A Sydney Foodie

Moving

2010-04-28T05:23:00.000-07:00

After several years of blogging on blogspot.com, I have decided to move houses to - sydfoodie.wordpress.com. Why? Well, the main bugbear at the moment is that it throws up huge errors when browsing with my small web browsing device. So see you over at my new digs soon!

Recipe: Imam bayildi (Stuffed Eggplants)

2010-04-16T04:40:00.000-07:00

Harvest time!

I had been planning on making eggplant moussaka, but discovered upon arriving home that I didn't actually have a recipe at hand. No matter - stephanie offered this recipe:

3 eggplants, halved lengthwise
1 large onion, finely sliced
1/2 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 large ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped (I used a can, rather than fresh)
1 bay leaf
pinch of ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley
salt
freshly ground black pepper
juice of 1 large lemon

Scoop out eggplant flesh, then chop and lightly salt and set aside. Lightly salt eggplant shells and leave upside down for 30mins. Rinse and dry shells.
Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Cook onion slowly in 2 tbsp of oil. Add garlic and saute for 1 min, then add tomato, bay leaf, cinnamon, parsley and cook for another 5 mins. Tip into bowl. Rinse and dry eggplant flesh. Heat 3 tbsp oil and saute eggplant, then mix.
Pile filling into eggplant shells and brush with a little oil. Pack shells into an oiled baking or gratin dish. Pour in enough water mixed with lemon juice and remaining oil to barely cover eggplant. Bake for 30-45 mins until soft. Allow to cool and serve at room temperature or cold.

I halved the recipe, since I was only cooking for two.

First up: Let's start with the fresh harvest from the garden:
The eggplants were a bit seedy, I guess I had left them to grow for a bit too long. Cutting the flesh out and cubing it was quite easy. The silverbeet is my parsley substitute.

So here we have the filled eggplant shells heading into the oven. Already they look quite delicious!

40 minutes later, I couldn't wait for them to cool to room temperature, so I ate them after 5 minutes resting. In the introduction, Stephanie says: "Folklore claims that a Turkish priest, the imam, fainted with pleasure on being served this dish by his wife."

I can see why: such simple ingredients, but it takes on an added dimension with the ordinarily plain eggplant melding everything together and making it oh so moreish!
There were no leftovers.

Sustainable Food Fair in Western Sydney: Go!

2010-04-10T03:16:00.000-07:00

Blacktown Council is hosting a sustainable food fair next week 18 April 2010. Go. No really, just go. Please. Help support cool food stuff happening in Western Sydney, so there can be many more events like this in future.

I quote:

The fair will include a Farmers Market where residents can purchase from a range of fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables, meat and baked goods.

The day will also have activities for the kids, environmental stalls and advice, food plant giveaways, and a free organic barbeque for the first 300 people.

It'll be at Grantham Park Seven Hills, which google maps tells me is here:

View Larger Map
, and there will be a free bus every 30 minutes from 1000 - 1330 hours from the Blacktown Civic Centre if you are a true sustainable public transport hippy, and you catch the train to Blacktown first.

I think you are supposed to book a spot on the shuttle and the number is (02) 9839 6582.

I'll be there, will you?

Recipe: Braised Duck with Orange and Pearl Barley

2010-03-31T03:47:00.000-07:00

I bought a few months* ago some duck fillets from Pepe’s ducks. After nearly fainting at the price ($26 for 4 fillets) I tried roasting a pair, and was very disappointed at the result, not having managed to ‘burn off’ the fat underneath the skin. The remaining two were then stored in the freezer for another day.

Then I saw this recipe in the weekend paper:

Braised Duck with Orange and Pearl Barley (Sun Herald "Sunday Life" Magazine, Karen Martini 17/3/2010)
10 blood plums, split and pitted
1 tbsp raw sugar
200ml verjuice
400g peeled and cooked chestnuts (vacuum-sealed)
3 star anise
2 oranges, zested and juiced
sea salt and cracked black pepper
130g fine pearl barley
50mL extra virgin olive oil
6 duck marylands
2 brown onions, finely sliced
1 celery heart, finely sliced
5 sprigs thyme
1 tsp ground allspice
2 bay leaves
100mL white wine
1 1/2 litres chicken stock
Preheat oven to 165C fanforced (185C conventional). Toss plums in raw sugar and place on a baking tray with verjuice, chestnuts, star anise and orange zest. Season with slat and pepper and roast in the oven for 25 minutes. Boil pearl barley in lots of water for 10minutes, then drain and set aside. Heat oil in a large pan over a high heat. Brown duck for 4-5 minutes, season well, then remove from pan. Add onion, celery, garlic, thyme, allspice and bay leaves to pan and cook over medium heat for 10minutes. Return duck to pan, and add wine, stock and orange juice. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes. Add barley and simmer for 20 minutes or until barley is tender. Spoon plums and chestnuts over duck and simmer for another 5 minutes. Serve on a platter.

And I thought it would be a good use of the remaining duck fillets.

It didn’t begin well.

I didn’t make it to my favourite grocer on time, had to make do with a supermarket, so I was missing blood plums and chestnuts. I substituted purple skinned plums, and a ‘low cholesterol’ nut mix of walnuts, cashews, almonds, pepitas and sunflower seeds. I didn't have allspice, so some freshly ground cinnamon was used instead.

I pan fried the duck fillets on high heat for the 4-5 minutes, managed to fill the kitchen full of smoke, and cover the stove with bits of splattered fat. I had to evacuate the pan to outside to cool off, wipe down the stove, and then in order to distract the smoke alarm and the mozzies: turn off the light, open the screen door, and run around like a madman fanning the smoke with a giant newspaper.

Okay, lets keep going. I drained the exuded fat from the pan, added the other ingredients (substituting beer for wine, so that I would waste less alcohol), and tried to simmer the pot over a low heat.

The burner decided that it would join the fun, and switched itself to ‘high’, even though I had it on low.

A burnt caramel smell later, I didn’t want to start again, so I mistakenly scrapped up all the bits that had stuck to the pan, added more stock and beer, and kept going.

And the burner did it again. Add more stock and beer, wait 5 mins, then add the pearl barley. After the 20 mins of cooking, I added the roasted plums.

And the result was…. Interesting. It was such a shame I burnt the sauce, because this would’ve been a really nice dish otherwise. The duck tasted very gamey, almost liver-like in flavour. Unfortunately it was a bit tough – either because of its extended sojourn in the freezer, the random high heat input from the burner, or I had just cooked it for too long.
The pearl barley/sauce mixture was – burnt. It had some nice elements to it, but I couldn’t rescue the sauce despite much internet research. I think that the chestnuts, if I had used them, would’ve added a creamy texture to the dish. My favourite bits were the duck and the plum, so I saved those for the leftovers, and tossed the rest. I think that this would’ve gone quite well with some English spinach.

* it may have been ‘years’ ago.

Review: Din Tai Fung, World Square

2010-03-25T03:20:00.000-07:00

This place is so popular, it took me about six months before I managed to get myself organised enough to try it.

It is also quite expensive, so it is handy that the Entertainment Guide has a 20% off the bill voucher.

However, you can’t use your entertainment voucher on big-event days such as Valentines day or Christmas Day.

So, queuing on a Friday night, you are given a copy of the menu whilst waiting, and a sheet to mark up the dishes that you want, such that you can place your order as soon as you are assigned your table (similarly to Sushisuma).

You can also watch the chefs hard at work, pinching and poking the dumplings into being.
Don’t look for dumplings cooked any other way except for steamed.

The ones to try are the: xiao long biao, or steamed pork dumpling with a little soup or stock inside. Don’t burn your mouth! The trick that I have found is to put the dumpling on one of the soup spoons, and then nibble a corner of the pastry gently, such that the soup spills out into the spoon, before consuming it in two gulps. Yum! (Although, my most recent visit, I do recall this being a bit too salty for my taste).

Another popular one is the crab roe and pork dumpling. Delicate parcels topped with pink, and a rich almost gamey flavour of the roe throughout the dumpling.

The pasty is almost paper thin, and delicate. Very easy to tear, even when trying to pick up the dumpling from the steamer in your chopsticks!

The downfall in sharing a table is that you always want to reach over to your neighbours’ dish and try it out.

Last visit we saw a delicious looking fried rice with a what looked like a gooey and yummy semi-cooked egg.

on top. We tried organising for the Taiwainese fried rice, but it didn’t look the same, and was actually quite oily. Next time I see it, I will have to try use the phrase: “Wo he ta de yi yang de” (I’ll have what she’s having, in Mandarin Chinese).

Also tried:
Lychee and mint mocktail – delicious on first taste, looks wonderful, ends up being too sugary!

Green tea icecream, and Taro sweet bun. Both very nice the taro bun had an aldente pastry!
The vegetable offerings that I have sampled - Fried waterspinach with chilli and Garlic fried green beans, both I have found to be very oily. Disappointing.

So - would I go again - yes. Would I pay full price - no. These guys are a Taiwanese chain. Having spotted the xiao long biao in DTF Taipei city for the equivalent of $9 AUD, we pay twice the price in Australia for the same product. I guess the add-on comes from making the 'same' product all over the world. The DTF index, instead of the big mac index?

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Din Tai Fung
World Square Shopping Centre
Level 1, Shop 11.04, 644 George St
SydneyNSW 2000
(02) 9264 6010
Daily 11am-2.30pm, 5-10pm

Recipe: Low GI Congee (Jook)

2010-03-13T02:49:00.000-08:00

With a Chinese background, I'm always craving congee ('jook'). It's the dish most Chinese turn to when they're feeling under the weather. It's fed to babies when they first get introduced to solids. It is the ultimate comfort food.

It is, essentially rice that has been cooked down to a 'soupy' consistency.

Unfortunately, since it is made with white long grain rice, it has a high GI, and no sooner have you eaten it, then within 2 hours you get hungry again.

I have been experimenting with ways to make a low GI version: comfort food that keeps you fuller for longer.

Various themes on this work, it depends on how far you are willing to depart from the white soupy original. Servings are for 5-6 people, I eat this for breakfast.

Make up 1 1/2 cups using part or all of the following:
quinoa
rolled oats
basmati rice
pearl barely

3-4 dried shittake chinese mushrooms
stock cube (optional, for flavour. Sorry - my stock-making skills are not up to scratch).

Enough water to cover this 3 times. I have a giant thermos pot which I cook this congee in overnight. It's like a slow cooker pot, but you don't need to connect it to power.

My favourite combination is
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 basmati rice
1/2 pearl barley
tablespoon of quinoa.

It looks pretty authentic, doesn't it?

I have tried making versions with more quinoa, but unfortunately it tends to turn the congee yellow, and it tastes very 'beany'.

Oats and pearl barley work quite well as well. The oats give you a very gelatinous texture, the rice loosens it up, and the pearl barley adds texture and makes you feel wholesome whilst eating it.

Once the mix is cooked up, I pull out the mushrooms, slice them up, and then add them back in again.

Of course my downfall with this dish is eating it with traditional accompaniments - like yao jar guai (deep fried breadsticks) for dipping, and salty egg.

Review: Mamak Chinatown

2010-02-27T22:09:00.000-08:00

I have been wanting to try Mamak for ages, but it has always been too busy, and I have always found it too easy to head to the quick efficiency of Superbowl up the road. This time, I was in luck: It was an early Tuesday lunchtime, and there was no queue waiting outside.

I can't believe this place has been open since 2007! Where have I been the past few years?

It seats on rough estimate - 80 people, and the place is buzzing a happy noise of people enjoying hawker style food and good conversation.

Murtabak is a wrapped roti (Indian crepe) - I think they describe it has a hawker food, and one of their popular dishes. I got Murtabak Lamb $10.50, which contained lamb, cabbage and onions.

When it arrives, I can't help but feel a little disappointed. Because it is all wrapped up, it is hard to taste the roti on its own, and see how crispy it is. It is very eggy in flavour, with lovely nuggest of curried lamb peeking through.

I see a constant procession of the roti 'cones' (roti tisu)- served with either savoury sambals, or a scoop of icecream. Next time I'm in town, this will be on my list.

My Teh Halia (Stretched ginger tea) turns up first, it is very sweet and has an almost stewed 'tannic' flavour. It's fascinating watching the waiter pour the tea from jug to jug to give it a foamy head.
I like it. I'd love to stay for dessert, but unfortunately work calls.

Mamak
15 Goulburn Street, Chinatown, Sydney
Ph: (02) 9211 1668

Open 7 days
Lunch: 11.30am - 2.30pm
Dinner: 5.30pm - 9.30pm
Open until 2am Friday and Saturday.

Recipe: Shish Kebab Marinade

2010-02-09T00:32:00.000-08:00

Have you ever grated an onion?

I spotted this recipe in the weekend paper, had a craving, so I tried to make it.

Beef Shish Kebabs (Sun Herald, 17/1/2010, Karen Martini)
Serves 4-6 (8 kebabs)

2 brown onions, grated in a bowl with 2tbsp salt on top. Leave for 10 minutes, then strain and discard the solids.
1 tsp extra salt
4 cloves garlic
4 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp caraway seeds (I substituted Nigella seeds)
Pound the above ingredients in a mortar and pestle, then add
2 tsp sweet smoked paprika
2 tsp harissa
Juice of 2 lemons
Onion 'juice'
1/2 bunch flat leafed parsley
1 bunch coriander (it's fine without it)
Then marinate the following for 4-6 hours:
900g scotch fillet, diced (I used whole steak)
Skewer and chargrill the kebabs (steak) over high heat for 3 minutes on each side until tender & just cooked.
Serve with plain yoghurt, drizzled with a little olive oil & freshly baked flatbread.

I thought that I could get away with dicing the onion, but you don't get the amount of onion 'juice' that you need. I then tried to retro-grate the onion by using my microplane and its attachment for grating very small things, but really: just grate the darn onion from the start.

I forgot to buy harissa, so substituted Indonesian chilli sauce (Brand: Capibu Jari Jempol Sambal Asli), which worked quite well. The smoked paprika added the smoky flavour, without needing to char the meat.

I found that adding the paprika after the lemon and onion juice worked better for me; if I I squashed it using the mortar and pestle, the paprika turned paste-like and didn't meld well with the marinade

You can marinate this overnight with beef, in accordance with the instructions, or you can spike them meat with a fork and marinate it in the time it takes to warm up the bbq. The flavour isn't as intense as an overnight marinade, but if you have some of this stuff lying around, it is quite acceptable.

