Kolik jazyků znáš, tolikrát jsi člověkem.

There is a Czech proverb I love, which can be translated as:

As many languages you know, as many times you are a human being.

Earlier this year, I decided to return to an enduring passion of mine - languages.  I grew up bilingual in English and Auslan, speak good French and decent Modern Standard Arabic.  I spent the first half of 2015 revising my French and Arabic, and on 3 June, hopped a plane to Paris!

Yes, this is the reason I have been AWOL for the last few months. I stayed in wonderful places throughout France, from this houseboat on the Seine to a country home among the cherry orchards of Ardèche.

From Marseille I flew to Morocco where I spent three weeks at a language school, studying the Moroccan dialect.

I lived with a local family, shopped in the wonderful old city full of twisty-turny lanes and had numerous days where I spoke absolutely nothing but Arabic.

On a linguistic note, it was a very fast switch to go from Modern Standard Arabic to Darija (North African dialect).  If you are studying MSA and despair that everyone thinks you sound like Chaucer - with the right tuition, you can move very fast to a dialect.

From Morocco I flew to Spain, or more specifically Catalonia.  Catalonia is an autonomous region in northeastern Spain - Barcelona is the capital.  Catalan - not Spanish - is the native language, and what most people speak on a day-to-day level.  It was a fascinating experience to see such a strong and proud minority language at work.

But what about the food, you say?!  Here are just a few tasty highlights.  This pissaladière was possibly the best thing I ate in France.  It's a sort of savoury tart, this one on gorgeous, burnished puff pastry, layered with anchovies, beautiful tomatoes, olives and cheese.

I ate so, so much incredible food in Morocco - of which I have virtually no pictures.  Most of it was eaten as breaking of the fast meals in Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting.  So a., no pictures because there is a spiritual element, and b., I was honestly so starving by the time it rolled around I just shovelled it in!

Here is "warqa" pastry being made - sort of like filo or spring roll pastry.  I never did not see the guy on the left working at this stall, no matter what time of day (or night) I went past.  This would be used to make wonderful little pies filled with chicken, green olives and preserved lemon.

In the town I was living in, women would come down from the mountains and sit in the alleys of the walled city, selling bottles of homemade yoghurt, homegrown garlic, fruit or eggs.

People generally shop daily and everything is just so fresh.  As in - this is the chicken shop!!!  As in, you choose a chicken, and they kill it for you!

In three weeks in Morocco, I only ate couscous about three times!  It is not something people eat very much at home, or at least not in the region I was in.  On the contrary, there was lots of bread - one variety that was essentially roti, various yeasted loaves, and little breads that looked like English muffins which my host sister would fill with meatballs, cheese, olives and mayo to make delicious Moroccan sliders.

Fresh sardines by the beach with my host family, served with bread, a thick split pea soup/dip, and a plate of chopped onion and tomato doused in vinegar.  About $1.50 and one of the best things I've ever tasted.  I ate a lot of fish - I loved one particular tiny variety that were battered and eaten whole, bones and all.  The weirdest thing I ate was snail soup - the snails, with brown and cream-striped shells, float in a dark, herbal broth.  You pull out their long bodies with safety pins.  They taste like mushrooms!

Amazing paella in Cadaqués, Spain...

...and also so amazing was fideuà, which is a Catalonian version of paella, made with short spaghetti.

From Spain we travelled to the UK to see family and friends.

I couldn't get into the warm, flat beer, but my traitorous tastebuds found this traditional English fish and chips so delicious and better than anything I've had in Oz for a long time.  When I got home, I smelled something acrid in my room, and opened my bag to find my Australian passport singed around the edges.

That Czech proverb I mentioned before can actually be translated another way:

For every language you speak, you live a new life.

I have been reflecting a lot about this blog.  I have decided to put it on an indeterminate hiatus.  There is only so much time in both a day and a life, and after many years of happy blogging, I now want to use my time to do other things.

