Paprika

Opened a new packet of paprika today. As cool as Herbie's is, he's too expensive to purchase bulk items such as black peppercorns, mustard seeds & paprika from. So I got it from fiji market, down in Newtown. I know it is derived from chillies, pimetos, or something similar, but I didn't expect it to smell like dry tomato!

Big brother is already here.

My work has recently installed on all of our computers, a coffee-break type software which monitors every single keystroke, every single application you use, and how long you spend on the computer. Supposedly for OH&S purposes, it is surprising how much it really picks up. Like 'oh, did i really spend 2 hrs today checking emails?'. Hmm. I mean what it is supposed to do is go - uh oh, you've been working really intensely for 10 minutes, time to take a break! And then it suggests exercises for you to do whilst it has taken over your computer, and forces you to do something else. It is quite scary. And quite embarrassing how much you come to *ahem* rely on it.

I was looking at the application monitoring bit for the past week or so, just to make sure I wasn't spending _too_ much time on email. Before it got installed, I even went so far as to write the most enormous sign to stick on my monitor so I didn't keep compulsively clicking on outlook to check my mail (& finding, disappointingly, that nobody loves me). And now? After so many complaints about email monitoring, computer usage monitoring, and how none of this crap was part of our contracts, they've disabled it. So I have no idea how much time I have spent frittering away on the 'net, on the email. And now I'm back to compulsively clicking on outlook, every 2 minutes, even if I've just closed the application. I guess I have an addictive type personality.

Youch

I can't believe how much of a wuss I am. It took 5 years of talking to myself (and believe me, people think I'm weird enough already) to go & get my ears pierced. It felt like someone had flicked me with a rubber band. That is all.

Car hunting

I can't believe that hunting for a car could be so time-consuming and expensive. Sick of begging lifts off people, asking if I could borrow "you & your car", unable to get the surfboard that I so dearly wanted to purchase, I decided that I should get one of my own.

At first the budget was under 10k, but I couldn't find anything I liked.

Then I upped it to 15k, which, would just borderline, get me something decent. For some reason, people kept insisting that I get an echo, because it's such a good deal. But it's UGLY! How could I drive an ugly car? Plus I've been in them (which the friends recommending them hadn't), and they were very very small on the side. You have to be very good, very 'close' friends to be able to seat 3 in the back of the 'sedan' version. Even riding shotgun - and I'm a skinny linny here, I could feel that any larger personage would have an uncomfortable squashed ride. The only positive thing that I could think about the echo is the digital speedo.

So now I'm looking at new cars. I've done ecos, why the hell am I looking at new cars? I _know_ I'm going to instantly lose 20% of the value. But they're so shiny. I can't believe I'm thinking of dropping over 20k on a bloody car.

And don't even talk to me about insurance. Okay, so I'm an unknown risk. But a $4k premium for a 6 year old GOLF worth $15k does not make any !sense!. ARGH, I can't believe it. Okay, so I'm a young'un, but a premium that's 1/4 the cost of the car does not make sense.

Grr. So if anyone knows of a good surfboard deal that comes with a free car, please let me know.

Markets, aaaaiii

Went to the smh/pyrmont growers' markets today. I haven't been for almost a year, just because I felt 'so over' it. The same producers, the same products, the same people each month. So I stopped going & really enjoyed that whole sleep in business you can do on weekends. This time I took some friends who had just returned from France, and who were missing the whole concept of fresh cheese that you could buy anywhere & everywhere there. Being unable to convince them to make their own (& thus be able to reap the fruits of my bossiness, as it were), I instead kicked them out of bed early to head to the markets.

And then I remembered why I had enjoyed getting up so early once a month when I was young and stupid. Just the whole atmosphere, of people who enjoy food wandering around and talking to all the producers, who get up even earlier to tend to their geese or smoke their trout or turn their cheese. And this time I didn't encounter those incredibly rude pushy people who pushed in front of me when it was clearly my turn. Maybe somebody else had pushed them into the harbour as retaliation.