Delicious.

Also - (attempt no. 3) don't try to take a shortcut by not straining the onion is also a mistake. I ended up with a kind of paste that the meat didn't really absorb as a flavour.

Recipe: Toasted Museli Cookies

2010-01-28T03:43:00.000-08:00

I have a large amount of toasted muesli at the moment, which I don't like much for breakfast, so I have been trying to make biscuits out of it.

Not many people seem to suffer this problem - because all the recipes for Oat Cookies that I have been able to find involve uncooked rolled oats. *sigh*.

Also they all seem to use equal quantities of oats/sugar/flour, which I generally find too sweet for me.

This version seems to have been the most successful so far - it tastes a bit like a cake would try to taste like, if it was pretending to be healthy.

Toasted Museli Cookies with Chocolate and Almonds (makes 16)
1 cup* self-raising flour
40-50g softened butter (I forgot to weigh it)
1 1/4 cup toasted museli
1 medium egg
1 tablespoon milk
1 tablespoon stewed rhubarb
1 tablespoon ish of honey
splash of vanilla essence
slivered almonds and white choc bits to garnish
Oven heated to 180 deg C

Crumb the flour and butter together
Add museli, egg, milk, rhubarb, vanilla, honey, some almonds, then check consistency.
Mine was a bit too runny at first, which is why I added another 1/4 cup museli. You want it to clump together, but not too dry or wet.

Spoon into flat 'rounds' on a baking tray, tucking in the surprise goodies - more almonds and the white chocolate bits. That way I know each biscuit has some of the good stuff.

Bake for about 10 minutes, or until slightly golden. You want them still chewy.

Delicious straight out of the oven, not too bad the next day.

Note: I a have a "cup" measuring cup which appears to smaller than the 250mL standard metric. However, equal quantities of flour/museli or equivalent to 200g-ish should do it.

Note 2: i have measured the cup. It is equivalent to a half cup.

Note 3 (Alternate rendition)
1 cup toasted museli
1 tbps bran
3/4 cup pinenute/dried cranberries/sunflower seeds/pumpkin seeds
1 cup flour
2 tbsp oil (I used rice bran oil)
1 egg
1/8 cup white sugar
2-3 tbsp milk
splash orange oil

Review: SIFF 100 Mile Dinner at Mamre House, Orchard Hills

2010-01-23T03:37:00.000-08:00

I was super excited when I saw that there would be a Sydney International Food Festival Event “out west”, featuring the food of a local African community garden. Night before I move house? Not a problem.

Mamre House is a historic homestead built in the 1820s, and was the home of the colonial chaplain, magistrate and pastoralist, the Reverend Samuel Marsden. It is currently owned by the NSW government, and leased to the Sisters of Mercy. What I didn’t realise, when booking, was that the night was also to be a fundraising night.

Unfortunately, the African Performers cancelled at the last minute, so there was no African music. I also note that the “African food” ended up being Western style salad greens, grown by local African refugees.

The menu included:

* Platter of antipasto - including a delicous thick aged balsamic vinegar from Simply Original
* Roast Duck/Wagyu Beef
* Orange Almond Cake, or Chocolate Tart
* Wine from Jubilee Wines, Beer from Blue Tongue

The entrée platters were assembled by students from Western Sydney Tafe, two highlights were the sticky oozy balsamic vinegar and the marinated cheese from Muswellbrook.

There was a bit of artistic licence in obtaining the food from 100mile (160km) radius. Chocolate for the chocolate tart was “bought” locally. In reality, you can’t get chocolate (or flour) within 160km of Sydney if you were strictly applying the 100 mile ethos. Same again for the beer – Blue Tongue brewery is based in Newcastle, and it is 178km from Sydney.

Outside, a bunch of astronomers had set up their telescopes, so you could take a peek at the stars if you could ignore the light pollution of the fairy lights.

Overall, a fun event, and considering the obstacles encountered in getting the event organised, still well worth supporting.

I'm sure I took pictures, but I can't find them at present.
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Note: As you can see, I found some pictures.
I had a chat the next day to a guy from Blue Mountains Honey at the markets who had also been at the event, and also to a colleague: turns out that this event was always going to be a charity fundraiser, and then someone on their organising committee suggested adding it the list of events on the SIFF calender to get some more publicity. And then the problems with the alcohol: turns out the more "local" breweries weren't interested in assisting an event like this.

Local Chinese Food, USA-style

2010-01-09T04:17:00.000-08:00

Whilst holidaying along the USA west coast recently, I ate quite a lot in local Chinese restaurants. Mainly because it was the only way to get a decent serve of vegetables when eating out.
I tried a popular one in Berkeley (Shen Hua), one just outside of Vegas, and one in 29-Springs based upon the number of cars in the parking lot.

The cuisine appeared to be mock-Szechuan style, as opposed to the Cantonese style so prevalent in Australia. I know that Szechuan cooking is supposed to be very spicy, very liberal with the chillies, yet when you order Kampung Chicken, there was no chilli. I had this dish in Sydney, and you couldn't move for the number of chillies

Each place offered "Mu-Shu", what it is I'm not entirely sure. At Shen Hua - this involved stir fried cabbage, meat and egg, which you would the wrap up in a pancake with hoi-sin sauce, Peking-duck-style.

The most surprising dish, and my favourite was the spring dragon soup. I had this a few months ago, so I might have the name wrong. The large portion was enormous, and enough to share between five people. The soup had a nice balance of flavours and was very more-ish.

The other Chinese restaurants were your run-of-the- mill suburban style restaurants offering "American" meals like steak, eggs and chips. The portion sizes were huge (this is America, after all), and no-one restaurant had gai-lan (Chinese broccoli) as an option.

Recipe: (Tomato and) Lemon Sauce

2009-12-31T23:17:00.000-08:00

I picked up a copy of: A Year of Slow Food (David and Gerda Foster) from the library recently. My brain at the moment only likes food related books.

It was quite an interesting read, stories of life "on the land" to the south of Sydney, interspersed with recipes. The Stuffed Summer Squash with Tomato and Lemon sauce grabbed me, because L had decided that my plain boiled zucchini were too plain for him, and he wanted a Mediterranean style dish. I don't recall having seen a recipe like this before.

Original Recipe
Tomato Sauce
2kg tomatoes
3/4 cup olive oil
1 cup water

Lemon Sauce
Juice of 2 lemons
1 cup miso stock
2 eggs

That quantity was a bit too much for two people, and I had already parboiled the zucchini. So I started with Parboiled zucchini, add 1 tin (400g) of peeled roma tomatoes to simmer in the pan. I had just been watching back episodes of The Cook and the Chef, and Maggie had given the hint: that if you're trying to make tinned tomatoes taste like fresh tomatoes in a sauce, add a splash of verjuice. So I did.

Separately, I had the juice of one lemon, half a cup of warm miso stock, and one lonely egg.

The egg got whisked together with the lemon juice, and then I added the miso stock over a low heat. You're supposed to whisk this together until thick. I'm not sure if I went far enough - I only whisked it until my accompanying fish was ready. However, it appears that you make the bubbles whilst whisking, and then there is enough egginess to set the bubbles into a kind of light foam.

This was really quite tasty when spooned over the zucchini in tomato sauce, and it also cut nicely through the richness of some grilled salmon fillets without the faux-saltiness that using plain lemon juice seems to do.

Use the sauce immediately - it doesn't keep for the next night!

I later searched for a similar sauce on the interwebs, but the closest I could find used cream to make the sauce rather than egg.

Yeah, yeah for the Rotary!

2009-12-16T03:24:00.000-08:00

A few months ago I saw a sign: farmers markets, every third Saturday, Blacktown RSL carpark. Sweet! I was so excited. I missed the first market, and made it to the second one, in between a 160km radius dinner (aka 100 mile dinner, but we talk metric here), and moving house.
It was pretty small: a few trinket/craft shops, some fruit and veg, one guy selling only field mushrooms, blue mountains honey, and even a mob selling pot plants and herbs.

I forgot to take pictures then since it was so stinking hot, but they're on again this weekend, so piccies will come.

Thank goodness for the Rotary, bringing civilisation out to the 'burbs.

Blacktown Farmers Markets
8am-1pm
Third Saturday of every month (except January)
Blacktown RSL car park, 2nd Avenue Blacktown
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I promised photos, didn't I?

Zumbo's Macaron party

2009-11-28T22:41:00.000-08:00

I was alerted to the existence of Adriano Zumbo's Macaron party the night before, just before I hung up my workboots to go on a well-deserved holiday.

Luckily, I had that day off, so just around lunchtime, I zoomed off to Balmain to inspect the wares. The queue was not bad (about 10 people), and there was heaps of flavours left.

Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my list of the flavours with me, so I seemed to have picked all the sweet ones.

I tried:
1. Peanut Butter
2. Burnt toast and Butter
3. Maple Syrup, Bacon and Pancake
4. Popcorn
5. Vegemite Sourdough
6. Carrot Cake

I wished I had the money (and the time), to get one of all the flavours to try.

My favourite was the carrot cake, with a bit of cream cheese icing and walnut pieces in the filling. I was quite partial also, to the slightly oversweet vegemite. Unforntunately, the others tasted rather samey - and I had to consult my list to work out what the vaguely caramel flavoured one was (it turned out to be Burnt toast and Butter). The Maple Syrup, Bacon and Pancake one was also disappointing - there were chewy papery bits, which I think were like "bacon pieces"

I ended up polishing off the last of my bounty on an international flight with some aeroplane coffee to temper the sweetness. I definitely got a giant sugar overload though!

Pictures once I get my net connection working.
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So this is what the aftermath of Zumbo's Macaron party looked like:

SIFF Review: Burlington Dining Room does lunch

2009-11-05T18:48:00.000-08:00

I went to Burlington dining room on Friday 30 Ocotber, last gasp at the Sydney International food Festival “Let’s do lunch”.

Burlington Dining Room is owned by Matthew Kemp, who started up Restaurant Balzac and Two Rooms in Randwick, two favourite haunts of mine, which I am unfortunately unable to visit as often as I would like.

The “Let’s do lunch” special was King salmon fish cakes with prawns, creme fraiche & baby fennel salad, $35 per person inclusive of a glass of wine, beer or mineral water.

They also had a deal for $45: three course including a rare beef salad, and strawberry sundae The table next to me had that, and the sundaes looked delicious!! You could also order a matching glass of wine with the beef slad for $8 extra.

Anyway, I grabbed the Let's do Lunch special, which worked very well. The slight bitterness of the fennel worked wonders with the rich fish cake and creme fraiche.

Afterwards, I couldn't resist and had a look at the dessert menu: Eton Mess was on the specials board for $12. This item appears to have had a big rennaisance in Sydney recently, I am sure that I have heard of it popping up all over the place.

This one had bits of meringue, cream (double??), berry coulis. Also a toffee ‘sheet’ on top. Very tasty, but too rich for me!! I love cream, but I don't think it loves me back.

Photos to come, once I get this net thingy working.

Burlington Bar & Dining

6 Burlington St,
Crows Nest NSW 2065
Tel: 02 9439 7888

Monday to Friday for lunch from 12.00pm
Monday to Saturday for dinner from 6.00pm
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I mucked up the focus taking the picture of the crabcake, so I have a clear one of the Eton Mess. What a beauty!

Review: SeaBay Restaurant

2009-10-13T23:43:00.000-07:00

I made it to Seabay at 4pm. The staff were busy eating their own dinner in preparation for the dinner rush, but were happy to serve.

Based on a recommendation, I got a half portion of the Spring Rolls. Not the deep fried little things you normally associate with the term; it came with a wheat based wrapping pastry the size of a plate. The spring rolls are HUGE. Vermicilli noodles, wood ear fungus, egg, bean curd pastry sheets (foo jook). Delicious and warm.

I had greedy eyes, so I got "handmade noodle soup with dumplings" as well, which came in a light broth (probably chicken) with a bit of herb stuff and some shredded wombok or Chinese Cabbage. The noodles were nice - al dente, but with a slight raw wheat/flour taste. The dumplings were DELICIOUS, and were a highlight. I think I got five or six of them: a tasty pork and vegie and other flavouring dumpling in a thickish wheat pastry (not as fine as the din tai fung dumpling place in world square). I got a bit sick of the herby and plain broth taste. The chilli was ferociously hot, but also very enjoyable.

On a later date I gave the stirfried handmade noodles with lamb a shot, stir fried green vegetables (shang hai buk choy) and revisited a half serving of the Spring Pancakes.

The stirfried noodles were a little oversalty, and both it and the vegetables had were too oily for my taste. Curses - I think it is the Chinese compunction to try and make foodstuffs look "shiny", glossy, and pretty on the plate. The action of cooking the noodles in the wok seems to have removed the slight raw wheat taste that I had noted before. I wonder what would happen if you cooked the noodles with water as the moistening ingredient, rather than the oil? I suspect everything would end up sticking together.

The vegies had a nice mix of garlic and ginger, and I did enjoy the noodles which came with some more wombok, capsicum, and little bits of lamb, like it was sliced thin for sandwiches or steamboot, and then thrown in.

Whilst I enjoyed the second serving of the Spring Pancakes, it didn't seem as novel or as delicious as the first time that I had sampled them.

I've been twice so far, and have yet to sample their panfried dumplings. Pictures to come!

SeaBay Restaurant

Open till 1030pm, everynight

372 Pitt St SydneyNSW Phone (02) 9267 4855

Bacco Pasticceria

2009-10-06T02:04:00.000-07:00

Bacco Pasticceria got a lovely review in smh's good living. S0 far, I have managed to visit three times. Already the prices have gone up since my first visit, from $5 per cake to $6 per cake.
So first up, I tried the lemon meringue and the strawberry tart, just because they looked so pretty. The lemon meringue was tastebud shrinkly both sweet and sour at the same time. I tried eating one quarter only, but it was hard going. First time round I nibbled only on a strawberry, but I forgot to eat the rest of it before I went away for work.

