15 hours of food: The markets

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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...

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

Penny Jar for Australia?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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'

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

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

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

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.