full as a goog

Craftlove

2009-06-24T16:33:00.002+10:00

Dudecraft can be kinda silly, but often kinda awesome too. I love his retro style original posters though.

Yay for crochet.

local?

2009-06-23T12:17:00.002+10:00

This piece makes selling craft on etsy.com seem like being your own personal outworker. And I wonder why whenever someone makes something really great we all join a chorus of "you should sell them?"

reading, reading, reading.

2009-06-16T16:45:00.002+10:00

Okay I have to admit I don't read a lot of food blogs at the moment. Still loving occassional updates from the pie queen. And I did score a great pizza dough recipe from Bread and Honey. I drool a lot over at Melbourne Gastronome. And then go out and spend a whole lot of $$$ based on Claire's musings..

Mainly though, I am quite into reading about gardening on blogs lately. It's odd reading northern hemisphere stuff with all that crazy wondering about frost that they do but it's still good fun.

I'm particularly inspired reading about gardening projects that get beyond the backyard so I love the manic posts at the free farm stand in SF, where all the produce is gleaned, grown in squatted gardens or scavenged and given away each week. Yay for free stuff. And how much energy does this guy have?

This week I was also hunting for info about different potato planting methods and I was very amused to find this highly geeky aproach to gardening. This computer science student has been doing all sorts of comparative experiments to see where his chillis grow best and the diagrams are great!

So of course this leads me to reflect on my own little blog.. so much fallow digital dirt. And what to sow?

footy fever.

2009-06-03T22:18:00.002+10:00

Last weekend we had finally had the Westside progressive dinner we've been trying to get happening for months. It was a lot of fun, though it's not that relaxing to know that you'll have to leave wherever you are as soon as the course you're eating is over.

We let little Jimmie (my 18 month year old housemate) choose the theme. She did this by running around the kitchen and eventually picking up the football. So, footy it was.

Dinner started at Lauren Kenny's with a tuckshop theme. Mini-burgers! And they came wrapped in greaseproof paper which really got us excited. The tinnies helped too.

My house had main course so of course we had to go with pies, the Aussie footy classic. I made a faux-meat pie filling with some soy protein, mushrooms and gravy and we put it in mini-pies. I have to say it was authentically gross. But kind of delicious. I tried putting the stalks from dried shiitakes in to see if they stayed tough like gristle but nobody spat them out.

For the main pie the filling was a bit more classy - roast vegies in a mustard bechamel. The pie dough I used for this one was a vegan version of my favourite russian pastry. It's a yeasted dough which makes for a pretty crazy pie. It actually flattened out a bit in the baking, maybe the filling shrunk. Mostly though, I was just happy the way the lacing and valve looked!

oh dan you make us crazy

2009-06-03T22:08:00.003+10:00

The yen didn't favour Dan when he was in Japan so we were very very stoked to get some presents. It was just strange that both the presents involved making food star-shaped.

I thought the bread tin would be a disaster - how to make the bread rise enough to fill the points of the star? What if it spilled out the ends?

But no, with help from the missus I whipped up a batch of baguette dough and it worked to perfection. So so satisfying when guests realised we hadn't just cut the bread slices into these shapes...

baby steps

2009-06-03T22:04:00.002+10:00

I keep thinking of so many things I want to tell you about. Garden things. Food things. Things about the whole big rest of the world out there. So it's baby steps - photos I've been meaning to show you for ages.

Me and tal were very taken by these toadstools when we saw them in the Russian cookbook and had to make them ourselves.

show and tell

2009-04-05T21:35:00.005+10:00

Well what have we here folks. The one (1) cucumber produced by the Sweet and Stripey cucumber plant. I had a disappointing harvest from the rarer cucumber varieties I bought from diggers but I have to say this one was a plate stopper and also extremely sweet. Almost too sugary.

Here's the missus. Well, she's behind that zucchini plant which is being removed. At one stage it took up over 2 square metres and boy was it pumping out the fruits. Costa Romanesco - ribbed for your pleasure, firm and delightful.

And here's yours truly not afraid to look a little silly cos gosh damn i sure was excited to harvest this little baby. First melon I ever grew. It's a Blacktail Mountail watermelon. Next year hopefully the housesitter won't move my trellises and so maybe the mildew won't get the melons so badly. Not bad for a first try, room to improve. Talks too much in class.

ps. yes i'm standing on a winner's podium.

Carrying on?

2009-02-08T21:36:00.006+11:00

In case you thought I was being melodramatic.

This was my table during the heatwave. And there was at least a bucket a day coming in still. The harvest's pretty much done now. So much so that I even felt able to pick up a few windfall peaches and apples on Gordon St today.

But I also wanted to show you something I forgot from my stone fruit crazy faze - these delicious apricot tarts from River Cafe Green.

The recipe was for one tart but made a huge amount of pastry and filling. They were very buttery and very satisfying. Worth turning the oven on during a heatwave good. Sure they did give a certain nephew a tummy ache but hey, we all have to learn somehow. And Shannon's stomach was very robust so she was a great help eating leftovers.

Call me the Nectarine Crazy

2009-02-06T11:03:00.003+11:00

An autobiography of my last two weeks might well be titled Sweat and Nectarines. Or, Excuse me for being in my undies but I have to deal with 400 kilos of Nectarines and it's 45 degrees.

It was hot, very hot. And fruit was dropping like flies. And flies were drawn to dropping fruit. And I was spending every morning gathering said fallen fruit and picking juicy big yellow and red Neccas and wandering around Nekkid and then dealing with a table ridiculously laden in fruit which wanted to go mouldy if only I would give it 5 minutes alone. Did I mention I also got 4 bags of Apricots from Ruth to deal with? Yes, sweaty and sticky. Nude. Just how I like to be. Except for when spattering jam hits my bare skin.

So what are we talking food wise?

Nectarine Salsa. Hell yes. Cucumber, neccas, red onion, lime juice, chilli. Maybe some tomatoes. This started me off on a big Mexican period which continues still.

Crumble. Of course.

Nectarines in the freezer. Yes I have tubs and tubs of poached neccas so that when the weather cools down enough I can bake you a million treats.

Dried Nectarines. After eyeing off dehydrator's for a week I did some of these just in the sun and they are delicious. Afterall it was a heatwave so solar energy was plentifull. I'm not sure if they'll last but I'm keeping a good eye on the jar for signs of moisture. Oh, and I put one of those "oxygen absorber - do not eat" things in there. Might help?

Nectarine hot sauce - different to salsa cos it's blended and hot hot hot with jalapeno's from the garden, onion, lime and coriander. It's good with sour cream. But what isn't?

Oh and I made this cake:
This is the Pastel De Canela Con Moros from Dona Tomas. They suggest using nectarines instead of berries when seasonal so I took em up on that idea. I didn't really believe this cake would work - the batter seems so huge, the recipe warns that if you use too much fruit it won't cook properly and has other ominous warnings. Plus it has 2 cups of sour cream in it and could have been heavy as hell.

But it was great. It's quite puddingy in the middle where the fruit layer keeps it moist and then the top is a crunchy layer of nuts and cinnamon.

Yes it was a crowd pleaser and I do like to please the crowds. Some people go out and pick up to prove they are well liked. I bake. Killer said "this is the best cake I have ever ever eaten." I scored.

I kinda decided against re-writing other people's recipes onto the internet. What do you think? Want the recipe?

i miss nyc

2009-02-06T08:54:00.003+11:00

These whimsical lego pictures are from Christoph Niemann at the Times. So good.

now i'm back. for real.

2009-01-28T11:58:00.008+11:00

I have been cooking like a maniac this past week. And the garden has been like a toddler - can't be left alone for a second. And responds well to lots of attention.

Today is a case in point. With that 40 degree forecast I got up at 6am to collect all the fallen fruit from the nectarine trees and pick whatever was ripe on the branches. Then I started a batch of jam using pie queen's method, stewed some nectarines and rode over to Shannon's to cook up some pancakes to eat them with.

Now I've got some pastry chilling in the fridge for the River Cafe's Apricot and Almond Tart, another batch of nectarines stewing and a head full of crazy. Yup.

But this post is about a similar crazy day I had last week where I decided I better finally figure out what to do with this cucumber. I've decided that bitter cucumbers are my punishment for picking up a few seedlings (starts) from Bunnings, evil corporate big-box that they are. They're too bitter to eat so I decided I'd finally try a recipe from Fuchsia Dunlop's excellent Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook that I'd been eyeing up.

It's very simple and it makes bitter cucumber taste deliciously like a mild bitter melon. All you do is cut diagonal half moons, fry in a wok covering as much of the surface as you can. Add a little soy and rice vinegar and some garlic and chilli. Remove from the heat and dress with sesame oil and shiso/perilla (or basil in my case). Yum! And good for my liver too I bet.

Meanwhile, while you're snacking on that if you're really crazy you can whip up a batch of the River Cafe's apricot jam, complete with kernels from the inside of the stones.

ps - sorry about the ugly blog design. i will fix it someday.

i might return...

2008-07-29T12:02:00.002+10:00

Since learning that I am the fourth most famous image source on mini-burgers in the world ¹, I have been considering returning to this blogging game. Seems it brings some fame afterall.

For now I am just excited that people ask the Chicago Style Manual people questions like this:

Q. I am editor for a group of academic writers, who recently squawked when I mentioned the following guideline in the CMOS, 15th edition (8.180): use lowercase and no italics for “the” in a newspaper title, even if it is part of the official title. Their concerns: (1) it seems unscholarly to treat “the” as a generic term when it is part of the official title; (2) doesn’t this flout copyright protocol? (3) why does the rule apply only to American newspapers? I found myself unable to offer concrete reasons for the rule, so I said I would ask the CMOS editors directly.
A. The reasoning is that it’s not practical to make a rule that requires checking every newspaper to see whether its official title has The in it or not. (Keep in mind that the convention was established in pre-Internet days.) And it doesn’t help to use The only in the cases where you can easily confirm it, since that would imply that titles without The were also definitive, when in fact they simply hadn’t been checked. As for copyright, titles are shortened all the time in scholarly writing. Foreign titles are exempt because it’s also impractical to research whether the first word in a foreign title means “the” or not. Most of us can recognize an article in Spanish or French, but even then, are we sure about words like de and da? What about Polish or Portuguese or Russian?

I hope this helps squelch the squawking.

Yes indeed it is excellent and I love the friendly collegial tone, all cardigans and cups of tea. But what about magazines. I argued for The Big Issue even though I always write the Age. Squawk, squawk.

¹ It's true.. try "mini burger" in google image search. Sure it's only 35% of the internet or whatever Alex said google searches, but it's the 35% that counts isn't it? Tal was pretty excited with the fame this brings her too.. as the model posing with the mini burger.

smelly gardeners unite...

2007-12-06T15:15:00.000+11:00

Check out the boss looking all pensive in the garden!

Now can someone just do us some t-shirts for the Smelly Gardeners Union?
I water my vegies, and don't wash?

not much less garden crazy....

2007-11-20T19:17:00.001+11:00

With apologies for yet another non-cooking post I proudly present today's photos.

For all those who wondered what was happening with the corn I sowed.

Today as I was committing the illegal act of watering in my new seedlings I thought about what I would say in court should my neighbours decide to get all high moral ground on me. What I'll say about local food, about agribusiness wasting water, about feeding people in cities... Yeah, that's me - the big criminal. I just hope they don't get violent. Yes water is life, but hey - come give me a sniff and you know I ain't wasting it in the shower. The lawn don't get any either.

Also, I'm hoping for rain in my new tank:

240 litres is better thank nothing for us renters. And yes, that's just a big wheelie bin. I couldn't show you its face due to slightly less than legal procurement from a friend's now vacant warehouse.

In other garden news, these fellows are now being salted for pickles:

And this monster is making some seed for the next round:

Meanwhile I'm digesting the omelette that had these delicious swiss browns in it. From the shed mushroom farm no-less.

gardening crazies

2007-11-20T13:12:00.000+11:00

Ah yes, whatever you're into you can be sure there is a whole thriving world of internet crazies more obsessed than you can ever imagine being.

Ali got me started, with her quick descent into gardening obsession.

She has many links to others, including myfolia - apparently myspace for your plants!

And tal, I know you would like this.

who knew I had a movie?

2007-11-09T16:01:00.000+11:00

And can anyone explain why it's playing at Northland Hoyts at the moment?

In itself, it's a riveting story. Unfortunately, director Michael Sajbel has envisioned an overwrought Lifetime movie of the week, complete with an Esther who could be a cast member of Laguna Beach and a king notable only for his washboard abs.

vale yarra-melbourne libraries.

2007-11-01T21:26:00.000+11:00

i haven't been reading the Melbourne Times lately so I don't know if anyone else is mourning or not. But I thought, having just faced my first "you can't request this item" page, I would note my sadness at the end of the most excellent amalgamation of libraries that was the Yarra-Melbourne library network.

I shall miss having access to all the cookbooks and gardening books and novels and comics I could want.

I shall miss requesting things from the City and picking them up on the way home from work at the Fitzroy branch.

I shall miss not having to pay for things.

farewell, yarra-melbourne. your life was too brief and your bureaucrats too nearsighted.

(ps. mum, i know that is you even when you leave anonymous comments and no, this isn't a cooking blog or a gardening blog... it's a, uhm, gardooking blog. or something.)

[pps. if I now have to join the yarra libraries separately, and i'm already addicted to st kilda library, then it's good i just found library elf to help me keep track of all my holds and due dates. could be my new favourite friend. works internationally.]

2007-10-30T13:53:00.000+11:00

I'm sick of my corn seeds not germinating. Last year I blamed old seed. I dunno but after one batch failing to poke it's head up already this year I'm doing some research. Which is where I came across this excellent olde saying:

"One for the cutworm, one for the crow, one to rot, and one to grow."

Well, no crows here but I think I'll plant in the seedling house to avoid cutworm and cross my fingers for the Balinese corn I'll be planting tomorrow.

broadly...

2007-10-25T16:53:00.000+10:00

Yes broad beans have taken over my life. So the essential question becomes again "to pod or to double pod?" But yay for seasonal eating and finally planting enough this year. I'll do photos soon because I have a very pretty type that goes purple when you cook it.

But while I cruise the internets for ideas let me leave you with this thought from stonesoup:

The thing about broad beans is that they really are a lot of work but well worth the double peeling. With all those layers that need removing, you could think of them as the strippers of the vegetable world... sexy and nutritious... all good things.

It is very nice to see some pro-sex worker attitudes in a food simile. Yes it is.

i want carrot ice cream.

2007-10-25T16:49:00.000+10:00

Chocolate Lady makes me want it.

Will I have to make it myself? Any suggestions?

foodCult

2007-10-25T12:21:00.000+10:00

Melbourne now has it's own food Wiki. Including this nascent dumpling guide.

Is this a good thing? Time will tell. But please, remind me - more cooking, less reading restaurant reviews!

that it is fatal to truckle to what one conceives to be popular taste.

2007-10-23T11:37:00.000+10:00

Yup, I've started reading word of the day. Not daily of course. But still.... flummery is nice, but truckle is even better.

Truckle is from truckle in truckle bed (a low bed on wheels that may be pushed under another bed; also called a trundle bed), in reference to the fact that the truckle bed on which the pupil slept was rolled under the large bed of the master. The ultimate source of the word is Greek trokhos, "a wheel."

