As I sit here contemplating the fact that one hour of walking around the lake this morning without sunscreen turned me into a human candy cane (bright pink – blindingly white – bright pink – blindingly white), and as I distract myself from the prickly burningness by eating ice cream made from frozen bananas, I find myself deciding the following:
It’s time for another Glimpses of Canberra post. It’s been a year since the first Glimpse, nine months since the Fairytale Edition, and four months since the restaurant-focused one. Today, I give you the Dessert and Batty Birds Edition. Enjoy.
In Canberra, we have something that many capital cities in the world don’t: lots of space for wandering. See also: roundabouts and The Six Degrees of Canberra Bacon.
Bonus Hannah Fact: I celebrated my shared-tenth birthday with my best friend in the revolving restaurant of Black Mountain Tower, as shown in the photo above. Our meals came with edible flowers which we put on the windowsill; by the time we left that night, our flowers had gone a third of the way around the restaurant. This made us happy.
In Canberra, Lake Burley Griffin is home to many (near-)nuclear families of Black Swans, the downy cygnets of which are very tempting to pick up and cuddle.
However, keep in mind that Black Swans can be nasty little blighters capable of chasing you all over Weston Park if you threaten their babies. Also keep in mind that they have terrifying orange demon eyes. You may decide that the cuddling isn’t worth it.
In Canberra, we have a wonderful bakery called Silo which is known far and wide for its dessert delights, including this blackcurrant, cabernet, and mint tart with a shatteringly crisp and delicious pastry base (yes, Lizzi, I thought of you). However, I’m going to ignore the thing behind the tart, because it was soggy and raisin-infested and I warned Andrew, I warned him, not to get it. Next time, he’ll know to listen to me. Won’t you, Andrew?
Oh, puppy. I love you so much it hurts sometimes.
In Canberra, bouquets are made of Ferrero Rochers rather than roses and, if you’re lucky, you’ll find one of your jazziest friends hiding behind such a bouquet.
In Canberra, not all cheesecake is devastatingly bad. Some of Canberra’s cheesecake is rather exciting, splendiferously rich, and not-too-sweet, such as this Green Tea and Marscapone slice from Iori.
In fact, Iori is quite stellar in the dessert stakes, as this plate of deliciously-nutty-and-swoon-worthy black sesame ice cream shows. (And yes, you two, I know what you’re thinking about the presentation. Stop giggling.)
In Canberra, a girl and her brother can interrupt an entire restaurant to perform two songs for their grandparents on their 60th wedding anniversary (I still have to tell you about that dinner, don’t I?), without being booed even a little bit.
And, in Canberra, our birds truly are insane.
Question Time: I might open this up to you today. Is there anything you’d like to ask me about Canberra? Go on; hit me. I’ll do my best to answer.
What happened to the pollies and which restaurant or pub do they normally get smashed in?
Is “don’t know don’t care” an appropriate response?
Though I did once see Mark Latham at The Ottoman, prior to his fall from grace. Apparently they also like Portia’s Place, but I’ve never been.
Hah, that ice cream and stick cookie layout truly is great. I’d get territorial and aggressive over that bizness.
I don’t know how I’ve stayed away from Canberra as long as I have, it’s just so damn enticing. Between lots of space, pups in cones, and gradated fat men on stairs, there’s really everything that anyone could want in this town.
Oooh ooh but when I was at my conference the other week, there was a man from Canberra, so I learned how to pronounce it:) Now it’s like I’m there, right? Although I realize I’ve forgotten how already.
The correct English pronunciation of Canberra is just how you would expect. Can-ber-ra. However, if you want to say it sounding Australian, it’s more Caan-bra.
Ahh yes, that’s how it was. As it were. As you do.
We-hell, someone’s pre-empted me at my most favourite past-time: pronunciation. I’m feeling a bit miffed right now, to be honest.
So I’m going to respond anyway, because I really need to emphasise that it’s not, as 130% of Americans always say, “Can-BEAR-a”. Definitely always “Can-brah”. And, while we’re on the subject, Melbourne is “Mel-bun” more than “Mel-Bourne [Identity]“.
Darling, I would’ve shared the black sesame ice cream with you, so you sure as heck better be prepared to share such delights with me next year! And yay for seeing as Canberra as enticing! Canberra likes you right back
P.S. So tempted to ask who the Canberran you met was. I bet I could find a connection with him!
