Cooling down in Melbourne

We've been experiencing some heat waves with temperatures up to 41 C. So what are great ways to cool off if you're going to the city? Obviously eat and drink. 

1) Spend minimum time outdoors. Once I made my friend and I walk to Fitzroy for gelato at Messina in 40 degree heat and I instantly regretted it (but was relieved at Messina). That means, try your best not to go shopping along Bourke street. Melbourne Central, Emporium etc are your air-con friends! 

2) Get cold drinks and froyo!

Hardware societe

This is a favourite of mine near Melbourne Central. Be sure to come early during the weekends, and relatively early on weekdays. I usually go around 11-12 ish for brunch, and the normal waiting period is about 20-25 minutes. I made the grave mistake to go on the weekend with my friends, and we turned away when we heard the waiting period would be an hour plus. The coffee is fantastic and the quality of the food is pretty consistent. Iced coffees and mochas are delicious and not too sweet. My friends had the iced tea with mint which was refreshing although a bit too sweet for my liking.

Barcelona day 1 & 2

So what happened in 2015 since my last blog post about blondies? A lot. 

My second sister got married, I GRADUATED FROM HIGH SCHOOL, and I went on a trip to Spain & Portugal with my parents & eldest sister. My whole motivation for getting through that awfully painful time of exam prep & exams itself, was the fact that I'd be able to travel to Europe and see my relatives & friends in Malaysia afterwards.

So a few days after my last exam, I travelled for nearly 24 hours from Melbourne (transiting in Dubai and eating Shake shack) to Spain. We were so exhausted that my sister and I fell asleep in our hotel room for 3-4 hours straight. The funny thing was our parents phoned us and knocked on our doors numerous times, but we were in deep sleep. This was to the extent that my dad started having theories that we had either

1) Gone gallivanting and couldn't wait to start shopping already like his perception of 'young people' (despite after 24 hours of travelling mind you)
2) Been kidnapped 

So the first night was really just not productive. I woke up feeling so groggy, but we had a delicious local dinner at a restaurant nearby our hotel.

Nice clams

 We had lots of paella throughout the trip.