I do have a sense as well that "my work here is done".  I feel that the western suburbs are now firmly on Melbourne's food and culture map.  Yes, there may be issues of balance, but I feel that wider Melbourne is switching on to the western suburbs' delights.

Frankly, though, I never set out to be an unofficial PR agent for the west.  Even if I didn't realise it at the time, this blog started as a way for me to get over the deep feelings of isolation and confusion that I experienced as a new mother.  I felt isolated geographically, and as a younger mother who was still at university and had never had jobs beyond waitressing and office temping, I felt very confused about what had happened to - or what I was doing with - my life.

I used to read a blog occasionally about another younger woman's experience of motherhood.  It was called "Once Edible, Now Consumed".  I identified very much with the feeling of being consumed - both in the sense of being swamped by the demands of mothering, but also with the sense of lost potential, that my life had taken a turn that did not fit with "the plan".

This blog was a big part in turning that feeling around.  Some incredible experiences have blossomed from it, from becoming a writer for The Age, Time Out and Broadsheet despite having no writing qualifications; running really fun and well-researched food tours for the CAE and then as part of my own business; running delicious dumpling-making workshops; and coordinating the truly epic 2014 Rickshaw Run for the Food & Wine Festival.  The exhilarating afternoon after the Rickshaw Run finished and the morning my first cover story was published were truly some of the best moments of my life.

Thank you for coming with me on this wonderful journey.  Keep eating and loving the western suburbs.  And may the (pork) floss be with you!

Rhubarb Wholefoods, Seddon

So an era ended for me on Friday.  After over 9 years of being pregnant and/or raising little kids, all three of my daughters are safely delivered to primary school.

Taken in 2006!

Everyone keeps asking me, "What are you going to do with yourself?"  The question is more what aren't I?!  I am so excited for this new beginning and for weeks I had been planning the perfect place to have a celebratory meal.

I wanted somewhere delicious.  I wanted somewhere serene.  And I also wanted something symbolic, something that would signify a fresh start - not just another plate of smashed avocado.  Enter Rhubarb Wholefoods.

This has opened on the old site of the May Hong pool hall on the corner of Buckley and Victoria Streets.

When she was a baby, every Friday I used to put my oldest child in the occasional childcare on Buckley St kind of opposite (it has since closed).  I would drop her off and walk past May Hong, feeling free as a bird, down Victoria Street to brunch at Le Chien.  It's not an exaggeration to say that I lived for those few hours on a Friday morning.

Rhubarb is going to sell organic dry goods and they already have a quite decent range.  There are herbal teas, including Chai Walli chai...

...and local raw Maidstone honey - totally trying this.

Not pictured is the fridge full of cashew cream, chocolates, and various pickled things.

$12

The full menu is not yet up and running but they have a small spread in the meantime.  This was everything I wanted and more.  A big wedge of great sourdough, spread with tahini, and surfing on top gorgeous springy slices of mushroom in lemon and hot paprika, loads of perfectly cooked kale, and tangy, bursty pomegranate seeds.  This wasn't your average soggy, undersalted "health food".  You could tell that the cook knew their way around a pan.

There's no espresso here - only stovetop (this was had by @cubbieberry who I ran into - hiya!)...

$3.50 plus 50 cents for soy

...but there is chai which is more the authentic Indian style vs a chai latte.  It was delicious.

Meet Natasha, the owner.  The plan is to have a spread of different salads at lunch that you can make up a plate with, and an Indian night once per week.  I love this kind of food - I can just feel my liver vibrating joyously at the sight of it - but if you can't imagine brunch without poached eggs, bacon and a latte, this is probably going to be the wrong spot for you.

This year is also a new beginning for me as I am taking my life in a new direction.  I have decided to return to university in 2016 to pursue graduate study in linguistics.  Languages are a deep and abiding passion of mine.  I was raised in a bilingual Australian Signed Language/English home, became fluent in French through eight years at school, and did an undergraduate degree majoring in Arabic.  I'm spending 2015 getting all my languages back to the standard they were at before kids took over.

