Marvellous Melbournalia

Tuesday 6 December 2011, 4:11 PM
By The Team | Posted in Events and Places and Style and Things

Do you love Melbourne? Its creative inhabitants and its world-class shopping? Then Melbournalia is the place for you.

Spread across four locations, Melbournalia is a fun new shopping experience that has magically popped up for the Christmas season.

What makes it all so very Melbourne, you ask?

The idea. A chain of pop-up shops filled with pressies perfectly designed for posting (postal service included) in time for Christmas.

The products. All achingly awesome and sourced from over 30 of Melbourne’s most talented product designers.

The locations. Housed in warehouses, coffee shops and studios, these unconventional venues couldn’t be more Melbourne if they tried.

Expect thoughtful gift ideas, intriguingly presented and beautifully packaged. You’ll find Melbournalia at the following quintessentially Melbourne locales:

Shop #1: Home
Tractor Home
First Floor, Rear 126 Franklin Street, Melbourne
Tuesday to Friday: 11am – 6pm
Saturday & Sunday: 11am – 4pm

Shop #2: Captains
Captains of Industry
Level 1, 2 Somerset Place, Melbourne
Tuesday to Friday: 11am – 5pm
Saturday & Sunday: 11am – 4pm

Shop #3: Parlour
The Nicholas Building
Level 3, Room 3, 37 Swanston Street, Melbourne
Tuesday to Friday: 11am – 6pm
Saturday & Sunday: 11am – 6pm

Shop #4: League
League of Honest Coffee
8 Exploration Lane, Melbourne
Tuesday to Friday: 7am – 4pm

Melbournalia’s pop-up shops are open until Christmas Eve, 24 December 2011, vanishing after the big day – much like the man in red himself.

Take a bite out of the city

Tuesday 6 December 2011, 4:00 PM
By The Team | Posted in Events and Places and Things

If you go down to the Town Hall today, you’re sure of a big surprise. Tucked away in the Town Hall’s City Gallery you’ll find a miniature village, made entirely from gingerbread and icing.

Featuring prominent Melbourne landmarks such as the MCG, the Arts Centre and of course the Town Hall itself, the Gingerbread Village is a sight to bring out the inner child in every adult.

The contents of the village include:

120 kg of gingerbread
90 kg of royal icing
24 kg of marzipan and fondant sugar
20 litres of chocolate syrup

Baking and building the village took 800 hours over two months. A team including 30 Holmesglen TAFE students, TAFE teachers, and volunteers from Melbourne hotels toiled under the watchful eye of Epicure’s Chef de Cuisine – Pastry, Deniz Karaca.

When asked about the challenges of creating the village, Deniz replied, ‘putting the train in was the biggest’.

With almost 30 metres of track, spanning three levels and crossing its own gingerbread viaduct, it’s little wonder.

A Christmas market

Santa arrives

The Epicure Gingerbread Village is now on show at the City Gallery until 24 December 2011. Opening times are from 11am to 6pm daily.

Proceeds from a gold coin donation will go to the Starlight Children’s Foundation towards the Make a Wish program. You can also purchase unique gingerbread Christmas gifts.

Santa’s Post Box at City Square

Wednesday 16 November 2011, 2:55 PM
By The Team | Posted in Events and Places and Things

The List. It’s one of most important parts of Christmas. Without a list, how would Santa know what to bring? How would you get the right presents?

What if you got a Strawberry Shortcake doll instead of the Lego Space Moon Buggy on Christmas morning?

Or a regular water pistol instead of the galacticly awesome SuperSoaker?

It would be a disaster!

But how do you get in touch with Santa? He’s always been a traditional kind of fella. He doesn’t go in for all those new-fangled gismos most business travellers lug around.

There’s no BlackPod, iBerry, ePad for Santa. He’s not contactable by email, Twitter, Facebook, or phone. 

The truth is there’s only one tried and tested method of getting your list to the Big Man himself – by mail.

Luckily the good people at Australia Post have provided a special post box in the City Square especially for Santa’s mail.

Letters should have a 60c stamp and be addressed to:

Santa
North Pole 9999

Please post letters by 6pm on Friday 16 December, to ensure Santa has time to reply. And make sure you have your sender’s address on the back of the envelope – it’s easy to forget in all the excitement!