A fortnight or so later, I tried the baked ricotta tart with carmelised chestnuts, again for the prettiness. The poor slumped thing in the corner of the box is what happens to a lemongrass and wild strawberry concorde when you leave it at office temperature for more than six hours. It has a light graduated pink rose petal on top for decorative garnish, which I ate.
I didn't realise when picking these desserts, how similar they would be.
My favourite here was definitely the concorde, the lemongrass flavour was quite subtle, and the richness of the cream was cut through with the lemongrass and strawberry flavours. The ricotta tart - meh, take it or leave it. The baked ricotta was nice, the chestnuts seemed a bit ordinary, and the whole thing seemed a bit plain.
So for my most recent foray, I got the hazelnut truffle, surrounded by meringue sticks, and the strawberry tart once again. The hazelnut truffle was too sweet! It took me three days to eat one third, and after that I couldn't bear the smell anymore. The hazelnut chocolate mousse contained within was nice, but there was a heart of more meringue sticks.
The strawberry tart has been my favourite so far. Such a simple thing! The strawberries are so moreish and very strawberry flavoured (yet still firm), and the light almost-set custard underneath has the little black specks of vanilla pod seeds. Yummo!

Bacco Pasticceria is on the ground floor of Chifley Plaza, Sydney. M-F 9-5. (02) 9223 9552.

Pancakes!

2009-09-16T04:42:00.000-07:00

I am sure that I have blogged about my pancake shennanigans before...

My tried and true recipie for pancakes has been "the jaime oliver one, ripped out of the spam email a few years ago that purported to be the proofs for his new book".

Essentially, it was: separate the egg, beat the egg white till fluffy, fold it back into the mix.

I have tried, several times to get the non-egg separation version working (ala Stephanie Alexander), but it never worked for me. I suspect it may be because, not being an egg person, the eggs I have on hand probably were never very fresh, and the result was rock hard and inedible.

Recently, I tried the Joy of Cooking Version. This book, to Americans, is like The Cook's Companion is for Australia. This book is bizarre: it tells you how to prepare wild game such as opossum, raccoon, beaver and muskrat, to name a few.

Onwards! No need to separate the egg, and the ingredient here was: double acting baking powder. I have no idea what that is, but I put in the same quantity of bicarbinate of soda, left it overnight to prove, and cooked it up the next morning.

Here is the result:

There are a lot more bubbles appearing in the mixture than I am used to, but the result indeed was delicious!

Bun bo Hue - Hot & Spicy soup

2009-09-08T05:35:00.000-07:00

At 2pm on Monday afternoon, 5 of the 7 customers in the naughty chef ordered "no.7, hot and spicy soup".

Having read the "three of the best" review in good living, I've been ordering this quite a bit recently. I've tried it at Pho Ben in Parramatta, and the new Orange coloured Vietnamese next door to Pasteur in Haymarket. Here, the broth is fish-based, but not overpowering. It's quite tasty. The best salad selection came from the Orange-coloured place, whose name escapes me.

Post-post note: The Orange coloured place next door to Pasteur is called Gia Hoi. I have also just tried the Bun bo Hue at Xic Lo around the corner. I have to say I was a bit disappointed at Xic Loc, because it didn't come with the plate of brightly coloured salad and cabbage, and there was barely any hint of the fish based stock.

the top 10 influential cooking books in australia

2009-08-28T22:06:00.000-07:00

Good living had an article on "the top 10 influential cooking books in australia" , and I have three of them. This is my odometerage ...

The Cook's Companion , by Stephanie Alexander.

Probably my first proper recipe book purchase, about a year after it was first published I have had a few recipies not quite work out of this one. E.g. pancakes, and a friend didn't have much luck with the peach pie. However, I have had some success and 'favourites', crop out of this book, like pesto, bbq chicken wings and lamb roast marinade (the lamb roast itself was terribly undercooked according to the weight/time/heat ratio that she offers).

Thai Food , by David Thompson I bought this for myself a few years ago, coveting the pretty pink silk cover, and the fact that it came with TWO inbuilt ribbon bookmarks, not just one. I tried to read this cover to cover, and only made it through the introduction and lengthy descriptions in the first half of the book. However, after having owned this one for a year, and not really having cooked from it, I made the resolution not to buy any more cookbooks. Generally I use this one more as a reference, to look up the composition of dishes that I have enjoyed at thai restaurants. E.g, "Nam dtok", after I sampled this at the Jindabyne thai restaurant. Dishes that I have tried to cook from this with varying degrees of success have been: tom yum (much better if you don't substitute everything out of it), vietnamese dipping sauce, and green papaya salad.

The Complete Asian Cookbook , by Charmaine Solomon. A friend of mine was given a copy of this almost ten years ago, and I have coveted it ever since. I read it cover to cover whilst sitting in her couch! I later received it as a gift one Christmas. I use this as a handy reference for some Asian ingredients, looking up undecipherable ingredients that I have found on the back of some packets. I haven't actually cooked a dish from it. A handy tool is the index in the back which has lists of alternative names for ingredients. My one gripe is that it needs more illustrations. Having accidently bought warrigal greens once, it took a while to identify it from this book.

Food Cravings: Kaiso Salad

2009-08-27T04:16:00.001-07:00

One of my favourite food cravings is the Kaiso salad from Sushisuma< in Surry Hills. I love the crunchy texture of the cabbage and the vinegar/sharp citrus flavours of the ponzu salad mixed with Japanese mayonnaise. Ramen Kan in Bondi Junction has something similar in their "Seaweed" Salad, but it isn't as moreish.

I have tried to find the equivalent ponzu salad dressing from Tokyo mart in Northbridge, but without much success.

Last time I got takeaway from Sushisuma, I got extra salad dressing, which I promptly decanted into a spare bottle.

Just had my first homemade salad, but with the leftover kaiso salad dressing. The cabbage isn't sliced as finely (I don't have a mandolin), and I have no seaweed (subsitituted with coriander, parsley and snow peas), but YUM. oh! and I forgot the mayo! Next time.

Review: Red Lantern Vietnamese, Surry Hills

2009-08-20T04:53:00.001-07:00

A last minute decision to eat out for dinner instead of cooking at home on the last day of a holiday, I ended up playing phone tag with the staff from Red Lantern. I wouldn't have guessed it, but they were almost fully booked on a Sunday night, and they could only fit in a table for two between 6pm and 8pm. I saw three couples turn up to try and get a table as a "walk in", and they were refused, so we were quite lucky to have grabbed a table.

The mains were $25-$35; the entrees were all just under $20. There was a 10% Sunday surcharge, and quite a few specials on the menu.

The food was really tasty ... I got to try :

1. soft shell crab with a tomato, cucumber, grapefruit (little yellow citrus wedges) and vietnamese herb salad (the dressing was quite sweet, but you needed a little bit more so you could dip the crab into more sauce. Also maybe a touch more salt;

2. beef lemongrass wrapped in betel leaves and on a bed of vermicilli. Very tasty, but with the smells of this dish and the crab one, I found this one almost offensive. When you smelled it on its own, it was okay, and smelled quite nice.

3. Shallow fried snapper with a sweet sour sauce (also a bit of green papaya salad). Yummo. I felt like I ate a lot of crunchy stuff. The sauce was nice, the fish was delicious and I crunched the smaller bones (and fins), the flesh was really tasty and still had some give.
We had a similar dish at our local thai restaurant and it was terrible!! the fish then had been deep fried for too long, and the whole thing was tough (deepfried), and rubbery.

4. Organic choy sum with a preserved (fermented) beencurd sauce. L liked this one and suggested that we buy a jar of the fermented bean curd to try and make it! That's the stuff in the jar that looks like cheese and smells ferocious

5. Green tea.

and yes... I did take a few pictures. I felt like I ate a lot of crunchy stuff - I wish the waiter had commented on that so that I could've had a rethink of the menu choices.

Review: Cafe Sopra

2009-06-05T21:35:00.000-07:00

I finally made an effort to visit Cafe Sopra at Fratelli Fresh waterloo. Last time being a few years ago, and was well into the weekend lunchtime rush.

As I got there pretty late, quite a few of the mains were already gone. I wanted risotto, but was hungry for something for immediate. Polenta with oyster mushroom and gorgonzola sauce. It was nice, although very creamy, got very same taste after a while. I wish I had got one of the salad leaves: raddichio or witlof with a vinegarette to break the cream.
I finished up with the banoffe pie. My sister had tried this a few weeks ago and raved about it. A rich caramel tart with a thick crispy biscuit base, a layer of sliced banana and a thin layer of cream on top sprinkled with flaked chocolate. Indeed, it was nice. But coupled with the creamy sauce of my earlier dish meant that I could only eat half the slice before conceeding defeat, and asking for the remainder takeaway.
I enjoyed the food ... but did feel somewhat unwanted, having turned up near the end of the lunch session.

The local thai restaurant

2009-06-04T18:19:00.000-07:00

I have just found out that the local thai restaurant normally cooks "to aussie tastes" when preparing dishes. So the first green curry I had from there had a slight chilli 'spice', and was mostly flavoured milk. So much so, that I didn't want to go there again. Having this discovered this now, last night we ordered the Penang curry 'cooked thai style', it was a lot more edible, with a decent curry paste background..

Gamely enough .. I even ordered Som tum (Green papaya salad), which generally knocks my head off with the 'one chilli' specification. It was oh-kay... with iceberg lettuce, green beans and peanuts. i couldn't detect any dried shrimp in the sauce.. and very little fish sauce. Probably geared to Aussie tastes again. Next time... I will specify it to 'thai style'.... but only one chilli!

At least now, I won't be so adverse to visiting the local thai to encourage 'thai-style' thai food, and sample the other dishes.

Uh... Mr Turnbull...?

2009-05-19T04:46:00.000-07:00

So Malcolm Turnbull in his Federal Budget 2009 reply thinks that an increased tax on cigarettes would be equivalent to means testing Australian workers on the private health insurance rebate. Hmm.

Looking at the 2007-08 National Health Survey 4364 (pulled from the Australian Bureau of Statistics), I get: "Smoking rates for the 2007-08 NHS are lower than those reported in the 2004-05 NHS. These differences are statistically significant." This has been on a downturn since 2001.

So smoking rates are going down. Why base your revenue stream on a declining revenue base? It means you want people to continue or take up smoking... thereby increasing their chances of cancer, heart disease, lung disease etc; then heading into hospital to keep all our doctors, nurses and pharmaceutical companies employed. Oh I get it, you're stimulating the economy!

Hot Chocolate: Koko Black's

2009-05-16T05:40:00.000-07:00

Having made a lightning dash to Melbourne over the weekend, I thought that I should pay a visit to Koko Black's, and sample their hot chocolate. I have been past before on previous jaunts to the city, and all I can remember were the long long queues stretching out the door.

There wasn't much choice: you could get a hot chocolate - with full cream milk, 70% dark chocolate, and cream; or you could get the light version, with "skim" milk. $5.75. I got the full cream version.

And it was nice. For the first 10 or so sips. Then it started to get almost sickly: too creamy for my tummy. I managed to finish the cup off. End result: me rushing through St Kilda about 30 minutes later hunting for a public toilet!

I wonder how it compared to the hot chocolate that I tried in Paris near the Louvre? I do remember that one being very very sweet and creamy as well... and I also remember we couldn't finish the pot!

15 hours of food: The afternoon tea

2009-04-21T05:12:00.000-07:00

Adriano Zumbo's chocolate patisserie in Balmain got a rave review in good living a few months back. My sister asked me: "Have you heard of Adriano Zumbo's patissierie? Sooooo good. "
Thus we sauntered into Balmain for an inspection. First up: the patissierie. I was amazed at the creations, too shy to take a picture, and ended up with two macarons - one blue cheese flavour, and the other mango.
We headed to the actual chocolate cafe, and ordered a dark hot chocolate, a salty caramel macaron and an earl grey tea macaroon. The macaron range was different in the cafe than to that of the patisserie, but everything was most definitely chocolate based.
The dark hot chocolate was wonderful: rated higher than the lindt version. Very dark and rich, but not sickly sweet or overly creamy. The salty caramel was yummo... I wanted another one. I forget how salt can bring out other flavours, such that the caramel wasn't sickly sweet. The earl grey macaron was also lovely: scattering of tea leaves on top, and a delicate tea flavour. I couldn't swear that it was that of earl grey, but it was very moreish and tasty. I would head there again... and "settle" for the lindt if I only I was in town. :-)

15 hours of food: The lunching

2009-04-13T04:39:00.000-07:00

After spending a few hours grazing, sampling, nibbling at the markets, we were hungry for something more substantial.
I had only ever tried Banh Xeo (Vietnamese Crispy Pancake) at Pho Le a few years ago, whilst it was still with the previous owners. So when good living did a special on the three best places in sydney to find them, I wrote it down in my little black book.
We went to Thuy Huy Coffee Lounge, and ordered (1) Banh Xeo, (2) a small bowl of broth, (3) Congee, vietnamese style. "Are you sure you want that? It's very different to chinese congee. You add bean sprouts and lemon, and there are animal bits." asked the waitress. I can't remember her exact wording.
So here it is: the banh xeo. Very crisp and tasty, loaded up with bean sprouts and prawns and also very messy to eat! Lurking up the back is the Vietnamese style "pork" congee.
Both were very tasty. I managed to finish the pancake, but the congee was a bit of a struggle, and we had to pay an additional 30c for a takeaway container to take the remainder of the congee with us. It was quite interesting, lemony (added to your taste, like pho) and basily, and a very strong blood/liver type flavour throughout. It was also a little bit salty.

15 hours of food: The markets

2009-03-21T04:06:00.000-07:00

We met up at 9am, and went straight to break new ground at the Eveleigh Farmers Markets. These markets are about 5mins from the station, and undercover. What a blessing to get away from the sun (and the rain).
There were growers from Mangrove Mountain, Kemps Creek; olive oil producers from the central tablelands and as far as Victoria. I saw at least four places from which to buy free range eggs.
There were a lot of people with kids and dogs, which was not so amusing when they started lunging and barking at each other. The cutest thing ever - a toddler in a baby carrier enjoying a sample of goat's milk fetta.
So - I tried a brioche roll with smoked salmon and dill, a cherry danish (toasted up and eaten about a week later), Capparis Goat's Milk Brie (from Gloucester), iggy's delicious bagels (mixed seed - I now have a craving), as well as some free range eggs from Sommersby. I found the yolks very yellow in colour, compared with the free range ones from the supermarket.
Next up - decision time! We had left it too late to go to the smh pyrmont growers markets, but we still had a clear shot at the Kings Cross ones. So off we went!
My sister wanted me to try the quinoa and brown rice congee (porridge) from the markets, which we did; as well as a Vegetarian take on the Vietnamese rice paper roll: This one contained bean sprouts, tofu, carrot, mint and "chia seeds". The seeds were beautiful: like little pearlised glossy eggs; and they had a nice crunch and added omph to the rice paper rolls.
The porridge contained mung bean sprouts, bean sprouts, tofu crisps, and a little pink pickled onion. It was had a very tasty broth, but I found the slight sourness from the onion pickle and the mung bean taste almost overpowering.

