Well, that was annoying

On Monday I went off to Mitchell to look for river pebbles for the garden, and wardrobe makers' showrooms to fix up our awful hall cupboards. I checked the yellow pages and made a list, but had very little success. One place had no pebbles, another didn't do retail at that site, two of the showrooms were closed... I finally went off to Stonehenge in Pialligo to look for pebbles and found that they also had none. And then I went to Braddon to get a leaking tire fixed - and found out that it was unfixable, we needed a new one for that, plus two more were badly worn. Three tires, $500. Bummer.

So grump, grump, grump, I walked into town and treated myself to a nice lunch. I went to Cream, which I like very much on weekdays when it's not so packed and noisy. The dislike of crowding is my taste, not their problem: they manage very well on the packed and noisy days. I've had some pretty good brunches there - though I think their blintzes are too sweet - and the service has mostly been good despite the crowds.

It's a big open space, high ceilinged and retro-outfitted, with a central coffee and cake service area and a big kitchen up the back. They serve modern Australian cafe food - the usual eclectic mixture of dozens of cultures. Indonesian, Chinese, Italian, French, and English all rub shoulders on the menu.

I had the Barbecued Atlantic Salmon Salad ($19), which is a nicoise-inspired dish
with green beans, potato, egg and olives. The salmon was warm from the grill and cooked nicely moist, the potatoes were kipflers, and the olives were good ones generously ladled out. It was delicious. The coffee was also good - rich, and with just enough bitterness for character. A good brew.

I finished off with an Italian custard doughnut. That was good too - it's nice to have a doughnut with a good solid yeasty chew, instead of over-sweetened insipid fluff. I think the patisserie is bought in, not house made, but it's well chosen. A good lunch, a good book (Iain M Banks), a good coffee - that definitely made the day better.

Also, while I was faffing around Mitchell not finding things, I stopped into Jindebah coffee and stocked up, so even that wasn't a dead loss.