday 14 October, which will feature young Shanghai-born cellist Li Wei Qin.

The tickets are free and are highly sought after so must be booked ahead – just call Orchestra Victoria on .



HOT: Look.Stop.Shop, State of Design 2011, Melbourne

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Look.Stop.Shop, a popular event from State of Design 2010, is back again this year with more looking, more stopping and more shopping!

To refresh your memory, Look.Stop.Shop is a free, self-guided tour of window displays and in-store installations of some of Melbourne’s favourite retailers, from the flagship Melbourne Myer store to little independent boutiques hidden in laneways. They’ve all taken the State of Design theme for 2011 ‘Design that moves’ and intrepreted it in their own unique ways.

The best way to start the tour is to drop into the State of Design festival hub at Melbourne Central’s Shot Tower Square. There you can pick up a map and guide from some customised cargo bikes from PS Bikes (more design that moves!) and the hub will also be running various events, from parades to pop up shops, during the period of the festival.


From there, you can choose a short path, long path – or make up your own path!

From a total of 29 shops, here are some of the windows designed for Look.Stop.Shop this year:

RMIT Visual Merchandising Students designed the window for Kookai (Shop 134 Level 1 Melbourne Central) with a carnival fair theme.

Melbourne knitwear label Otto and Spike have constructed some giant knitting in the window of Wilkins & Kent (372 Little Bourke St). It’s real knitting – 2 people had to cast on the ‘needles’ made from discarded fabric tubing!

Sportsgirl‘s theme was ‘which side of the bed did you get out of this morning?’ (Shop 18-23 Centrepoint Mall, 283 Bourke St). Two videos were shot in East London – one on Super 8 and one on VHS, denoting the fabulously organised morning and the haphazard alarm-didn’t-go-off morning. The mirrored structure at the entrance of the store reflects the floor, the people and the store in a constantly moving tableau.

Finally, this year the program includes The Scale of Things, a mobile cart showcasing designs from some of Melbourne’s artists and crafters.

You can vote for your favourite shop here and to be in the running to win a pair of Brooks running shoes (pun intended), with the winning shop announced on 8 August.

You can become a fan of Look.Stop.Shop on .