Lesley Truffle - Writer

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Australia

The Cake and I

May 29, 2023 by Lesley Truffle
photo of Dolly Varden cake

  The Cake and I   Once upon a time – before the outsourcing of dogs and children’s parties – mothers and caregivers made birthday cakes themselves. But sometimes a shop bought ice-cream cake was required. Usually for girls this involved a legless doll about the size of a Barbie doll, embedded in a sturdy … [Read more…]

Posted in: Australia, books, cakes and cooking, Observations, Social Comment Tagged: Australian Women's Weekly, birthday cakes, childhood, childhood memories, children's birthday cakes, cookbooks, Lesley Truffle, Lesley Truffle Writer

The Perils of Pickup Trucks

May 18, 2023 by Lesley Truffle

  The Perils of Pickup Trucks   Somewhere tucked away in my family tree is a property developer. I’ll call him Geoff. He appeared for a few months and then disappeared. However for many years he continued to visit my mother, bearing huge boxes of chocolates and seasonal fresh flowers. Geoff invited me to lunch … [Read more…]

Posted in: Australia, Melbourne, Observations, Psychology, Social Comment Tagged: Australia, car, cars, huge cars, Lesley Truffle, Lesley Truffle Writer, massive cars, Melbourne, truckzilla, truckzillas

Easter in a Bottle

March 28, 2023 by Lesley Truffle

    Easter in a Bottle   Using the simplest of recipes, we have taken Nutmeg, Cinnamon, and locally produced dried Flame Seedless grapes and steeped them in our Original Gin Elixir to create Easter in a bottle. With citrus notes being the strong but subtle foundations of this Gin, they have lifted the spices … [Read more…]

Posted in: Australia, cakes and cooking, Observations, Social Comment Tagged: Easter, Easter eggs, Easter gin, Festive seasons, gin distilleries, gin distillery, Hot Cross Buns, Hot Cross Easter Buns, Lesley Truffle, Lesley Truffle Writer, Lunar New Year, traditional Easter buns

The Night They Invented Champagne

September 25, 2022 by Lesley Truffle

  The Night They Invented Champagne   ‘Remember gentlemen, it’s not just France we are fighting for, it’s Champagne!’ Winston Churchill rallying the British during World War II.   When I was a child, my mother used to indulge in a champagne while playing vintage movie songs. Waltzing around the dining table she’d sing along … [Read more…]

Posted in: Australia, Champagne, Historical Tagged: Australian winemakers, champagne, French champagne, sparkling wine, Tasmanian Champagne, Tasmanian wine makers

Just Breathe

September 22, 2022 by Lesley Truffle

Just Breathe   During the pandemic shutdowns many of us dreamt of whispering trees and rustlings in the grass. City parks, bayside beaches and even narrow nature strips were heaving with citizens doing their allocated exercise time. Outdoor personal trainers became astonishingly popular. Some joggers – who were used to having the green spaces to … [Read more…]

Posted in: Australia, Nature, Observations, Psychology, Wilderness Areas Tagged: Australia World Heritage, Dorrigo rainforest, Forest Bathing, forests, health, mindfulness, relaxation, Shrinrin-Yoku, wellbeing, World Heritage

Hotel Ghosts

August 18, 2022 by Lesley Truffle

Hotel Ghosts For the last few days I’ve been doing a road trip around South Tasmania, while staying in a lovely hotel in Hobart’s wharf area. The area is rumoured to be fantastically ghost ridden. About 150 years ago the area around the wharf was known as Wapping. Folk who lived here worked in the … [Read more…]

Posted in: Australia, Historical, Mavericks & Renegades, Social Comment Tagged: Australia, ghosts, historical, Hobart, Hobart Town, Hobart wharf, MACQ Hotel Hobart, Mr Thomas Dewhurst Jennings, Thomas Jennings

Ayesha the Wonder Dog

June 29, 2022 by Lesley Truffle

 Ayesha the Wonder Dog   ‘Draw your chair up close to the edge of the precipice and I’ll tell you a story’                                                                              Scott Fitzgerald The Crack-Up   When I was a kid we had a dog named Ayesha. She was  a Corgi with oversized ears, big personality and great intelligence. Ayesha had a male … [Read more…]

Posted in: animals, Australia, Melbourne, Observations Tagged: childhood, childhood memories, childhood pets, dogs, local dogs, neighbourhood dogs

Italian Style

May 12, 2022 by Lesley Truffle

Italian Style   Italian film directors produce diverse and wonderful films. Paolo Sorrentino is one of my favourite directors. Sometimes I watch the exuberant party scene from La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty) when I’m feeling a bit sad and need to recalibrate. Fellini’s,  La Dolce Vita is a magnificent film. Released in 1960, set in … [Read more…]

Posted in: art/theatre event, Australia, films, movies, Observations Tagged: Anita Ekberg, Cinquecento, Dolce Vita, Fiat 500, Fiat 500C, Fiat Bambino, Fiat Sports car, Frederico Fellini, Italian style, La dolce vita, Marcello Mastroianni, Paolo Sorrentino, The Great Beauty

