General News
4 June, 2026
A Mum's World: Bite to eat
A Melbourne trip with her daughters once meant fitting rooms and shopping bags. These days, it means long conversations, crowded schedules — and a lot of food.
I’m just back from a couple of days in Melbourne with my daughters and all I did was eat!
Not long ago, the majority of time I spent with my girls looked like me hanging around a fitting room passing items in, finding sizes and giving opinions.
Eventually, it looked like an exhausted woman overloaded with bags and coats leaning into whatever chair, stool, bench or wall was available to hold her up.
In recent times, my visits have involved dining out with as many daughters as can squeeze me into their schedules, which I’m pretty sure, is an even more expensive activity than the clothes shopping.
During last weekend’s adventure, there was a further evolution.
I knew I needed one-on-one time to have some in-depth personal conversations with each young woman and without sisters present.
Sounds simple enough but it was actually tricky.
Obviously, I had a plan.
After tearing down the highway, surviving on cappuccinos and podcasts, I checked into my regular hotel and prepared for lunch with my baby girl.
We needed a detailed debrief of her two-month-old job, dermal studies and student residence dramas.
Risotto and a beef burger were the perfect vehicle for this conversation.
We wandered the streets as we continued our examination of life, buying snacks from a boutique grocer for later.
Returning to my room, I awaited my afternoon tea appointment with Bun-bun-the-middle-one, who would then make way for my dinner date with daughter number one.
Naturally my finely tuned plan fell apart immediately when circumstances interrupted to ensure both my 22- and 24-year-old daughters walked into the room at exactly same time.
I knew my eldest needed that one-on-one.
Never mind, a drink together before dinner would suffice until we two ate alone.
Steak to fatten up my lamb was the plan. We ate and talked late into the night.
Then my baby girl took a break from her shared room, and we devoured those boutique snacks in a midnight feast and snuck out for brioche buns with bacon and eggs for breakfast.
Then I invested extended hours with daughter two to make up for the day before.
By now, I was struggling to eat more food and was forced to settle for only a slice of cake, morning tea style.
Miraculously, on the menu was a piece of Tiramisu Cheesecake – two of my favourite desserts baked into one. Life is good.
Still dining out, I took my eldest for a late lunch after her catch-up was crashed by a little sister the night before.
She showed me the best café near her work and ordered an Iced Banana Bread Latte, which is a thing, whilst we devoured gourmet toasties – mine was full of pickled vegetables which surely was good for my gut.
I walked three kilometres back to my room and collapsed on the bed to recover.
All caught up? Alas, impromptu pizza at the pub popped up allowing a laugh with Bun-bun’s boyfriend, unsighted for months. Delightful.
Diet time.