So unfortunately, if you missed out on one of my food tours or food events before now, there won't be any more - at least for the foreseeable future.  Likewise, I will not be contributing freelance to any more publications - the only place you will be able to read my words is right here on Footscray Food Blog.  I love bashing away at this blog, even if my contributions are on the sporadic side sometimes. Rest assured I am not going anywhere!

So what else did I do on my fresh-start Friday?  What else but have a flotation tank?  No, I do not like to do anything by halves!  And I look forward to bringing that same attitude to my new direction.

Rhubarb Wholefoods (Facebook)
129 Buckley Street, Seddon
(I'll add the hours next time I'm there!)

Westies awards and FFB/CTS picnic - this weekend!

Kenny and I are so delighted to have the Westies featured in today's Epicure! Feast your eyes here.

It's a timely reminder for you that the announcement of the inaugural Westies winners, combined with our annual Spring Picnic, is THIS WEEKEND! We really sincerely hope you can make it - we love meeting our readers, we know you will love meeting our winners, and we hope you will come and share in this special celebration of the west. We will be presenting our beautiful commemorative awards, which you really need to see to believe - they're gorgeous.

Here are the details again:

WHERE:  Yarraville Gardens (cnr Somerville Rd and Hyde St - we'll be nearer to Somerville Rd)

DATE:  Saturday 30 November (this weekend!)

TIME:  Picnic starts at 11am; winners announced at noon.

You can bring a picnic rug and make a day of it, or you can drop down to say hi...  It's up to you! It's a picnic, so if you would like to bring something for yourself for lunch, or even something to share - that would be lovely. We also have two fantastic food trucks along for the ride.

Photo from happycamperpizza.com.au with permission.

First up - Happy Camper Pizza is coming along, on only its third official outing. This newie is the baby of WeFo couple Remi and Sonia and runs out of their gorgeous 1965 Airstream camper.

Photo from happycamperpizza.com.au with permission.

They just had their launch at Post Industrial Design a few weeks ago and although I haven't had a chance to try their wares yet, their pizzas look the bee's knees. Read more at Consider the Sauce.

Photo supplied by Mr Burger; photo by @alicat47

We also have the very awesome Mr Burger, who are starting early at 11am just for us. My Chicago-born husband goes completely Easter Island whenever any mention is made of perhaps trying something American in Melbourne. Every burger undergoes two grillings - one by the cook who prepares it, and the next by him, who subsequently launches into a lament about how awful Australian burgers are. (I don't think I'll ever stop hearing about the pub burger on Turkish bread he was forced to choke down six or so years ago.)

Photo supplied by Mr Burger

The only Australian burgers that have the tick of approval are the Station Hotel's (as much for its yum as it is to say its name - "le sandwich" - in a silly French accent)...and...Mr Burger's.

We are missing one essential element - coffee! Despite many attempts, we are yet to secure a coffee truck or cart to be in attendance. Can YOU help? Please get in touch if you can, or if you have any suggestions - Twitter, phone and email deets here.

Lastly, there are even rumours our winners are bringing along some goodies to share! Kenny and I truly hope to see you on Saturday.

Thank you to Footscray Life for your generous donation towards producing our trophies.

Talking Big West over lunch at Sapa Hills

When I left school, I loved food as much as I do now, but I hadn't considered trying to get into food writing.  In fact, my first career aspiration was to be an art critic.  I was very into semiotics, postmodernism, and wearing lots of black.  I ended up dropping out after a year (I realised I looked much better in red) but I've still always enjoyed art.  There are lots of different experiences you can have observing it, but my favourite is the comparatively rare moment when, browsing a gallery or watching a performance - BAM!  Something hits you, like a key in a lock, and you can't look away.  It's fantastic.

