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The first of four Leederville car-free days was held last Sunday. It coincided with Leedypalooza’s Unfair Day, which is like a carnival in an alternate-universe, with unlucky dips, bad family portraits and misfortune cookies.
The event was run by Vincent council, Leederville Connect and Fringeworld. The streets are closed off for LeedyPalooza’s Dancin in the Street Day this Sunday Feb 18, and again for the usual car-free Sundays on February 25 and March 4.
WHO is Tommy Sugo?
Apparently he’s a master of Italian food, and the kingpin of health, according to the eponymous restaurant’s website.
But it’s all just a bit of fun, with owners Nathan and Belinda Baws combining the slang for tomato and sauce in the name of their Leederville restaurant.
After years of great meals at the in-laws, Nathan reckoned the world should know what a good cook his father-in-law Sam is.
Now he’s cooking up a storm in a commercial kitchen, providing quick and tasty Italian food at affordable prices.
“His passion is about flavour and I’m a naturopath, and about healthy,” Nathan jokes.
“So it’s a battle over flavour and health.”
He’s been doing the rounds of shopping centres with pop-up eateries, and winning people over.
“Some people say they hate pasta, but they hate it because they’ve been subjected to the cardboard ones sold in supermarkets.”
The best seller is the duck with wild mushroom and Kakadu plum ravioli ($18), Nathan says.
“When people purchase it they will come back and say they have to have more.”
I dropped into the Oxford Street eatery for lunch last week.
Unlike most Italian restaurants, at Tommy Sugo you pick the pasta and then an accompanying sauce.
I went for the gnocchi ($11) with “hot chick”: a tomato sugo with chickpeas, fresh zucchini and a hint of chilli.
With trepidation I sampled the first potato dumpling, because I’ve had some shocking gnocchi, but this was a plump pillow of tenderness that soaked up the tasty sauce, smothered in parmesan.
Along with the dine-in meals there’s a “cook at home” range.
Not having to start from scratch on a very busy day was an appealing notion, and I left armed with a baked ricotta, sun-dried tomato and caramelised onion tortelloni ($14).
“The sauce?” I asked wallet in hand.
“No no, you need a simple burnt butter and sage sauce,” I was told by the very helpful lady in the kitchen.
She was spot on.
The sauce, which took a few minutes to prepare and was ready before the pasta boiled, was the perfect foil for the delicious tortelloni.
It was so good the other half was raving about it days later.
Tonight we’re having porcine mushroom pasta in a spicy red Napolitana sauce, and he’s even offered to cook it—well zap it in the microwave at least.
I call that a win, win—dinner cooked for me for just $16.
by JENNY D’ANGER
Tommy Sugo
225 Oxford Street, Leederville,
plus stores in Nedlands and Cannington
FROM Marie Antoinette and Joan of Arc, to Julia Gillard and Princess Diana, women have been politically white-anted through the ages, Imogen Kelly says.
But the burlesque queen has rewritten the pages of history in her striptease romp, Herstory–The Leading Ladies.
“Showing the ridiculousness of the political sabotage that happened to these women,” Kelly says.
Former prime minister Gillard is “pivotal” to the show: “She brings home that Australia is not immune to misogyny.”
And she throws in a hilarious Maggie Thatcher, “To show not everybody is fabulous just because of gender.”
A double mastectomy five years ago would stop most in their tracks, but Kelly says she wants women to see that despite the scars, cancer is not the end: “I wouldn’t want them to think it will destroy you.”
“You survive and come out stronger.”
She’s an avid campaigner for breast cancer awareness, holding workshops for women in remission or undergoing reconstruction.
Herstory is on February 20–24. Tix at fringeworld.com.au
by JENNY D’ANGER
THEY may not be classically trained, but for sheer joie de vivre the Djuki Mala dancers are in a class of their own.
The troupe’s Fringe show starts with a potted Aboriginal history, pre-white “invasion”, up to the stolen generation.
“Despite the past we are still here, we have survived. This is us,” the audience is told, as the throb of a didgeridoo introduces the rest of the Arnhem Land group.
The show challenges western anthropological views of indigenous culture with humour, dance and storytelling, Baykali Ganmbarr says.