Unfortunately, the mushroom people weren't there, and I was a tad disappointed. I managed to resist the native jam man - hello, I _still_ have jars of stuff from 3 years ago that I haven't touched. but it should be okay, right? it's not as though I've broken the seal, and it's all sugar anyway so there is nothing to spoil. also resisted the lure of the willowbrae chevre, but got suckered in by the supreme tastiness of the SJ club blue (*aaaaaahhhhhhhh***), and a new cheddar......can't quite remember what it was. The jannai camerbert was diVine darls, so I suckered 3 others into buying it instead. I'll give it a shot next time, after all I already have a fridge full-o-cheese. And *squeal* you gotta get some peaches off the peach bloke if he's there next time, superb!

Surfers!

At coogee! Unbelievable. I saw surfers hanging off the southern end of coogee waiting for a wave. In fact today, when I went down to visit late after work, there were guys who were just waiting for the flags to be pulled down before they went out for some nice ones off the northern end as well. Wow. Makes me wish I had a board so I could have gone & gotten hammered as well. And compared to the waves at Bondi, these ones were way better! Apparently the incredible swell was due to an 'intense low pressure system off NZ' in addition to another LP system off queensland, so come on El Nino, give us another one, so I can have a go too!

Time to Watch. And Laugh. And Mock

Yeah, woo. Buffy is BACK. At the worst time possible of course, 2300 on Sunday nights, when good little princesses should be tucked up in bed. Tonight's episode was 'Syd the dummy', one from season 1 when storylines were good & tasty. And x-files on on afterwards! argh! early first season! they look so young! Dunno why people pick on poor keanu for having no facial expression, young fox mulder is just as bad! mmmm, eyecandy. Speaking of things tasty - how irresistible are jb hi-fi's prices - $21 for a 3dvd box set of the buffster. I am so in lurve, and doing all I can to resist the lure of the instant purchase. The only thing holding me back is the possibility of getting frequent flyer points on the purchase, if I so had a credit card linked to a frequent flyer scheme. Hmm.

Mmm, tasty

How good a diet does my compost bin get? Today's contributions included illy coffee grounds, helga's bread, celery, carrot & chai tea leaves. Plus a bucket full of general garden twigs & leaves to add to the carbon content. Apart from the last bit, the compost bin is eating really well, & it is all reducingas planned - I am soooo pleased! I'd better get some swanky compost out of it, the quality of stuff that I'm feeding it.

Latham: He was damn well pushed

Not that I'm a fan of the labor party or anything. Not that there is much difference between the labor & the liberal parties at all. But Latham was damn well pushed.

What is the point, labor party, of all this political infighting, of stabbing each other in the backs, of attacking each other through the media? What is the flipping point? Do you really think that all these sudden leadership changes, and all of the above will _really_ win you any votes? The whole GODDAMN point of having a leader is that you chose her/him, and you support them 100%. If they decide to quit, fine, if they get sick whilst on annual leave, fine. If they make some bad decisions, okay, that was a bad decision, but live with it, and you continue to support your *leader* in public. This a presents a nice cohesive, stable and UNITED front to us, your dear potential voters, and gosh-darn, we might even vote for you in the next election. But fuckin attacking Latham while he's on leave, through the media, mind you, and forcing him to resign, by saying "oooh, he's a bit sick", and "oooh, he's made a couple of bad decisions" and "oooh, do you really want to stay on as leader?" is *not* playing nice at all.

Think about it. If you were on holidays from work. And you happened to be sick, whilst on holidays. And sure, you had been sick once whilst working, but you took sick leave, and that's fine. Your company, not even bothering to call you first says , "oh, so and so is sick. i don't think they can do their job anymore", and starts recruiting for someone to fill your boots. Don't you think that you were just pushed?