So it could actually be fatal to trundle to popular taste. A good lesson for all. Also, I thought trundle beds were just for friends sleeping over... who knew they were for pupils and masters?

of ears and sprouts

2007-10-19T11:57:00.000+10:00

Well as I write this my skin is still crawling where i just picked an earwig off my shoulder. Sure I find it endearing that they are named that because people thought they would crawl into your ears. Sure. Argh!!! No, it's too much. This bounty of artichokes is a joy it's true but killing the 40 odd earwigs that were making their homes under the outer leaves was not. Sigh, such are the joys of sharing a garden with the rest of the ecosystem. These fuckers eat my seedlings too. So it's nightly torch patrols again.

Still, all is full steam ahead here. I've been having some great germination successes with my new seedling house. All from waste. This is a hard rubbish set of shelves and plastic salvaged from the bins at Spotlight and a local factory. The front cover rolls up for access and hot days.

When the seedlings have their first leaves I've been potting them on as suggested by guru Linda - into boxes filled with 2 litre milk containers (tops and bottoms removed). The idea is that these will reduce transplant shock because there's no turning the plants upside down or loosening the roots - just slide the plastic up where it can act as a little pest guard for a few days before removal. We shall see folks. And report back.

ps - Lets see the earwigs try and crawl up these legs onto my seedling table. The legs sit in cans full of beer for them to drown in. Suckers.

the raging cupcake controversy

2007-09-28T19:00:00.000+10:00

From our friends at the NYTimes (via dad) comes this quite banal article about an obesity vs cupcakes article. It has excellent pull quote potential though.

Cupcake is a term of endearment, but it can also be a rather mean-spirited word. “Cupcake teams” in sports are said to be soft and easily crushed. As food, though, cupcakes are democratic; everyone gets one. And they are libertarian; individual and independent compared with communal cakes, which may not have enough slices for everyone.

Yay for the libertarian bakers front. Boo for the anti-communal bakers front. Also get this for a closing paragraph:

After a long debate thread, another blogger wrote, “You people need to go back to the suburbs ... Seriously, bunch of grown up New York City residents obsessing over a cupcake shop. I miss the gunfire and crackheads.”

Go here for the full article. And note the wonderfulness of the Times that you can double click any word and it'll give you a definition in a pop up box.
Eg:

crack·head (krăk'hĕd')
n. Slang. A heavy user of crack cocaine.

Though in reference to chocolate guinness cupcakes it gives you:

Guin·ness (gĭn'ĭs) , Sir Alec 1914–2000.British actor known for his extraordinary range of roles. His films include The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), for which he won an Academy Award.

heh.

X marks the spot.

2007-09-25T10:55:00.000+10:00

Oh sometimes I love this interweb place...
On this post Wojtek has left me a link to a map.
A map showing the best pickles in Warsaw.
It's like pirate treasure!! Pickle booty!!
Now, just gotta get a ticket to Poland.
I can almost see those pickles on the satellite version.
Thanks Wojtek.

green soup

2007-09-19T18:15:00.000+10:00

So spring is getting on with it. The first tomato seeds have sprouted and stuck their necks outta the soil. The blossom is already falling and the broccoli is trying to turn into flowers the second you turn your back on it.

So I decided to pull up my patch of broccoli raab (aka cime di rapa). It was my first time growing it and I'd say it was a big success. Except I didn't know how quickly I had to eat it so now what's left has gotten quite tough as it turns into bright yellow flowers.

So, in our new friend Mr Red Pot we have - green soup. Should you find yourself wondering what to do with all your going to seed brassicas you might like to try it.

Fry some chopped almonds.
Add some garlic.
Fill the pot with chopped up broccoli and cime di rapa.
Cover with water or stock.
Boil for quite a while.
Blend.

It wasn't bad at all. The almonds add a good creaminess. The only problem was all the long fibres. I reckon a food processor woulda helped - I used the stick blender and that was quite ineffectual. Or maybe strain it somehow?

2007-09-19T18:03:00.000+10:00

I am the bicycle-cupcake-king!

These were for the latest Roomers magazine launch. Tal put the R's on them.

The transportation worked a dream except for when I had to get them out and carry them around - then I ended up with pink all over my sleeves!

What's a fella gotta do?

2007-08-13T19:35:00.000+10:00

I was pretty excited about finally getting to Tom Phat. This cafe has had mixed reviews amongst the breakfasterati but for some reason I'd never made it down to check it out myself.

They do a kind of cafe/Thai/Viet thang with the usual eggs, corn fritters, muesli and then some kind of pan-Asian stuff - a breakfast that comes with a pork chop and rice, eggs with roti etc. The lunch and dinner menus look more Thai influenced with pad thai, curries and soups.

I deliberated a lot - of course it's my first time there and I want to try everything. I went for the Eggs Fried Viet-style which were listed as fried with soy and chilli. There was definitely a lot of soy and a lot of fried. Some good coriander action and some slices of a big chilli were visible. I enjoyed the crazy oily nature of it all.

The only sad bit was when I asked for some extra chilli and was told they only had sweet chilli. I hate sweet chilli but what made it worse was I could see jars of one of my favourite chillis (Crunchy Grandma brand) on the shelves! For display only, I was told! Oh, what do I have to do to get some chilli action in a place trading on its hip Asian credentials.

Well the coffee was Coffee Supreme which means organic, fair trade and good. I guess you don't get that at Huy Huy.

i am so ready for this jelly

2007-08-13T18:55:00.000+10:00

Remember how I love the teahouse known as Ten Ren Tea Time?

Well now I have finally tried their tea jelly I really really loved Ten Ren. On Sunday they outdid themselves. I was feeling pretty wack after all the flying nuns, creepy impersonators and dead sheep of Harmony Korine's Mister Lonely. And I was finding it hard to deal with the complete contempt that the waiter showed for any notion of serving us. But the fake fish was extra good in smaller crispier pieces and
oh
my
god
the
TEA
JELLY!!!!

We had the green tea version and it comes with something like honey drizzled on top in a balloon glass and it is so so so good. The tea flavour is pretty subtle, the texture is nice and solid, definitely agar agar. It was so good that afterwards we went straight to the Great Eastern Grocery to buy agar agar so that tonight I can try and make my own. Yum.

2007-08-11T18:39:00.000+10:00

Did I mention I love my garden. Oh yeah, I did. But this is winter and after a week sick in bed at the ranch hospital (thanks guys) it was so good to come home and have my garden feed me.

The chicory is a special red stemmed one that I am in love with - mild enough for salads. The daikon is gonna be kim chi because my last lot went (shock) mouldy. The sprouting Calabrese broccoli makes me very very happy - I've never had this much brassica luck before. And yes, rocket galore.

We had a simple onion broth with agnolotti and broccoli, lots of fresh parsley and parmesan. And salad of course. The red shines so well under dressing.

green/back

2007-07-27T13:29:00.000+10:00

Ok, I'm back. I'd say it's because my Mum hassled me so much about not posting just to give her the satisfaction but I think also that having some time away from the computer was good good good for me and my enthusiasm. And yes, I've been experimenting with myspack and tumblr but the chocolate lady reminded me that I miss this little nook here.

So, a green winter dinner because I'm quite into herbs and health right now.

It started with weeding the abandoned plots at work. That turned up this bag full of nettles and cleavers.

I've cooked nettles once or twice before but this time I decided I wanted them barely cooked to preserve the Iron, Vitamins, Calcium and generally all their goodness. I've also been looking to include more raw garlic in my diet as I've been fighting off a few infections so I hit on the idea of nettle pesto. I used to be so anti-this kind of fusion but you know, I've gotten a bit more relaxed as I've grown up.

So I wilted my nettles in just a bit of water, blended them with sunflower seeds, garlic and a little parmesan infused olive oil. The taste was still a little wack so I added a good handful of parsley from the backyard. Yum. The sauce was the craziest bright green ever. It went really well with some of the salad leaves that have been thriving on our recent rains and a cauliflower cheese made from this backyard baby:

The rest of the nettles are slowly turning into tincture, with the aid of some vodka. As are the cleavers so we'll see how my first medicine making experiment goes. Meanwhile I've been drinking the leftover nettle pot liquor and despite its terrifying colour I must say I really feel full of beans.

Oh and just in case you worry I've turned into a complete health freak don't worry... I'm currently baking this crazy Nutella cake. And cursing my oven. But that's another story....

2007-07-24T23:05:00.000+10:00

wow it kind of weirds me out that I haven't been here for 3 months or so and yet according to the stats folk keep visiting just the same. searching for pickle soup recipes, looking up vegetarian yum cha. hmm....

pickles!

2007-04-22T17:57:00.000+10:00

“Oh, Hamlet, how camest thou in such a pickle?” (Act 5, Scene 1.)

Ogorki. Dill pickles. Whatever you want to call them, pickled cucumbers in the Eastern European style have always been one of my favourite foods. Until now it has been a sore point that I've never managed to make them. Firstly because I like to think homemade is also best. Also I worried about what I would do post peak-oil without access to Polish pickles, without access even to the tinned Israeli ones. And they're kinda expensive when you've got a pickle habit like me.

"Thou shalt be whipp'd with wire and stew'd in brine, Smarting in lingering pickle.”
(Anthony and Cleopatra, Act 2, Scene 5.)

My first attempt many years ago freaked me out because the garlic turned blue. I didn't know then that it was just because of a reaction with the stuff they put in salt so I threw them all out fearing some kind of poisioning. Last year I tried again and most of the pickles went awfully soft but a few stayed firm so it gave me hope.

But by the time cucumber season came around this year I had a lot more fermentation practice under my belt and I had met Sandorkraut, my pickling guru. (well I read his book, I didn't really meet him.) I now understood that the souring in my pickles was a simple process and nothing to be afraid of but also I felt worried as Sandor said dill pickles were the hardest pickles around. Oh the confusion!

My pickling cucumbers didn't grow too well in this drought summer but when I found some for sale at a Balaclava greengrocer I just had to give it a try. And? Success! These pickles turned out just perfect. Garlicky. Sour. Crunchy. I have never been so happy. I bought more cucumbers and now I feel ready for winter - all stocked up. Hell maybe if I can learn to grow the little mofos I'll even be ready for peak oil.

In September, 2000, after the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Dallas Cowboys 41-14 in the blazing, September heat, many players attributed the win to the vim and vigor they gained from drinking pickle juice. "I may start drinking pickle juice when I'm just sitting home chilling," said defensive end Hugh Douglas.

From this:

To this:

You can read the recipe I used here. It's really easy - just make sure you use unadulterated salt and stick heaps of grape leaves in to keep them crunchy. Otherwise all you really need to do is pack the cucumbers in a bucket with garlic and dill and pour salty water over them. Then sit back and wait for the bacteria to do their thing. I didn't have as much garlic on hand as Sandor specifies but found mine were heaps garlicky enough even using less. Now go forth and pickle.

I myself, will be planning how to get to pickle day. yes!
(The excellent "Pickle Wing" of the NY Food Museum is also where I stole the great quotes.)

you're the bombe

2007-04-20T11:33:00.000+10:00

I think that possibly, the Easter dinner we made on resurrection Sunday was one of my finest cooking moments. Yeah, I'm an ecumenical cook - I love my kneidlach for pesakh but I was pretty happy concocting a bizarre egg themed menu for Mr J.

This was one crazy cooking experience - we, the kitchen crew almost killed each other and we were cranky as all hell but we came back from some really grim moments (gnocchi dissolving in the cooking water) to pull it all off and boy was it stupendous. To start we had egg shaped potatoes all crispy and lemony, olives and cheese stuffed little round peppers. Then there were ovoid spinach and ricotta gnocchi with napoli sauce, a salad of three heritage variety eggplants, pumpkin, more potato goodness (the other gnocchi dough reinvented as fried poufes) and other things I can't remember.

And then,

there was bombe alaska.

I was nervous about this for days. Putting icecream in the oven?! Would it melt? Were we crazy? But actually it turned out pretty darn easy. I used this recipe and was so happy to discover Su Yin's blog. She is a very enthusiastic and encouraging blogger so I felt a little more confident and made some adaptations.

I made mandarin ice cream by mixing homemade marmalade through some vanilla ice cream. Packed it into a pointy bowl with a big ball of marmalade to be the "yolk". Froze for a few hours to get the right shape. Stuck it on a tray on top of some slices of dodgy swiss roll and slathered it in maple syrup. Stuck more swiss roll slices all over it. Glad wrapped it to squish it into one mass and froze overnight. Then you just gotta whip some egg whites n sugar, lather it on and bake it. Sadly we burnt the back a little bit but luckily there are some carbon fiends in my family who declared that side lovely in all its charredness. Oh and we set it on fire with brandy then poured fresh passionfruit pulp over the slices. It's apparently the flaming which makes it bombe alaska. Otherwise it's just boring baked alaska.

So yeah, the ice cream didn't melt at all - meringue is a really good insulator. The only changes i'd make in the future would be to use fresher cake and to avoid the burning of course. The swiss roll idea sounds gross but you get great stripes on the finished product due to the jam so it does work nicely. I think something very saucy on top is important. The passionfruit is good - a hot sauce would be very awesome I think.

Now I feel very very proud housewife of this effort and I'm gonna have to do some kinda retro dinner party to show it off to people who I'm not related to. I was hunting down 60s dishes thinking that was the bombe's era. Maybe it was but apparently this crazy baked ice cream idea goes as far back as 1804 when it was unimaginatively called omelette surprise. It was named for Alaska in 1876 to honour the newly acquired territory of the US. Oh nothing like a bit of conquering to get me in the mood for some baked ice cream!

chocolate chilli ice cream

2007-04-03T22:50:00.000+10:00

They say the internet has everything. In fact, it’s not only them, sometimes I say that too. But lately my trust has been shattered.

First there was the traumatic experience of not finding a certain foot shaped birthday present for a certain someone. I mean, I was sure that once I was actually prepared to part with real money this magic world of ebay and suchlike would open up to me. All those shopping ads would finally have a purpose. But no, twas not to be.

And then on Friday there was the crushing realisation that there was not a recipe for chocolate chilli icecream to be found anywhere on the whole damn interweb. Nowhere in this whole damn place no matter if we say it dub dub dub or doub doub doub. Well maybe there were one or two. But none I’d trust. Some had white chocolate! And that's always the difficulty with internet recipes and special occasions – how to know who is gonna let you down?

Anyway, I fell back on my own inner strengths. And some cookbooks. And I made this leetle recipe by adapting a sherry ice cream recipe from the ever trustworthy Moro. (Trustworthy despite the fact that it is disturbingly written by a het couple called Sam and Sam. yuk.)

The ice cream was delicious. Just chilli hot enough to match the cinnamon and be lovely and warming. Very chocolatey. I used the icecream maker for most of it but then left it in there so long that it warmed up and was like a thick mousse. Oops. The bit that didn't fit into the maker I just threw in the freezer. That was a pretty perfect consistency after about 3 hours with just one stir in the middle.

Chocolate Chilli Ice Cream fit to finish off a guinness book giant nachos attempt.

7 egg yolks (yeah 7)
600 ml cream
300 ml milk
500g solid Mexican drinking chocolate (or dark chocolate)
sugar – maybe. I didn’t use any because the chocolate was sweetened. Your call.
2 cinnamon sticks
2 big dried chillis

Now the hardest thing about this recipe is probably judging the chilli factor. You want it to have a kick but more as an aftertaste than as a burning effect. I used two Guajillo chillies infused into the milk, plus a little chilli powder. These chillis are large and roasted so they don’t have too much of that sharp taste and pack just enough heat. Use your own judgement as chillies vary so widely.