Steamed Bonito

2009-03-18T19:13:00.000-07:00

I love making up a Chinese steamed fish. Some ginger, spring onions, dried shittake mushrooms, red dates and silken soft tofu. Fish of choice is usually barramundi or silver bream. Yummo. I get cravings.
Yesterday,I gave Bonito a go. I've eaten this as sashimi, and I know it's the main ingredient in dashi or japanese stock.
Its texture was very dense, almost like tuna. Very filling too - we could barely finish half a medium size fish. Today, when I panfried the leftovers I worked out that texture and density- wise, it's much more like chicken!
ps - I find out later that Bonito is actually a type of tuna!

Random musings

2009-03-17T04:14:00.001-07:00

I've been so busy, I haven't had time to post as usual.
I tried to visit the degas exhibit in canberra, but we were so put off by the queue to both buy the ticket and to enter, we couldn't be bothered, & just saw the normal exhibits instead.
Last week, one of the supermarket chains had ainsley harriot packet soups on special, so i bought some to have as emergenfy food rations at work. So far have tried the carrot and the lentil flavours, & both taste intensely of .... cornflour. Not what I was after.

Planning a foodie weekend

2009-03-04T03:51:00.000-08:00

Coming up! I am spending the Saturday with my sister, and we plan to have a very food oriented weekend. I can't wait.. but this is going to need careful planning.

1. Visit some farmers' markets. Orange Grove is the stalwart, but on every weekend (yay). The smh Pyrmont ones are on this weekend, and they're a once a month affair. Alternatively, there are the ones in Redfern - Eveleigh, which is undercover, and AG's review, had me drooling over all the pictures. A lot of the producers are similar between Pyrmont and Eveleigh, though. Also! A Bacon and Egg roll is mandatory consumption.
2. Head somewhere to get Vietnamese. I want a good pho, and also a Vietnamese Pancake (Banh Xeo). I've only tried Vietnamese pancake from Pho Le in Randwick (owners previous to the current mob), and I need to try more. Cabramatta is the 'real' vietnamese deal, but it's a long drive from the city, for foodies who are trying to cram a lot in. Bankstown is an alternative (but also a hike), and there was a place in good living listed that had a good pancake in Marrickville. Does good pancake equal good pho?
3. Adrian Zumbo's chocolate shop in Balmain. Chocolate Desserts. Duh.
4. Restaurant Sojourn, in Balmain. I believe the chef here is ex-Banc. I think I've tried almost every 'Ex-Banc' chef's solo enterprise. Anyway. The order of the day is degustation.

Roll on, weekend!!

Real Estate Speak is Ridiculous!

2009-02-28T16:53:00.001-08:00

Just spotted this whilst browsing some real estate ads:

The Apex of your Endeavours...The Pinnacle of your Success...This property best captures that moment when you can truly say, "Yes, I've made it." And what better place to make it....This wide, genteel street which many have claimed to be the best street in the area has many stately homes rising everywhere. And the good news is, this thoughtfully and tastefully renovated brick property which sits on an expansive 700m square yard will be easy on any budget. For a little more than the price of a townhouse you can enjoy the comforts of this home and truly say i live in the areas best street. Also the good news keeps on coming...You're only a short distance from the city centre which now offers a burgeoning cafe and restaurant culture. What an opportunity.I say "Seize the moment"...This opportunity might not come again. Make this property the Symbol of your Obsession.

I suppose I fell into the trap by reading further along the blurb though.

Sometimes you just have to ask

2009-01-29T02:40:00.000-08:00

After scanning the wares at gelatomassi twice in one week, and not spying any "peanut butter" gelato, tonight I asked for it before making my decision. They had some out the back. Score!! I guess sometimes you do have to be a bit of a pushy customer, and ask directly.
It seems Dolce and Gelato have also joined the craze for peanut butter flavoured items (I spotted some last week).

Sydney Festival's Festival Bar

2009-01-17T16:40:00.000-08:00

I went to the first night of the Sydney Festival Bar. Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, on the basis of a big write up by that trashy afternoon rag, MX.

Dangnammit, why don't they tell you that the main act doesn't hit the stage until 10pm? You can't find that information on the website, and it is not listed on the ticket. the *ticket* time of 8pm is actually when the doors open.

Doors - because there was one entry only... it took a very long time to get all the punters inside. I was sitting on the sideline, just watching the queue to get in. Having just come back from holiday (and about to start work again the next day), I was very tempted just to leave & grab dinner in town instead.

Food inside - limited, but the usual inflated hostage-punter prices. The only vego suitable dish was quiche. A sausage onna a bun plus onion cost $6, with a 100ml tub of serendipity ice cream $5. I think fish & chips was $13, and other options including kebabs, burgers, chips.

I tried serendipity "peanut butter disaster", hoping for some of gelatomassi's peanut butter goodness. It would be okay, if it weren't for the overly sweet chocolate sauce that was on top, and as a result coated everything. Too sweet for me, and I couldn't taste the peanut butteryness.

Anyway, once they did come on, Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings were really a lot of fun. The bass player was a fill-in for the standard line up. Sharon was so tiny, and and so much energy dancing around all over the stage. The crowd really loved it, and were cheering for more.

2009 Tassie holiday, part 1

2009-01-13T02:45:00.000-08:00

I've just come back from a holiday in good €old Tasmania. It looks like a lot of people at work at a similar idea, with one guy heading to the Falls festival at Marion Bay, and someone else was going carvaning. We went with no real plan in mind: fly in to Hobart, fly out of Launceston, camp at Freycinet National Park in the middle.

It turned out pretty well! I got a last minute invite to R&N's NYE party, and we camped along the river Derwent. It was so much effort setting up camp, that as soon as we had done it, we decided that we would be spending two nights in each place.

After Hobart (and never quite making it up Mount Wellington), we shifted north to Oatlands. Oatlands is approx 30km south of Ross on the midland highway. It has a whole lot of Georgian architechture, but not only that, it has *free* camping on the shores of Lake Dulverton for up to three nights. It's pushed as a roadside stopover for campervans/caravans, but honestly, people who camp drive too, right? The advantage of this for Oatlands, is that people who stopover will then go ahead and spend that camping fee in the town instead.

On the recommendation of the people working on restoring the mill in the town, we visited Blossoms Tea house, which has a neato pelican onna nest sculpture on its chimney.
We were grubby as anything, not having had a shower for 4 days, and having just walked around 2/3 of Lake Dulverton that morning, but we were treated like royalty.

We had a really lovely ploughman's lunch (for one, shared between 6!), with homemade multigrain bread and including my first pickled onion. The main event though was a devonshire tea, with an enormous pot of tea, strong enough to refill, and really yummy scones, cream & jam.

Just back from holiday...

2009-01-10T04:09:00.000-08:00

Inspired by traytable, although I can't think why: I've just come back from holiday.

Penny Jar for Australia?

2008-12-30T04:02:00.000-08:00

In the USA, a penny isn't worth very much. So in shops, there is usually a little 'penny tray' or 'penny jar', where you can leave your unwanted pennies ... and also pick up a few if you're a bit short in payment. It's a separate thing to the 'tip' jar. And, I think, an unusual display of generosity.

I think it would be a pretty neat idea to implement in Australia. I know that we have phased out the 1c and 2c coins... but you could pretty much do the same with the 5c pieces. It is almost as if they're not regarded as legal tender anymore - you can't pay your tolls with them, and the train ticket machines won't accept them either.

Regressing Tastebuds

2008-12-27T15:19:00.000-08:00

Perhaps it is a symptom of moving out from the city, and not being able to go out as much as I would like to, but it appears that the tastes that I like on my tastebuds have 'regressed' from my umami seeking delicate sensibilities.
When a small child, peppermint choc-chip ice-cream was the bees knees. Then I 'grew up', didn't like it. Now? When approaching a magnum icecream, my two favourite flavours are now the chocolate almond with the nuts on the outside (only if sharing), and the peppermint.
I am also in favour of the sharp punchy flavour of salt & vinegar chippies, the saltiness of twisties and the artificial high from cheetos cheese & bacon balls. I appear to have lost the appetite for the latter though - quick consumption of 2 packets in rapid succession may have had something to do with it!

Review: Wyrd Sisters performed by Horsley Park theatrical and musical society

2008-12-19T03:42:00.000-08:00

Dated 10 November 2008. Not my words, but in line with what I thought of the play. "Wyrd Sisters" is Terry Pratchett's take on Macbeth...
With thanks to Ross.
----

We went and saw Wyrd Sisters on Friday night (...it's amazing what a couple of performances will do for an amateur company!)

The actor playing Nanny Ogg that you were less than impressed with nicked off at 6:00 that evening - there was no understudy, so someone stepped in and read the part - but she had enough experience that it presented like a bookish Gytha always with her nose in a "grimmer" and after a while you hardly noticed.

Granny Weatherwax and Magrat Garlick brought the house down. No, really! I didn't understand the remark about "couldn't trust a man with horns on his hat" until I saw the exchange between Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg, with Magrat looking bewildered and the audience knowing who the Fool really was! Exercising his "droit de seigneur" indeed!

The Ghost Verence was great - relished his part and played against Nanny Ogg very well. The dungeon scene was a lot of fun, as was the play. "My own sodding dagger!!"

The Fool needed a personality transplant...no argument there.

I enjoyed Felmet, and the Sergeant worked very well with him.....very Blackadder, as per Stephen Briggs' stage instructions. "She gave me a bun!" The hands worked a bit better than you reported...timing is everything I guess.

They'd given Lady Felmet a riding crop, and it worked for some scenes...but not all. She's such a central character that that must have been quite disappointing.

The scene changes worked well enough, but the "thunder flashes" on the heath and when Magrat bursts the dungeon door were pretty lame. Suspension of disbelief required there.

All up, we were quite prepared to forgive the Fool and Lady Felmet for the fun we got from the Witches, the Ghost and Felmet.

Argh, computer addict

2008-12-04T03:06:00.000-08:00

I've been on the computer at work 830 until 7pm. Then I went home. Then I got back on the computer again. I am surprisingly chirpy again once in front of the keyboard. What's going on?

Review: Chilli Cha Cha, Haymarket

2008-11-26T03:34:00.000-08:00

I have a new fave thai restaurant! There are no queues to get in, there are seven kinds of som tum (classic, fermented fish, fermented crab, fermented crab&fish, vermicilli rice noodles & crab, grilled pork neck and crispy fish), they don't stint on the chilli, and the food is good!

So Shh - don't tell anyone.*

So far, I have tried (numbers correspond to the takeaway menu):
21 - Yum Woon Seen (vermicilli salad). This is my new favourite signature dish. Vermicilli, squid and pork mince tossed in mint, coriander and thai dressing. Chilli/sour taste, balanced by the sweetness of spanish onion. Or are the eschallots?
26 - Som Tum (green papaya salad) 'classic'. Very hot and spicy, but the sauce is well balanced.
34 - Choo Chee with white fish. Steamed fish smothered in a creamy coconut red curry sauce, and sprinkled with finely sliced kaffir lime leaf. I wanted more.
39 - Panang curry with tofu & vegies. Kaffir lime leaf again, carrot, zuccini, and big chunky tofu pieces.
Thai red (iced) tea. Yum. yum. yum. yum. I love this drink. I love the strong tea flavour, I love the sugar.

Highly, highly recommended; stacks of dishes to try out, and not too pricey.
Chilli Cha Cha Thai Restaurant
Shop 462, 40-50 Campbell Street, Chinatown
(02)9211-2025

* - Hmm. Looks like I may be too late. They've already got a mention in the smh.

Review: Ramen Kan, Haymarket

2008-11-22T03:49:00.000-08:00

I raved about Ramen Kan in Bondi Junction in an earlier post. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for their Haymarket branch.

So I had a craving *again* for soft shell crab. In Bondi Junction, you get four segments of a soft shell crab, with a dipping sauce on the side. The whole crab. In Haymarket, it is "soft shell crab salad", and you get two segments of crab, shredded cabbage, indifferent tomato, and a decorative butter lettuce leaf speckled with ice. The whole lot was covered by a brownish vinegar-type sauce, that looked a bit like Satay, but wasn't.

I had originally ordered the "seaweed salad", craving the Kaiso Salad that I had enjoyed so much at Sushisuma, but the waitress suggested that I was getting a lot of salad. So Agedashi tofu instead - four cubes of tofu, in the light soy sauce and shaved bonito flakes on top.

I did alternate between genmaichai, the tofu, and the 'salad', but it was a struggle to finish. Too many 'samey' tastes, and the vinegar was a bit harsh.

Kudos for letting me know that I had way too much salad (I don't think I could have eaten much if it had had the same brown vinegar sauce). But for value for money soft shell crab - I would go to Bondi Junction instead.

Review: Elephant Jump Cafe, Surry Hills

2008-11-18T03:59:00.000-08:00

A new discovery!
Was lurking near Central Station, when I made this new discovery. The restaurant at the Madison hotel was shut for renovations, so I ventured into Devonshire street to have a look-see. Elephant jump cafe looks pretty new, seats about 15 people. There were definitely thai people behind the counter.

We tried one of the house specials - Yum Yum stir fried; and Penang curry.

'Yum Yum stir fried' had instant (2 minute noodles), egg, chicken, carrot, chinese cabbage (wombok) and lots of pepper.
The Penang curry was really rich and pumpkiny with bits of carrot. A mild to medium flavoured curry, but very moreish. I was quite tempted to lick the bowl clean.

They had plenty of visitors
Highly enjoyable. I shall have to visit again.

