Urban Scrawl Street Art Tours

Another Sunday, another day exploring our beautiful city.  Having only caught up with the lovely Lynda a couple of weeks earlier on our Wayward Wanders Tour, it was fab to set off an another adventure with her. 

This time we joined Urban Scrawl on one of their Street Art Tours. Having been on a few of these and spent many hours wandering our laneways, it never ceases to amaze me the level of talent we have around us. Melbourne is actually well known as one of the top cities in the world for street art and it's not hard to see why.

What started as a graffiti subculture, is now widely accepted by local authorities who commission many of the beautiful large pieces we have around the city and suburbs.  Whilst generally graffiti and tagging is still illegal, many of our laneways have opened up for artists to share their talents.  It is a bit of a shame to see some amazing pieces tagged, but I guess that's part of it.

On this tour, we wandered around many of the famous spots we have in the city and learnt about some of the artists and their work.  Many of them have made a name for themselves not only in Melbourne, but throughout Australia and around the world. 

The great thing about street art, is that it's ever changing; so what's there one day, might have been replaced the next.  No matter how many times you visit, there are always new works to discover and old faves to admire.  Yes, little Banksy rat, it's good to see you still there.  A piece of art that should really be preserved.

Overall, another good tour company doing these and a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours.  The tours are by appointment and meet at Federation Square.  Cost is $35.  They also run one through Fitzroy and Collingwood.

If you don't want to do a tour, it's easy to go and check them out on your own.  City of Melbourne  have a great guide of all the most popular sites and laneways and you can dowload a map.  Or just wander around and get lost.

Oh and a big thank you to Lynda for the gorgeous pics. I did take some, but they are still sitting on the camera card.

Espresso, Ristretto, Short Macchiato and a G&T

Learn new stuff - it's on the list.  And seeing as I'm currently happily unemployed, seemed like as good a time as any to learn a few new skills. Might come in handy when we hit the dusty road. 

So with my trusty partner in crime against common sense (Belinda "let's do a stand-up comedy course" Dane), we rocked up at our Barista course at 9am one Saturday morning. First up, a bit about The Bean.  I sort of knew that 100% Arabica was the good stuff, but to be honest, that was about it.  Arabica is more expensive and often mixed with Robusta beans to save $$$. Robusta contains more caffeine.  As for "single origin" it's a matter of taste, with some blends containing up to 5 different beans.

Next up, making the coffee. 7-9g of coffee in the basket for a single, 14-18g for a double.  Water should push through at 88 - 92 degrees and 25 - 30ml of coffee should take 25 - 30 seconds to come out. Slower than that, the grind is too fine - time to fiddle with the grinder.  If your favourite cafe is pushing out coffees faster than that - then they are not doing you any favours! Go elsewhere.

Espresso, Ristretto, Cappuccino, Cafe Latte, Long Black, Short Macchiato, Long Macchiato and Flat Whites. So many choices.

On to the fun part.  Engines warmed and machines at the ready.  Coffee into the group handle, tap, press down and lock it in. Harder than it looks, but after a bit of jiggling, we're ready to go. Push the button and out comes the coffee.

Then comes the milk and the art of heating/frothing.  It's all about nozzle position and depth.  Put the two together and there we have it, a coffee.  After making several styles, with mixed success, we thought we'd better taste a few of our efforts - not bad.  Countless cups of coffee later, there we were, proud holders of a Barista Coffee Making Course certificate. 

Was certainly a fun 4 hours and I don't think I'll ever be able to look a coffee in the same way again - now that I'm a professional and all.  I don't have an artistic bone in my body, so don't think I'll progress to the coffee art course - but who knows.

Next up, because you never know when you might need to serve alcohol at somewhere other than at a BBQ or breakfast, we went back and did our Responsible Service of Alcohol course. Drinking responsibly is a whole other thing - which we may or may not yet have mastered. 

So there we have it. We are now armed and ready.