Okay lets get started. Put the cream and milk in a biggish pot with the cinnamon and chillis and heat until just about to boil. Use all your predictive powers to figure out when to turn it off. Leave it to infuse. Beat the eggs for a good 5 – 10 minutes, until they go much paler and a bit thicker. If you want to add sugar, beat it in with the eggs.

Now you need to make the custard. Cos ice cream is really just frozen custard. But you knew that didn’t you smarty pants. So add a little bit of the milk mixture to the eggs to loosen them up. Then add all the eggy stuff to the milk pot and return it to a low heat. Stir it constantly and cook it until the eggy taste goes.

(And now a side note on custard, chickens and curdling
My guides Sam and Sam say “be careful not to curdle it” but they also say to cook until it thickens. This is a hard thing to judge and I actually stuffed it up and curdled it. Tallace was aghast and there was some momentary throwing around of the blame. I think though, it was a good thing. I’ve been reading Gay Bilson’s Plenty and she reckons everyone should cook a custard past the curdling point once. It helps you know what to look for and also not to be wimpy about how long you can cook it. Because the thing about custard is it’s like playing chicken. With the eggs. And if you wimp out too early your custard is going to be thin. That's bad. But ice cream is a good time to make the over cooking mistake because after it’s all frozen the curdling is not too noticeable at all.)

So anyway, cook gently. Mine got some little flecks in it which are the first sign of curdling. Hopefully yours won’t. When you’re ready to wimp out or happy with the thickness take off the heat and pour it into a bowl which is set over ice water. You wanna cool this baby down. Fish the cinnamon stick and chillis out.

Melt the chocolate and add it to the mixture. You might wanna test the hotness of your chilli now. It’s hard to judge as it will change as it freezes but at this stage you want it to have noticeable heat. Once your mixture is at room temp you can put it in the freezer. Pull it out and give it a good stir every time you remember. And soon chocolate chilli goodness will be yours. And all the props you get for making your own ice cream.

It should look like this:

the guinness book nachos attempt

2007-04-03T22:29:00.000+10:00

It's genetic you know. I saw it with my Mum last night at Pesakh and I did it myself for the missus' birthday. We worry about there not being enough food. We wear ourselves out cooking way too much food. We worry about who's going to eat it all. Sometimes we worry it didn't taste good and then we worry about the leftovers going to waste.

But it was fun. Very fun. We made:

roasted salsa verde (tomatillos)
raw salsa verde (ditto)
roasted garlicky tomato salsa (hot!)
pico de gallo (fresh tomatoes, radishes, coriander...)

last of the season mango salsa
(so good, I think it was the blanched red onion)

the biggest bowl of guacamole I've ever seen

stupidly large amounts of my best black beans

and everyone piled it onto ridiculous amounts of corn chips and melty cheese.
(queso fresco/mozarella/salamini)

Perfect food for a large bunch and it goes so well with margaritas!

i'm not sure if this is really embarrassing

2007-03-29T22:01:00.000+10:00

yeah i've been taking photos for months now. and had all these posts and recipes i've been meaning to write up. and it still ain't happened. so that's the short version and hopefully i'll be back with more soon.

tomorrow: the world's biggest nachos!
yes since tomatillo season i've fallen back in love with salsa making and melted cheese and good old black beans and guacamole and and.. when did i ever fall out of love? so for the missus's birthday it seemed an easy thing to whip up for a crowd. though there's the chocolate chilli ice cream to make too.

meanwhile, i've been getting inspired by the ever evolving food security/re-localisation movement. yay for community gardens and seed saving and no-gmo zones in india and farmers markets in remote colombia and the people's grocery in west oakland and the good old co-op market in collingwood. and to all the folks who came to last week's cities feeding people: grow it where you live conference and got me all excited again.

ps - pie queen, i used your hamentaschen recipe again only this time i forgot the eggs and it was even better. the apricot filling was as good as ever and i found a poppyseed recipe that was delicious.

2007-02-22T13:52:00.000+11:00

There is not much that makes me grin more than this picture:

From urbandictionary via tal. (thank you.)

tarty much?

2007-02-19T19:04:00.000+11:00

I have been thinking lately that if I was the marrying kind maybe I would start a campaign to marry Greg Malouf. Marry Me Mister Malouf I would call it.

You see, I'm not much for celebrity chefs - those books with pictures of Bill, Jamie, Nigella or whoever hanging out o so casual with their good looking children eating boring stolen recipes. Nah. But the Malouf's cookbooks are wonderful and completely sans photos of people. Greg writes them with Lucy Malouf, now his ex-wife. I mean, the fact that he can still travel through Lebanon and Syria with her and collaborate on beautiful books like Saha makes me think what a lovely fellow he must be.

And then...
well then I saw him on SBS's food [porn] safari and he was the sweetest thing ever. Trundling around a Lebanese nut shop extoling the virtues of yoghurt, modestly preparing some outrageous looking fish for his family. Yup. food love.

So Wednesday I'm thinkin, hey I'm gonna cook me some dinner from Arabesque for my ladyfriend. Maybe it's Feb 14th, maybe it ain't - still gotta eat no matter how cheesy it seems. Suffice to say, Wednesday didn't turn out to be a cooking day but Friday was and the food got made and sometimes nice things are even nicer when they're not on officially sanctioned nice thing days.

Arabesque is the Maloufs' first book and organised around little essays about key Middle Eastern ingredients. No lush pictures but some excellent recipes and good enthusiastic descriptions that make me wanna actually cook them. All of them. But it was a hot day and I only got home at 6:30 so here's what we had:

Fattouche - a crunchy salad with fried lebanese bread and sumac
Green beans - from the garden, in tahini yoghurt sauce
Soused zucchini & eggplant - I dunno what he means by soused but damn good.
Goats cheese grilled in fresh vine leaves

and dessert of course. Maybe the silly picture doesn't show just how ridiculously decadent this was. Sticky, crunchy, drenched in syrup and inducing a sugar rush like only middle eastern sweets can. Hard to eat elegantly though. Maybe scoring the pastry would help?

Toffeed fig tart
This tart was dead easy to make and impressive. I made two but this recipe makes 4. I should add though that mine was delicious because I used the homemade filo which is my best best friend. Yes maybe I'm a snob but I find supermarket filo really gross, hard to work with and unappetising. It does that horrible overly crunchy thing in the roof of my mouth.

The homemade stuff is available from the fridge at the Sydney Rd IGA or from the Turkish shop on Smith St as well as around Brunswick shops. If you're not in Melbourne try asking at a Greek or Turkish sweets shop?

10 sheets of filo pastry
200g butter, melted
100g castor sugar
100ml water
a splash of rosewater (optional)
12 fresh figs (thanks to the ranch)
2 extra tablespoons castor sugar
1 tbsp butter
100g hazelnuts, toasted, peels rubbed off and then roughly crushed

Layer the sheets of filo on a tray, brushing each one with butter as you go. Cut around a bowl to give you 4 circular stacks about 8cm across. Or maybe make 8 mini ones using a cup? Bake in a 180C oven until browning on top - about 10 minutes or more. When you remove them from the oven drizzle them with syrup before they cool.

What syrup? This one - while they're baking place the sugar and water in a pot and bring to the boil making sure all the sugar dissolves. Simmer it for 5 minutes then remove from the heat and add your rosewater if you want it.

Cut your figs in half. Now get a large heavy frypan and melt the tablespoon of butter and extra sugar in it. Wait for the sugar to caramelise. I started getting very nervous - something about bad history with caramel and toffee. 'It's not working' I cried in a sooky fashion. But after doing some strange cloud formation things for a long time caramelise it did. So when this happens add the fig halves and stir to coat. As the fig juice hits the caramel it'll start to toffee so get them all good and coated.

To serve you just need to stick the pastry circles on a plate and top with the figs. Greg says in 2 layers of 3 halves each but I wasn't quite that neat. Top with the nuts and serve with creme fraiche. Or if you ain't that organised, ice cream.

Ya-um!

Treat me good

2007-02-07T20:37:00.000+11:00

My garden is treating me so good right now. Better than I deserve.

I try and love it whenever I can. I give it seeds and the water I'm allowed to give it. And buckets from the shower and the sink and all that. Not much but I give what I can. But it never complains hardly...

and today when I got home so so tired from weeding all day at work and carrying scarecrows, listening to droning men, cleaning out the chicken shed, working overtime and sore feet and hungry...

well my garden put out so much goodness for me. handfulls of beans hiding all coy under tangly vines, beans that are slightly downy and ever so tender... little lebanese zucchini firm and stripey and big shiny wads of basil... grilled the zucchini and they are uncannily sweet. perfect with beans on top of the mashed potato i'd been craving. threw the basil in the mortar and pestle and bashed it with garlic and pine nuts into quasi pesto, haloumi in the frypan to top it all off melty melty...

mmm baby you're so good to come home to.

entrepid licking

2007-02-06T17:25:00.000+11:00

Well folks do not think i take my job here lightly. Nope no resting on the laurels here. Not unless I can rest with ice cream in hand anyway.

This weekend was perfect icecream eating weather. Warm evenings are my favourite licking time - the best dessert, no worries about the sun causing everything to drip down your hand, time to stroll and pontificate unnecessarily.

So I did some fearless adventuring into the land of Albert Park to try Jock's Icecream, reputed to be one of Melbourne's finest. They have a wall full of certificates from the Melbourne Show which are very pretty and seemingly deserved - the ice cream was good and creamy. Solid ice cream not whipped up airy stuff but not a really heavy custard like Charmaines which I know some people find a bit too much.

Jock's mainly seems to get their reputation from their range of flavours - the night I was there they didn't have black rice pudding flavour. sigh. but they did have peanut butter and jelly which i would like to try. As it was I had date with lemon yoghurt. Both great great flavours and the lemon yoghurt had a really nice bite. Jessie had coconut lime with pineapple. The coconut lime was excellently tropical but somehow the pineapple tasted a bit like bubble gum.

did you know most gelati places in Melbourne use imported Italian gelati flavour essence?!!! I'm shocked.

I wonder if Gelobar does? When Sarah worked there she said the back room was full of fruit slowly ripening until it reached that almost rotten point where it was flavoursome enough to be turned into gelati. No wonder I love their fruity flavours so much. Sunday night the thought of Gelobar was enough to get me out of the house and down to Collingwood to return the work car and then get on my bike and ride home again via Gelati.

The queues outside speak for themself. or themselves. No guava this weekend but blackberry rocked my world next to the unbeatable dark cocoa goodness of the chocolate.

And there folks, endeth my endless ice cream obsessing.

the fear of the snob

2007-02-01T21:56:00.000+11:00

You know I worry sometimes about the problem of taste. Can you have too much?

Oh stop laughing. I'm not talking about my fluoro singlet. I'm talking about how I went to have gelato at 7 apples. I remembered it being good. Everyone always says it's good - but somehow I just couldn't enjoy it. It was sweet without having much of a pronounced flavour. The fruit flavours were too creamy... I dunno I just felt, well, unsatisfied.

And this happens to me often with ice cream and gelato. The other day that stupid melbourne magazine in The Age had a guide to the best "gelato". And they rated trampoline! Ridiculous. Most of their ice creams have some good bits sure, but they're just swirled through the ice cream. What good is a great flavour like the caramel sesame one if you only get a tiny bit of the sesame goodness in a big pile of vanilla boredom?

And the magazine didn't even rate Gelobar or Casa Del Gelato. Do they have no respect for their elders? I ranted away to the poor folk within earshot but then I stopped. What if I've become a food snob?!!!

Folks, what am I to do? I never used to drink good champagne cos I thought it would ruin my taste for cheap champagne at openings... but clearly then you're just missing out on the goodness. But while I can enjoy a truck stop toasted sandwich more than a fine dining meal, I just can't get into bad frozen treats. I always thought I was drawing the taste lines in all the right places but now I'm not so sure. What if it's just some kinda ego trip, the status symbol of having "superior" taste? Ok I'm drunkenly ranting with far too many exclamation marks but do ya feel me? Where does one draw the line between taste and just enjoying a treat when it comes along?

pumpzini?

2007-01-23T22:54:00.000+11:00

The funny thing is that I was reading all about seed saving at the end of last year... learning properly for the first time really about cross-pollenation, hybrids and how much this varies between species.

And I was awfully worried that all my zucchini seedlings had succumbed to slugs and I'd just have piles of pumpkin. But as my little plants grew I became very confused... they looked like zucchini plants, but why were the fruits so round? And so, I present - pumzini!

I think the japanese pumpkin seed I got from the seed bank at work must have been cross-pollinated. There have been suggestions I could call them jazzini instead but that's a little too hip for these babies. I've been picking them young so I don't know if they'll go orange or not. I had a dream I let one grow real big and it was orange inside. They grow damn fast and prolific like a zucchini though. And they cook up quite like a lebanese zucchini - quite firm, a little melty. They have more seeds in the middle though - like a pumpkin... Yeah you get it.

So now, what to cook with them? So far I've just done them a 'la Mr Malouf - sauteed with garlic and then lots of chopped mint. Tasty but not really a main event. I'm thinking zucchini poufs. They were a huge hit at new years. And so many opportunities for silly puns.

some gingers ain't too bad.

2007-01-21T16:02:00.000+11:00

Baking again!

Yes I'm back with the flour and the sifting thanks to this recipe for Gingerbread to Warm Your Heart. And thanks to the ever inspiring piequeen for making me wanna get straight back into the kitchen even when it's way to hot for any bit of me to need warming.

This is gonna make the best gingerbread icecream.

The texture is just how I want gingerbread to be - cakey sticky and soft.

Ps - If you use chinese ginger powder from Minh Phat it will taste slightly Asian. I'm not sure this is to be recommended.

purslane

2007-01-21T15:43:00.000+11:00

I can't tell if it's cos mega food just don't seem that exciting since the mini food or because my fridge is broken but lately I'm lacking cooking inspiration. I am however, very excited about eating from the garden and that's gonna be my inspiration reviver I think.

This little would-be weed is all over my garden. Then I noticed it was also in a lot of the gardens at work, at the Flemington Community Gardens. It's mainly gardeners from the Horn of Africa who grow it and they call it "regla". At least the Tigrinya speakers do.

My co-worker informed me it was "purslane". A ha! I'd been reading about purslane in Mexican (verdolagas) and Lebanese cookbooks but had no idea where to get it. I love that it's all over my vegie patch and coming up in the cracks of the drive-way. Even colonised this empty oil tin planter.

Yesterday one of the gardeners brought a big stack of injera down to the gardens along with a tasty green stew/sauce. This was regla I was told. To be honest it could have been any green, it was so finely minced but it sure was good. I think the mucilaginous quality of the purslane did make it deliciously thick.

So check your weeds and send me your favourite purslane recipes.

2007-01-17T23:23:00.000+11:00

Today's Dolly is this lovely Dolly Varden cake.

I don't know why Joel looks so bereft with a birthday cake like this. His housemates sure must like him. They were traumatised from icing disasters but Dolly looked swell, replete with a great cape and choker. People were very impressed that I knew what cakes this shape are meant to be called so thanks for the education lizzo. Don't think I ain't putting it to good use.

(yes on the left you can see a second cake - this one was a simple paddock and cows type with lovely liquourice log fencing. and it had a great puddle - splashing blue on the cow even.)

there's nothing dirty going on

2007-01-16T15:06:00.000+11:00

I think when we gave this out the other night people thought it was some kinda serious socialist flyer. I'm not sure how that could be. Sex worker organizing maybe? But then what is Dolly? Maybe an acronym? It was odd because they gave it the "look at it quick and stick it right in your pocket" treatment.