Elephant Jump Cafe
Shop 3, 99 Devonshire Street Surry Hills NSW
(02)9698-9119

Partying 'light'

2008-11-14T17:42:00.001-08:00

I was at the lindt cafe last night at Darling harbour. Having ordered my small dark hot chocolate (disappointing, it didn't taste right - almost as though the milk was nearly off?), I needed to visit the bathroom. There was a young lady in there, who had just unpacked a hair straightener, and was looking for a spot to plug it in. I was stunned.
Guys always complain about the weight of women's handbags... and I can see why. Why wouldn't you straighten your hair at *home*, so you didn't have to carry it on Friday night?

Review: Ramen Kan, Bondi Junction

2008-11-03T03:35:00.000-08:00

I found myself in the eastern suburbs, and having a craving for Japanese food, I went to Ramen Kan in Bondi Junction.
This is where I first discovered (deep fried) soft shell crab, several years ago.
The place was full of anglos. In fact, I only saw three Asians whilst I was there, and only one of them was Japanese. No matter, although the adage is that to find good japanese you should eat where the "locals" eat, the food is good.

Soft shell crab $8.90. One baby crab, cut into quarters, deep fried.
Ramen & Gyoza (set). $13.90. You get three gyoza (instead of the the six on the regular entree), a little heap of rice, a mini cabbage salad and your choice of shio/shoyu or miso ramen. I chose shio, because it had a tonkatsu base, and I adore tonkatsu ramen from ichban boshi.

The tonkatsu was a little disappointing. Instead of being really rich, sweet and satisfying; I found it slightly bland. Perhaps it was diluted to many bowls instead? After all, ichi ban boshi claims it can only make 15 bowls a day - and I've seen the stock with legs of pork all wrapped up in string, simmmering away.

I shall have to head back, and take some food pictures. If I had had space, I would have ordered the cabbage salad as well, for $1.50 a serve. (edit: going on the Haymarket store prices, this was probably $5.90).

Ramen Kan
Shop 3, Bronte Road (cnr Ebley Street), Bondi Junction
(02)9387-5691

Highway 50, Nevada

2008-11-02T02:50:00.000-08:00

A few years ago, the Nevada State government got given some dollars by the Federal government, I guess, to "improve tourist facilities". They didn't really have any, because after all, people never actually *visit* Nevada, they just go to Las Vegas, right?

So Highway 50 (travelling west to east) got dubbed "Loneliest Highway in America", and you can get a dinky little passport, and get it stamped in each of the 5 counties that you travel through, and then at the *end* you can get some little souvenir. I didn't.

There is a distinct lack of signage, or even 'confirmation', that you are indeed travelling on the correct road, and in the correct direction. On one north-south road up to Interstate-80, we went 20miles from missing one sign, to being able to read the next one.

Every now and then there is a "Historic Marker coming up" sign, with no distance, and no indication if it is on the left or the right of the road. Only after having driven past it at 70mph, do you go "oh, that was the turnoff I was supposed to have turned off on".

We drove from Carson City to Fort Churchill. This posting was seen as a 'good one' for the officers during the Indian Wars, because you were about a day's ride from the towns of either Fallon or Carson City, and you got one day off per month. Plus you got someone else to do your washing. It wasn't so good for the infantrymen, but the signs didn't tell us why.

From Fort Churchill, we drove up to Fallon via "Ragtown", so named because of the plethora of washing that was draped all over the bushes to dry near the river. After Fallon, we visited Grimes Point Archaeological area, ooohed over the peteroglyphs, and ahhed over the sunset. Missed seeing the "Hidden Cave", I will have to call up and arrange a tour next time.

I remember seeing "Sand Mountain", this out-of-place looking enormous sand dune in the middle of high salt desert. Apparently the local Indians thought it was a snake god, because the ridge resembled the changing shape of a snake. Also, there used to be a pony express station at the base of the mountain. One day *...slurpe..* the sand mountain covered it over, and then 150 years or so later *...slurpe..*, it uncovered it again. I would be hesitant to slide down that thing on a cardboard box or 'sand surf' down the slope. Now it is being used for ATV or dune buggy shenanigans.

From there, it was a couple of hours drive into Austin, and the very strange Serbian International bar.

Crossing the Sierra Nevada, CA to NV

2008-10-23T00:39:00.000-07:00

We camped at Calaveras Big Trees campground, just north of Arnold California. This is on Highway 4. In the morning, we did some of the easy walks. That is the three senses walk (which I tried by following my hand along the guide rope, and then stopping at the braille sections to open my eyes), the grove overlook walk, and the north grove walk. I love the smell of the pine trees, and kept stopping to crush some of the leaves in my fingers.

Every now and then, something would fall past my eyes, but when I tried to see what it was, I convinced myself that it was just a bit of falling twig, or the seed from a pine tree. However, just as we arrived back at the car, what I thought wasn't happening, actually was: It was snow! Oh my god! We were not prepared for snow.

In any case, based upon the reassurances of the people in the visitors centre ("this is just a fluke"), we hopped in the car and drove east, planning to cross the Sierra Nevada by going through Eberts pass. We drove past Alpine lake, and you could see clear across to the otherside. It was beautiful.

As we climbed higher and higher though, it began to snow again, and visibility dropped to about 30metres. All the vehicles that were going the other way were 4wd type, and they had quite a bit of snow and ice crusted on their windscreen. It got to the point that when we passed a car, by the time we got to the next snow patch on the road, we could not see their tracks.

Around the Mosquito Lake trailhead, L made an executive decision to turn back. We had not yet reached Ebert's pass, and from what he remembered, it turned into more of a corkscrew on the descent that the ascent. We were in a 2wd car, and we weren't carrying chains. And as I had muttered to myself earlier: the last time that I had driven in the snow, I had my old AWD, and I had chains then!

So we retreated from the ascent, and drove back down to the campground, and camped for another night. Dinner was had at "Giant Burger" in Arnold, and, I have to say, the giant burger wasn't really so giant. L claims that during the middle of the night he heard someone hop into their vehicle and turn on the engine to try and warm up. In the morning the puddles of water on the picnic table had all frozen into ice! This was at an altitude of approx 4500 feet (1100 m).

We found out from a ranger that it was lucky indeed that we had turned back. The road through Ebert's pass was now closed, and would not open again until the snow melted.

Our 'crossing of the Sierra Nevada' turned into a full-scale retreat. We backtracked through to Angel's Camp, and then had to take Highway 88 through Carson Pass to Carson City and Nevada. I hopped out every now and then during the drive to take a picture of the snow covered mountains, and marvel at how cold it was. The mountains, already a beautiful place, had been made even more so by that cold front and the resulting snow, which had caused us to retreat.

Grumbles

2008-09-23T04:16:00.000-07:00

Grr.. thought I would be about to get the fy0708 tax ticked off tonight, but no. I'm missing one vital bit of information, the bit that says FBT liability equals 'this'.

Cirque du Soleil and Sushisuma

2008-08-24T21:44:00.000-07:00

Had the advantage of being part of a group booking for some Cirque du Soleil tickets, for the latest production: Dralion. The advantage of the group booking? $10 discount. However, It still means that you pay over $100 per ticket.

Prior to heading to fox studios, we went to Sushisuma to eat. I had been here the week before, prior to seeing Sigur Ros at the Hordern, and I have been here a few years ago. I remember having to queue up on the street outside waiting for a table.

The renovations have included a new "waiting room" upstairs, where you are expected to order. If you haven't ordered, don't expect to be able to secure a table downstairs. Terse communication from the waiters mean that it is generally the other customers that explain why you are up here, and what to do.

Luckily, no waiting on a Thursday night. We got the enormous Kaiso Salad (mysteriously lurking in the entreee section of the menu), the teriayki fish dinner set, and a bowl of tempura udon. The dinner set was very good value, and although only one set was ordered, the other party got some agedashi tofu and the vanilla icecream with red bean and green tea topping. I loved the sauce that the Kaiso salad came with - it was a mountain of mostly shredded cabbage, carrot and wakame. I ended up taking away some leftovers home, although of course, it was not the same the next day. Searching for it online only seems to come up with an "instant" packet of the stuff, and no explanation of what a Kaiso salad is, or what dressing to use. plum dressing?

Cirque du soleil - the acrobatics were amazing, especially the girl who stood upside down on her hand on top of a pole, and then twisted her body this way and that. Just watching it, you couldn't believe that her body was connected at all, it was like there were two separate disjointed "bits". I also enjoyed the trampoline section where the multiple acrobats bounced between two trampolines, "walked up the wall", and then onto an intermediate platform inbetween fun and enjoyable.

However... what I didn't like. I found the costumes a little bit "twee" and predictable. What is the point of getting the acrobats to head backstage, change one chinese style costume for another (including a fake "mop-end of hair" for another). I vaguely remember reading a smh review of the show, which mentioned something about a rather weak story line joining the whole lot. Some of the artists I actually, well, the girl in the blue costume near the end of the show, who did the ribbon acrobatics. Watching her, it was all very routine, and she didn't look like she was enjoying herself at all. And ARGH, what was the point of the two singers? Silly winged costumes, songs that were nothing, and the 'hey look over there while I change the set' technique. I - uh- ... actually got a little bored near the end of the show.

It's so very easy to be critical and judgemental .. but really, when you're paying over $100 for the ticket, wouldn't you expect more! Anyway. I did enjoy myself. I am glad I went and saw the show once, but I don't think that I would bother to do so again.

New Socks

2008-08-13T05:12:00.000-07:00

After the washing fairy has washed and dried the clothes, and it comes to sorting. I always seem to end up with the mismatched pairs, or the ones that have matching holes in the toe. His excuse: Your socks are always shorter than mine, and I have the softer ones. This problem is not helped by the fact that I like men's business socks.

In response I have just bought 3 new 3 packs of socks for me. Count them! And not only that, I am going to monogram them so he can't claim them as his own.

Adelaide: Central Market

2008-08-09T06:34:00.000-07:00

So, my first Adelaide morning was spent wandering around Central Market. I liked it. Like a cross between Queen Vic and Prahan markets in Melbourne (except without the free and abundant samples). And arrgh, why can't we have markets like this in Sydney! There was coffee, nut shops (Charlesworths appears to be an Adelaide institutions), smelly cheese shops, and the biggest chocolate crackle that I have seen!

After some debate (across the road in a cafe on Gouger Street), I decided to get a baby goats cheese (Le Crottin d'Anton), a Barossa Valley Cheese 'baby bert', a truffle...! (My first one ever. I got the French summer one, rather than the stronger Tassie Winter one). Also, the house blend from the coffee bean shop, and one of the ginormous chocolate crackle in dark chocolate.

I went to the Sydney Growers' Markets the next weekend (good timing, eh?), and it was fun, and it was sunny and glorious and there were samples to taste and try... but I wish the Sydney ones were a weekly occurrence (or even daily, if I could stump it), instead of a "special" occasion.

I have read in the mX though, that there will soon be a weekly Hawksbury Harvest farmers markets on Friday mornings at the corner of cook & phillip park (St Mary's Cathedral, or sort of where William Street starts). Exciting! I hope there will be good bread.

Mmm.. duck

2008-08-06T06:01:00.000-07:00

We tried the duck with 'ginger & star anise' pastabilities pasta on Sunday night.

I prepared as suggested on the packet, with a bit of soy sauce flavoured "asian greens" (spinach). It was quite nice, although the presentation was terrible. (I don't know how you could do it if needed at at dinner party). The inside tasted a bit like those little roast chicken livers you get from the chinese bbq duck places. (Also Suan-i-san thai place on Pitt St in Sydney).

I also tried to pan fry a few, to get a 'healthy version' of the ones they do at the markets for samples. Not much luck… I think you really need to deep fry them. I ended up with normal looking pasta, with some uneven brown dried bits where it had been in contact with the pan.

Say what?

2008-07-30T05:23:00.001-07:00

This is a photo of an accountant "spotted" in Melbourne in the local trashy afternoon read on the train home. I'm sooo jealous. What person do you know, apart from AH herself, can afford to dress in top to toe Allanah Hill? ARGH! I do like the tights though... will have to see if I can get a pair.

New England Scallop Chowder

2008-07-09T02:43:00.000-07:00

L had bought a bunch of scallops, and had a craving for scallops "with cream". The directive was for cream with mushrooms, and my reaction was 'ew'. So I attempted New England clam chowder - with scallops instead of clams. I think it turned out quite well.

This is what I did, based upon elsa peterson-schepelern's "Soups" book.

250g frozen scallops
water to suit (125ml fish stock - I used beef stock powder)
Dried chinese shrimp
1/3 can of spam (preferrably 500g smoked pancetta or bacon!)
3 small onions, diced
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 carrot chopped
2 bay leaves
a few small potatoes, cubed
1 patty butter (10g?)
1 tablespoon flour
250mL warm milk
parsley bunch, coarsely chopped to serve.

Put scallops in large pot, add bay leaves, carrot, celery, potatoes, pepper, shrimp. Add water/stock to suit. 1.5L or so. Simmer for 10 minutes (when the potatoes are cooked).

Meanwhile fry up the cubed spam until 'crunchy' , or the sides have seared.

Instead of adding cream, I made up a roux, so this could be reheated later without separating.

1 tablespoon of flour, and butter, melt together. Add warm milk. Stir constantly to prevent it clumping. When it goes 'thick', add the roux to the soup.

Serve with chopped parsley and spam/pancetta/bacon on top. Garlic rubbed toast on the side.

Epic Bushwalk

2008-06-17T06:18:00.001-07:00

Had an "almost-epic" bushwalk over the weekend. Armed with a topo map and a gps, we headed out at 10am, and arrived at the dirt track ready to depart by midday. 6km bike ride to Drip Rock, and then the bush bashing began - for real.

I didn't realise that it would be this hard! It all looks so easy on the map - just follow this ridge line to here, and then follow this one to this point, and then we'll walk down into the canyon and follow the creek. We'd even entered in 3 waypoints into the gps toy, so that we would have something to aim for. Satellite reception was good - it was the bushbashing through, well, the bush that hurt.

It took nearly 8 hours return journey, and we only made it to the second waypoint (i.e. the second ridgeline). We didn't get anywhere near the third waypoint, or the creek that we were aiming for. After the second, we clambered around the cliffline hunting for caves. The rock was really exposed, rotton and soft. Kind of strataed in the wrong direction, and it wasn't at all what we were hunting for.