“We take our culture out of the museum and place it very firmly in the 21st century–with a bit of circus and bling.”
Singing in the Rain is a fantastic piece of cultural appropriation as Gene Kelly’s famous routine morphs from Hollywood to corroboree, and back again, with umbrellas as spears.
The dance that shot the group to international fame, a cheeky Zorba the Greek, had the audience cheering, laughing and stamping its feet.
And their Bollywood routine was hilarious. Djuki Mala is on until February 25. Tix fringeworld.com.au
ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 20)
As the Sun moves into Pisces early this week, so existence conspires to grab you by the horns and take you into deeper waters. Your adventures always go akimbo when you over-ride your sensitivity, so life is now going to give you an object lesson in sensitivity. This once you must surrender.
TAURUS (Apr 21 – May 20)
Communication is the most important thing in the world. The problem is, with Mercury moving into Pisces, when we try to talk, all that happens is we end up blowing bubbles. You are body focussed, hence highly skilled in the art of non-verbal communication. Share what you know.
GEMINI (May 21 – June 21)
As Mercury moves into Pisces, where he joins up with four other planets and an asteroid, the sharp edges are going to be taken away from the art of communication. You can forget crystal clarity for a month. It’s not going to be there. Dive into the world of poetry, deep feeling and imagination.
CANCER (June 22 – July 22)
You are presently obsessed with how to be yourself; original, unabashed and unbeholden to anybody else’s vision of how you should be. This is an appropriate obsession. With five planets and an asteroid moving through Pisces, there is support for feeling, imagination and silence.
LEO (July 23 – Aug 22)
As long as you keep your head down and focus on what you need to do in the immediate moment, you will benefit from an increase in skill level. It doesn’t matter what you do. Over-think things, or imagine you are ready to parade your new work on the open stage, and you’ll veer off track.
VIRGO (Aug 23 – Sept 22)
As five planets and an asteroid cruise through the vast mysterious depths of Pisces, you have got your work cut out for you – particularly in relationships. Nothing is going to make a lot of sense unless you put aside all that you know and listen carefully. Give others the space to speak.
LIBRA (Sept 23 – Oct 23)
This is a good time to contemplate regeneration. Notice how nature keeps rekindling the life force. Changes are afoot. They are not loud shifts. They are changes moving by the grace of deep, silent, hidden currents. Listen to the knowledge you harbour in your belly. Give your head a break.
SCORPIO (Oct 24 – Nov 21)
As the Sun moves into Pisces early in the week, so you feel like you are once again on the right track. Jupiter has been doing a lot of work to rearrange your inner and outer worlds, giving you more of a sense of space and possibility. Optimism, briefly forgotten, is being returned to you.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22 – Dec 21)
Mars has shifted into a particularly active and impulsive part of Sagittarius. This is tricky, as pretty much every second other planet is presently floating in the immovable depths of Pisces. As much as you would like to move things along, to move the ocean is impossible. Know your limits.
CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 19)
With so much planetary activity in Pisces right now, this is a good week to exercise your capacity for patience and endurance. Pisces is the ocean. The ocean can’t be manipulated. One has to wait – and attune oneself to its ebbs and flows. You can do this. This skill will now serve you well.
AQUARIUS (Jan 20 – Feb 18)
The Sun and Mercury are slowly slipping out of Aquarius. Their effect is diminishing. Life is just a little less phrenetic. There is a smidgen less emphasis on you having to show your wares. Don’t push against what is. This is cooling off time, so let yourself cool off. You have nothing to prove.
PISCES (Feb 19 – Mar 20)
The Sun and Mercury arrive in Pisces early this week. They join Venus, Neptune, Chiron and the Moon. There’s no chance with all these visitors that you will be able to slip along under the surface, unseen. Rise to circumstance. Proudly show off your face, your insight and your deep love.
THERE aren’t many homes that can boast a fireplace in the bathroom and a library in the attic, but then this beauty in Inglewood isn’t your run-of-the-mill house.
More than 100 years old, it’s a gorgeous time capsule of a bygone era, while still catering for all the needs of a modern family.
In a nod to the days of horse and carts, cobblestone paving leads to a sheltered verandah; all tucked behind a cute white picket fence and rambling rose garden.