So then I get to wondering, does our little flyer funny to anyone else? Do I spend too much time thinking about socialist alternative flyers?

ps - If you can't get to the screening get to a video shop. this truly is the campest musical delight I've seen. Oh Dolly, this dirty queerdo loves you.

the last of the mini

2007-01-15T12:21:00.000+11:00

I forgot to mention the mini fairy bread. How could I have?

It's always amazing how good fluffy white bread can be with some butter and hundreds and thousands. Some might ask why we bother baking cakes at all when we could just do this? Oh and Joni and Tanya did such an amazing mini-job. So small! So neat!

Happy new year to all. A good sweet one I think. And maybe a blog-prolific one thanks to the arrival of this sweet little computer. We'll see.

ps - mini fairy cakes by tal. I swear I'm done with mini now.

mini!

2006-12-23T12:05:00.000+11:00

Here we have a tray of mini burgers.

And here we have the missus modelling a mini burger in her mini dress. I think that's her "oooh a mini-burger" face.

There was a lot of excitement about the burgers, much more than enough to make all the fiddly bits worth while. The rest of the food included mini butterfly cakes, mini fairybread (oh the cuteness!), mini lebanese pies from tabet's and mini sushi (possibly that was just small though).

For those who like details the burgers were made of homebaked mini-buns, patties (soybeans, rice, spices, mint, coriander), baby beetroot slices, fried onions, cherry tomato slices, lettuce, tomato kasundi. Yum!

For those who like other details there were amazing cocktails designed by the missus, cute baby action, drunken dancing and heaps of good quality peeps. The best thing that happened that night though, and possibly the best thing that's happened in my life so far was a surprise performance by Quel and Sammy of the final dance sequence from Dirty Dancing. Back-up from Maree and Claire. These ladies had been rehearsing so hard.. all the right moves. Never have I felt more honoured and well loved.

God birthdays are good.

2006-12-19T15:23:00.000+11:00

Did I show you this before? I can't remember but I really love it.

Yes, it's made from marshmallows. I feel bad that I can't remember who did it, it was at an art school show in the underground carpark at the Collingwood Housing estate. There was a brazier and toasting forks too.

mini is like so hot right now

2006-12-05T10:22:00.000+11:00

Look, I'm not proud of the OC watching habit that me and Sammy developed this year. I've tried quitting a couple of times but somehow it lures me back. And I know it's bad for me, bad bad bad but sometimes you learn really important things. In season 2 we learnt about the "group hang" - this is a great thing where you all go out on the town as friends and then end up hooking up with your friend's quasi date. Last week, in Season 3 we learnt from Summer that as far as food for kick-off carnival is concerned "mini is so hot right now."

So that's it. It's decided. My birthday kiddie pool* carnival and suit launch is going to have mini food. Mini food! So far I'm thinking mini burgers, mini bagels and mini lebanese pies from Tabet's. Any other suggestions? I'm thinking we need something less bready and things that don't need preparation once I've had too many cocktails in the kiddie pool would be great.

*Is it just me who thinks kiddie porn whenever I say kiddie pool?

summer camp breakfast

2006-12-01T21:36:00.000+11:00

I love days where everyone just mooches around together like summer camp. No real plans but nobody really wants to go their own way for long. It starts with breakfast for 10 in the big kitchen..3 copies of the Saturday paper.. some wandering in and out to garage sales and voting. Cycling down to the velodrome for some strange performance art and slapdash picnic. Back home for a little rest. Sammy comes over because she's lonely at home after an hour's separation. Over to the ranch for board games, beer, whisky, gorgonzola arancini, pesto. Then crepes with ice cream and a surviving jar of feijoa jam that never quite set.

So yeah, I'm concentrating on refining my breakfast cooking at the moment. Last weekend was french toast with a loaf of Challah (egg bread) I bought specially on Thursday at the best Russian bakery in Melbourne. French toast with stale Challah is the best. Thick slices. Some browned bananas. Maple syrup. It was quite the luxury breakfast in these $10 banana times.

ps. Blogging seems hard lately. I'm not sure why. Practical issues of internet time and all, sure but something else hard to put my finger on. I might keep trying but I'm not sure.

tiny little bits

2006-11-12T20:20:00.000+11:00

Russian Salad is a funny thing. It looks like really bad potato salad but everything is chopped into the tiniest dice. Why is it called Russian Salad? I think it's really Salad Olivier if you're in Russia.

Basia Zagala, who is Polish, makes the greatest version. I started thinking how much I missed hers the other day. At parties where her salad is served people can’t stop eating it… it’s good enough that I would go to a bad party if I knew this was being served. Really – the texture of the tiny little bits, and the way the flavours combine are fucking genius. There’s potato sure, but it ain’t no potato salad, it’s some kind of magic that comes when you put crunch and tender, sweetness and pickle all together.

Once when my sister Marion really wanted the recipe for this salad her birthday party she called Basia to ask for it. In under an hour Basia and Voitek were at the door with their knives and a bottle of wine . They insisted on making it for her. If only there was such a good dial-a-salad service available to us all.

Anyway, I had a go at making it myself yesterday using Basia's recipe. It wasn't as good - I got bad pickles! And the mayo wasn't the best. But still, it was pretty tasty and it was kinda fun to spend an hour chopping things really tiny, not painful like I thought it would be. It helped that there was a house full of hysterical ladies to entertain me and the glorious ridiculousness of the L word to relax in front of afterwards.

Here’s what Marion says about Basia's method: “You need 6 waxy potatoes that are good for salad and won’t crumble, ask the people at the greengrocer. If they are really big cut them in half. You need 3 – 4 quite large carrots as well. Put both in a big pot of cold water and boil until cooked. While boiling get good ogorki (pickles) – maybe 2 tins of Israeli ones and chop up very small in cubes – 6mm square. When the potatoes and carrots are cooked rub off the skin on the potatoes and peel the carrots and cut them tiny too.

Add 2 tins petis pois which are funny little baby peas you get at the supermarket. You need the imported type. Also 3 or 4 apples, very hard and crunchy ones cut up as tiny as the rest. Throw it all in together and dress. Use a huge jar of really good mayonnaise like S & W with some lemon juice and a little bit of white vinegar, salt and pepper. Basia adds minced dill as well, but this is controversial. In any case, stir it really well through, taste it and refrigerate for a day.”

You won’t be disappointed.

life lessons

2006-10-31T14:20:00.000+11:00

There are things I will never learn. One of them is about superglue. And how not to superglue dirt all over my hands.

But, maybe I will learn how to get it off.

And maybe, I think just maybe, I might learn how to make good wontons.

Wonton week started last Tuesday when Quel made a really good garlicky filling and her friend Kat came over and folded hundreds of the little tackers. They were deep fried up into tasty goodness served with Quel's delicious sambal. Yay for moving in with good cooks.

Then Friday to help Shannon celebrate not handing in her thesis we made wonton soup. I made an ok filling - fresh shitakes and water chestnuts really helped. Also I blanched some garlic shoots and included them. Yay for garlic shoots. Shannon made great soup and we were all happy.

I don't know why I decided I needed to make wontons again last night. I was tired out from supergluing my fingers all day but somehow I couldn't think what else to make. Weird I know. They weren't the best, I think the filling was a little bland and goopy. But Tal did some great little pyramid shapes, more Lebanese pie than dumpling, but cute. Her origami habit is having some weird influences.

The thing is, now I've realised that it's not a totally arduous process I may just have to make wontons over and over until they are perfect. Any advice folks?

<---Not what mine look like.

where's the year gone?

2006-10-26T20:29:00.000+10:00

Yeah, you gentiles think I'm worried cos it's almost November and the giant bloody Christmas tree is up again already. But no, I'm worried cos I had this Rosh Hashana post all thought out and the time, the time, where is the time... it goes and now it's bloody weeks since jewish new year so what do you wanna hear me kvetch about it or what?

Also I'm thinking maybe I should get me a computer so I can do this blogging thing more often. New jobs don't have as much interweb slacking time. But then me thinks, well do I want to spend my home time on the computer or in the lovely big new garden or playing with Lish's Le Creuset pot and the world's biggest mortar and pestle in my new kitchen? But you know, maybe if I had a computer I wouldn't write all frantic frantic unedited on my sister's while the baby sleeps...

Ok, here's the new year's recipe.
for what it's worth at this late time, Shana Tova folks.

New Year's Chickpeas
from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian.

Claudia Roden says in her Book of Jewish Food that round foods like chickpeas bring good luck for the new year. Wholeness and all that. I think Sephardic Jews eat chickpeas at Rosh Hashana. A few years back I decided that we should too because this truly is delicious. I like also to remind people that there are Middle Eastern Jews too... you know in these days where the idea of Arab and Jew are sold to us as diametrically opposed. As if the Middle East wasn't the safest place for Jews to live for centuries and centuries of Muslim rule. As if Iraqi Jews never existed. Um.. anyway. On a food note, if you serve it with giant couscous, which is my new favourite thing, then you get double roundness. And because Rosh Hashana comes in Spring here it's so exciting to use the first of the broad beans. If not, Madhur suggests using zucchini.

You need:
(double or triple this for a festive meal)

3 tbsp olive oil
1 cinnamon stick
1 onion, sliced into thin half rings
1 tsp cumin, ground
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp ginger, ground
1/2 tsp cayenne, or less
3 tomatoes, peeled and finely chopped
2 cups of cooked chickpeas
2 cups of pumpkin in a 2cm dice
2 tbsp big fat raisins
vegie stock
1 cup or more broad beans
salt
chopped parsley and coriander - a few tbsps

Mix the dry spices together in a cup. Heat the oil in a big saucepan. Fry the cinnamon stick for a few seconds, then add the onion and fry until golden brown. Add the spices and stir for a second before adding the tomatoes. Cook until they soften down. Now add the chickpeas, raisins and pumpkin and cover with stock - it should be quite quite liquidey. Cook slowly until the pumpkin is almost tender. Season as needed and add the broad beans. Simmer until done. Mix the herbs through and serve over giant couscous with labne and harissa.

meanwhile

2006-10-10T15:26:00.000+10:00

So yeah, me and tal made kimchi. Using the method here. It was even better than my last batch. Crunchy and delicious.

Words are not my friend right now so expect pictures. Maybe recipes can be my friend still.

In other news, I joined myspace. Oh god. Maybe that's why I feel like such a loser now.

2006-10-03T18:44:00.000+10:00

Anyone want to help me plan a mass exodus to the tropics? We'll survive peak oil heaps easier and we can live off ice cream bean (pictured above) and wax jambu. The white stuff is meant to taste like vanilla ice cream. I don't care if that's one of those weird not-right descriptions like chocolate pudding fruit cos I bet it still tastes hell good. Ready?

i hope the food tastes better in heaven

2006-09-26T13:00:00.000+10:00

i hope the food tastes better in heaven
i know there's lots of rad queer boys up there
i hope everytime they talk to you
they know they're lucky to be your friend

It took me a while to hear that Sasha Soldatow had died. And reading some of his papers at the archives on Sunday I realised how little I know about him. Only really what I'd gleaned from Jump Cuts.

He was a radical queer whose blunt loving honesty jumps from the page to remind you of truths you had hoped were not forgotten. And they say he was a good cook, friend and gardener. What more could you want to be?

There are obits at:

The Australian, 15 Sep 06, by Bruce Sims and George Papaellinas
and
Sydney Morning Herald, 9 Sep 06 by David Marr

And a beautiful personal one by Pam Brown with great photos. This one really makes me want to live more. And eat more fungi.

You can also check out Sasha's pamphlet from the 80s: What is this Gay Community Shit? The Sydney Gay Mardi Gras and the Left. Worth a read for sure. There's some good analysis of where things went terribly wrong, some stuff about homo-misogyny and also he calls folks "honkytonks".

It's also strange that now my favourite pickle has a new cousin, 1 day old and also called Sasha. Maybe this bodes well for the new little one.

i shot a mousse one day

2006-09-24T12:30:00.000+10:00

I think when people have pot luck style dinners it's always a good idea to bring the dessert. People love you when you bring dessert. I know I know, if I love myself I won't worry what others may think. But really, who doesn't want love and adoration?

For Sammy's birthday I really didn't feel like baking though. And I knew I had to work on the day of the party so it would have to be something I could make the day before. I'd never made mousse before and to be honest I only guessed it could be something good, remembering vaguely the awful instant mousses at pizza restaurants when I was a kid. I had hope though..

It's just lucky that Lish had arranged for me to get the Malouf's Arabesque for my present when I left my last job. This is their recipe and it was everything I might have wanted - rich as all hell, smooth, airy and the bringer of much adoration. Lauren said it changed her life. Now hopefully she'll change mine by hooking me up with Catherine Keener.

Cinnamon-chocolate mousse
This needs to be made the day before and allowed to set.
It's simple but there is folding of egg whites required which often flummoxes me.

300ml pure runny cream
4 eggs
100g mild honey (my mallee honey had too much flavour, use a very plain one)
100g castor sugar
400g good dark chocolate
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
3 extra egg whites
1 tbsp extra sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

to dust: 1 tsp cinnamon, 1.5 tsp icing sugar

Beat the cream to soft peaks and reserve in the fridge.

Place the whole eggs, honey and sugar in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Whisk for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Now take off the heat and beat with an electric beater on high for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt the chocolate over a pan of hot water and allow to cool slightly.
Fold the chocolate and vanilla into the egg mixture.

In another bowl whisk the egg whites until they form very loose soft peaks. With beaters running, slowly sprinkle in the extra sugar and the cinnamon. Continue beating until they form shiny soft peaks.

To complete the mousse fold the whipped cream into the chocolate and then gently fold into the egg whites. Place in a serving bowl or little cups or whatever and refrigerate overnight.

When ready to serve mix together the dusting stuff and sift lightly over the mousse. Serve to admiring crowd.
Hey: I reckon my mousse was a little on the sweet side but I did skimp on the chocolate and use only 40%. With 70% sweetness would not be a problem. On the otherhand some said it was not too sweet at all... Guess it's like friends, you don't always want the sweeter ones.

legends

2006-09-18T16:23:00.000+10:00

Maybe you can't tell from this blurry picture, but the new pants are even better.

Also, we made pupusas on the weekend. Everyone enjoyed saying "papoose papoose" but no, it was not a new carrying thingy for the baby pickle but a delicious Salvadorean snack. I had seen some Central American women making these at a Permablitz and thoroughly enjoyed eating one. Ours were less perfect looking but still highly digestible with a filling of refried black beans and cheese tucked snug inside a thick UFO disc of white corn goodness. Mmm, pupusas will be making a return appearance me thinks.

Right now though with my usual childlike enjoyment of sounds and phrases I am just excited by Wikipedia's talk of pupuserias..

then tworms will come and eat thee up..

2006-09-10T14:56:00.000+10:00

You know back in June last year how I swore off decorating cakes? Well it was the first birthday party down at my new workplace (Flemington Community Gardens) yesterday and when I heard there was no cake planned I just couldn't resist. I wanted it to look like the gardens but then decided miniature chinese broccoli and chilli plants was a bit beyond me. Grass and worms would have to suffice.

I baked 4 cakes to make it big enough for 100 hungry gardeners and their offspring. Tal did most of the tricky bits on this, like the worms and the icing and all that jazz. I felt really smug that I remembered to buy latex gloves for dying the coconut - no green hands for me.