Gave up on the hike then, and started heading back. It's amazing how disorientated you get when i starts to get dark, and your vision 'switches' to black and white. Every bush and tree starts to look the same, and they're all so darn spiky! I was glad of my super tough 'quagmire goretex gaiters', but i wish i had the equivalent for my arms.At least I had fleece gloves to protectect the hands, but ow!

Once it got properly dark, it was all relying on the leader picking up the faint trail through the brush, and backed up by the 'breadbrubs' laid down by the gps. It was one of those paths that when you were on it - you weren't sure if you were on it, but you definitely knew when you had come off it, because of the amount of undergrowth.

*Finally* got back to the bikes, and then began to pick our way back slowly along the dirt trail. I have ridden at night before without much light - but normally along the street where you have streetlights or car lights to help you out. Worst case for me so far had been riding through centennial park in the dark. But this? You could barely see where you were going, and the throw of the headtorches that we had wasn't really adequate. Luckily it was a fairly flat, well graded track, although I nearly did come a cropper by running into a downed tree whilst daydreaming about tinned sardines for tea.

Regional or class accents within Australia?

2008-06-01T05:35:00.001-07:00

Two weeks ago, Triple J's current affairs program did a special about 'money', and whether or not there are different class accents within Australia. The conclusion from the linguistics analyst was that there are no 'class' accents, but more regional accents. That is, students from two schools will have the same accent if they're in the same area/suburb.

It got me to thinking .. I went to what could be termed a wannabe private school. I have memories of being told off for using the term "loo" or "bog", instead of "bathroom. I have noticed recently that I adopt the accent or style of speech of the people that I am conversing with. I'll adopt a more westie accent to make fun... and my sister has commented that I have been saying things more 'westie' style.

The strangest thing about the program was that it concluded with an take from Ja'mie. The linguist being interviewed adored the accent, and called it "progressive", with a lot of 'ah' ('eh?'), flat sort of sounds. To me it sounds more like a kiwi accent.

Pacific Dragons Fundraiser

2008-05-25T06:05:00.001-07:00

Got invited by Sarah to the Pacific Dragons Trivia Fundraiser last Thursday.

Made me realise how much I miss going to regular trivia events. *sigh*. I really am too competitive by nature. And I miss not beingthe bearer of wierd, strange, and oddball trivia.

In any case, the Pac Dragons got what they wanted out of me! Lots of dosh for heading to Malaysia for the World Club Crew Championships inAugust. Our table came 7th overall out of 16; not a bad effort!

I got some computer speakers in the silent auction (they're very heavy when trying to get a post-trivia cache), and they're sounding very nice. I'm getting the doof-doof effect without the low slung car and the cruising. I would've also got an external hard disk drive if someone else had actually bid by the rules (he bid $1 more than me, but the rules said $5 increments. So either I should've got them, or the auction admin should've made himpay the additional $4).

Review: Sushiya at Artarmon

2008-05-08T05:25:00.000-07:00

Sushiya near Atarmon train station today, because I got stuck in traffic in the lane merge on the cahill expressway, and couldn't be bothered going climbing, despite having made the effort to buy cheap disposable clothing: having left my climbing clothes at home.

Second time there. For some reason, I was drawn to the sea urchin sushi *again*, but this second attempt, I agree: it was too strongly flavoured and slimy to eat as one person! I really wish I had gotten the generic sashimi platter: I could have tried the sea urchin again without it being overkill. Also tried Scallop tataki (yummo!) with bits of fish roe, pickled japanese vegie and seaweed. Ponzu sauce as well? Most tasty.

My 'main' was kitsune udon. Udon good. Wakame good. Seafood extender and kitsune tofu (I thought it would be tofu puffs, not flat bits of sweet dense tofu!/wail). Got to try the tempura set too. The batter was lovely and light, and there was a good variety of tempura foodstuffs there. The most interesting was the tempura fish - there was a slight ammonia taste - was that supposed to be there, or accident?

Highly recommended.

Stupidest thing going?

2008-05-03T17:23:00.001-07:00

Most silly thing I saw someone do recently:

I went through a roundabout, and just on the other side, stopped to let someone reverse park into a parking space. After they'd rolled back a bit, and started cutting hard left, I noticed that they were texting on their phone at the *same* time.

Review: Kai on King

2008-05-02T19:37:00.000-07:00

I went to Kai on King some nights ago. It ended up being $48 for two. I was told that a friend liked it because it was innovative? I suppose being newtown, it had to label which was and which wasn't vego; but most of the stuff going around was samey: salmon on rice, tuna on rice. It reminds me of what the cheap sushi trains used to be like (but not anymore). I had a bonito (I think) on rice, and it looked dry, and not moist and fresh.

Not licensed (but byo), so the craving for sushi and sake was also not satisfied

Very disappointing.

Da Gianni Trattoria

2008-04-24T21:50:00.001-07:00

Kicking myself because I never visited Three Clicks West when it was going, a proposed family gathering gave the opportunity to try the new place in its shoes 'Da Gianni Trattoria'. It got a recent rating of 14/20 in the smh's good living.

Walking in, it reminded me a lot of the good times and great food that I had enjoyed at Billingsgate in Randwick. It had a great buzzy atmosphere which in the end turned out to be a bit too loud for this old bat.

Service was a bit variable. The people closest to the serving corridor got their water glasses refilled, but I felt quite neglected up back near the wall. My water glass got filled up once, just before dessert.

Main dishes sampled: roast quail stuffed with fennel sausage with marsala and grapes; duck pappardelle with chestnuts and unfindable funghi, and roman-style slow cooked roast lamb.

The lamb had had the following comment in the review: " Roman-style roast suckling lamb is an early leader for favourite dish of 2008. On-the-bone chunks of baby lamb, initially marinated and cooked in a white wine, tomato and herb braise, are re-roasted then coated in a rosemary-pungent reduction of the cooking juices. Thus the angelically tender lamb is wetter than Romans would expect, but no less for it."

The waiter had recommended the lamb as well, saying that it was dish of the month. My lamb was tender, but over the top too salty. The sampled duck pappardelle tasted sweet and mild in comparison. I needed to intersperse the bites with the sharp vinegarette of the rocket, radicchio and parmesan salad. The rosemary had been deepfried or roasted, and was providing crunchy bits of rosemary flavoured entertaintment. But really? It was almost a relief to finish it.

I seemed intent on filling my stomach with rich-flavoured food. I dithered between the chocolate, hazelnut and frangelico semifreddo; and the vanilla panacotta. I went the semifreddo - great dish to share, almost impossible to finish on ones own! It again was very rich and intense. I thought that it would be a layered type of dessert, but it was a mix, with some intensely spiced cherries as an aside.

I also had the chance to sample the olive oil and rosemary cake with marscapone gelato and stewed figs. That was interesting: the cake was dry yet moist at the same time, and had a faint rosemary herb taste. The figs were tasty: and reminded me of the fig glut I had had whilst in Croatia. The gelato was also an interesting taste: it made the whole dessert more of a savoury affair.

I'm glad I had walked up to the restaurant, because I definitely waddled on home afterwards.

Upcoming eating outs

2008-04-20T05:41:00.000-07:00

Next week looks to be quite busy in terms of eating outs (and going-outs). Monday will be sushi and sake from Kai on King. I'm still adoring Umi Kaiten Zushi near central station, so I'll see how this compares. This'll be followed by Ross Noble at the enmore theatre. I don't know how I'll cope with his accent, but I'll try.

Then Tuesday is next next installment in my stc theatre subscription - rock-n-roll is the play. L wasn't impressed with the Indian production of Midsummer Nights' Dream. I have to admit it took me a while to get into the play (once I worked out which particular storyline it was). Anyway, preceeding the play will be gourmet pizza & a beer at the Australian Hotel, in the Rocks.
Wednesday - normally a humpish day, but since this week ends on the Thursday, it really is the downhill end of the week. Anyway - debating whether to head to Restaurant Sojourn in Balmain (run bay another ex-banc chef! I must go!), or the three weeds pub restaurant, or the ex-three clicks west Da Gianni Trattatoria.

Having moved out west (but *not a westie, I'm not, I'm not!!) I somehow manage to pack in my social life into lots-of-stuff in one week, and then nothing for months, don't I?

Geocaching addict

2008-04-16T05:49:00.003-07:00

I'm getting such a buzz from finding the little treasures associated with geocaching. It's like: "!yes! score!". It's also providing me with an opportunity to get ride off all the trinkets and toys (remember pogs, anyone?) that I've accumulated over the years, but haven't wanted to give to the Salvos, for fear they would throw them out.

I went hunting today, after my facial. I went hunting on Monday, partway between one training course and another. No luck then - it was quite frustrating having to turn back without the little 'found' treasure chest on my GPS. What am I going to do, when all my local ones have been found?

Rediscovering Thainatown

2008-04-07T05:42:00.000-07:00

Thainatown, on Goulbourn Street near the Masonic Centre has a lunchtime loyalty card!

I went there a twice last week because it was close to where I was. Good food, and not too pricey. always a table or a spot free for a loner. Loved their Duck noodle soup with blood jelly (mmm, offal), and their iced red tea with milk always seems to hit the spot.

Speaking of offal, Suan-i-san, around the corner, sells bbq-style roast liver on a stick. Yummo, iron hit.!

Portliness

2008-03-19T04:33:00.000-07:00

My recent Melbourne visit (and related food extravaganza) has left me a little portly. My mum has described me as being a little bit more 'juicy'.

You know that stereotypical scenario: Girl goes shopping, drags boyfriend along to carry shopping, boyfriend is in catatonic state as girlfriend tries on endless item of clothing after another, prances out of change room and asks: "Do I look fat in this?"

Apparently the bit that we *don't* hear after the "Yes", and then slapping said-boyfriend is....

"Wow, you look fantastic, Yes please buy it, *drool*, in fact let me buy that for you, even better - here, use my credit card..."

So what am I supposed to do with it?

2008-03-10T05:12:00.000-07:00

A little bit shirty, because I got locked out of my gmail account for 24hours. The reason had been "oh, there's been way too much activity on your account, so we've locked it."

Grr - so if you enable to email auto-forward on your account, and then some emails come in, and get forwarded elsewhere, "normal" activity suddenly becomes "abnormal", and you get locked out. ARGH!

Review: Chat thai

2008-03-04T04:15:00.001-08:00

Visited Chat Thai on Campbell Street for lunch today. Good crowd - mix of mostly Asian, some westerners, quite a few thai. Excellent vibes. Seems authentic, but it has a bit of a french influence - e.g. the use of 'consomme' and 'jus' in the menu descriptions

Service staff were lacking, and seemed more interested in taking names for people queueing for tables, and not in actual service. E.g. mains arrived before entrees; mains were dumped on table with no explanation of what dish it was; and mains were delivered without cutlery or serviettes!! Use of wireless pda-style order takers. Design - although it looks pretty, the waitstaff have to push past the queue of people waiting for tables or paying in order to deliver it to the table. Precarious when carrying three or four dishes.

Food good. The Som tum (papaya green salad) was plenty hot and sweet: but lacking in the sour taste. The little dish of chilli sauce that came with the pork skewers - fresh and panfried chillies, coriander, ground rice was a lot better balanced. The snacks - chicken skewers with satay sauce and the bbq pork were disappointing.

Eating Well, in contradiction

2008-03-02T04:03:00.001-08:00

Flying 800kmSydney-Melbourne to do "the slow food thing" seems a bit of an enormous contrdiction.

I had a fantastic time, with three going-out-meals in three days. Sitting for 3 hours on a plane (and filling in the other hours with shopping) don't seem to have balanced out the amount of eating that I achieved. I have most decidedly put on weight, and he had to yield an extra hole on his belt!

Saturday night: "A taste of slow" dinner at Tjanabi restaurant in Federation Square*.
Sunday night was yummo vegetarian banquet at the Morroccan Soup Bar. (Shares joint 'fave melbourne places' with the Vegie Bar in Fitzroy)
Monday lunch was risotto at Piadina Slow Food in Punch Lane. (In retrospect, I should have gone for the Japanese mushroom, green pea lentil curry)
Finally, a double pot of rainbow chai at Well-Connected cafe to settle the stomach on Monday night.

*slow food incorporating food/fish/microherbs flown in from NT, and cooked by two chefs from restaurants in Alice Springs seems to contradict the *other* slow food tennant, that of sourcing food locally.

Impulse Purchase

2008-02-17T03:16:00.000-08:00

Honestly went to birkenhead point 'just to look for some work shirts'. Should not have walked into Laura Ashley, where the fare is usually too fluffy, too girly for me. Then I walked outed with two new sheet sets - white with red polka dots, and a green with white stripes. Oh me, oh my, ever so pretty.

One sauce, many dishes

2008-02-14T04:05:00.000-08:00

Lots of chilli based cooking from me this week. very easy to do so: just bought a small bag of the birds eye chillies (scuds), and put them into everything.

Tried Volum Tom Yum soup in a can. Awful. Flat. My 'substitute everything for every other ingredient' version tasted better.

What I'm really loving is the salad sauce that you pound up in a mortar and pestle. Clove of garlic, pinch of salt, one chilli, lime juice, fish sauce and sugar. It tastes different depending what you add it to. Yum!

I made a recreate-a-dish-from-the-plane vermicilli noodle and cucumber salad (accidently forgot the cherry tomato); And I also added the sauce to a fried rice that made it tasty and spicy, and ever so moreish.

Tonight I used the chillies, and rubbed them on some t-bone steaks before cooking. Mmm.

Too many things to do, too little time

2008-02-13T03:13:00.001-08:00

I have been one stressed out little bunny recently. A combination of impending deadlines and a "well Mr X. did it, so why can't you?", have meant that I have not been a happy camper! Over summer I have had the assistance of a uni student doing a work experience stint with us: and it has been enormously helpful being able to hand over the responsibility of those tasks that you really have to do, but just can't fit in, because there is so much other stuff that are even more important. *sigh* I'll miss him when he has head to back to uni.

Flood!

2008-02-07T03:58:00.000-08:00

It rained again today, torrentially, after lunch. Feels like I'm living in monsoonal country. Anyway, the little drainage ditch was flowing, the duckpond had overfilled, and the walking track was flooded. I've never seen that much water there.