Petty Petty Petty

So I get moved, against my will, to a new section. As I have done so in the past, with no comment, I take my ergonomic furniture with me. This furniture was purchased on my behalf because my deskspace had been assessed to need it so that I could work efficiently. Halfway through the day I get an INCREDIBLY RUDE email from the petty dept saying that this furniture had been purchased using *their* budget, costing XYZ amount of dollars, and could I please return it immediately.

HELLO! WTF?!?!?

Okay fine. It had been purchased under their budget. So please drop me a nice email asking for it back. Don't tell me how much it cost (which I quite frankly disbelieve, if the item cost that much, it would behind glass), and don't couch it in such rude language. As usual, the petty department serves only itself, and is incredibly territorial over its own very small domain. I had though better of them before, but this incident just reinforces my own impression of them as administrivia.

Huh

This year has gone by super fast. What have I done? What have I have achieved this year? Um. I still climb at the same level that I climbed at before; in fact possibly have gotten worse. My technique has gone a bit to pieces. No longer am I watching what I spend, in fact, I'm quite scared of adding up how much I've spent so far this year - or rather, the past year point five. I've taken up surfing - so that's a new obsession to add to my current tally of expensive hobbies. I tried to give up coffee - twice, and then fell straight off the wagon a couple of days later. And I've just had a dental check up and don't need _any_ fillings. Hurrah!

Becasse: the degustation

After some indecision in choosing between the al-a-carte menu and the degustation menu, we decided upon the degustation. After all, you only live once, and how often does one head into a restaurant like this? Tempting on the a-la carte menu were the fried courgette flowers, the venison and the risotto. I always like choosing a risotto to get the measure of a place, but well, I can get risotto any old time right?

This was the menu:

1. Amuse Bouche - root vegetable soup with foie gras chantilly
2. Cured Saltwater Char with a Salad of Abalone
3. Ballontine (terrine) of squab with salad & game bird consommé
4. Grilled mahi mahi with garlic chive potato, seared prawns and red wine jus
5. Oxtail with calves tongue and a (stack) of potato, sweetcorn
6. cheese platter - triple cream brie, washed rind, blue, sheep's milk camembert, (Pyrenees ewes milk cheese)
7. Pre Dessert - vanilla bean champagne granita with nectarine jelly
8. Baked Brioche with Orange Flower Anglaise and Praline Ice Cream

We also asked for the degustation to be matched with wine, and so for each course, you get a half glass (tasting size), resulting in 2.5 glasses over your meal.

We started with a small shot of a creamy root vegetable soup, with a final note of turnip. Amuse Bouche. An odd choice, I would have thought that root vegetables were past their prime, considering we are well on the way into Summer. But given that the weather has all been stuffed up recently, and how my jonquils bloomed in midwinter (no! no! go back into the ground! you're not supposed to come out till September!), I shouldn't be surprised.

Number two was also the first entree offering on the a-la-carte menu. Salt crusted rectangle of Char resting upon a bed of small delicate greens & thin slices of abalone. The char was crispy, but over salty. I couldn't believe it when I read in this week's good living that chef Justin North hopes that the next supply of char is saltier. Very light, pleasing dish, I really liked the salad. What are those small greens, looks a bit like baby bamboo/asparagus with segments, but very thin and delicate? Anyway, I'm a fan. Abalone was thinly sliced. A lot different to the big meaty chunks of abalone in a Chinese restaurant, it was hard to pick up on the delicate flavour, with the pieces melting almost as soon as you put it on your tongue.

A round stamp of terrine, a baby curly endive & green bean salad, a square shot glass with a medium brown coloured consume, drizzled round with (I think) the same consommé reduction. Wow. Hitting the hard stuff here. The texture on the outside of the ballontine was very similar to that of squab skin. Ballontine was meaty in rich in taste. The consommé itself was very very rich. It had an overtone of sweetness, almost like a light caramel or palm sugar. Although it matched the ballontine, it got to be too overpowering. I felt like I was drinking meat sauces straight from the pan, and could not finish it. The salad (I must have a thing for green things) had a great dressing. Instead of your usual balsamic vinegar/olive oil match; it seemed to be only slightly sharp, and the oil used seemed to be derived from some meat. The oil off the game consume? I\'m uncertain. A very rich dish.