Need I say, the cake was a big success. The kids picked off the worms and half the fence before we cut it. Darn kids. Then about 2 minutes after I started cutting it there was nothing but a few shreds of coconut to be seen. I guess that's a success.

ps.. we made carrot halva to take to an obscure desserts party last night. damn that shit is good.

pants

2006-09-02T14:52:00.000+10:00

You know normally buying work clothes is just really annoying. Not with my new job out working in the gardens. Nope I love my new work wardrobe.

I pulled out my old steel cap work boots and I bought myself a big belt from the hardware store. You gotta be crack protected in my line of work.

Today I went to get some work pants. They didn't have Hard Yakka or King Gee, just that new brand by the man Bisley. The nice guy at the workwear shop in Brunswick told us that sadly the pants did not come with the ladies depicted on the posters. They were blonde, in tiny work shorts and unbuttoned shirts and wrapped around Mr Bisley.

The pants come in two types: "regular" or "stout". He said that stout wasn't just for fat men but I was sceptical. Also he told me the crotch would be too long because they were for men. But I don't mind. I just like that on the label it says "Test driven by men, not machines."

So now I'm off to drive my new pants.

Dainty Sichuan

2006-08-30T17:29:00.000+10:00

Well you folks were so unhelpful with finding somewhere for me and penpal Steve to drink. So I took him to try Dainty Sichuan. I think I almost killed him. Damn that food is hot. We were sweating under our eyelids.

But you know how I’m a little obsessive? Well right now all I can think about is when I can get back to Dainty Sichuan and get some more of that Chilli Eggplant. I’ve only eaten there twice. Not enough. Want more.. True it’s kinda painful dealing with the chilli there but I’m in love and I know that means pain. I’m not even sad about dumplings closing down. I’m on a restaurant rebound and I’m just thinking how if I eat there often enough my chilli tolerance will build up and the pain will be less.

If you’re not down with Sichuan (or Szechuan) cuisine then basically what you need to know is chilli. And szechuan pepper, which gives you that great tongue tingling strangeness. Dainty Sichuan is not particularly dainty – I saw plates heaping with food mountains – but damn is it good. There’s a pretty good vegetarian range and the staff are sweet once you finally get their attention. I think really they just avoid taking orders from honkeys cos they know we don’t speak good Mandarin.

So far I have eaten and loved the chilli eggplant, red hot tofu threads (!), garlic cucumber and red hot radish threads. The cucumber is a good refreshing break. A favourite among our party was the green bean jelly noodles. When our waitress read our order back to us she said “one jelly bean”. We loved that. They are thicker than your average mung bean noodle so you really get to appreciate the jelly texture – firm to the bite, yet giving. What else? Well they’re cold and there’s spicy sauce on them. Go the jelly bean. Just don’t make the mistake me and Steve did of thinking that because we ordered noodles we didn’t need rice. You need rice. And cucumber. Now go.

(It's on Corporation Lane, off Little Bourke. Where David & Camy/Winston’s used to be.)

help

2006-08-15T11:18:00.000+10:00

Hey so I'm meeting my penfriend from Portland tonight for beers. Where should I take him? I want to show him somewhere good but I feel like all Melbourne's drinking establishments have gone yuppie and boring and maybe he won't understand the joys of Percy's. What I really feel like is a seedy dive bar...

soup

2006-08-15T10:55:00.000+10:00

I'm all snuffly head full of mucus feeling sorry for myself right now. But I have the memories of a glorious weekend with hysterical ladies, insanely beautiful wild places and me hot missus to keep me cheery. Of course we had too too much food and ate ourselves into a stupor.

I think though, that the best bit had to be the wombats... so many wombats. See hungryhead for pictures of the cutest bleached blond surfie wombat you have ever seen. Damn I love wombats. They eat all the time too...

Anyway, people apparently want more recipes and less of me waffling so here's the delicious soup I made on friday night. Lish made this soup for me on marmalade night all that time ago and I was hooked. It's from the most excellent Moorish by Greg and Lucy Malouf.

Fennel Soup with Lemon and Cinnamon
Maree: "I was worried you were putting cinnamon in with those things but it's really good".

2 tbsp olive oil
2 onions sliced
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
2 leeks, roughly chopped
2 bulbs fennel*, sliced
2 potatoes, in chunks
1.5 litres stock
1 cinnamon stick
peel of half a lemon
1/2 tsp allspice
2 bay leaves
2 egg yolks
150ml thick cream
juice of 2 lemons
extra good oil
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp rough chopped parsley

*The recipe calls for 3 large bulbs. I tried that once and they disastrously didn't fit in the pot. This recent time I just used 1 bulb and that was fine. 2 would be good I think.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and saute the onions, garlic, leeks and fennel until they soften a little. Add the potatoes and chicken stock, then the cinnamon stick, lemon peel, allspice and bay leaves. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer gently for 20 minutes. Remove and discard the stick, peel and leaves and season to taste with salt and pepper.
In a separate bowl, mix the egg yolks with the cream, then ladle in a bit of the hot soup. Whisk together well, then tip the egg mixture into the soup.
Slowly return the soup to just below boiling, stirring as you go. Remove from the heat and add the lemon juice. Adjust the seasoning.
As you serve drizzle each bowl with your good oil - no really, do this it totally lifts the soup. Sprinkle with a little cinnamon and parsley. Yum. That'll make you feel less sooky.

do i worry too much?

2006-08-04T20:32:00.000+10:00

Many would say yes. But when i can't freak out about the big stuff because it's too much I worry the small stuff. At the moment friends I'm worried by the sticker on Bicks pickles which says:

"NEW name, SAME quality"

Yup Bicks will be changing their name to Globus to "align itself to other quality products". I dunno. Globus pickles used to be ok, good even, but they ain't no Bicks. Who's to say they won't start messing with my favourite pickles?

Meanwhile enjoy the pleasures of Mr Pickles:

don't think i didn't

2006-08-02T17:07:00.000+10:00

On friday I made a massive feast at the ranch. I think the premise was that I would make lunch in exchange for Tal working her magic with the haircutting scissors again. Suffice it to say I got completely carried away and made an Indian luncheon consisting of:

Sweet sour chickpeas (no not dodgy chinese style but with shitloads of tamarind)
Broccoli the Madhur Jaffrey way with chilli and garlic
Eggplant fried all tender in a tomato and ginger sauce
Raita
Radish and peanut salad

And yes... CARROT HALVA!

Those capitals and exclamation mark show you just how excited I was about making a dessert from carrots. So excited that I kept running around going - "don't think those carrots aren't going to be dessert." To which people looked confused and later, just tired. "We know esther, the carrots are dessert... get over it already" their glazed eyes said. Maybe they were thinking carrots as dessert is old hat, like carrot cake or something... but really, this is a whole new world of vegetal dessert excitement.

And i'm here to tell you that all the double negatives were worth it. Don't think that carrot halva is not the bomb. So so good. I was so sorry I had halved the recipe.. it cooks down a lot and we hardly had enough. Don't make my mistake.

There are heaps of other recipes for this - some with condensed milk, some where you pressure cook the carrots. I'd be open to hearing about any other versions people have tried. Apparently in the Punjab they make this with purple carrots. Now that would be hot!

Carrot Halva (or Halwa if you prefer)
1 kg carrots
1 litre milk
1 cup sugar
100g ghee or butter
2/3 cup raisins or sultanas
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1 teaspoon cardamon seeds
ground cardamon

First up you need to grind your cardamon - pull out the green husks as you do. Now grate your carrots and stick them in a pot with the milk. Bring it to a simmer. Now cook it very very slowly until all the milk is absorbed. Careful it don't burn. This will take forever. Enough time for you to make 3 other dishes for your feast. Or get a haircut.

When it's absorbed add the ghee and cook until it browns a little. Mine didn't really brown, but anyway, add the sugar and cook until it's thick and dry. Add the raisins, cardamon and almonds. Serve with a few more nuts sprinkled over the top and a sprinkle of cardamon. Pass around the ice cream.

Hell yes.

it grows

2006-07-24T16:58:00.000+10:00

You know that feeling the day after the day after. No more seediness, and the sun's shining. You come home and there's time to play in the garden, to transplant little lettuces and not worry about if they'll get torn up by marauding chickens. The shit that ate your head up last week seems to have scampered somewhere on the dancefloor and you don't feel the need to worry about if it'll come back.

The plants are in so you wash the dirt off your hands and pick the leaves off the radishes, and the young shoots from the pea straw. The nettles you rescued from another garden are growing faster than myspace and you manage to pick a handful without any prickles. So it's into the kitchen..

The greens are washed and wilted in the water that clings to them. They're tossed with chickpea sprouts* and a diced radish. There's lemon juice, balsamic and some of the really good olive oil mum passed onto me. Oh and sesame seeds.

You know the feeling when you're cooking something really good from things you've grown yourself? When you've done unhealthy things to your body all weekend and no matter how hypocritical you just love the feeling of looking after yourself with vegetables and sunshine and maybe a kick of the footy after?

Well maybe it's just me, I shouldn't try and universalise... but I hope you have some similar feeling.

*Chickpea sprouts are so easy and good I can't believe I never ate them until this year. These ones were made when I soaked chickpeas and never got around to cooking them. Instead of leaving them in water to go fetid just drain the water off and then rinse once a day or so.

...

2006-07-24T16:50:00.000+10:00

Today I was looking for my favourite Need poster. I found this great story by Rachel from the Need. It fills me with hope, wonder, a measure of self-doubt and also much joy. Maybe you'll like it too:

But rather than go off about Olympia's amazing sense of community and so on, I'm going to tell you a story...so one summer night a bunch of pale-faced dyed-black punker-dykes were hanging out when a gang of lumberjack dykes (that's what we called them) crashed the party and tried to start a rumble. They got away with a trophy and a handful of underwear. Thus began the Olympia Dyke Gang Wars - The Sleazy Fuckers vs. The Scrawny Wusses. You can guess who was who.

There was a midnight face-off in the empty lot behind Gold's Gym. We chased each other with crowbars around the parking lot of the adult video store. A hideous painting of a girl fucking an octopus kept turning up on porches all over town. One night the Sleazy Fuckers took a hostage (she was already in her pajamas) and returned her late that night with a series of polaroids of herself tied up and blindfolded in a dog kennel. P.S. she really liked it...anyway we finally declared a flag code - white on the right if you were open to ambush, white on the left if you weren't. We started hanging out in the Safeway parking lot on thursday nights, car doors thrown open, stereos blasting, the dudes in hesher drag - bandanas, mesh, moustaches, camaro mullets - and the dolls in anklets and heels and halter-tops. We arm-wrestled. We strutted around and played air guitar. We drank coke in a can. It was beautiful.

But eventually we got bored of play-fighting and started talking...now the Sleazy Fuckers were more on the activist trip, and the Scrawny Wusses played in bands and went to art school. We all wanted to do something huge - and what came of our collision/collusion was The Transfused. An original rock opera that took a year to write and another six months of full production - besides working and re-working the music and lyrics and plot, there were auditions, rehearsals, benefits, planning meetings...and we raised almost $40, 000 without corporate sponsorship. Olympia was transformed. Kids moved here to work on it. Everyone got involved somehow - fundraising, sets, props, costumes. The closing show culminated in a parade that took over downtown Olympia. It was indescribable, really. The Transfused couldn't have come together the way it did in anyhere else...Mount Olympus! Whose gods and demi-gods play out the ultimate fictions. Small towns have a protoplasmic quality you can actually feel - it's like functioning at the cellular level. Germination, infection, chromosomal deviation...but the downside of small town living is that it's real easy (apparently) to get comfortable. To settle. I think Olympia's self-made mystique is, at heart, a product of its culture of boredom. It's enough to make you crazy.

Oh please can we all stop with this crazy real life crap, move to the same spot and stage a rock opera? Or make Sandy's queer cowboy movie?

tea with sweet potato!

2006-07-20T11:53:00.000+10:00

Yesterday I finally got to go to the Ten Ren Tea House for tea and snacks. I'd been hanging for a visit since I found out they did fake meat.

This stylish little place on Swanston St (146, btw Bourke and Collins) has such an extensive tea list it was making us feel like dumb honkies. What to choose? I resisted Kumquat, though I love the fanta-orange colour. Considered date and chrysanthenum for our health. But went for Sweet Potato Tea Milk tea with Pearl because I couldn't resist. Yes there were pieces of sweet potato in our tea! And in warm tea the sago pearls go delightfully gooey in just the slightest of ways. Good tea.

The food was crazy. And you know I love my crazy food but this was almost crazy in the wrong way. We had vegetarian green tea noodles and vegetarian lemon fish. The noodles were a lovely green colour but covered in a fairly disturbing sauce. It was kind of a vegetarian bolognaise - bits of fake mince and vegies. I think in a skip place I would have rejected it outright but somehow in this context it mostly just amused me. The fish was pretty good - two big chunks of tender fillet with a bit of sauce. This was served with rice and then three little side dishes. Oddly one of the sides was scrambled eggs with tomato.

Yeah, so I'm excited about the potential of tea house. I want to try the tea jellies and I want to try more of the different teas. You get complimentary green tea cookies with a pot of tea. So take me on a tea date?

Meanwhile on the interweb I discovered the lovely Emmy over at Fangrrrl . Lots of music writing. This post about the passing of Sleater-Kinney is amazing. It really made me feel the big hole they're leaving. I almost got teary at work. But then, in the context of today that's not that surprising.

actually...

2006-07-19T10:05:00.000+10:00

Hmm.. so actually the Q&A on Electronic Intifada turned out to be pretty dry. There's a lot of other good analysis on there though.

But today I'm really getting a lot from Shax, a blog coming outta Beirut. Really good stuff. Thanks for the link Ash.

Food soon.. I promise.

contagion

2006-07-18T16:26:00.000+10:00

Today, for work related reasons, I was in a Salvation Army church welfare office. On the bookshelf there was a big binder, like one of those workbook kits. It was titled How to be a Contagious Christian. Do you think I might have caught something in there?

I have been wanting to post for a while on my felafel tour of Sydney. But yesterday, eating a fine falafel platter at Tiba's and discussing my quest with Sarah, we realised that now is not the time to be debating the merits of Israeli versus Lebanese felafel.

You may find the coverage at Electronic Intifada more useful. I haven't had the heart to read much yet but the Questions and Answers on Hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah looks promising.

this dirty queerdo loves dolly

2006-07-12T15:32:00.000+10:00

Ok, the sydney food wrap up comes soon… for now let’s just say I think I am fatter. And I think I like the sun.

For now, from the lovely interweb comes yet, another reason to love Dolly:

Throughout the show, the entire crowd was on its feet and the lawn was no longer a quilt, but a sea of people that stretched way into the distance. Some found refuge (and a great view) in the trees, prompting Dolly to say, "Are those monkeys or people up there?" A group of women towards the front waved a bed-sheet sign that read "Dirty Dirty Queerdos Love Dolly" to which she replied, "Well, I love you too."
From Hardly Strictly Bluegrass

This comes via gordonzola who went to a Joan Jett concert where the fans were holding a sign saying “Dirty Dirty Queerdos Love Joan Jett”. Sadly Joan didn’t respond as lovingly as Dolly. There's an argument in this somewhere I think...

success!

2006-06-30T10:55:00.000+10:00

Hey I thought my mission to learn how to make crepes was going to be an epic quest complete with training montages and crumpled up crepes being thrown into the wastepaper basket. Yes I know I'm mixing my genres but I'm in shock because I had my first go this morning and I am full of the glow of success. This is when mum's theory really pays off.