We-hell we-hell we-hell. I knew the trick with the Melbourne shenanigans, I did. I looked up the dude in my program booklet, and I guess he’s perphaps from NZ, I don’t know. But he definitely talked about can, brah, because I perked up and loudly said “THAT’S WHERE BLOGGER FRIEND HANNAH LIVES, WEEEEEHOOOOOOOOOO” in a hushed room of hundreds. And by loudly I mean in an excited whisper. His name is John Bain, and he is a forest entomologist. Weeehooooo. Probably hard to find a connection to a non-native?
Share delights with me!:)
Then you, my dear, are a very unique American indeed
Even my best friends at UVA would revert to Can-bear-a and Mel-booooooooooourne if I left them to their own devices for any period of time 
Oh my gosh, did you actually say that? That has made my afternoon, WEEEEHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Alas, a non-native scientist is not like in my pan of Canberra Bacon.
how sweet of you to sing for ur grandparents! I will never have the courage to do that in front of an audience ;(
Turns out that June performance was good practice for my solo at the Moruya Jazz Festival last month!
I can’t think of any Canberra-specific questions right now – am still rendered mute by the colour of the cheesecake!
It’s the Kermit of Cheesecakes!
I spent a whole 15 minutes at the bus station in Canberra so I think I know the city relatively well:) I didn’t come across those green cheesecakes or the brother and sister music band doing live free performances!
You’re pretty much the expert on Canberra, totally.
Next time you come, I’ll try to bring the cheesecake to the bus station for you!
All of those desserts looks delicious!
Superbly-so!
I’m with Kath and still boggled by the cheesecake. I’m really not sold on the whole green tea dessert thing. I had some of the best examples of the trend in Paris last year, and it was a huge struggle to finish them. I find them unpalatable and cloying. Glad someone likes them. Silo is of course fabulous and we usually darken their doors on any Canberra visit. I haven’t had the raisin infested thing either- too many fabulous lemon or rhubarb or berry things to eat instead. Rabid magpies are one thing, but how cute are the baby swans?
If all our tastes were the same, life would be very boring indeed! I’ll eat your green tea and coffee flavoured desserts, and you can have anything flavoured with alcohol or orange
Would you believe that was the first time in my life I’d been to Silo? I tried to push Andrew towards the caramel and banana tart or the lemon-y ones, but he went for the stupid raisin one. Men.
I think these were teenager swans, actually! The kind that almost should have moved out of home by now
Oh Louise — Green tea and Coffee are the best flavours going. Or perhaps you’d prefer Black Olive Cheesecake!? Now THAT’d be up your alley.
OH MY GOD SOMEBODY MAKE ME (and Louise, if she’s keen) A BLACK OLIVE CHEESECAKE!
That would be incredible. After all, Vosges makes an olive white chocolate bar.
Nope, I don’t think Louise would be keen … that was my little dig at the things she, a gourmet, doesn’t like! (Like coffee!)
I’m still in. In other words, you’ve created a monster.
What a fun post. I learned about Canberra and am now hungry for cheesecake
That sounds like a pretty good response to me
Teehee. You read my mind.
You look SO BEAUTY-QUEEN-GORGEOUS in that photo with your brother!
I would say it’s the power of the talisman, but really I think it’s just the power of our awesome meant-to-be friendship
xo
Aw, Amber! *hides face in hands*
P.S. I’d like to thank my mum, and my dad, and…
Well, here is Canberra’s best kept secret. If you do go for an early morning walk around our city lake you may be lucky enough to get a brief glimpse of our very attractive, long legged, pink throated, choco holic bird. And if you listen very carefully you will hear that bird humming “I Believe I Can Fly”. It is enough to make your heart soar like an eagle.
Oh, Mike! You’re just pretty much the most dapper charming fellow, aren’t you? We’ll have to figure out what kind of bird would be likely to duet with this feathered chocoholic
Though I don’t think I’ve ever truly hummed “I Believe I Can Fly”. I’ve been on a Les Miserables kick lately though!
A duet would be great. Now let me think. I could be a strawberry finch – but maybe the choco holic doesn’t like strawberries as much as blueberries? So would choco be happy if I was a Hippolais polyglotta? (otherwise known as a melodious warbler).
I prefer my chocolate with peanut butter rather than fruit, so let’s go with the melodious warbler. I’ll miss you lot tomorrow!
