Melbourne Patron

I am an absolute sucker for pretty lights. So when I saw the Dandenong Festival of Lights advertised, I was pretty keen to go. Basically it looked like a big bunch of colourful, lit-up sculptures with a Chinese twist, in a park. The website more classily described it as celebrating "Chinese culture through a display of hundreds of beautiful and unique silk light displays". We chose a night to go - Friday, 2 October 2015 - and rocked up to Greaves Reserve (Dandenong Showgrounds) around 7pm. There was ample parking, and it was needed: there was a queue of people lining up for tickets probably 300 metres long. An usher said it would be the busiest night of the event's duration (why, I'm not sure). The queue moved quickly though - we probably reached the gate within ten minutes - but I did make a mental note for next time, to buy tickets online beforehand. The entrance was promising: a huge, intricate, colourful archway, lit up against the night sky, framed b...

I'd never heard of SummerSalt Festival or Exxopolis until a friend suggested we go. I'm a sucker for anything to do with light and colour, so of course I said yes. Turns out SummerSalt is an outdoor arts festival, held between 23 January and 21 February this year, comprising music, art, theatre, dance and art events, in and around the Arts Precinct . It is a collaboration between a number of arts bodies, including the ABC , Arts Centre , ACCA , Chunky Move , Malthouse Theatre , Recital Centre , MSO , MTC , NGV , Australian Ballet and Victorian College of the Arts . (Phew!) Exxopolis is a luminarium (another thing I'd never heard of, but I sure as hell am going to research more on these things now) created by Architects of Air in Nottingham, UK. AoA is headed up by Alan Parkinson , who has been experimenting with ' luminaria ' since the 1980s. Essentially, they are carefully designed, inflatable, tent-like structures, creating internal burro...

I am fonda Mexican. Boo-doom-TISH! Side wall of Fonda Mexican, Richmond Actually, I'm not that fond of Mexican. I used to be very anti-chilli - thankfully, not the case anymore, although I still prefer other people to cook with chilli for me, rather than cook it myself. Plus, Australia wasn't so fortunate in the '80s and '90s as it is now, with such a large spectrum of international cuisines available to us - so I never grew up eating Mexican food. Then, when I did, it was mainly crappy Tex-Mex: lots of heavy, fried, oily, cheesy stuff that actually barely resembles Real Mexican food. Only in the last few years have Melburnians been privy to (hopefully more) genuine Mexican flavours - and fresh ingredients - through the likes of Mamasita , Chingon , Acland St Cantina , and Fonda Mexican . So, I'm coming around. :) Fish taco from Fonda Mexican, Richmond In 2001, David Youl and Tim McDonald opened the original Fonda Mexican at 248 Swan Street, Richmond...