Lunch down lemon lane

Perth over the last couple of months has been wet, windy and overcast but over the last couple of days the weather has improved to perfection.

With it there being not a cloud in the sky and temperature at a warm 30 degrees, I decided to enjoy the outdoors and do lunch somewhere.

Luckily Claremont is great on a beautiful day so after walking around for a little while I decided to visit Lemon Lane.  

This light and breezy café is down a laneway off the main Claremont drag and has space both indoors and outdoors where you can sit and watch the world go past.

After grabbing a few magazines and a short mac, I chose a Tasmanian Smoked Salmon Crostini with Avocado, Brie and dripped with lemon oil. The presentation was lovely and none of the various elements were too overpowering.

       

While the bread is supposed to be toasted, here it was a little too toasted. But that is no matter because as a whole it was wonderful.

The Coffee wasn’t bad and the service was good. It was a lovely moment in a beautiful day.

The only problem with Lemon Lane is that it shuts so early (1pm) on a Sunday which is hardly conducive to a long and leisurely brunch.

But opening hours is a city wide problem and I am really looking forward to when you can get a good coffee in Perth after 4 pm on weekdays and good places like Lemon Lane extend their opening hours on weekends. It is all about the money, I guess.

So if you want to go somewhere that is nice in Claremont that isn’t too pretentious but still really good, give Lemon Lane a try.   

Every memory has a song

I don't know about you but music is like a sound track to life - play me a song from my playlists and I can tell you what I was doing, where I was going and who I was with.

St Germain started off being background music to Christian Union meetings and soon became the sound track to my undergrad degrees and the existential crisis that accompanied them. It always reminds me to getting up to shenanigans at mum and dad's when they went on holiday, they were the days!!

Emilie Simon's Rocket to the Moon was part of the So Frenchy so Chic 2010 CD and transports me back to backpacking around Europe and especially walking around Amsterdam while  desperately trying to contact relatives who I was supposed to stay with on my final night but who I couldn't get hold of. 

Belleruche was Album of the Week on Radio National Breakfast and on just on one hearing I knew I had to get it. It reminds me of living in Sydney and in this granny flat in Marrickville. It was a draughty, it wasn't The Hilton and it was abit of a hole but it was in Marrickville so what can I say? 

   

Omar Sosa came to Becks Verandah (Perth International Arts  Festival's live music programme sponsored by Becks) in 2006 or 2007 and it always reminds of being a "glassie" at the verandah. It was such a cool job, just working the floor and picking up beer bottles and used glasses while listening to the many acts that came in from overseas then enjoying a staffie after work was done for the night.     

Apart from world music, jazz, etc. I also love classical music and Schubert's Piano Trio in e flat (opus 100) is one of my favourite pieces of Chamber Music, I just love it. It would help me study in first year uni while in student accommodation for the first time. I would marvel at the skill needed to play this work well.

It makes me think of my parents who, at 4 pm, love to stop and enjoy a cup of tea with some chamber music. 

    

These are just a few and I love playing them again and being transported to some really cool times in my life.