Where the West Was Won.....Ricardo Breceda - Sculptor, Designer, Very Cool Dude

On our way to Anza Borrego Desert State Park the other day...

it was hard to miss these guys.  Perched on outcroppings and eventually....

MASSED - like a movie director's slightly deranged dream

on the long and winding road into the State Park.

The Paradis family and friends were not the ONLY people

to find this crowd AMAZING, STUNNING, BEGUILING

and MAJORLY ARTISTIC.

All springing exuberantly from the minds and hands of a single man.

It was a reminder to us that you have to get off road.  Regularly.

Because it's not always on the major routes and roadways......that the race in life is won.

Sometimes you have to follow your own lead - as Mr. Breceda demonstrates, to arrive in Paradise.

Ricardo Breceda 

Check out his web page and that amazing, happy smile.  The guy has it totally figured out!

Lygon Street, Melbourne Australia - You Wouldn't Want to Miss It!

Thinking Australia might not be the kind of place with leafy-tree lined boulevards

and bustling cafes and street life?  Where people are happy to queue and chat in the heat while waiting to sample the latest and the greatest gelato flavor at Pidapipo?

Think OZ will be like all those other places with the same old stores selling the same old stuff?

THINK AGAIN!  And then book your flights quick for the Christmas Holidays

and take good advantage of the sales while the Ozzies are all at the beach.

Make sure to schedule in a big block of time for strolling up and down Lygon St. and poking your

nose into all the lovely Italian delis, pizzerie, and gelateria.  Or sample some handmade pasta.

(Seasons Provedore)

Here the blondie Rachel Hunter type Ozzies cede the sidewalk to rugged featured - rosy bronzed

movie-type Misters and Misses because Lygon St. is, effectively Melbourne's Little Italy.

And as with many neighborhoods around which coffee bars and good happy Italian family restaurants

collect.....there are excellent toy and book/record stores on Lygon Street for pre-

and post dinner browsing, or last-minute gift purchasing for that special someone...

 who you'd like to keep quiet and very very happy so that you can enjoy your

hand-made pasta in peace in tete-a-tete with a few of your "Besties",  dahling.

"Readings" should be your destination for those books and/or records for your vinyl-file

mates and "Poppyshop" for those in your life who are eternally young.

If you favor "pesci" over pasta - Melbournians have a genius approach to fusion eating:

the sushi/fish bar where you can mangiare alla Giaponese with your sushi of choice

or stay gloriously old-school with good-old fried fish and chips.  All under the same roof

to be consumed at the same table, should you choose....and HEY, NOW, EVERYBODY'S HAPPY!

But before you leave the neighborhood or - erm - "precinct" as it's more properly called in OZ,

Make sure to stop into D.O.C. 

for impeccable Italian salumi, pantry-items and "AMORE".

You will probably find things you could only otherwise buy in Italy.

Everything is lovingly cared for and expertly presented.

Here too, you can get the fresh pastas and the sauces for your Thursday supper in, or Saturday

luncheon.  And thin-sliced luncheon meats to help you shrug off Sunday's noon-time hangover.

For the road, you can't go wrong if you

grab a couple of packets....Don't eat them ALL en route, cuz if you manage to get one home

to your honey - unopened and un-scoffed..... YOU WILL BE GOLD-EN!




HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND.  IT'S SPRING!!!!!  (ISN'T IT?)

Brunetti - It's a Must! - Melbourne, Australia

The first thing you will see is the cakes.

That is, the cases of cakes.  And more cases.  And it occurs to you that -

Christmas seasons notwithstanding, Brunetti on Lygon Street in Melbourne, is a place of cakes.  

For every season, for every occasion - cakes to please every taste

and every person.  Brunetti is serious about cakes, you need only count cases to be

convinced.....But as you penetrate further - and further - into the marvel that is Brunetti

you'll learn that Brunetti is also about pastries - of the Italian and the French styles

of biscotti and cannoli....

of savory lunch morsels,

G-E-L-A-T-I

TEAS.  AND COFFEES.

MORE CAKES.

 

MORE COOKIES.

MORE COFFEES.

And did I mention pizzas and pastas (and chocolates and nougat) too?  No I did not!  But you will find them there too.  

Brunetti's is a palace of Italian gustatory fabulousness.  It will not disappoint you. 

 I mean, you will never want to leave.  Seriously.