Ahh Canberra. I’m sure it started my fear of birds. I will never forget walking around my suburb of Pearce, and having maggies swoop on Chucky and I!!!!! Still get shivers thinking about it!!!!
Loved Silo bakery
Oh you poor thing! Those darn swooping magpies! I’ve never been targeted myself, but I do understand why so many Canberrans have a billion spikes protruding from their bike helmets
P.S. Come back!
Oh dear lordy, that last point is not funny. Birds are terrifying! I love the term “Jazziest” friend, good work
Silo sounds like a dream! I have no Canberra questions, Ive been a few times so I feel I know it is not such a strange place. It just has scary aggressive birds.
Heidi xo
Teehee! I never knew how many people were truly scared of birds until I started this blog! Were you around for this post? Truly insane…
You’re one of my jazzy friends too, promise!
Lovely photography … and I LOVE banana ice cream!
Thank you Lisa!
NO! The thing behind the tart is my ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE. MY FAVOURITEEEEEEEEE. CUSTARD AND BUTTER AND GOOEY AND PLUMP FAT EXPLODEY SULTANAS.
Oh dear lord, please say you’re joking. How can we have come so far in our beautiful synchronicitous friendship and then discover this absolutely impassable river of icky squoodgy soggy bread-like raisin-y creations?!
Hold me, Lizzi. I need to believe we can get through this.
Aw you and your brother have the same smile
My brother once interrupted a whole restaurant of diners to put on a show – singing some weird patriotic songs, but we were far younger and way less cute. haha.
I’m not sure if I’ve got any Canberra questions…
Aw, thank you!! We’ve never really looked alike so I love hearing that
Oh, and I bet you were far MORE cute, particularly if you were younger! We should have known better 
Such a lovely post on Canberra! Puts a smile on my face from someone in Canberra.
YAY!! I’m so relieved to have done Canberra justice
you did *not* warn me.
and i’ve been compromised!
Excuse me Mister Mister, I totally did! I was ooh-ing and aah-ing over pretty much everything in the pastry case *except* this, and I used my most special apathetic voice when you pointed to the swirly thing. So there.
P.S. How compromised, though? Because I’ve cast aspersions on your dessert-picking abilities?
I recognise this; it’s the Hannah-has-had-a-chance-to-get-photos-off-of-her-phone-and-is-making-the-most-of-it blog edition.
They’re great photos!
“Not-too-sweet” is an understatement for that green tea cheese cake from Iori. In my mouth, it tasted so very bitter. I tried my best to find appreciation of it… but no, I guess it’s just not for me.
What’s happened to your puppy-bear??
That was my original title, but it looked too long when I previewed the post
Teehee! At least your lack of liking meant more cheesecake for me! (We shan’t talk about the jarred stir-fry sauce appreciation right now
)
Puppy-bear got clipped by the dad-bear. Alas!
You might have put me off with the bird side of things
I am terribly prone to being swooped. Sometimes I think I’m just in their flight path, but the experience is equally horrifying. I’m not so paranoid I sometimes imagine wings flashing over my head when the bird is miles up in the air…but then again the suburbs near me are pretty bad so perhaps Canberra is no worse.
Birds aside, I love this post! Desserts included
You’ll be right as long as you’re with me, Kari, as I’ve never been swooped. *knock on wood* However, your talk of imagining being swooped sounds exactly like me imagining spiders crawling on me. (AAAAAAH!!!! … Nope, just my hair. AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! … Nope, just my hair.)
Thanks, my dear!
Teehee, I’m glad you grabbed the gist of my experience (they do sound remarkably similar to your spider imaginings!), despite my erroneous writing of ‘not so paranoid’ instead of ‘now so paranoid’!
I didn’t even see the typo; that’s how in sync we are
Ahhh, sunburn after walking around the lake – I’ve had that a few times myself!
Loved the post, but I have to say Silo has kind of faded for me since I discovered The Flute Bakery. Still it is open on the weekend and Flute is not so it has its own delicious place.
I actually went to Flute before I ever went to Silo; and I agree that it’s magnificent. I think what’s stopping more people from accepting that Flute is better is its stupid far-off location!
Stupid far-off location – yes. And what about the insane opening times and the ridiculous cash only policy. I sometimes wonder if their stuff tastes so good because it is such a pain to get.
But in Flute’s favour, it is nearby that amazing vintage/secondhand clothing shop…
1. Why is there no ocean?
2. How did the massive yellow thing at the National Museum get past the NCA ‘burley griffen’s vision’ planning approval people?
