HOT: Macro Wholefoods, 153 Bridge Road, Richmond

Ladies and Gentlemen, witness the demise of Victoria's largest natural and organic store.

Macro Wholefoods opened in Richmond with much fanfare in 2005. However, it seems that even the chi-chi, health-aware foodies of Melbourne don't shop there, so it's holding a closing down sale until 21 June.

To be honest, I'm not surprised. Firstly, I've noticed that Australia seems to be quite behind the UK and Europe in terms of the availability of and demand for organic food. The widest range of organic produce in Melbourne is available at Queen Victoria Market, which contains only three organic produce stalls and one organic butcher. Walk into any supermarket in the UK and you'll find an organic version of pretty much every fresh product. Further, on my return from London, I was shocked to discover that in Australia the prices for organic food are regularly double or even triple the prices of non-organic food. Sadly, that means I can't afford to buy organic meat anymore (opting for free range and hoping for the best) and I rarely buy organic fruit and vegetables unless they are wildly fresh and are to be eaten solo ie I wouldn't use organic potatoes to thicken a soup.

The added difficulty with Macro's business model was that its products (not all of it organic) were generally even more expensive than the stalls at the fresh food markets, the health stores, the bulk food co-ops and the national supermarkets.

However, a week before closing, it was Everything Must Go! I snaffled:

• Macro's organic honey 500g $4.99
• Macro's organic tomato sauce $3.99
• Macro's insecticide free sunflower kernels 500g $5.99
• Herbs of Gold Cold & Flu Defence 30 tablets $13.50
  
• several jars of jams and Louisiana Cajun sauce from Yackandandah Jam & Preserving Company

Two days before closing the shelves had been stripped absolutely bare except for a few lonely bulk items on trestle table. I loaded my panniers with walnuts (walnut meringe cake), cashews (stir fry), almonds (couscous), linseeds (muesli) and pine nuts (pasta). We will be eating a lot of nuts in the next few months!

HOT: Pacific Seafood BBQ House, 240 Victoria St, Richmond 3121

The original Pacific House is the dingier older sister of my previous local Chinese, Pacific House in South Yarra. As its name suggests, the Cantonese restaurant is best for two things - seafood and Chinese BBQ. We ordered a delicious BBQ duck rice, an ok char kwey tiu with too many onions and an enormous mound of snow pea sprouts stir-fried in garlic. All good until our plan for a cheap Chinese meal was unexpectedly derailed - the snow pea sprouts cost $17, almost as much as our other two dishes combined!

HOT: IKEA, Victoria Gardens Shopping Centre, Cnr Victoria St and Burnley St, Richmond, 3121

So it's Easter long weekend, what are your plans? Facebook tells me that 'Jane is going to Paris', 'Michael is heading to Munchen', 'Ev is eating mochi in Japan' 'Caroline is getting ready for Stockholm' and 'Isabelle is in the Alps'.

And Jetsetting Joyce? She is going to IKEA. I've officially checked out of Life.

Being unemployed means that this is my third trip to IKEA in a week - but only because I wanted to lay the groundwork for RM's visit so he wouldn't have to deal with my in-depth specification, colour, style and price analyses. By my third visit I could just say 'what do you think of that' 'NO' 'and that?' 'NO' 'what about this?' 'YES'. It made for a remarkably argument-free furniture shopping first date.

IKEA does have some cheap, good stuff if you're setting up home. Like the Malm headboard, the Norden gateleg table, Solsta sofabed, Expedit TV unit, Lamplig chopping board and Idealisk colander. Unfortunately, it seems that everyone else wants to set up their home to look just like ours, as almost 50% of what we liked wasn't available by the time we got to the self-service section. Humph. Guess it'll be a fourth trip to IKEA then.

HOT: Pho Dzung Tan Dinh, 208 Victoria St, Richmond 3121

Victoria Street is Melbourne's mini-Vietnam, which means the strip from Hoddle St to Church St is lined with numerous pho (sliced beef noodle soup) restaurants, all propounding to sell the best bowl in town. Selecting a restaurant can be a bit daunting for the uninitiated - life's too short to be eating bad pho.

The only place I recommend is Pho Dzung Tan Dinh, otherwise known as Laughing Cow, Laughing Chicken. This sticky, white tiled restaurant has my parents' approval, my Chilean friend Oscar enjoyed it and more importantly, my Vietnamese friends Huy and Jenny rate it for being tasty and authentic. On a Wednesday afternoon, it was filled with a brisk trade of Asians (always a good sign) and gweilo in the know, all ferociously slurping up bowls of steaming noodles piled with fresh mint, bean sprouts and chilli for under $10. If your budget can push over $10, give the 3 and 4 colour bean drink a try too.

HOT: Stelios, above 54 Bridge Rd, Richmond 3121

Long ago when I first moved to Melbourne, I asked my flatmate whether she could recommend a hairdresser. She immediately launched into an enthusiastic PR spiel for her hairdresser, known as Stelios (only one name required, like Madonna). My haircuts gained such widespread acclaim that at one stage literally ten of my friends were getting their hair cut by him - including the infamous Huy virgin-headshave, which launched the beginning of many bald man smouldering photos.

After being away from Melbourne for two years, I was relieved to discover that Stelios was still working. His salon sits above the Biba salon in Richmond - there's no sign and he doesn't advertise, as his loyal clientele keep him busy enough. My visit was the same as usual - vibrating massage chair for the hairwash, organic hair products, minimal conversation (as I like to use the time to catch up on my trashy magazine reading), careful snipping and shaping, ending with a ruffle of Sebastian clay for that bed-hair look. $75.