This is why it is very exciting to tell you that I am the 2013 Big West Festival's official blogger.  The Big West Festival is a biennial arts festival held in the west, showcasing western suburbs artists, and celebrating what makes the west the eclectic, gritty and gutsy place it is.  I'll be blogging over at the site throughout the Festival, but as an intro, come and meet Marcia Ferguson, the Festival's director, over some delicious treats from one of my favourite Footscray restaurants.

Plan A had been some lovely soup at Sen, but with it surprisingly shut that day, we strolled to Sapa Hills.  Quite a few people seem to think its slightly swish decor means that it's some kind of gweilo tourist trap, but its Hanoi-style specialties and confident renditions of Vietnamese staples make it one of my favourite spots in Footscray.

Bun nem ran, $12

For instance, spring rolls at Sapa Hills don't just mean the typical tiny tubes with a hunk of iceberg lettuce you get elsewhere.  These are Hanoi-style spring rolls, wrapped in rice paper (instead of wheat) and fried so that they are delicately crisp and crackly all over.  The filling is a delicious mix of pork, vermicelli noodles and black mushroom.  Make a little salad with spring rolls, rice noodles, greens and refreshing dressing for a big whack of yum.

Just about all the artists in this year's Big West Festival are from the western suburbs.  Marcia and I spoke about what makes this part of Melbourne have such a strong and defined identity.  She said she thinks of the west as a "mini Philadelphia".  "Philadelphia loves Philadelphia, and you can feel it on the street," she says.

To her, Big West is about bringing out and presenting to the public the west that is already here.  It's about celebrating what Marcia describes as our "gorgeous mix of immense cultural tradition".  One really exciting event that does just this is Dance Republic, a kind of cross-cultural dance-off between groups like the South Sudanese Dombai Dancers, dancers from the Chin community and students from local high schools.  It's on Sunday 1 December at Little Saigon Market - read more here.

Wonton soup, $5

Just a little wonton soup to whet your appetite.  This is a bargain at five bucks and boasts lovely restorative soup and fat wontons with whole prawns inside.  (I find these soups are great for kids - just enough and not too many tricky noodles to try to scoop up.)

Big West is about inclusiveness and community engagement, but it also offers opportunities for artists to present their work, even if that work is "high end" or highly conceptual.  "Labour" is a "part video installation, part participatory event" by local artist Hoang Nguyen.  His inspiration is his childhood experience of the Vietnamese show tunes that played while his mother made clothes at home.  Through this work he aims to "[explore] notions of work through open karaoke participation".  If that's not a world first, I don't know what is.

Vietnamese coleslaw with prawns and pork, $18

The coleslaws at Sapa Hills are another must-have.  We loved this prawn and pork number - sometimes the pork in soups and salads can be a bit grey and chewy, but here it was really tasty and tender.  I could live off this stuff - so much crunchy cucumber, fresh herbs and sweet pickled carrots.  Scoop it onto the prawn crackers for a Vietnamese tostada.  Yum!

"Massive" perform at the Big West launch

You can read the whole Big West program here.  As mentioned, the rest of my Big West posts will be on the Big West site itself, so stay tuned there for artist interviews and reflections on works during the Festival itself.

Announcing ... The Westies!

Every so often we get out of town.  Sometimes, among ferns or sand dunes, I start daydreaming about moving somewhere where there are a lot more trees and a lot less trucks.  It all sounds great until it comes to food, and that's when I realise I couldn't be happy in a place without dosas and pho and with only one type of mint.  That whole thing about a way to a man's heart is through his stomach?  I may not be a man, but that is definitely true for me.

I've loved meeting fellow food bloggers along the way, doing crazy things like eating chicken embryos and doing blind banh mi taste testing, but my best blog bud is Kenny of Consider the Sauce.  It's brilliant to have a mate and blogging compadre to trade cheap eats war stories with.  We've both been running our blogs for three plus years, and with almost 1000 posts between us, we think we've really lit a fire under the media to get more attention on the western suburbs horn of plenty  ...  but there's always room for improvement.