3. When are you going to buy yourself à parasol, missy?
xx
1. Because we don’t need no stinkin’ work of nature! We’ll build our own humongous basin of water, darnit! Who cares if its algae-infested and there are no whales? We made it! So there.
2. Because they knew it would make a lovely backdrop for both my Year 10 and Year 12 School Formals, that’s why.
3. When you help me find one as magical as yours, missy. (I’m so good at answers tonight, aren’t I?)
I have seen the magpies become territorial and aggressive. And it was quite entertaining
(And I’m not talking about Collingwood- boo)
Bahahaha! Oh my, I’m Australian born-and-bred and I would never have known that Collingwood are the Magpies. I can’t even tell you which ball-kicky sport they’re affiliated with. You really do need to move here properly, lady!
For some reason that sign about the birds made me laugh really hard! Territorial and aggressive… sounds like my own bird
I’m so glad you did, because I giggled so much when I first saw it.
P.S. I want a pet bird!
Hehe now I had no idea that your birds were insane enough to get warning on sugar canisters! Now if they could somehow get the sugar out, that would be quite the trick!
I bet they can simply with the power of their collective bird-brains.
Wow, I think I just scared myself a little bit.
I love your blog Hannah! Very curious to hear more about Canberra and crazy food. I’ve fallen for your vegan slice recipe and today will be hunting down an avocado. Amazing!
Oh gosh, thank you so much Catherine
Are you talking about the raw vegan brownie slice? If so, I hope you love it! It’s rather incredible 
Yes that’s the one! It is nothing less than inspiring and I am assembling my ingredients – today I bought a rock-hard avocado and some carob powder in town. Country Italian supermarkets don’t have such things! Now waiting for avocado..
Oh, you’re going straight for the carob version? Brave woman. I like you already
Fingers crossed that avocado listens to you and ripens asap!
P.S. Oh, Italy! My heart.
Still waiting for the poor far-from-home avocado..
Let me know if you ever pop over!
Oh, I will. How I wish I could! It’s been 19 months since I was in Florence. Sadface!
Viper gets attacked by magpies on his cycle to work… he’s so scared of them, it’s kind of cute. He’s put all these spikes over his bike helmet, geek. I did go to Canberra once, but can’t really remember. All I know is you can buy porn and fireworks. woooooooot.
You forgot politicians. Porn, fireworks, and politicians: the stereotype trifecta
Teehee, so many people here wear those spiky helmets! They look so silly
Rigorous *cough* scientific testing, at the CSIRO Black Mountain Labs, has shown that spiky helmets have no effect on magpie swooping:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wHreVKgOT4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ES_n4DgJDHs
Alas, no time or internet capacity to watch videos during 13.5 hour work days! But I trust they are amusing.
I’m not usually a fan of cheesecake but daaayem, that green tea and mascarpone cheesecake looks simply divine!
As for my Canberra question, are there many good-looking guys in Canberra, not including your brother? :p
Well, my brother’s actually in Melbourne…
And yes, I think we do okay in those stakes 
ugh magpies. my nemeses….that is all
Teehee! I was worried, writing this, that it might turn you off my blog forever
Note to self : avoid magpies… haha!
What you really need to hope is that they avoid you
my questions about canberra – do they deliver those chocolate bouquets interstate and why didn’t I go to the revolving restaurant while I was there ????
love them glimpses – you have a lovely city that is often undervalued!
Thank you Johanna! I love knowing that you’ve also always got Canberra’s back
*hugs*
Personally, I’d always rather go to Urban Pantry than the revolving restaurant, particularly at dessert time! And I’m sure Melbourne has chocolate bouquet people too
The first thing that came into my head when I saw that gloriously arranged ice-cream was POPPYCOCK!! LOL… errm… Angle Babe, question for you… Where would be the best rake sway places be that we rake sway and can sing Disney songs together all night?
Darling fried, I think the answer is anywhere that I am. Are you jesalos of Canberra yet? Also, I always think POPPYCOCK!! when I see your blog posts. It’s one of the things that makes our friendship truly amazing.
P.S. Miss you! *hugs*
Fund adventures! And I love banana ice cream!!
Thanks Ashlea
Oh gosh… typing to fast… meant to say fun!
Hey, I’d be perfectly happy for you to fund my adventures!
HA hahahahah that magpie “public service announcement” cracks me up!
It’s all fun and games until somebody loses an eye!