The mahi mahi was beautifully presented, with a finishing circle of the red wine jus which was delicious. Still with a salty crust, but not as salty as the char earlier. On a bed of green garlic chive mash that tasted more like 'green' or had a bit of a grassy texture; The two prawns were oversalty again; I'm not sure if the intended effect was a salt crust or not...

Woo! Animal bits! My favourite dish of the evening, Oxtail with calves tongue, a (stack) of potato, and sweet corn. Oxtail, which I also thought was a winter-warming dish was a little cylinder with some ham (?) in the middle in place of the tailbone. It was brown. It was rich. It had fat. It was good. The calves tongue - even better. It was browner. Almost caramelised to crispness on the outside, it was crunchy, with pockets of rich almost liver like (putty! putty!) flavour. Ooohhh, it was gooood. Well worth it if you're a carnivore & don't mind bits.

Quite full, but eager to try some French Cheeses, so I made room in my cheese stomach. I'm not sure if I tried these in the right order...and unfortunately I remember only what the cheeses were made from, and not anything else about them. I know that you're supposed to try from the lighter cheese to the more strongly flavoured ones - and to me, washed rind tends to be more stinky than the blues. Served with a whole-wheat ryvita-like cracker, a lighter pepper cracker & a warm walnut & date bread; also apple slices & grapes to clear the palate. Anyway, this is what we had:

A round stamp of terrine, a baby curly endive & green bean salad, a square shot glass with a medium brown coloured consume, drizzled round with (I think) the same consommé reduction. Wow. Hitting the hard stuff here. The texture on the outside of the ballontine was very similar to that of squab skin. Ballontine was meaty in rich in taste. The consommé itself was very very rich. It had an overtone of sweetness, almost like a light caramel or palm sugar. Although it matched the ballontine, it got to be too overpowering. I felt like I was drinking meat sauces straight from the pan, and could not finish it. The salad (I must have a thing for green things) had a great dressing. Instead of your usual balsamic vinegar/olive oil match; it seemed to be only slightly sharp, and the oil used seemed to be derived from some meat. The oil off the game consume? I'm uncertain. A very rich dish.

The mahi mahi was beautifully presented, with a finishing circle of the red wine jus which was delicious. Still with a salty crust, but not as salty as the char earlier. On a bed of green garlic chive mash that tasted more like 'green' or had a bit of a grassy texture; The two prawns were oversalty again; I'm not sure if the intended effect was a salt crust or not...

Woo! Animal bits! My favourite dish of the evening, Oxtail with calves tongue, a (stack) of potato, and sweet corn. Oxtail, which I also thought was a winter-warming dish was a little cylinder with some ham (?) in the middle in place of the tailbone. It was brown. It was rich. It had fat. It was good. The calves tongue - even better. It was browner. Almost caramelised to crispness on the outside, it was crunchy, with pockets of rich almost liver like (putty! putty!) flavour. Ooohhh, it was gooood. Well worth it if you're a carnivore & don't mind bits.

Quite full, but eager to try some French Cheeses, so I made room in my cheese stomach. I'm not sure if I tried these in the right order...and unfortunately I remember only what the cheeses were made from, and not anything else about them. I know that you're supposed to try from the lighter cheese to the more strongly flavoured ones - and to me, washed rind tends to be more stinky than the blues. Served with a whole-wheat ryvita-like cracker, a lighter pepper cracker & a warm walnut & date bread; also apple slices & grapes to clear the palate. Anyway, this is what we had:
a) triple cream brie (or camembert? I get them confused) - light & oozy but has that white mould/farmyard sort of 'breath' if it makes sense;
b) a washed rind - had a texture like edam, really not as stinky as expected;
c) a blue -yummy, my fave, went really well with the walnut & date bread;
d) a sheep's milk camembert (wooo, stinky!!);
e) an ewes milk hard cheese - has that nutty bit like the heidi tilsit, but not as much.

