2016

I've kept this blog, on and off, since 2006. In 2015 I used it to chart daily encounters, images, thoughts and feelings about volcanic basalt/bluestone in Melbourne and Victoria, especially in the first part of the year. I plan to write a book provisionally titled Bluestone: An Emotional History, about human uses of and feelings for bluestone. But I am also working on quite a few other projects and a big grant application, especially now I am on research leave. I'm working mostly from home, then, for six months, and will need online sociability for company!


Tuesday, March 03, 2015

My Year with Bluestone: How New Yorkers can help with this research project

As further proof that Melbourne is a bluestone city, and one that takes its coffee very seriously, witness the Bluestone Lane coffee group, now in several locations in Manhattan. I had heard of this cafe before, but Anne directed me to this article in the Melbourne Age about what is apparently a distinctive style of cafe now found in New York, and also London, apparently, where Melbourne-trained baristas are making a name for themselves. And now I recall that David Wallace directed me to an Australian-run cafe booth in Tavistock Square, and Alfred Hieatt took me to an Australian cafe (sourdough bread, poached eggs and avocado are distinguishing features of this cuisine) in Victoria Park in Mile End. (Something for Chaucerians to look forward to in 2016.)

I searched the cafe's website and couldn't find very much reference to bluestone, except in the name.

So that's my challenge to anyone living in or passing through NYC: head along to this cafe, try the coffee and see if you can find any pictures of a bluestone laneway!  Ordering a flat white would be the best way to ingratiate yourself with the barista in such a place. And you can practise your accent with this little video:




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