Crepes for beginners
3/4 cup plain flour
2 eggs, beaten
2/3 cup milk
2/3 cup water
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salk

Beat the eggs and whisk in the flour, milk and water. Add the other bits and whisk it all real well so there's no lumps or nothin. Leave it to stand for 20 minutes. Or if your breakfast buddy shows up looking hungry like mine, 10 will have to do.

This batter is so thin it scared me but it works. Really.

Heat a crepe pan (yeah right) or heavy frypan (ok!). Add a little butter. When it's hot pour in some batter and tilt the pan so it spreads real thin. Mine went all sorts of funny shapes, dunno how you get them round.

Now the trick is to not cook them too much at all. Keep the heat pretty low. We want a very light brown on the first side and then just a few spots of brown on the other. This way they are nice and soft not crunchy like from those lame "creperie" places that have sprung up all over town. Add more butter when they start to stick.

Ok eat them now. We had a choice of blueberries, cream, maple syrup and of course, marmalade. You don't need to be so excessive. This recipe makes 10 crepes. I think I should have invited someone else to help me and Bindy eat them. Now i think I have to go lie down and recover.

2006-06-28T16:44:00.000+10:00

I love webstats.. not just knowing someone actually comes here, not just the amusement of the strange search terms that bring you here but also occassionally looking at how many of you are, like me, doing this on work time.

So hands up:
Who's my fan from the Department of Premier and Cabinet?
Who's at News Ltd in Sydney?
Griffith Uni?
But wait, who the hell is visiting from the House of Rep's in the big ole U S of A?

my mama said

2006-06-27T15:09:00.000+10:00

My mum often says that it's not a good idea to get your hopes up - then you might get disappointed. And if all doesn't go terribly wrong, well you'll be pleasantly surprised. People tell me this is not a good way to approach life but more and more lately I think she be onto something.

Recent examples:

Stick It - now, if I hadn't been expecting this to be the best film of the last 5 years would I have felt its hopelessness so deeply? Gutted.
Kimchi and Bab - Lish has been talking up this Korean for at least a month, without even trying it. I dropped in there for lunch today and found the Bibim Bap quite average. And only 2 side dishes served with it. Sad.
Last night. Cafe Romantica. Pizza. Beer. And then that stupid stupid penalty. Still, weirdly because I had been expecting the roos to get thrashed I felt ok about it. Is it really lame to just be happy with how well they played up until then?

Meanwhile some internet treats:
I know people have told me that Go Fug Yourself is not as amusing as I find it. But their touching tribute to Aaron Spelling via ugly fashion is too good. So if you were a Brenda and Brandon fan check out the 90210 fug legacy for some excellent package action from Bran or the Brenda special for a superb look at menswear gone femmey 80s style.

Tal made these cookies and had them couriered down to Romantica to sustain the fans. So good. Buttery and orangey. I am still confused that this jen-jen with a cooking blog is not the jen-jen.

Dear dear sandy is going off - not only did he post an excellent looking recipe for jackfruit curry but now he's becoming a mp3 blogger. I'm going to head up to Sydney on the weekend and try and have exciting enough conversations with him that I end up on the blog. Although he mostly blogs about annoying conversations. Hmm....

And some text message poetry from Sam who couldn't get out of bed to come to vegan yum cha because she was too hungover:

Cant deal bad equals cant leave bed for puke

(Actually John had to write it because Sam was too sick to text.)

THE GREAT DEBATE #1: fluffy vs. thin

2006-06-22T20:40:00.000+10:00

Ok so being audience responsive as always, I thought I better address the mega issue of fluffy versus thin. No not hair types.. fluff beats thin there like rock to your scissors. I’m talking pancakes. Specifically I’m talking pancakes you make at home – eating out is a whole different post.

I’ll admit I’ve had some longstanding thick pancake loyalties which have been challenged by some recent crepe experiences. I’ve been forced me to look at where these prejudices come from. I think in my family of origin (to use my newfound therapist’s vocab) pancakes uncomfortably straddled the line between thin and fluffy. They were eggy but not crepes, they were thick but not fluffy. I mean, I’m no ingrate, I’m happy my dad made us any pancakes at all and his birthday special – with bits of apple in the mix – was pretty fine. But let’s just say when I discovered that with a bit of baking powder, some melted butter and a good whisking wrist you could get big fluffy pancakes that soaked up lots and lots of syrup I was as happy as a kid at the pancake parlour. (Lets not talk about when we dared Robin to scull the jug of syrup at that establishment).

So yeah, thick pancakes for me are all about the soaking up of real pure maple syrup. Sometimes though, I’ll admit it, they can be just a little too much to chow down on first thing. And not that popular with the ladies. Despite this creeping sense that maybe I’m backing the losing side, I’ve not yet strayed from my fluffy ways, partly because I’ve been intimidated by figuring out how to make crepes.

But the other morning I had crepes made for me that were so perfect and eggy and buttery and light. Wrapped around “the best marmalade in the world” they were just too good to be ignored. You know, you can eat a lot more crepes than pancakes. Which means a lot more marmalade. Time to learn how to make crepes?

So dear readers, let the debate begin…

Ps – I have also been getting into pikelets lately – maybe fluffiness but smaller. At the beach we had them with 5 types of jam and cream and that was a darn fine spread.

Pps – I suppose also, that faced with the dilemna of wanting to make the best of a gifted bottle of organic maple syrup, as I am now, I might also opt for some French toast. Made with challah or greek egg bread of course. Dusted with cinnamon… now that’s not sounding too bad at all.

crazy sticky bitter goodness

2006-06-18T23:17:00.000+10:00

Sometimes I think working with my mate Lish is the only thing that keeps me sane at work. But I worry that actually somehow together we make each other insane. Like whose idea was it to make marmalade at 9 o’clock on a school night? It seemed like a good plan for a while but at 1 in the morning, half dozing, half watching the soccer as we waited for it to reach the crinkle stage.. well right then it didn’t seem so sane. We started to think of all our friends who hate marmalade. What were we doing? Why? Would it ever set?

All this is forgotten though when I see the look on people’s faces as they taste the product of our insanity and enjoy what one dear eater called “the best marmalade in the world.” And I have been obsessively eating it all the time. Oh it's so so good! Starting the day with this baby on tal's excellent crepes made my saturday. And don't even get me started on how great it is on croissants. Yes, maybe I did take a jar to babka the other day so I could have it on their croissants. Is that more insanity?

Mandarin Marmalade
(if you’re not lucky enough to have a mandarin tree handy use whatever citrus you can lay your paws on)

Marmalade is real easy, it always seems to set even if you have the panic moment that it won’t. All you need is a big wide and preferably heavy pot. I’ve seen a recipe that didn’t have my flesh scooping step but this is how my friend Clare taught me and it’s always worked for me.

So all you need is some fruit and lots of white death sugar. We started with 5kg fruit and made about 13 big jars of marmalade. It took about 4.5kg sugar. Ok, lets get started...

Put three saucers in the freezer. (No this is not part of the insanity – you’ll see)
Cut the fruit in half (across not lengthwise) and stick in a pot with enough water to cover.
Boil until the fruit is soft but not falling apart.
Drain and let them cool a bit. Unless you are crazy (see above) and want to burn your fingers.
Now you need to remove the seeds. This is kinda fiddly – use a fork or something. It don’t matter if you miss a few, you can scoop em out later. Keep the seeds.
Now scoop the flesh out and keep.
Cut the peel as finely as you can be bothered.
Weigh the peel and flesh. Throw it in the pot with the same amount of sugar – yup scary amounts of sugar is what i'm talking about.
Put the pips in a bit of muslin or a clean tea towel, tie it and throw it in the pot.
Bring to the boil slowly letting the sugar dissolve but then boil the fuck out of it for a long time. Watch the soccer. Drink tea. Stir it a bit so it don’t stick.
When it’s starting to look a bit thick you need to start testing it. Put a small dollop on one of your frozen saucers and wait. After 30 seconds push the top with your finger. If it crinkles it’s ready. You see the saucer is very cool – it simulates how your jam will be when it has cooled. If it’s not crinkling stay calm and keep cooking, it’ll set.
When it’s ready put it into warm sterilised jars and stick lids on it.

Now serve to wide acclaim and convert all your marmalade hating friends into lovers. I mean, marmalade lovers.

cupcakes for the ladeez

2006-06-06T15:19:00.000+10:00

Now, with my reputation I am used to people asking me for advice about getting girls into bed. Oh yeah, that happens all the time. So I was not surprised to read Shannon's comment requesting a cupcake recipe. I think probably she's gonna do something really inadvisable with my advice but that my friends, is beyond my control. However let it be said that I would prefer in general that you all used my recipes for good and not for evil (or self-destructive angst creation).

So... Cupcakes.

Yes they are all trendy again but like stripy tops that doesn't mean they ain't good. And when the hipsters move on to the next hot thang cupcakes will still be sweet and small, conveniently portable and a hit with all those who like a bit of childhood nostalgia.

Now, as I said in the comments, I mostly like to just use a good cake recipe and stick it in cupcake shape. This recipe is the exception - I don't think a batter this plain would work in cake form but in a cupcake it's all you need. In fact, it's all about those cute little paper cases, the icing and silver balls.

This recipe comes from my sister Marion. She brought some along to a family night once when we were watching But I'm a Cheerleader. You know the bit where they discuss what their "root" is? And they're all talking about gender stuff and why they ended up queer? Marion turns to me and asks "what's your root?" We discuss the family myth that everyone wanted me to be a boy. Then Marion says "I always knew I was a girl" and ta-da..... pulls out a tupperware container full of these cupcakes all iced in bright pink. Yes, a perfect family moment - they were almost the exact kitsch pink colour as the uniforms the girls have to wear in the movie.

Anyway, I never let my gender identity get in the way of baking. But maybe you've felt constrained by the need to seem tough all the time? To wield the power tools not the appliances? Well this recipe is so easy you can start breaking outta that gender binary right now. If you wanna get the girl get your toughest apron out and get in the kitchen.

ain't afraid to bake cupcakes

1 1/2 cups self raising flour
1/3 cup castor sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
125g soft butter chopped into bits
3 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

for the icing:

1 cup thick double cream
1/4 cup brown sugar
pink food colouring

Light the damn oven and turn it to 180C. Get some tough little patty cases with really butch flowers or something and put them on a tray.

Beat all the ingredients up like you would some chick who you saw looking at your lady. Or maybe use an electric beater actually and beat them for 4 minutes on a medium speed cos violence is never cool.

Spoon the mix into the cases, they should be 3/4 full. Cook those fuckers for 20-25 minutes until they rise up to tell you that you rule, and they should be golden.

Let them chill out until they are as cool as you.

Mix the cream with the sugar and pink icing. Spread on the cupcakes and top with some silver balls.

Now go give some to your lady with some cheesy line like “cos you’ll always be my cupcake.” That should make up for being a stupid dumbass.

all creatures great and spicy

2006-05-30T12:14:00.000+10:00

If shannon didn't have quite such a good turn of phrase i might not take her berating so seriously. But here she is reminding me that i have a blogging public and making me feel all guilty about neglecting you all... And if that wasn't enough she told me there's a blogging explosion and I'm missing out. If guilt wasn't enough of a motivating force, fomo^* sure is.

If I’ve been absent it’s only because I’m confused. It seems even this kind of vague and constantly qualified writing requires some sense of certainty and that, I just don't have.

But for now, let me tell you about my pets. Darling Satan (my cat) may still be with his foster family but since I've taken on my house's obsession for preserving I have a whole little menagerie to look after.

There's the sourdough starter, he likes to be fed rye flour every day and given a good belly scratch (ok, just a stir really). Then there's the sprouts (millet and rye berries at the moment) - they need a little wash every day. Out the back black olives are happily swimming in their bucket but they like their water changed every second day. And this weekend I started a new pet – little kim chi! She’s pretty low maintenance but I think it’s good to check in on her every few days or she might get sulky and go mouldy.

Adam inspired me to try my own kim chi because I totally scoffed the batch he made a couple of weeks ago – delicious. So here’s a quick recipe, because kim chi is the bestus most delicious thing ever. And it stops you getting bird flu.

For a ridiculously big batch you’ll need some ingredients roughly like this:

2 big heads chinese cabbage (wom bok)
1 large daikon radish
1 carrot
ginger to taste
chillis - 3 small ones?
3 cloves garlic
1 onion

You can also add spring onions, jerusalem artichokes, celery or whatever you have around.

You'll need good big jar, crock or bucket. Leftover catering supply buckets from a deli or café are good because they’re made of food grade plastic

Chop your cabbage and daikon up - big chunks is fine.
Now make a brine with 3 tablespoons of salt and a litre or so of water - just boil, dissolve and let it cool.
Cover the cabbage and daikon with the brine. Press it down with a plate and a weight to keep it submerged. If you're using a jar wedge something in the top to keep your goodies underwater.
Leave overnight or for a few hours. Drain the brine off but keep it somewhere.
Taste your cabbage - it should be softened a little and salty. We want noticeably salty but not grossly so. If it's not salty sprinkle a little salt on, if it's too salty soak in fresh water for a couple of hours before you continue.
Slice the carrot and onion, crush the garlic and ginger and chillies and mix them all together with the cabbage and daikon.
Put back in your container and squish it down real hard with your weight – I use a big 4 litre jar filled with water on top of the plate. Brine and juices should come out to cover it all. Leave it for a few hours as more brine will come out. If it’s still not covered add a little of the reserved brine.
Stick your weight back on and cover with a cotton bag or something to keep flies out.
Wait. The kimchi should be ready in 3 to 10 days depending on the weather. Stir the brine on top occassionally to keep mould from forming. Make sure all the bits are submerged and taste regularly so it doesn’t get sulky.

Ok, so that’s a bit of a basic recipe done from memory. Hopefully it makes enough sense to follow. The thing is, kim chi is one of my favourite things but i never thought i could actually make it. Turns out it's really simple. It even tastes good after a day when it's just lightly pickled. Also if it does taste a little fizzy after a while don't worry, that's just the bacteria getting active and it will actually taste better again a few days later when they die off.

For an even simpler method you can see this site which has very endearing photos. I didn’t know that in korea they have kim chi gloves for mixing the chilli through.

^*fomo - fear of missing out. as in "i didn't go to the party last weekend and i had the worst case of fomo."

to warm your toes

2006-05-08T11:43:00.000+10:00

And so, the temperature drops on the abruzzo club clock (8 degrees last night) and our correspondent's mind turns to keeping her toes warm... Yes folks Melbourne autumn - sure feels like winter.

When I can't find a lovely lady to keep me warm I find that zupa ogorkowa (pickle soup) is the next best thing. I made some for darling Bindi, who has been in the surgical wars and she was as pleased as could be. I used the last of the summer's homemade pickles, added a little celery but no flour so it was nice and brothlike.

Another good way to keep warm is of course, in front of the oven. For Asha's Mexican dinner I made a batch of spicy chocolate gingerbread. The plan was to amp up the chilli flavours but instead, due to a bit of vagueness and ignorance I ended up with a crazy black almost liquorice flavoured cake. See, I just don't know that much about molasses and didn't realise how strong blackstrap molasses is until Adam raised his eyebrows at me chucking half the jar in. He had me totally freaked out, telling me nobody but him was gonna be crazy enough to appreciate the heavy liqorice flavours. But it mellowed out in the oven and was a big hit. It's moist and just doesn't taste like it looks.. People were impressed and said it tasted "adult". Personally I'm not so much into being an adult, unless it's in an adult bookstore way.. But the cake rocked. I made it with a ganache chocolate topping because I've found the gingerbeer icing disappointing...