Pizza Night

2008-01-13T03:13:00.000-08:00

Made pizza from scratch, on one of the hotter days we've had this year. I think it was 33 degrees during the day.
The dough refused to rise (I was using Stephanie Alexander proportions; not Donna Hay ones, which I am used to), The oven was either too cold or smoking and threatening to set off the smoke alarm. They were very tasty pizzas though. Next tme, I think I'll wait for winter to satisfy the homemade pizza craving.

NY Road Trip Part 2

2008-01-04T15:05:00.000-08:00

After leaving the Honeysuckle Camping ground in Namadgi National Park, we drove down the dirt road to Adaminaby. The road was twisty and hilly, with the added fun of dirt and thus less traction. It was fun to do once - but really the signboards and scenery along the way didn't really encourage a re-visit. The only thing possibly worthwhile - the Orroral Valley.

Stopped in at Buckenderra holiday park on the shores of Lake Eucembene for New Years Eve. Last year, the lake level was so low that you could see the foundations and remanents of Old Adaminaby town. Today - the level was 20%. Certainly very refreshing, and enough to have a swim in.

Finally: the main attraction. Drove up to Charlotte Pass and set off for the Blue Lake Walk, with plans for the return via Hedley Tarn. The weather was good, with a predicted afternooon thunderstorm and shower. Hiked up to the saddle of Mount Twyman. Whilst resting from the 250m climb over 2km distance, we got lured by the prospect of Mount Carruthers so nearby.

2km deviation later, and the view over the valley and Northcott canyon to the north was beautiful and worth it. Stopped at Blue Lake on the way back - lots of patches of snow still remaining. Tried to spot where the ice climbs would be in winter. All the alpine wildflowers were out flowering and looking fabulous.

The final part of the walk - from the northern shore of Hedley tarn was a bit hardgoing. There were some cairns marking the trail, but not many, and they were a bit irregular. A bit of bushbashing through the heath! Reaching the showgrass section and downhill to the paved walkway was a relief, as was eating lunch with my feet dangling in the Snowy river afterwards.

NY Road Trip Part 1

2007-12-31T03:19:00.000-08:00

Left Sydney for Canberra, stopped at Bungonia Gorge for a night. Looks like the NPWS had closed half the campsites in their wisdom. The two main lookouts looked over the canyon - and the wonderful scar opposite that is the quarry. So easily can our government be bought.

Walked from the main lookout over to Adams lookout. At least from here you couldn't see the quarry, and could just appreciate Slot Canyon. Very hot. The showers were very nice though.

Continued on to the main attraction: Boroomba Rocks. Since the weather had been very hot, we awoke at the crack of pre-dawn, and frogmarched from the carpark at 7am up the slope to South Buttress. Integral Crack was calling!

We enjoyed the shade up till about 1130. Definitely the way to go in future. And not only that: I managed to second integral crack clean, and crank off a finger lock. Yowie!!

Completed the day with a cooling dip in the Murrumbidgee river near Point Hut crossing. Is this how the natives cool down?

Various Nibbles

2007-12-07T21:19:00.000-08:00

Broke a window trying to get a fly with a thong. It's worked in the past, I don't see why the window had to shatter on purpose.

Blind baked a pre-made pie crust, and burnt the edges.

Trying to make pumpkin pie for a pushing daisies movie marathon.

the oaks, backwards

2007-12-03T03:17:00.000-08:00

Almost did the oaks fire trail twice in one week. Record for me. :-)

Took Monday off, did it the traditional direction 'downhill' from woodford to glenbrook. Lots of fun, although I bailed on the really hard bit of single track right near the end. I have to admit though, a weekday is *the* day to do it, because you are not at risk of super collision or 8-bike pile up if you decide to take your own sweet time about it.

Went back on Sunday. Surprisingly, the road down to the causeway at Glenbrook was closed, and had been since Friday. There was half a tree and a boulder right in the middle of the causeway. It doesn't take long for the rivers to fill up from rain!

So the backwards bit means I rode a bit of it 'uphill', from glenbrook to woodford. I was really surprised how much of a difference it made. You don't notice the slope much from the Oaks picnic area, but I think I climbed 50m in elevation over 2km. And then, once I reached the '10km from glenbrook' mark, I chucked a u-turn, and did my favourite bit really fast. Wheeeeeee!

Working towards the Urban Polaris

2007-11-22T04:14:00.000-08:00

Have a dream to do the final urban polaris this year in canberra. 7 hours on a bike - ouch, even more ouch if I haven't been on a bike since August.

So I went on a ride on Sunday, bush track in the Wollemi National Park. It was very pretty, highly enjoyable. I totally rode it wrong, riding too hard on the brake doing the downhill, too far forward in the saddle, and skidding my way down. Fun though - didn't come off once. Nearly ran over a snake too. It was bright green, with a white/cream underbelly and yellow markings on its back. That's enough to make me think it was a diamond python (non-poisonous, yay!). However, it was coiled and ready to strike - and that's not typical behaviour. Possibly it could have been the several rocks and branches that Luke threw at it to try and convince it to move that did it. Hmm.

Sculpture by the Sea

2007-11-17T15:33:00.000-08:00

On its 10 year anniversary, I finally made it to Sculpture by the Sea. It was hot. It was also the last weekend, so it was crowded. Fun.

The rusted metal sculptures at Tamarama looked like they had been there for years, they really blended in. The rolled up balls of "united nations policy on climate change" were funny, and oh so true. The sea lady perched on the rockshelf worked so well, there were many young lasses who sat next to her and adopted the same pose.

I wonder which of the sculptures was that of my neighbour?

I'd left my wallet at home, and a gelato at pompeii was the one neccessity, so I couldn't afford a catalog. Hazelnut & blood orange - well worth it!

It was good fun at Marks Park, with the families out and about and exploring the art. Quite a few made it through the bars imprisoning the tree on the headland.

I made it into the water too, twice at Tamarama. The water was very cold, and rough towards the end of the day. I may be a little sunburnt.

Ironic Ad

2007-10-24T06:09:00.000-07:00

Heard an ad on the radio whilst on the commute. It was one of those "help I'm drowning in debt" type ads, and the company promises to help you out. "If we can't help you, no one can!". The rep's name was "Jacque".

Danks St Festival 2007

2007-10-21T05:00:00.000-07:00

Went to the Dank St Festival today, probably my first 'real' good food month attended. I mean I went to the markets - but it's a thing i do quite a bit. Hot day, in street with two PAs blaring away just way too loud, make my head hurt. Gah, I'm turning into a little granny.

Apart from that, lots of fun! Bought a round loaf of olive bread from Sonoma - just missed out on the soy linseed. :-(. [Tasted the bread after dinner - Yummo!]Although I wasn't hungry when heading there, I was pretty soon after landing and smelling all the yummy smells. Sampled:
- Creole sausage & rocket on a roll with smokey bbq sauce from Eumundi Smokehouse. Good & chewy texture. well matched. I like the sauce!
- Garlic Prawns from the Spanish Place, up at the Moore Park end. The prawns were a bit salty, and the texture tough. Uh - were they frozen? But the accompanying picante and verde sauces were lovely.
- Tasting Plate (arancini rice ball; pumpkin pinenut and yoghurt tartlet) and duck pancake. Liked the pancake. Was it wholemeal? I'm sure there was more stuff with the tasting plate, but I can't remember. The sharpness of the yoghurt contrasted nicely with the richness of the pine nuts. I love pine-nuts, so moreish.
-Serendipity gelato flavours of fig, honey & pistachio; and kaffir lime and coconut. I've been a fan of the vanilla bean for aaages, when they were stocked in little takaway containers for $10 a block. I had heard rave reviews of the fig ice cream: it was lovely, but a little two sweet. You got the crunchiness of the fig seeds, nutty/creamy pistachio nuts and then sweet honey. The kaffir lime & coconut was so white, it looked bleached. Non-dairy? I guess if you use coconut cream/milk. Then you get this little tantalising hit of 'ooh, slightly limey',and cruncy bits of shredded coconut. Make that toasted, and it would totally win me over.

I couldn't quite do the whole two scoops, I think next time I try for a 1.5 scoop deal. I was very full and satisfied after that final effort!

Sad that I'm going to be missing out on the food & wine fair next weekend.

Spring Clean

2007-10-07T04:13:00.001-07:00

Steamcleaned the carpets today, and went through 7 refills of 8.5 litre tank. Hmm - not exactly environmentally friendly, but the carpets smell much better. Also used a lot of elbow grease in cleaning out the bathtub of soap scum - used the vinegar & bicarb trick. The worst bit is kneeling on the tiles!

USA Round up

2007-09-23T00:58:00.000-07:00

I spent lots of time in State Parks and National Parks. If the weather is fine, don't even think about trying to get a camp spot along the coast. The smells are so much more 'moreish' - like the super Sugar Pine smell, or the smell of the redwoods or the grandeur of the Giant Sequoias. Loved Yosemite National Park ($20 for 7 day entry is so cheap compared to the $8 day entry in the state parks). Saw lots and lots of bears.

High Fructose Corn Syrup is in *everything*. Chocolate bars in the USA are so much more bad for you than they are in Australia; You read the ingredients, and there is not only Coconut Oil and Palm Oil (the worst two oils in existence), but then they've gone and *hydrogenated* it, which makes is superbad!!

Funny too - I think there are two production lines. i bought some 'endangered species' chocolate. The one that I got from the Yosemite general store had "beet sugar". The one that I saw in Australia had "normal" sugar in it. Eh?

Yay for the existence of the BART in SF; What doesn't make sense is making the consumer work out to the cent, how much to put in the machine. You should be able to press which station you want to go to, and then the machine tells you how much to put in. Not: consult table, then put in money.

Supertired Skibunny

2007-08-13T04:40:00.000-07:00

Made a last minute dash to the snow this year: it was a trip that I had all but given up despite the "best snow in 20 years" tag. Suddenly on the Tuesday I found out that a friend of a friend was going: and then there was hope! Booked last minute accomodation on the Thursday, drove down to weather reports of gale force winds at altitudes above 1200m. Sounds like the makings of an epic, doesn't it?

Anyway, first day at Thredbo was miserable. Instead of wind (and shut lifts), it was constant rain. The actual skiing part was ok-ay: it was slushy and hard work. What sucked was the staying still on the chairlift and getting soaked and cold. Oh-so-cold. We made an executive schnapp decision to head into the warm after two runs, and we had to wring the gloves out because the water had soaked right through to the inner liner.

Chose to do a lazy dinner, and instead of driving into Jindy; walk up the hill from the tent to visit the thai place. Instead of (as I was expecting), a rather ordinary suburban thai restaurant, this place was fantastic! Ordered the nahm dtok [grilled beef salad] (spelling from thai food) off the Specials menu, and it was oh-so tasty. I had to restrain myself from licking the plate, the sauce were that good. It was very popular as well: I saw at least four other tables ordering the same dish. I really wanted to come back again the next night, and just hang out there in front of the fire. Dang having to go to work the next day!

Supreeya's Thai Restaurant - well worth it.

Water in..

2007-07-25T04:13:00.000-07:00

So. The toilets are now on yellowish tanked rain water. And you're supposed to tell if you're dehydrated by checking the colour of your urine. How am I supposed to tell ? Counting the number of glasses per day is so old school.

Macadamia Nuts

2007-07-09T04:50:00.000-07:00

The thumbprints on my fingers feel raw.

I visited a Macadamia farm over the weekend, and having enjoyed the pumpkin and macadamia nut scones fresh from the oven with a bit of cream and jam, proceeded to scour the ground underneath the trees in the grove for some fruit. Apparently they're not ripe until they drop off the tree, and you need 12 weeks to dry them in the shell before you can crack the nut from within.

But to dry the shell, I had to remove it from the casing. First attempt was with a knife to top & tail it, and then peel the green skin off. Have you tried skinning a golfball? Yeah, it was just as successful as that.

A nut cracker (or lobster shell cracker...?) came to the rescue, but the trick was to crack the edge of the skin, and not the central bit that instinctively you go for ~ after all, these are the hardest nutshells in the world.

Plan B's Wagyu Beef Burger

2007-06-25T05:57:00.000-07:00

Get one hunk of expensive wagyu beef. Mince it. Turn it into a burger. Yum.

Plan B is the side project for Julian North of Becasse & (Sous Chef) Banc fame.

Lack of time, so a short post

2007-06-24T05:22:00.000-07:00

Gak! Now being a car-commuter instead of a public transport commuter, I am finding that I'm having much less spare time than I used to, and the backlog of things to read is getting longer.
So little time!

Loving: A proper winter, snuggling up in front of the heater. Sleeping in (but I've always loved that). Rise Omakase menu. The freshness of the sushi at Makato. Coffee. Need more.

Inspired by: Lamb & Tomato Soup from The Gardners Inn Blackheath; Sticky Toffee Pudding (Steph Alexander Version), hastily converted from metric weights to -erh- I think 170g sugar is a three quarters cup?

Me = Commuter Squared

2007-05-29T01:15:00.000-07:00

Took delivery of a new car at the end of last month. All of 13km on the clock, just enough to have assembled it it, driven it onto the ship, and driven it off the ship.

Instead of being a public transport person - I am now an evil commuter. One of those single people, in a single car, travelling to work. At the moment I am doing the reverse commute, travelling from the inner suburbs of sydney to the western suburbs. And generally, I like driving. But I don't like driving during the peak hour rush when everyone is aggro and less forgiving.

My compensation for doing this daily commute has been to start up a bokashi box, a sort of indoor pre-compost fermentation system that originated in Japan. I have tried and failed with the worm farm (killing the poor babies twice, so-much-so that the last lot of worms upped and packed themselves to the compost bin next door). Lets see how this one goes.

Degustation at Post, GPO Martin Place

2007-05-13T03:39:00.000-07:00

The parentals went to Tetsuya's yesterday with some friends to celebrate a significant birthday.

Jealous as.

By happenstance though, as I was clearing out my boxes from my perpetual-move; I found a menu that I had squirrelled away from two years ago. During good food month 2005, I had a choice between visiting Carribean experimental in Pyrmont; or French degustation. I, predictably, chose the French, although now I wish I had been a little daring.

Anyway, I can't remember much about the actual meal. I think I managed to resist taking photos of every dish. But here is the menu & my scribblings for posterity:

It's Time!