And the grapes/apple slices did NOTHING to cleanse the palate. the cheese just made em taste horrible. What's the difference between sheep milk & ewe milk? is an ewe a goat?

Pre-dessert of vanilla bean champagne granita with nectarine jelly came in a little shot glass. I wonder - is it a popular thing in Banc-trained chefs, or just in classically trained chefs? At both Banc and Balzac (hey ... at Becasse too, is there a thing with the 'B's here?), the pre-dessert was a little shot of something involving jelly. This one was gorgeous, a shot of light pink jelly with two nectarine slices, topped with a white granita with the telltale vanilla specks throughout. Mmmmm. I have had a champagne granita once, with natural oysters, and that was alcoholic and horrible. This was a divine, melt in the mouth, matches with all the notes type dish, and I wish I could have had more.

The real dessert-dessert was Baked Brioche with Orange Flower Anglaise and Praline Ice Cream. Praline Ice-cream, tasty, and not overpoweringly sweet; Baked brioche; also came with the little sugared citrus or orange peel & a syrup on top. the anglaise I presume was that fluffy whipped cappuccino stuff to one side. Good for the sweet tooth. I, alas had no space left in my dessert tummy, having converted it to a cheese tummy, and I could not finish it. I had saved a little of the pre-dessert though, and it was great as a meal finisher.

These were the matching wines:
2. 2002 Domaine Pierre de la Grange Muscadet (Loire Valley). On its own it had a Verdelho's peach nose & the body was similar to both Verdelho & a Semillon. It matched all elements of the Saltwater Char dish beautifully.
3. 2001 Scarborough Chardonnay (Hunter Valley). A bit of a so-so wine, typical chardonnay nose, but not much on the palate. Seemed to just match the Ballontine, but not the salad or the consommé.
4. 2003 Bries Pinot (Yarra Valley). This was pretty cold & dead when it reached the table. Some swirling of the glass produced a slight berry/strawberry nose, but that was all I got. Oxidised? Dead fruit wine? Unsure. It did not go with the dish at all.
5. 2001 Reydon Estate Cabernet Sauvignon (Langhorne, SA). Big nose. Big body. Very dark purple colour. Cut through the oily richness of the oxtail very well.
6. 2002 Peter Howland Shiraz (Donnybrook WA). I haven't yet work out how to match a wine to a cheese, and possibly since I destroyed my palate by eating the cheeses in the wrong order, it didn't seem to match any of them. Sorry.
8. Domaine de Bernardins Muscat Beaumes de Venise (Rhone Valley). Supposedly with raisin & floral notes that the sommelier thought would match the orange anglaise of the dessert; I picked up on more of an apple jelly kind of nose, possibly something herbal. Tasted like a sticky.

So as you can tell, I really enjoyed my dinner at Becasse. I don't know how other people have managed to have the degustation menu and _still_ feel the need for pizza afterwards to fill the gaps. Go & do the ramen challenge if you don't appreciate it! Service was 2/3rds good, I'm afraid one person just grated on my nerves. The degustation menu, matched with wine, if you're a drinker is well worth it and highly recommended. I saw two other tables doing the degustation thing, and declaring that it was the best meal they had ever had. If you can save up the cash, do eeet!

Bus Rant

Annoyance #1: people who sit on the 'aisle' seat of the bus, and refuse to move even if you're loaded down with shopping.
Annoyance #2: the idiotic person, who insists on standing in the aisle of the bus, in some random spot, just so that they can continue talking to their friend. Firstly, it f00ks up the whole flow of people who get on the bus, because they won't bloody move, and because everybody has to push past them. Secondly, they talk in a stupid cockney accent, in 6 syllable bites so I can't bloody eavesdrop. Guy on the bus, you know who you are.