A Tale Of Lost Cities

March 18, 2022 by Lesley Truffle

A Tale Of Lost Cities I call architecture frozen music.     Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Even a brick wants to be something.    Louis Kahn   Last night, I sat on the banks of the Yarra River which runs through the heart of Melbourne. The skyscrapers appeared as cubes of burning lights. And the Casino’s neon lights … [Read more…]

Posted in: architeture, Australia, Historical, Melbourne, Observations, Social Comment Tagged: architecture, building height restrictions, cbd, central business district, cities, city, contemporary architecture, glass towers, historical buildings, Labassa Mansion, Lesley Truffle, Lesley Truffle Writer, Melbourne

Messing About In Boats

February 26, 2022 by Lesley Truffle

    Messing About In Boats   As the Water Rat in Wind in the Willows, advises the mole, ‘Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing – absolutely nothing –  half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.’ I messed around in boats when I learned to sail on a lake. … [Read more…]

Posted in: Australia, Observations, Sailing, Sports / Recreation Tagged: Australia, Lesley Truffle, Lesley Truffle Writer, sailing, sailing boats, small yachts, Wind in the Willows, Yacht Clubs

A Dog’s Life

September 23, 2021 by Lesley Truffle

  A Dog’s Life   During our city’s pandemic Shutdown restrictions, I’ve been getting to know my neighbours.  By that I mean the local dogs and their owners. Subsequently, I’ve come to the conclusion that only the dogs are living their best lives. Cats are a different matter. My neighbour’s cat has taken to the … [Read more…]

Posted in: animals, Australia, Melbourne, Social Comment Tagged: Australia, café, cafes, Casanova, Cat, Cats, coffee, dog, dogs, Giacomo Casanova, History of My Life, Lesley Truffle, Lesley Truffle Writer, Melbourne, Melbourne Shutdown, neighbourhood dogs, street dogs

Cake in the Time of Pandemic

June 10, 2021 by Lesley Truffle

  Cake in the Time of Pandemic   ‘I’m known in Melbourne for this elegant, sophisticated pastry – the croissant – and the cruller is the exact opposite. It’s a super naughty New York street treat … there is nothing refined or elegant about it.’                                                                             Kate Reid, proprietor of Lune Croissanterie   In 2020 … [Read more…]

Posted in: Australia, cakes and cooking, current news, Melbourne, Social Comment, Uptown Downtown Tagged: Australia, baked goods, cake, COVID-19, crullers, Lesley Truffle, Lesley Truffle Writer, Let them eat cake, Lockdowns, Lune Croissanterie, Melbourne, Moon Cruller, pandemic, pastries, Shutdowns

Venus in Steel

January 13, 2021 by Lesley Truffle

  Venus in Steel   He has the slimy assurance, the gross patter about transcendence through art, of a blow-dried Baptist selling swamp acres in Florida. And the result is that you can’t imagine America’s singularly depraved culture without him.                                                                                                                                                     Robert Hughes on Jeff Koons.   Jeff Koons has always been a divisive … [Read more…]

Posted in: art/theatre event, artists, Australia, Melbourne, writers & creatives Tagged: Andy Warhol, Australia, Ilona Staller, Jeff Koons, Koons, La Cicciolina, Lesley Truffle, Lesley Truffle Writer, Melbourne, NGV, NGV Melbourne, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol, Venus, Venus de Milo, Warhol, Wilhelm Christian Myer

My Life as a Nightclub Cocktail Girl

August 27, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

  My Life as a Nightclub Cocktail Girl   When I was a child, my mother used to play vintage movie songs and the lyrics to Gigi were: The night they invented champagne It’s plain as it can be They thought of you and me The night they invented champagne They absolutely knew That all … [Read more…]

Posted in: Australia, current news, Melbourne, Social Comment Tagged: champagne, cocktails, Cointreau, COVID-19, global crisis, Golden Dream Cocktails, Lesley Truffle, Lesley Truffle Writer, Melbourne, nightclub cocktail girl, Nightclubbing, pandemic, Perrier-Jouët, Veuve Cliquot

There Goes the Neighbourhood Dogs

July 25, 2020 by Lesley Truffle
Dogs face and eyes

  There Goes the Neighbourhood Dogs   ‘A lover tries to stand in well with the pet dog of the house.’ Molière (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin) French playwright, actor & poet.   In my bayside suburb dogs are everywhere you go. There may well be a pandemic rampaging across the globe but for our local dogs, it’s … [Read more…]

Posted in: animals, Australia, Melbourne, Observations, Social Comment Tagged: Bayside Melbourne, café, cafes, dogs, Lesley Truffle, Melbourne, mongrels, neighbourhood dogs, Pugs, street dogs, Whippets

Beach Dogs

May 9, 2020 by Lesley Truffle

  Beach Dogs Bayside Melbourne is dog heaven. During shutdown I’ve been walking the beach promenade every day. It provides a complete brain clean. Many mongrels and pedigree hounds are out there on the beach before first light. I chat to the owners outside the Guilty Moose café, as I pick up my morning takeout … [Read more…]

Posted in: animals, Australia, Melbourne Tagged: Australian beach, Bayside Melbourne, beach, dogs, Lesley Truffle, Melbourne, mongrels, The Guilty Moose

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  • The Cake and I
  • The Perils of Pickup Trucks
  • Autumn in the City
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