2007-05-06T03:19:00.000-07:00

So finally - it was time for me to ride the dirtworks 50km race.

Months of non-preparation, and on-again-off-again riding had brought me to this moment.

The killer hill at the beginning - around 12km was just as bad as it was last year. I had to pause and roll around on the ground for a bit to stretch my lower back out. It was just *so* tiring from pushing the bike up the hill at a 65 degree angle. Urk. I started off the ride with sneakers on, to reduce the number of transitions by one, and also so I didn't have to hike up the hill in bike shoes. I'm really not sure how much time I saved!

For the 50km, they had graded the fast downhill track from rocky, sandy and technical to smooth with a combo of water bars & sand traps to slow you down. I was trying so hard to slow down on this downhill bit that I could smell burning rubber - probably my rim brakes. Top speed for me: 41.5km*, and I was a slowpoke!

The water station at the 28km mark (where the 100kmers split off from the 50kmers) was very good with watermelon, orange slices, 'gu' water. Very good, especially since so many people ran out of water last year. I probably stayed a little too long at this rest point.

Apparently a 100kmer broke their collarbone just past the water station. The hike-a-bike bit got removed, but there was a plank/bridge ride over a creek that a few people got wet in when they tried to change direction when already on the bridge.

Timing chips/legstraps got provided too. Ah - technology!

My time was worse than last year (1min), but my placing was one better.

*Courtesy of my handy GPS unit. If I'm speeding downhill, all hands on brakes, even though I'm the kind of person to scream "go-faster", do you *really* think I'd take my eyes off the trail to see the kind of speed I'm clocking up. Nuh-uh.

On the road again

2007-05-04T05:36:00.000-07:00

I have been packing my stuff (again!) in preparation for a move. This isn't a moving-house type move (which in a way I am still in the midst of - beware the way of the procrastinator), but a move of office.

When I last moved office, about this time last year, I had three boxes of stuff, and was accused of moving too much stuff. So this time I am restricting myself to the same three boxes. Of course in a year I have accumulated lots more 'stuff' - thus it is time to cull.

Someone else in another organisation I have dealings with is also under this blight of time-to-move-office.

They hired movers. The movers picked up the boxes, but decided to have a long lunch along the way.
They had a few lunchtime beverages. They indulged in some illegal substances. They decided to scatter the contents boxes to the four winds, and feeling the pressure from the extra liquid consumed at lunchtime, relieved themselves on the paperwork.

So *that* is why we're moving our office stuff ourselves.

Oaks

2007-04-24T19:36:00.000-07:00

Way-hey, I can ride a bike again. Sort of. My training for the Dirtworks 50km so far has involved on again off again rides mainly in the royal national park, and a whole lot of sleeping.

But not last weekend! I was determined. I emailed the gang, nominated the 9.20 train from glenbrook and what time it was due to arrive at woodford. I was determined to ride no matter what.

As I was driving up to Glenbrook (borderline late for the train), I remembered that the last ride I had done in RNP, B1 had had two flats, borrowed my spare tube, and left me with the super-busted-cannot-be-repaired one. *grrr*.

I lurked around glenbrook for a while, hoping for the old-bike-shop-now-outdoor-stuff shop to open. The clock ticked ominously. Decided to run the risk & ride without a spare and went off to meet Robin & Darren at the station. Turns out the train was already crowded (with bikes), and there were at least thirty more wanting to join the train. Uh oh. Donated our tickets to some likely riders, and ended up driving to the start of the trail.

We had two spare tubes between three bikes. I had had another sort of brain malfunction, and forgotten my bike shoes as well. Duh, doofus! Luckily, Robin had just changed his flat pedals to eggbeaters (ooh, hardcore!), so I could use those instead of sneakers of spd pedals.

And it was fun! I rode most of the downhill sections, except for the really really big one. I even made it up the enormous hill at the end. I'm not sure what the gradient was, but *wow* I'm so impressed. I've never made it past the first switchback before. It got to the point, as I was riding up, that I couldn't even look at the road ahead; all I could focus on was bit of bitumen just in front of my front wheel.

Total kudos to Darren - this was only the second time off road; he rode most of the downhill sections, but on a rigid frame, no suspension bike that was a little small for him.

Milkshakes were well deserved.

Haigh's Chocolate Indulgence

2007-04-18T05:38:00.000-07:00

Morning coffee break with coffee buddy, in a week that I had decided to come off the coffee again "for as long as it took", so that it would become effective again*.

The Grace hotel had teamed with Haigh's Chocolates to present a chocaholics dream of brownies, biscuits and hot chocolate. So being a fan of the Lindt dark hot chocolate, we went to sample the fare at theGrace.

Choice: 'Normal' hot chocolate, Hot Chocolate Haigh's style, White hot chocolate.

Hot Chocolate Haigh's style came with two marshmallows and a small chocolate and macademia nut biscuit. There was no choice of dark or milk chocolate. Shaved chocolate on top, which melted in the time it took me to take a photo.

The hot chocolate was very sweet, and I think I prefer the Lindt version with the dark chocolate. The 10% discount voucher was put to immediate use - a packet of dark peppermint chocolate frogs, dark choc coated almonds, and milk choc coated macadamias. The nuts are having ashorter lifespan than the frogs, just so moreish.

* That said, when I walked into the coffeeshop this morning; The guy knew me immediately as 'flat white, no sugar", so I haven't been offthe stuff for long enough.

Ooh, I can do Arty Farty Again

2007-04-05T16:29:00.000-07:00

Coffee Buddy alerted me to the fact that the art gallery is open on Wednesday evenings for the 'art after hours' event during the month of April. He went on 28 March to hear a comedian talk about the Archibald. So this Wednesday I went. Not to hear Margaret Throsby interview two finalists, but just for a chance to visit the art gallery not-on-a-weekend. Hmm. Those are usually called weekdays, yes? It's a bit too 'familiarity breeds contempt', because the last time I went to the art gallery was during primary school; and despite 'meaning' to see The Archibald Prize, or see artexpress every year, I never quite get off my backside to go.

There was a huge crowd there for the Margaret Throsby talk. Funny how I never really did art in Aus beforenow, and yet I went & visited quite a few art galleries whilst in Europe. I sidestepped the seating, and went 'round the back to artexpress.

I liked the 'minature thoughts' on postage stamps one (For where your Treasure is...., by Aimee Shao-Yi Yeo). Brown ink on a cream cardboard, grouped into three sets with different background colours. Did she handwrite each miniscule thought? Or was it printed in sepia ink, and shrunk down?

I also liked the wirework tableau (A Political Circus, by Madeleine Plocki), of Downer and Iemma playing Texas Hold 'Em Poker; Howard as a circus ringleader with Costello peeking hopefully through a curtain.

There were quite a few entries from International Grammar School. Why does that sitck in my mind? Because it is local, and I can relate to it, despite not having gone to school there.

Then it was downstairs, and into the Archibald, Sulman and Wynne prizes. Um, yeah. I can see why the painting of Take Two: Jack Thompson by Danelle Bergstrom won the packing room prize, I thought that was pretty cool. I guess I liked the stories behind the pictures more, because nothing here kind of grabbed me and made me go "oh, wow".

So what I liked (art critic that I'm not):
- The Hon. Bob Carr (Jasper Knight), because Knight was a finalist in artexpress a few years ago, Carr bought his artwork, and that they meet up every year to "catchup".
-Fink on the Phone (Paul Ryan), because it took Ryan two intense periods, and at least $800 worth of paint to get it to a stage he liked. Very textured.
-Tim (Esther Elridge). She tacked on an extra bit of canvas at the bottom of her portrait to emphasis Tim Rogers' lanky figure, and then 'spent a lot of time up a ladder'!

Ooh, Arty Farty Me

2007-03-31T16:14:00.000-07:00

Saw Keating! earlier in March, and it was a hoot. I think it started at a Melbourne Comedy festival a few years ago (google says 2005), sold out, and came to Sydney fo two weeks at the opera house. Of course, it sold out again for that season. Hadn't heard anything about it until January this year when I think I saw a poster in passing. Grabbed the tickets when the box office opened, so finally after a year and a half of waiting, I got to go.

Fortified after work with a large mocha and a small bar of chocolate. The band was playing something upbeat to get the audience in the mood. Almost a full house and ~uh~ the clientele was a little bit older than I expected. I really only remember Keating as PM prior to Howard, but I was surprised that the majority of the audience that night were ofgrey-haired granny ilk.

And it was a lot of fun! It took me a while to get into it, and I'm not sure if it was because I didn't remember much of the references to the early part of his tenure, or if it was because I wasn't in the mood. Anyway, from about the Hewson 'fightback!' rap I was cheeringalong and grooving with everyone else.

Random Stuff

2007-03-04T03:00:00.001-08:00

Coffee
How can I tell Uni has started again?

I can't get my coffee instantly, when I want it from the cheap place up the road, because all the uni students have discovered it.

General Posting
Finding it very hard to keep this thing updated. I can't email posts from work because of the stupid disclaimer messages that get tacked onto the end of emails. I am spendng disgusting amounts of time on flickr at work at the moment, probably more as a distraction from horrible work happenings. I think I will curl up into a little ball and die when the helpless desk work out that flickr isn't work related, and block it from the list of allowable sites.

MTB
For some reason life keeps interfering with the things I want to do. Like mountainbike ride - I signed up for the
dirtworks 50km bike race. I thoroughly enjoyed this one last year, and am keen on doing it again. Except that last time I went riding - RNP no less, a trail that I usually consider "easy", I found it far from easy. It was tough! Downhills that I had blithely zoomed down at speed in the
past (& yelled out 'go faster!' to my compatriots) I baulked at. *sigh*. I am getting *sensible*, how can that be?

And then this weekend - I had organised a trip to ride the Oaks Fire trail. Unlike RNP, where I can bail after 10km, this one forces you to ride 25km or so. Even if it is mostly downhill, it's going bush, right? Of course shittyrail organised some last minute trackwork, which wasn't advertised on their website, that I only noticed when driving up the day before I had planned to go riding. So friends couldn't join me, and it would involve a bit of extra logistical to-ing and fro-ing to do the trail. L, bless his cotton socks, was all worried about me going riding on my own along 25km of no-reception, and lent me his EPIRB. I didn't go in the end, and wentclimbing instead. I'm sure that was part of his cunning evil plan.

Adventurous Paddle

2007-02-04T03:11:00.001-08:00

So! Yesterday I competed in the inaugural Adventure Paddle; down on the Georges River in the 'shire.

I actually wasn't much looking forward to the event beforehand. I had done all of one "training" session, a 3 hour stint on middle harbour. I haven't done anything really tp get fit apart from on & off turn ups at the Sydney Summer Series (which I then mainly walked). And lots and lots of PS2 guitar hero. I signed up mainly to do something with Sarah, which I know that she would be interested in, and I thoughy that some of my mad adventure racing pals would have signed up too. "No, I can't be bothered."

Bah, bollocks to them.

So having slept like a log for 6hours, the alarm went off at 5am. Dozy brekky of museli &amp;amp; fruitibix, then an iced coffee up & go in the car. Disadvantage of travelling across town on the motorways is that there is no convenient cafe with nice coffees en-route, or even a dodgy fast food place with caffienated sort-of-beverages when you're desperate. We ended up pulling into a servo & getting a milky hot water thing with a splash of brown stuff from a vending machine, and a can of Vfrom me.

The Georges River National Park was filled with seriously buff looking people in sponsered swift looking kayaks, matching uniforms for the pairs. Maybe about 100 people all up? A bit of fluffing about, since I hadn't done one of these things in over a year, what with contacting the map, the checkpoint list, working out our route & times with thetides.

0800 -bang, and we're off! Run to launch the kayak into the water, and paddle around the corner, to pick up the 'checkpoint value' list. Of course we just follow the crowd, and head up the bush track to checkpoint 19. When we come down, it was like 'oh, that checkpoint value thing'. We picked it up anyway, ignored it and kept going. The next closest checkpoint already had a flotilla of 10 or so kayak parters waiting in the kayaks whilst the faster runners headed up thecliffline & got their stamp off the leg of a transmission tower. We opted to head upstream & keep going.

So. All in all, we had a pretty fun time. We got all the checkpoints that we wanted to, and one extra, number '9', which supposedly was accessible only around high tide, but we managed to get it about 90mins after the high tide mark, and it was still really easy to get there. We dodged some idiot waterskiiers, and jetskis; had to cross the main channel of the Georges river a couple of times. The bit closest to Mickey's point & Alfords Point bridge was the hairiest - we pretty much just looked both ways, and then paddled like crazy to getacross the channel before being run over.

5 hours, 260points, 16km of paddling. Pretty good effort!

The best bit was stopping at a picnic area on the northern side of the river, eating a snack, and then having tiny transparent prawns swim over and around our dangling feet as they spawned downstream.

I am so sore today though! We stretched out afterwards, mainly upper body and arm stretches, and ate a 'healing' sausage sandwich. Pretty much the top 3/4 of my back is just sore (not helped by the fact that I also went climbing thursday night), and so are the bony bits of mysitting down muscles!

All Shopped out

2007-01-03T23:40:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it. I'm all shopped out.

Had the car for a few more days, thought I might as well go shopping somewhere not easily public transportable. Wandered around DFO at homebush with little enthusiasm. It's not that big, and the stock really isn't that good. The range of CR skirts available in sizes 6 & 8 was about 5, all ugly. Could I really have over-shopped myself whilst travelling overseas, and my lightning cheer-myself-up-shoppingtrip to Melbourne when I returned?

Then I went IK-eaing, and there was a lot more enthusiasm for that. How on earth can I get excited by browsing at Ikea? The majority of hostel/backpacker places that I stayed at during my big europe trip were decorated top-to-toe in ikea, which I couldn't understand. The funkiest place had a blue plastic watering can turned into a lightshade. Very stylish! I think it's more the convenience of aone-stop-shop, because really, it ain't that cheap!

On the hunt for under-the-bed storage type ideas, despite me not liking plastic crates, I came *this close* to buying a set of Children's style crates. The adult versions were terribly ho-hum.
Funnily enough, although I really hated to white/beige options in offer in the home-storage section, and got excited by all the pretty colours you could get the children's shelving/crate/storage boxes in, it was the white ones that I had picked out!