2004 Sydney Food & Wine Fair

Went to the annual smh food & wine fair today in Hyde Park. Fundraising for the Aids Council of Australia, the deal is you purchase 'coupons', and then redeem the coupons at various stalls throughout the park. The stalls of course are representatives of several esteemed establishments around Sydney, places in which I could never afford ordinarily. The prices are pretty good - 4x coupons ($8) for a 'main' , 3x for a dessert, 1x for coffee. The places from which I tried wares were Flying Fish, Longrain, Kingsley's Steakhouse, Pello, and of course, a dessert & coffee. The food & wine fair is part of the Good Food Month promotion that the herald runs every October.

First up was Pork Crackling & Pork Belly with Seared Tuna & Ruby red grapefruit, from Flying Fish restaurant in Pyrmont. Just before serving a warm sauce was added to the container. This was really tasty, the pork belly was tender, and surprisingly, the ruby red grapefruit worked really really well with the whole lot. Not a bad serving for $8, and the sauce was super tasty. I think it had some sugar, fish sauce, honey, pepper & a little pink grapefruit juice.

Number two was from Longrain. The queue was enormous, and quite easily the longest one at that time. Longrain's food is always popular, and I've heard reports that during the night noodle markets, also held during the Good Food Month promotion, they quite often run out of food. Anyway, I tried the noodle salad with bbq pork (chinese style), and the yellow chicken curry. The curry was delish, and came with a pickle of cumcumber, ginger & onion. The pickle is worthwhile marking at home, and the dish was very Malaysian in style. A little bit hot (coming from a chilli coward), but tasty. The noodle salad was - average. Big on serving size, but it's a salad for goodness sake. Nothing resembling a decent carb or protein, so the instant you eat it, I'm sure you'll be hungry again. I saw them mixing it up fresh, but a raw bean sprout is a raw
bean sprout , and I don't like them that much.

Kinglsey's steakhouse dish was an Angus Steak (sliced after being cooked on the BBQ), served with a potato mash/salad, and a bit of rocket salad. The meat was very tender & juicy, and I think the long queues for this stall were fairly justified.

In my quest to become a photographer (& with digital cameras these days, who wouldn't?), I found a place with a great smoking bbq, & the sounds of ribs sizzling. Pello, was serving up bbq ribs. It was a bit of a lottery as to how skin & bone your ribs were, but if you were lucky enough to get a meaty version, they were pretty tasty. A friend said though, that the sauce was a bit typical for a bbq rib sauce, and really, I should head over to Hurricanes someplace near bondi which has ribs to-die-for.

After this, I thought it was time for dessert - so eyeing off quantity over quality equation, I went to the Simone Logue foodstall, & got the most enormous slice of lemon curd cheesecake, and won on both counts. Simone Logue is one of those insta-meal type places, where the plan is you pop in after work & grab a takeaway container of something to reheat at home. With convenience comes an added price tag - but afaik, this mob were pretty much the first on the block with this concept in a stand-alone stall. The cheesecake was gooood. It was 1/8 of a cake, about 8cms tall & divine & melty. Highly recommended if you can find it for $6 a slice!

Finally - one of the great addictions of my life. coffee. Tried a one from Allpress espresso, and one from Forsyth's coffee. Both of these guys have stalls at the good food markets in pyrmont, and I've generally gone for the stall with the shorter queue. Having tried the markets' tobys coffee a few times, I've never been impressed, and cannot understand why the long queues (at least 50 ppl) each time I walk past the toby's stall. It tastes like coffee flavoured milk! Get over it! In any case, it was interesting to try coffees from both of the other vendors side by side, a flat white being my (oooh, I'm so 90s) method of comparison. Forsyth won out by a mile. It had a good depth of flavour, at least some hint of a crema, and the flavour lasted throughout the brew. The beans? I can't quite recollect what they were using. It went well with the cheesecake as well. Allpress I _think_ were using Vittoria beans. Unfortunately, it was a disappointment. No crema, tasted bland & too milky all the way through.
More proof that the skill of the barrista is what makes the pudding...