Two of the four bedrooms overlook the street and have a fireplace and sash window.
A spacious central bathroom was perhaps a formal lounge in a former life, but now it has a fireplace, with a vanity either side, a deep claw-foot bath, and a separate shower.
This Tenth Avenue home has splendid heritage features throughout, including jarrah floors, deep skirting, ceiling roses, fireplaces and lovely stained glass, in and around the front door.
Even in the huge extension, which is throughly modern, there are surreptitious nods to the 19th century, like the banks of french doors that lead to the garden and pool.
There’s nothing old fashioned about the kitchen, a generous space with a huge stone-topped island breakfast bar, a heap of soft close drawers, walk-in-pantry and an appliance cupboard so big it has bifold doors.
The owner is a landscape architect and the garden is a delight with raised limestone beds, grass, mature trees and sweet smelling frangipanis, along with pleasant nooks for relaxing with a coffee and a book.
The main bedroom is on the second level, where a massive bookshelf takes up the entire wall of a generous sitting room, which includes a ladder to access books at the summit.
Open the shutters on the french doors in the bedroom, with its spacious walk-in-robe and en suite with spa, and you’re looking out across the garden and pool.
A nearby study has a window in the sloping ceiling, and a door leading to storage space under the home’s eaves.
This gorgeous home is close to the Beaufort Street cafe strip, Mt Lawley Senior High School, Edith Cowan University and the prestigious Perth College.
76 Tenth Avenue, Inglewood
Expressions of interest
Natalie Hoye
0405 812 273
Acton Mt Lawley
9272 2488
IN an Australian first, Bayswater locals can now plant their own food on council parks.
“No local government has ventured into this realm before,” says councillor Chris Cornish about the council’s new edible pocket garden policy.
In March 2015 he floated the idea of letting residents grow veggies on their verges and to expand the concept to include local parks.
The urban food movement gathered steam, and last August prominent gardeners came from across Australia for a presentation on the issue.
At the event, Bayswater resident Greg Smith revealed he was the unofficial warden behind the Rose Avenue garden, where he and helpers had surreptitiously planted lemon trees, guava, fig, chillies and other fruits and veg, over 15 years.
At the January 24 council meeting, Cr Cornish said “no local government has ventured into this realm before.
“But the people have—Rose Avenue, Margaret Reserve, Gobba Lake to name a few”.
Australian first
He said others have approached the city wanting to plant their own food producing gardens.
He says it’s not a carte blanche policy (so you’re not allowed to plough an entire public park for a corn crop, or graze your goat herd on Frank Drago reserve) but the approval process is meant to be simple: call the council officers to get the green thumbs up, and possibly a site-visit if needed to chat about planting options.
Cr Cornish says city staffers Doug Pearson and Jeremy Maher have done a great job getting the policy together, despite initial resistance from the city’s risk-averse insurers, which were nervous about the idea.
He says initially “the insurers viewed any non-city employee working in the park as being a volunteer, and that opened up a can of worms such as attending an annual training workshop, a site risk assessment, a log of the day and times on site, etcetera”.
But a rejigging of the policy and a little more negotiation with the insurers means the public gardening will be considered a “recreational” activity, treated no differently than kicking a footy at the park.
For any Baysy residents wanting to plant up their local park, the guidelines are posted at http://www.bayswater.wa.gov.au/trees/edible-pocket-gardens
by DAVID BELL
A CREEK, a young adult playground, and basketball and tennis courts are all on the cards for an upgraded Wellington Square.
The huge chunk of land in East Perth is sorely under-utilised—aside from a few people sleeping in the park or the occasional game of lunch-time soccer—and for decades the park’s been plagued by rowdiness and violence, with trouble at the park even reported in newspapers more than 100 years ago.
The draft masterplan, approved by Perth city councillors late last year, aims to revitalise the park, and they want ideas from the public.
“This is an opportunity for anyone who has a connection to Wellington Square or wants to shape its future to contribute to its revitalisation,” Perth council CEO Martin Mileham said.
“Whether you live near Wellington Square, own a business adjacent to the park, walk or cycle through it on your way to work or just enjoy the connection to nature it provides, I would encourage you to get involved.”
The park has a long cultural history, hosting the first official Australian Rules football game in WA in 1885.