To this end, Footscray Food Blog and Consider the Sauce are proud to announce "The Westies:  Dishes of Distinction" - the first food awards dedicated to celebrating the amazing food culture of Melbourne's west.  These annual awards will honour three dishes per year from three different eateries (as opposed to awards to the eateries themselves).  So we're talking maybe an amazing dal makhani, the flakiest cheese burek, and an epic soft shell crab banh mi.  Actually, I don't know who makes that - but can someone please start?!

The selection process will take into account taste, consistency, pricing, and a sense of uniqueness or tradition.  This year's winners will be decided after countless emails, Facebook messages, dining-out sojourns and an epic knock-down bar-room brawl  ...  followed by a steak and a dozen oysters, of course.

Each eatery will be presented with a commemorative award - initial designs included a Olympic donut cast in bronze.  That was scratched, but we promise it will still be awesome.  Eateries responsible for producing the winning dishes will be ineligible for further awards for the next three years.

The winners of the 2013 "Westies - Dishes of Distinction" will be announced and the awards themselves presented at the annual Footscray Food Blog/Consider The Sauce Spring Picnic, to be held at:

Yarraville Gardens, Somerville Road.

Saturday, November 30, from 11 am.

The Westies - Dishes of Distinction winners announced at noon.

Footscray Food Blog's first-ever video!

Footscray Food Secrets project - just launched!

If you're a commuter, make sure you get a copy of MX and check out the new "Footscray Food Secrets" advertising campaign.

Follow the link to check out 26 of Footscray's best food secrets - chosen and written by me!

Reckon we've missed one?  Let me know in the comments!

My new website, including Footscray foodie tours!

I'm very excited to announce that my personal website is now live!  The address is:

www.laurenwambach.com

It's my portable, accessible CV that highlights all the things I'm up to, from writing to speaking and of course, blogging!  Never fear, Footscray Food Blog isn't going anywhere (and now maybe I can work on some of my posting backlog!)  In fact, I've made a few changes here, with a new "About" page and updated "Footscray Food Blog in the news" section.

I've previously launched my Footscray foodie tours on Facebook but haven't yet on the blog.  I'm delighted and very excited to now offer food tours around Footscray, in partnership with Melbourne's venerable and well-respected CAE.

Do you keep hearing about Footscray and want to visit, but don't know where to start?  Maybe you're a local and are keen to find the best suppliers, rather than playing hit and miss?  Or maybe you just want to know what that one peculiar vegetable at Little Saigon is and how to use it.  I've got the genuine local knowledge and contacts that only come from living and breathing Footscray day in, day out - and I would love to share them with you!

Last term was a a huge success, with a second tour added due to large enrolments.  This term we have a new course, "An African Experience".  Footscray's well-known for Vietnamese fare but it's actually the main hub of Melbourne's Ethiopian community.  Come along and discover this, the birthplace of coffee, as well as tastes from Somalia and the world's newest nation, South Sudan.  Book through the CAE - links here at laurenwambach.com/speaking.  New tours are also on the horizon.  Stay tuned!

Finally, a big shout-out to my ridiculously talented sister Liz Reed, an illustrator and artist, who painted the beautiful watercolours for the site.  (You might remember her from FFB and Consider the Sauce's annual picnic poster from last year - above.)  See more of her artwork on her site, cryptolizard.com.  Also big thanks to Ravi Vasavan who contributed invaluable technical wizardry.

And big thanks to YOU for reading.  Blogging is personal by definition and I love making the connection with you, my readers, whether it's with a comment (I LOVE those, hinty McHint hint!) or coming up to say hi when you see me out and about in the 'hood.  Keep interacting, challenging, commenting and suggesting and I look forward to sharing many meals with you to in the years to come.