Minced meat (usually beef, pork, veal, or a combination thereof, but also lamb, goat, sausage and various bird meat such as duck and goose), rice, onions, and various spices, including salt, pepper and various local herbs are mixed together and then rolled into large plant leaves, which may be cabbage (fresh or pickled), chard, sorrel, vine leaf (fresh or pickled) or broadleaf plantain leaves.

Silverbeets have been in season so we decided to try out a vegetarian sarma of fresh silverbeet stuffed with rice, silverbeet, dill, onion, garlic and capsicum. It was tasty, healthy and colourful.

Silverbeet stuffed with rice and peppers

Close up of a 'sarma'

‘How’s inner city life?’ David asked.

‘Really good,’ I said. ‘I’m really enjoying being able to ride the Melbourne Bikes to work.’ I explained to the others on the table, ‘We moved into our new flat a few months ago.’

‘Does your husband ride to work as well?’ Theo asked.

‘Yes. He has his own bike and goes in the opposite direction.’

Theo held his hand up to stop me. ‘Do either of you have a car?’

‘No. No, we don’t have a car.’ I said.

‘Wait, wait… You don’t have a car? You walk and ride everywhere?’

‘Yes…’ I wasn’t sure where he was going. Theo looked a bit shocked.

‘You’re doing it!’ Theo said. ‘You’re doing that thing we all talk about but don’t actually believe! Living the life! Not having a car. Working near home!’

‘I don’t have a car either,’ Andrew piped in. ‘We sold it last month. I ride to work from Northcote. It’s faster than the car and public transport.’

Theo looked at us both in awe.

We do have a little balcony. It’s a bit bigger than three square metres. A few weeks ago, Damjan and I went to Bunnings and bought two planters, planter hangers, herbs and potting mix.

I’m very happy with our balcony herb garden. It makes our balcony look home-like and alive. We’ve used the chives and thyme for omelettes, and oregano for sauces. The basil is doing really well so maybe we can turn that into pesto.

Thyme, oregano and basil

Coriander, chilli and chives

This warning made me chuckle.

Descaling warning

I’ve now escaped hard water. In Melbourne, our water is sweet, our soap lathers and the only particles that float in our cuppas are tea particles.

Here is a mega mango that my mum and dad gave us. I tried to take a photo to give you a sense of scale but the best I could do was to put the mango next to a glass pig, which was a gift from Ian and Caroline’s wedding last year.

A very large mango

Pig on mango

Carving up mango steak

‘Actually, you can drive yourself home,’ David said. ‘You see, I have an electric car, which is part of the government’s pilot programme. As part of the deal, I’ve promised to get as many people as I can to have a go driving it.’

What luck! This would be my first time in an electric car.

Mitsuibishi i-MiEV, electric car

On the CityLink tollway, I felt a large freight truck pushing up towards me at 100 kilometres per hour.

‘You’re in the left lane.’ David said. ‘Why is it so close?’

‘He probably wants a closer look at the electric car,’ I said.

‘Don’t throw out the juices,’ Damjan said. ‘That’s the best bit.’ He poured the oily liquid into a container, which then went into the fridge.

A few days later, we took the container out and lifted out the congealed disc of fat at the top.

A disc of lamb fat

Zucchini, mushroom and kaffir lime risotto

Since I started working, I have been on three secondments. The first time I was asked to go on secondment, I was unsure. The job sounded boring. My managers were keen that I accepted the role; there was no one available to do it.

I went to my mentor for advice. She said, ‘Always accept secondments. You end up learning a lot from them.’

It’s true. Every time I leave my home company, I meet new people, get new skills, and end up being able to tell people about my unique experiences.

My first stint was for a government agency in the UK. I researched and implemented approaches to dealing with the social aspects of sustainability in road projects.

My second secondment was for a rail project in outer suburban Melbourne. I managed environmental issues on a big and fast moving construction site. This was a terrifying and effective way to learn local legislation quickly and practice how to persuade construction workers to do things that slowed them down.

My current job is to find ways to fund low carbon and efficient energy, water and waste systems in a large inner Melbourne development. This is the first time I have worked as the ‘client’, commissioning engineers to do studies for a project.

Anyway, so this has been a long introduction to what I really want to talk about. At my new company, we use laptops instead of desktop computers. Rather than clicking into a docking station, the laptop hovers above the desk like this.

Computer at work

I’m doing my best to avoid owning things and cluttering up our new apartment, so I thought maybe this banana house was one of those ‘over the top’ items, invented to solve a problem no one has.

But I gave it a go and now I like it. It is a regular vistor to my workplace.

Banana house

Banana in case

Truncated banana