Revitalise
It’s also a significant site for the Whadjuk Noongar people, and traditional owners have been brought in to consult on the plan.
A cultural heritage assessment by Moodjar Consultancy revealed it was once a resource-rich wetland, and has long been used as a camping place by Noongar people, though many of the Aboriginal people camping there today come from regional areas, and stay there while receiving medical treatment in Perth.
The area is associated with the creation of the world for Whadjuk people, and was one of the spots the legendary Waugyl snake carried out its task in the nyittiny (cold times), making the streams and waterways with its movements.
The report says there is also “unconfirmed evidence of the use of the area as a place of burial for Noongar”.
This story dates back to 1942 when a council employee was digging a slit trench and found human remains, said to be of “a male aboriginal (sic), very old, height about 5’ and had been buried in a well-drained area, having been there for a considerable period”.
The report, by Whadjuk Noongar Len Collard, Whadjuk/Balardong Noongar Sandra Harben, and cultural heritage consultant Jo Thompson, recommended that any upgrades “do not disrupt the continuity of the role of Wellington Square as a meeting and camping place for Aboriginal people, families and community, nor negatively impact Wellington Square’s ‘sense of belonging’ for Aboriginal people”. The draft plan’s up for consultation at http://www.engage.perth.wa.gov.au until February 16, and a final plan is expected to be voted on by Perth council in the middle of the year.
by DAVID BELL
IN the wake of Perth council announcing it will upgrade Wellington Square, two people have been hospitalised after a fight in the East Perth park on Tuesday afternoon.
Witnesses on the scene described an alleged “stabbing”.
Police report they were called to Wellington Square around 2.05pm, after reports of two women fighting.
“Police located the women, both in their 30s with laceration injuries,” police media liaison Susan Usher said.
“One was taken to Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and the other to Royal Perth Hospital.”
At the time of going to print, “inquiries are continuing”.
THE Australian Medical Association says it’s “bitterly disappointed” WA’s health department has let smoking outside Royal Perth and Sir Charles Gairdner hospitals get out of control.
Each day dozens of smokers haunt the public areas just outside the main entrances, putting the health of other patients and staff at risk.
“The issue has been brought up numerous times in the past by the AMA, to both the director general of health and the health minister for both Liberal and Labor governments, to no avail,” AMA (WA) vice president Mark Duncan-Smith told the Voice.
“We know that children exposed to second-hand smoke are at an increased risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), acute respiratory infections, ear problems, and more severe asthma.
“There needs to be a change in how this problem is handled—it is completely unacceptable that sick patients and hospital staff are forced to walk through clouds of smoke to enter the hospital.”
“The state government needs to act on this—get tough on smokers with on-the-spot fines and ensure that security staff are properly policing this problem,” Dr Duncan-Smith said.
Severe asthma
It’s no better at the department’s new flagship hospital in the southern suburbs, Fiona Stanley.
Software developer David Clark spent a couple of weeks in and out of FSH late last year following the unexpectedly early arrival of his second child and says steering his young daughter through the thick fug of smoke was a daily torment.
“I don’t understand why Fiona Stanley campus security don’t do anything about it, or seem not to,” says Mr Clark, who was back there recently with a broken finger.
He says smoking at a bus stop near the entrance was so bad that after antenatal checkups his wife had to wait nearly 50 metres away and then run, daughter in tow, when the bus appeared.
Cleaners at the hospital can’t keep up or have given up, with thousands upon thousands of butts littering a nearby garden bed—just a metre from a bin warning people smoking’s not allowed anywhere on campus.
The health department’s media coordinator Elise Holder sent through a statement saying no-smoking signage had been bumped up around campus while patients were offered nicotine replacement therapy.
“Cigarette butt disposal bins have also been installed … to encourage smokers to extinguish cigarettes before entering the site,” the statement said.
It said further strategies are being investigated and said people concerned about smokers could call a hospital’s help desk.
The AMA says it should be up to the authorities, not the public, to deal with the problem, pointing to the death of Melbourne surgeon Patrick Pritzwald-Stegmann last year who was allegedly assaulted after confronting a smoker outside the Box Hill Hospital.
by STEVE GRANT
Perth Voice Interactive 