Now, I'm off to figure out what you can bake with tamarillos..

wife-swappin'

2006-04-27T15:23:00.000+10:00

oh dearie, I have been a bad blogger. if anyone cares, well I offer my heartfelt apologies. It's not for lack of baking either - I've been getting back into the kitchen in a major way. Soon, inspired by my latest soba and seaweed rye bread success I'm going to write a little guide to sourdough. There really isn't much better than a house that smells of freshly baked bread and the loaves are getting fluffier, sour-er and altogether better by the week.

Otherwise, well it's autumn and that means quinces (poached Armenian style with a little rosewater and lemon), hearty soups and feijoas falling from the trees.

Meanwhile can I say again how much I love the chocolate lady? today she has a post about the historic practice of box socials - a kind of wife swapping in which men would bid for a box meal (picnic) and the chance to eat it with its maker. the chocolate lady seems a little aghast at the misogyny of it but i want to throw one immediately. what a great fundraiser...

little bundles of joy

2006-04-12T12:29:00.000+10:00

these little babies date back to long long ago.. i made them prior to the arrival of my favourite little baby. see in the lead up to my sister giving birth i was unemployed and anxious to be of some assistance. i wasn't sure what i could do to help - pregnancy being kinda a one woman job and all. then i remembered cooking - that old failsafe neighbourly help out. i think bringing people food in times of trouble is one of the best things you can do. even times of joy like breeding because people tend to get overwhelmed and are not necessarily in a real state to be cooking.

so anyway i snapped into action with a mission to fill marion and andy's freezer. and these little pirozhki from my new russian cookbook turned out so good. they are just a little flaky with moist fillings and the perfect size to serve to all those pesky guests who drop around to look at cute babies. plus i like the way they look all snug-as-a-bug.. just like isaac when he's all bundled up in his favourite cocoon impersonation. they freeze real good too. oh now i'm not scared of pastry i just want to make pies all day long.

Pirozhki
To make these I used a quick yeast dough - you could substitute puff pastry but they wouldn't be quite as good. Then I made a potato filling and a cabbage filling.. mushroom would also be great.

The recipes are below but basically all you need to do is get your pastry and roll it out until it's about 1/8 inch thick. I dunno how thick that is but i reckon 2 - 3 cardboard coasters thick is about right. Now use a big drinking glass to cut out rounds. Flatten them between your fingers and place a heaping teaspoon of filling in the middle. Fold the edges together and press firmly to seal. Then press the edges back against the pirozhok and pat it into a nice little snug shape. Place on a baking tray with the seam down. Brush your little babies with an egg wash (1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tsp milk) and bake them at 180C until golden brown - 25 to 30 minutes. Now freeze for your loved ones or just eat them. Maybe with some sour cream? Definitely with strong tea with lemon.

ps - my book also helpfully clears up some worries I'd had about pirozhki, pierogi and all that. basically in russian a Pirog is a big pie. piroghi is the plural - many big pies. Pirozhok is a little pie and pirozhki is the plural. Pierogi on the other hand is Polish for dumplings. got it?

Dough:
(according to my book this recipe is "well known to every working Russian woman."
1 package dry yeast or 2 tsp fresh
2 tsp sugar
2/3 cup lukewarm milk
1 cup unsalted butter - melted and cooled to lukewarm
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp salt
3 1/4 - 3 3/4 cups unbleached plain flour

In a large bowl combine the yeast, sugar and milk and let stand until foamy - about 5 minutes.
Add the butter, egg and salt and mix well with a wooden spoon.
Stir in 3 1/4 cups flour, 1 cup at a time, mixing real well so you can get a big strong forearm like a true russian woman.
Transfer dough to a floured surface and knead gently until you have a smooth, rather loose dough, about 3 minutes, adding just enough of the remaining flour to prevent sticking.
Shape into a ball, cover with a tea towel and let stand for ten minutes.
Divide into thirds, stick them in plastic bags and refrigerate until you're ready to roll.

Potato filling:
3 tbsp vegie oil
2 large onions, chopped oh so fine
4 large boiling potato, boiled and mashed
1/2 cup famer's cheese (this is an american term for a white firm cheese - I used a polish one from the market but use what you can find - nothing strongly flavoured though)
4 tbsp butter, melted

Heat the oil in a heavy pan and saute the onions over a medium heat for a good long time until they're all browned - it should take about 15 minutes. Now mix them with all the rest of the stuff and season it well.

Cabbage filling:
1/2 head green cabbage chopped up real fine
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp vegie oil
2 hard boiled eggs, also chopped finely
2 tbsp or more chopped fresh dill

Blanch the cabbage in boiling salted water for 3 minutes. Drain well and squeeze to remove excess liquid.
Heat butter and oil in a large frypan. Add the cabbage and cook, stirring, until soft and coloured, 15 to 20 minutes.
Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining ingredients. Season well and cool before using.

feeling festive?

2006-03-24T15:12:00.000+11:00

ok i'm not really feeling super festive either... but i made these lovely hamentaschen a couple of weeks ago for Purim, the Jewish festival of Esther. Yeah I really do have my own festival I'm not just being self-centred. It's all about how I was a really hot lover and persuaded the king not to kill all the jews. Well that's what I got from a cursory torah reading the other night.

Anyway, the food, the food.. Hamentaschen (=Haman's pockets) are meant to look like the hat that the evil Haman wore. Why are they named after his pockets then? I don't know.

I used this recipe from the pie queen and made the apricot filling she gives as well as a poppyseed filling of my own invention. The poppyseeds were a winner with my family but the apricot stuff was damn good too. And it gave me an excuse to buy the middle-eastern dried apricot sheets I'd been eyeing off for years. All in all the Hamentaschen were crowd pleasers, with their biscuity dough and sweet three sided hat-like appearance. And my housemate Adam kept saying I'd been doing biblical baking which was pretty cute.

Sorry for my lame posting absences.. I'll be back shortly.

good things

2006-02-17T15:03:00.000+11:00

1. Fried haloumi served with apple sorbet.
At the greek place diagonally opposite Stalactites. We had to order this dish twice and it made Dan so ecstatic he couldn't pronounce orgasmic.

2. Sandy made his first cake!
First I got a text message asking if the Passionfruit Sponge was a bit hard for a first time baker. I felt mean but I had to say yes, it took me forever to get that cake right. Next day I got a text asking me what it means to cream butter and sugar and it made me nervous but he did me so so so proud making the Prune and Whisky cake. And the next day he said "this baking thing rocks! everybody loved it." Oh yes folks we have another convert.

Oh yeah, and my sister had a baby!!!! I'm still so vagued out i can't even tell you how awesome that is.

go postal

2006-02-17T14:42:00.000+11:00

I was thinking the other day about what cakes are best for mailing. Because it's my favourite thing to bake for people and i'm not gonna stop just because of a little thing like distance. I remember a couple of years ago I was really impressed when S's mum sent her an orange and poppyseed cake for her birthday. I think the trick is to fit them real snuggly into whatever container you're posting so they can't move around. Anyway, I decided on Brownies this time because they age quite well, are solid and can be carved into cutesy little shapes if you're feeling so inclined.

Brownies of course are a bit of a holy grail type of baking - so often they disappoint, being too dry, not chewy enough or just not chocolatey. Extensive web research took me to this recipe from Orangette for "best-ever brownies". Too cocky? Maybe not because they were damn damn good. Don't think I didn't use 2 blocks of Lindt 70% proof chocolate though.

The best thing about these brownies, after posting them off to adulation, was freezing them into icecream sandwiches to put in my sister Marion's freezer. And now that she's popped my little nephew out she's allowed to eat them. They are so so so good frozen.

Chocolate Brownies
Adapted by Orangette from Baking with Julia and meddled with by me just a tad.
There's a tempting picture of these at Chef Kristy

1 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
240gms unsalted butter
180gms best darkest chocolate you can find
2 cups raw sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs
1 handful of chopped nuts - I used walnuts and pecans

Center a rack in the oven, and preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and salt; set aside.

Melt the butter and the chocolate together in a metal bowl over a saucepan of simmering water making sure the bowl doesn't touch the water. Stir frequently. When the chocolate and butter are both melted and smooth, add 1 cup of the sugar to the mixture, and stir it for 30 seconds; then remove the mixture from the heat, and stir in the vanilla extract. Pour the mixture into a large bowl.

Put the remaining 1 cup sugar and the eggs into a medium bowl, and whisk by hand to combine. Little by little, pour half of the sugar and eggs into the chocolate mixture, stirring gently but constantly with a rubber spatula so that the eggs don’t scramble from the heat. Beat the remaining sugar and eggs on medium speed until they are thick, pale, and doubled in volume, about 3 minutes. Using the rubber spatula, gently fold the whipped eggs and sugar into the chocolate mixture. When the eggs are almost completely incorporated, gently fold in the flour and half the nuts.

Pour and scrape the batter into an unbuttered 8-inch square pan, a heavy non-stick one is good. Scatter the rest of the nuts on top. Bake the brownies for 25-28 minutes, during which time they will rise a bit and the top will turn dry and a bit crackly. After 23 minutes, stick a knife or toothpick into the center to see how they are progressing. They should be just barely set—not too raw, but still fairly gooey (mine took about 28 and were possibly a little mushy in the middle). Cool the brownies in the pan on a rack. When they’re completely cool, cut them into rectangular bars to serve. Or carve into love hearts etc.

For ice cream sandwiches cut them in half into thin slices and put a good couple of inches of vanilla ice cream in the middle. Re-freeze. Gobble. Collapse in ecstatic goodness.

cakes and the cake lady

2006-02-08T15:39:00.000+11:00

I love geeks who cook. This is the insides of a PC in gingerbread!

And talking of genius cakes, Nat the cakelady is doing an art project with Jo where they hitch around Oystralia and talk to truck drivers and take pictures. Pay them a visit.

the less sweet beet?

2006-02-07T21:41:00.000+11:00

You know, I really love silverbeet. I can tell it's love because I don't just like to eat it, I feel the need to protect it. I worry about how people seem to think of it as inferior to spinach. It's so unfair because silverbeet is better really - it doesn't turn into a little pile of nothing, it doesn't make your teeth go funny and fuzzy. Best of all, it's so easy to grow so you can always have some for all your greenery needs. Still being a bit homeless myself I went over to Marion's to pick some from her crazy overrun underloved garden and made pie. Pie making seems to be what i do these days.

Silverbeet Torte
My cousin Tessa made this for Chrismukkah dinner (see picture) and it rocked. We kept calling it a pie and she got a little irate and insisted we call it a torte. As far as I knew a torte was a cake. Dictionary.com agrees. But hey, if she wants it to be a torte that's fine. Either way it's real yum and has a great texture in the middle because of the egg and potato - it's a bit like spanish omelette in that way. I made the recipe as it is below but I'd probably make the dough without using a food processor next time as I think it was a little overworked. I made mine round as suggested and a little flatter - about 3 inches high.

Dough:
200g p flour
1/2 tsp salt
1+1/2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup cold water

Whizz flour and salt in food processor. Drizzle in oil and then water. Process dough for about a minute until it forms a ball. Remove to floured surface and knead for 2-3 mins until supple and smooth. Place in bowl, cover with cloth, refrigerate for 2 hours. Preheat oven to 200c & lightly oil a 28cm pizza tray (or whatever).

Filling:
150g silverbeet leaves and stalks (or rainbow chard), washed and drained
1 tbsp salt
1 medium potato (150g), boiled whole & roughly chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp chopped parsley (I used more of course)
150g crumbled "stretchy" cheese (fontina, asiago, mozzarella or feta - I used fetta and some swiss that was in the fridge)
freshly ground black pepper
1 large egg
2 tbsp extra virgin oil
sea salt

Finely shred and chop silverbeet. Place in colander and toss with tbsp of salt. Leave for 20mins, then rinse and squeeze dry (Tessa says you can skip this step but I'm such a stickler I didn't). Mix silverbeet with chopped potato, diced onion, parsley and cheese. Season with pepper. Whisk the egg with the olive oil and mix through the filling. Taste for salt.

Roll two-thirds of dought on floured surface into a circle to cover base of pizza tray. Spoon on the filling, leaving 2cm border of dough. Stretch back the edge of dough over filling pleating it as you go. Dampen with water. Roll remaining dough a little smaller and drape it over the filling. Press to seal with the pleated edge. Pierce here and there with a fork then drizzle top with remaining oil and scatter with a few grains of sea salt. Bake for 20 mins or until golden. Leave to settle 10 mins before cutting.

simple things

2006-02-02T12:04:00.000+11:00

Simple pleasures like zucchini from Ruth's garden quickly browned then covered in mint, fetta and eggs for omelettes I could eat everyday.

Or tomatoes tasting good like you know they won't in a month or two so you grab some basil from the garden and a bit of cheese and have the best pasta ever nestled down in front of an old musical.

High Society was just perfect. There's Grace Kelly with her too perfect waves. How does she get her hair to stay like that? There's Frank Sinatra as the cynical little reporter for the gossip rag (damn he's short!). And there's Bing Crosby all romantic fool singing sweetly. It was great to see everyone being so enthusiastic about drinking. This is a movie not just with a drunk scene but a hangover scene too. Grace even has a memory blackout about whether she's gotten it on with Frank or not!

And then I realised that this movie is the forerunner to The OC. Frank and his photographer girl are the outsiders coming to Newport (yes, the same newport) expecting to hate the idle rich. They pooh poo all their luxuries in the excellent "Who want to be a millionaire?" The pretty rich girl has all the men falling all over her and there's a nasty patriach lurking. But then surprise surprise, these filthy rich mansion dwellers turn out to be pretty darn nice people too and they teach our working pals a thing or two with a bunch of great songs. Oh if only it was all that sweet and simple.

and more friends

2006-02-01T18:56:00.000+11:00

a little plug for foodgoat who has been having the most brilliant photo posts recently. this excellent knifeblock for one.
darth vader out of butter. for two.
cakes that look like butter. for three.
and then there's an evil satanic child with peas.
go. go see...

guess who's procrastinating?

2006-02-01T18:21:00.000+11:00

I am trying to write job applications and, taking Az's advice, I've been using the thesaurus to avoid repeating myself over and over. But it doesn't understand me! Like when I feel geeky saying that I'm "excited" by the potential of peer advocacy I look up excited and get:
- keyed up
- thrilled
- provoked
- agitated
or maybe:
"I am hot and bothered about the possibilities offered by such an approach."

Yup, now that's super professional. Gahh I hate doing the self-promoting schtick.

and on my right...

2006-01-24T19:09:00.000+11:00

I thought I'd take this opportunity to introduce the newest name on my links list - the chocolate lady over at In Mol Araan. I first read some of her work on a Passover survival guide my mum emailed me a few years back. Sure, Nell and I laughed at the idea of grilling matzah balls but you know, her soup recipe sure saved me some pain. That's why the chocolate lady says:
kikts in mol araan es zol zikh mertshem in gantsn oysvepn enker zup-bahole!

Or in English:
Come to In Mol Araan and watch your soup-angst evaporate!

Food and yiddish. And cute pictures. What more do you need already? More? Well she has a lovely way with words. In the current post she describes bleeding heart radishes as possessing a stormy pinkness. Ahhh, now that's the kind of wordsmithing to soothe my soul.

In other random internet news I found something actually interesting in one of the spammy comments I used to get. Apparently kimchi can cure bird flu:

"Quoting the team's test results, BBC said of the 13 chickens stricken with the influenza, 11 had shown telling curative effects after being administered kimchi extracts."

Now is that why Adam has those vats of cabbage fermenting? He is a bit of a survivalist.

please to the table

2006-01-23T20:08:00.001+11:00

I'm trying to be grateful for how much time i have on my hands right now. It's kind of doing my head in having so little structure in my life but i know as soon as i get a job i'll be wishing i had more time for lying around, reading and cooking. So instead of moping - no actually, as well as moping - i'm living my life from a series of lists i made while i was travelling. There are pages and pages of them written up and stuck on my walls - things to research in the library, things to do right now, fun things, regular things, long term ideas and of course: things to cook.

The things to cook list is all the foods i dreamt of fondly while i was away and this walnut sauce was one of the first to make the list. "Walnut sauce?!?" everyone said yesterday when i pulled some out at the harvest festival. Ya huh. It's creamy without dairy, it's garlicky and it does something unexplainably sneakishly good.

I made this first for Chrismukkah 2004 from moro, which has the Turkish version called Tarator. Then I noticed a Georgian version in my new cookbook, Please to the table so I thought I'd try that. Please to the table says that at any good Georgian party you'll get at least three vegetables dressed with this sauce. They're called pkhali. I love it with roasted eggplant, or green beans or even thinned down on cucumber. It's also meant to be good with beetroots which i'll be trying very very soon. The main thing is to make the sauce 6 to 8 hours ahead so the garlic flavour settles and to serve it at room temperature.

Walnut sauce, georgian style
3/4 cup walnuts
4 cloves garlic
3 tbsps coriander leaf finely minced
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
pinch cayenne
1/4 tsp fenugreek
1 1/2 tbsps white wine vinegar
3 tbsps water or more
salt

Pound the garlic up in your trusty mortar and pestle. Add the walnuts and dry spices and keep pounding till they're all mushed. Add the water and vinegar until you have a sauce and then stir the coriander through. Mix through your chosen vegetables and chill for 6 hours or so.

Eggplant pkhali made a great starter the other day with warm bread - until me and Sammy pigged out on it too much and couldn't fit in the delicious cold borscht I'd made. Just chop a big eggplant or two in half lengthwise, prick with a fork a few times and whack it on a oiled tray in a hot oven. Bake until it goes all wrinkly and the flesh is soft and browning. Scoop the flesh out and mix with the sauce, thinking all the time about how the phrase "scoop the flesh out" makes you feel a bit wrong and kinda good at the same time.

crash landing

2006-01-13T16:16:00.000+11:00

Killer says it's landing pain. Better than "adjustment angst". Whatever you call it though there's days that are ok, days that suck, moments of beautiful light and times that don't really bear describing. Then there's cooking. When I was away I realised I often undervalue the things that really matter to me. Cooking and gardening aren't just hobbies - they're work in the real sense of the thing... labour that creates something. My hands need to move, I need to feel I'm producing something and we all need to eat.

Wednesday night dinner... me and S. had to meet and talk. There are some things you can't say via text message. I changed the menu plan 5 times. I wasn't sure I wanted to make something really amazing if we would both feel too sick to eat. But then I wanted to make something amazing.

Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons still hasn't made it back to the library so I decided on the piadina with caramelised onions, walnuts and taleggio. Piadina is an Italian flatbread that was ridiculously easy to make - mix flour, oil and water; knead; roll out; fry in rounds. I'm cheese mad right now and taleggio might be my new favourite indulgence. It's creamy almost like brie but with more of an aged blue taste. And bubbling under the grill over a spread of caramelised onions and walnuts on the piadina... well it was so good it tasted amazing even on a clenched tight stomach. Maybe I was overdoing it because I needed to keep busy that afternoon or maybe it's that I don't know how to cook for two. But I couldn't help myself from cooking up some garden fresh zucchinis with mint and chilli, and Abla's fried cauliflower with tahini sauce. Rocket salad added the peppery greenness needed.

Later... things were going ok. As ok as can be expected. And there was this cake to bring us back to the table. It's good cake. The kind of cake that comforts, doesn't scream about itself but impresses quietly. I'm a big fan of yoghurt cakes and they're stupidly easy. That ain't a bad thing.

Yoghurt and Walnut Cake with Coffee Syrup
from Crazy Water Pickled Lemons

This cake is meant to be made the day before but I didn't read that until it was too late. It was still good on the day but better the next.

175g butter
175g caster sugar
2 eggs
175g plain yoghurt (preferably Greek style. the new Chris's yoghurt is awesome)
175g shelled walnuts
175g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
icing sugar

For the syrup:
275ml strong espresso coffee
75g caster sugar
2 tbsp brandy if you got it (I didn't)

1. Preheat your oven to 180C

2. Take 125g of the walnuts and chop em roughly. Yeah rough, they like it like that. Take the remainder and grind them in a mortar and pestle or somehow.

3. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and continue to beat. Stir in the yoghurt and nuts.

4. Sift the flour and baking powder and fold into the batter. Pour into a greased and lined tin about 8 inches across. Bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

5. Mix the coffee with the sugar and boil until it's reduced by half. Add the brandy.

6. While the cake is still warm pierce it all over with the skewer and pour the coffee syrup on. Leave in the tin overnight if you're that organised.

7. Unmould the cake and dust it with icing sugar. Serve it with more yoghurt or maybe even with the Leche Merengada you just made? (see below)

better than ice cream?

2006-01-13T16:03:00.000+11:00

Ok, I've been wanting to post this since Chrismukkah because it's one of those little secrets I wanna share. The picture is awful I know - the white blob is what we're talking about, and then that's Marion's lovely pudding, and my new shirt.

Anyway, Leche Merengada is just one of the tastiest and refreshingest things ever. It seems really classy somehow and is perfect for the end of a massive meal when ice cream might be a bit too much but sorbet just wouldn't work with the pudding. It's from Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons which we got out from the library again. I fell in love with that book all over again and this is just one of the reasons why.

Leche Merengada just means "meringued milk" and it's easier too than a custard based ice cream. You don't need an ice cream maker or nothing. So if it's hot where you are trust me on this little secret and get to it.

425 ml milk
150 ml runny cream (not thickened)
150g caster sugar
zest of 1 lemon
1 cinnamon stick
1 tbsp brandy
3 egg whites
ground cinnamon

1. Put the milk, cream and 100g of the sugar into a saucepan with the lemon and cinnamon stick. Bring to just under the boil, remove from the heat and let it infuse for about 40 minutes. Strain through a sieve and add the brandy.

2. Whisk the egg whites with the remaining sugar until stiff. Fold this into the cream and milk mixture - it will seem impossible to incorporate, but don't worry, as it will all get beaten together during the freezing process. Now put it into the freezer and just beat it with electric beaters or a food processor every hour or two until it looks good. Maybe 4 - 6 or more hours? Or use an ice-cream machine if ya got one.

3. Sprinkle with cinnamon before serving or if you're feeling really hip the book suggests you can serve it with a shot of iced espresso over the top for a "blanco y negro."

walls and all

2006-01-09T11:04:00.000+11:00

Reading the Brooklyn Dispatch i find this disturbing article from the NYTimes about architecture and the West Bank barrier wall. Should I be surprised to read General Chavez from the Israeli Defense Forces' Operational Theory Research Institute quoting Deleuze & Guattari? Talking of smooth and striated spaces, air surveillance and swarming soldiers.

And it's just a week or two ago I was learning bout the political distinctions over at liz's blog. Striated space seemed like the trouble then.. and things seemed more hopeful, more poetic. It's kinda scary to see leftist theory regurgitated by the IDF. Kinda very.

Ok, I'm no theory head it's true.. but i'm still trying to get smarter and Killer wants to go to Queeruption this year in Tel Aviv so it's time to get thinking, don't you think?

back. and fuller than ever

2005-12-28T16:46:00.000+11:00

Folks i've missed you.
6 glorious months staying with friends, cooking on fires and a campstove that had a tendency to burst into flames. I missed baking.

Here's Rocky the crocodile oven mit with the first of two pies i've made in recent sydney visits. I'm hoping to get some kinda reputation in sin city. I made the pecan pie in december using stephanie the pie queen's recipe. It was some excellent pie, squooshy and caramellish with a bit more body than most because of the eggs i think. It should come with a warning though - this pie is almost all sugar products. We had to lie down afterwards but hey, there are worse things than a post-pie nap.

The best bit is that i'm getting over my fear of pastry. I used the pie crust recipe that stephanie has for her apple pie and well, it just worked. No fussin. It made two crusts so of course i had to come back to sydney to use the one i stashed in the lander st freezer. Last night i used it up with a cherry pie to celebrate all the plump and tasty cherries around. Couldn't find a recipe i loved so i made one up. It was delicious and lemony though i didn't calculate how many cherries i'd need very well. So it was more of a cherry tart - not quite deep enough to qualify as pie. Maybe tarts are more classy anyway?

Well, i'm out of training with this blog business but i'll be back soon with the successful chrismukkah recipes. 'til then, if you want to give it a go:

(She's My) Cherry Pie
1 pie crust
1 egg yolk
100 g ground almonds
lots of fresh cherries - maybe a kilo?
zest of one lemon
white sugar

Roll out and blind bake your pie crust for about 15 minutes at 190C. Then brush it with egg yolk and bake it until golden. This will seal it so it doesn't go soggy. Meanwhile pit the cherries, getting red juice sprayed over everything. Stick them in a pot with the lemon juice and a half handful of sugar. Cook them just til they collapse a bit. When the pie crust is done cover it with the almond meal. Add the cherries, but maybe not all the juice from the pot. Top with cute designs made in leftover pastry and bake at 180 for about 40 - 50 minutes. Let it sit a moment and then devour with thick cream or icecream. If you're lucky like us friends will drop by to help with the devouring.

au revoir...

2005-07-04T15:29:00.000+10:00

hey folks,
i think the time has come to say goodbye. I'm leaving on Thursday for 6 months of road tripping around this crazy land so I don't think there'll be much blogging. And probably, there won't be too much high quality cooking for a while either. So thanks for reading, it's been fun to do.

If full as a goog does return it'll probably be in a different form - i like writing about food but i'm a bit sick of it too. I used to think I should keep all my other thoughts for zines and letters but lately i wanna be a part of the thinking blog world... wanna write all the stuff that's been taking up my headspace like thinking about infatuation, booty dancing, mail love and mechanics. So we'll see...

happy baking,
xo
esther

at last, cherry dumplings

2005-06-25T14:31:00.000+10:00

Those of you who have been reading this blog for a long time might remember how Sarah and I tried so many times to go and eat at Cafe Armenia, a restaurant we'd come across when eating Korean in Carnegie. As with all holy grail type quests, we had been rebuffed many times. This was a restaurant that seemed to think nothing of ignoring its own opening hours, or having private functions... anything to stop us getting in and trying all the morsels that tempted us on the menu: beans with walnuts and garlic, pickles, pancakes and of course, cherry dumplings.

But readers, you will be glad to know that your nights of the laminex table can rest now because on Thursday Cafe Armenia was open! I would like to state for the record, that this is the raddest restaurant in town. It was like eating in someone's lounge room. Picture a small shopfront cafe; folky paintings of Armenia (we guess) on the wall, some odd carved knicknacks, plastic tablecloths. The place looks like it's been there since the 60s, even though it's only been opened a year or two. Down one side there's a bench and shelves topped with plates, plates like your grandma might have had, with gold rims half worn off. A plasticy stereo. Up the back some old men and a woman rant at each other from separate tables. In the middle a family with one child eat some seriously meaty looking soup from a big tureen. And over all of this hangs a big black cloud smelling unmistakeably of barbecue. Yep, the perfect place for a hot date. Sarah and I almost wet ourselves with excitement that we were actually in there!

Before we ordered we were served a big plate of flat bread with a little jug of a salsa like red sauce. Very oniony and delicious. We ordered most of the vegetarian options, forgoing potato dumplings to leave room for cherry. I ordered a mineral water - they brought us a Coles brand 1.25l bottle. Food came really fast - a bowl of delicous red bean, walnut and garlic spread. Then a plate of mixed pickles - "hot" he warned us. "It's okay, we like hot." "Eat it", he urged. I nibbled an end and nodded my approval. He seemed satisfied that we were tough enough, and wandered off. Next came two pancakes - much like blintzes, they were rolled around a ricotta and sultana filling and crisply fried. Served with sour cream on top they were awesome. Then there was a big fat cabbage roll, full of rice and yummy things.

I worried we were getting full. But the unobtrusive (absent) service gave us plenty of time to digest. And finally we had enough room to order cherry dumplings. In Poland these would be described as pierogi, or in Russia, as pelmeni - basically they were little half moons of a pasta-like dough wrapped around a great cherry filling. There was bite, there was real cherry lumps, and flavour. Served with sour cream they were about as heavenly an end to this holy quest as we could have hoped for.

So viva the Armenians. I didn't know much about them - somewhere between the Middle East and Eastern Europe? Turns out it's kinda in the middle of Turkey, Iran, Georgia and Azerbijan. Prone to invasion like my poor Poland, but I guess there are culinary benefits to having all those armies passing through. You can tell at Cafe Armenia, that it must be a land where they've taken the best from all around them. Meat eaters would be very happy too - lots of crazy stews and swords of bbq meat. But we were rapt too. I think maybe divey is my favourite restaurant aesthetic and it only made me happier when Sarah went out the back to the toilet and reported that the kitchen was like a family one, complete with piles of boiled potatoes everywhere and an old lady with bright red lipstick and a ciggy hanging out of her mouth.

come fry with me...

2005-06-20T14:35:00.000+10:00

Feeling oily? John Travolta is, and so am I.

"A deep fried party? Who's stupid idea was that?" That's what I was asked on Sunday. Well, I think it was mine. And it rocked.

Yes kids, on Saturday Bindy and I went through with our crazy plan to have a deep fry party. And although it was really nuts, I feel a strange sense of smug self-satisfaction. I fear it says something bad about my life that turning myself and a dozen friends into ill greaseballs is what gives me a sense of achievement.

We made heaps of yummy stuff. We fried. We ate. We drank beer. We clutched our bellies. We groaned. Then we went off and partied like maniacs, with lots of grease to soak up all the liquor. And I woke up feeling awesome on Sunday morning. So who said oil is so bad for you?

Here's the menu:

Arancini - lemon risotto rolled around mozarella and then crumbed
Crumbed eggplant sticks and mushrooms
Beer battered cauliflower and broccoli
Battered olives
Crumbed camembert
Parsnip and sweet potato chips
Battered mini-Mars and Bounty bars
Battered Tim Tams
Pineapple and banana fritters

Oh, it seems like there was more than that. I dunno. There was great aioli, sambal and pickles. Oh yes, we did batter and fry a dill pickle too. Tim Tams didn't really work but the olives were surprisingly good. I was happy with the batter. The arancini were awesome, golden and crunchy, then ricey with gooey centres of mozarella. And I was very impressed with the Japanese "bread" crumbs I used - extra crunchy.

There wasn't as much crazy random deep frying as I thought - you know, people pulling things out of the fridge and battering them. But it was really fun gathering round Bindy's cute 70s deep fryer (strangely called "Cook n' Clean" even though it did no cleaning). Another culinary dream achieved... next stop, bomb alaska?

I just feel bad that Bindy's house smells like a chip shop.