Six or seven years ago I lived in (north) North Fitzroy.  A bit of a wasteland, the Loaded Dog hotel had recently closed and food and entertainment options close to hand were few and far between.
A new coffee shop, Growers Espresso, opened on the corner of St Georges Road and Holden street, serving locally roasted Australian grown coffee. My initial thoughts were … blergh – Australian grown coffee? locally roasted??  why would you bother?  Ten years ago, my Melbourne, and my tastebuds were very much directed towards strong, bitter, Italian roasted espresso blends.

It started off as a cool and overcast day, followed by patches of sun and drips of water while I was catching up with friends and gossip and meeting new dogs at the Farmers’ Market this morning.  I think it’s settling on overcast and humid for the rest of the day … I’ve been unable [...]

At the Collingwood Farmers’ Market yesterday I bought some duck, basically on a whim, from Milawa Chicken. I was remembering the gorgeous lightly smoked confit duck salad I’d had a Gerald’s a few weeks ago, and also I was looking for a filling for some dumplings to stock up the freezer.

Like much of Australia. Victoria has been having bizarre weather lately; hot and dry, hot and humid, pouring rain, it’s difficult to keep up.  What in spring looked like it was going to be a promising season, has ended up being a wash-out for many producers. I’ve heard of entire crops being washed away, fruit [...]

This week, as I was leaving the Collingwood Farmers’ Market, I spied an interesting sign promising vanilla pods from Papua New Guinea. Turns out it was a fundraiser for a small community off the coast of PNG which is being forced to move off their coral atoll, Carteret.  This atoll is about 80km from the [...]

The first time I can remember coming across Clafoutis was in the early 1990′s and I had a housemate who knew a lot about food, and who tried lots of new dishes and loved to bake.  One afternoon we decided to try a cherry clafoutis recipe, which I think was from her Maggie Beer book. [...]

Gasworks Park: Pickles Street Port Melbourne .. South Melbourne .. Albert Park? Middle Park?  I dunno! Another of the four Melbourne Community Farmer’s Markets, accredited, friendly and as one I only occasionally visit, a few stalls that are less familiar to me.  Here’s my haul.

Saturday 12 June was a chilly and rainy kinda day – with enough sun peeping through to keep a smile on my face. Anorak, scarf, produce bags and carry bags – CHECK! It got a bit muddy as they morning progressed, but it was heartening to see the line up of folk waiting when I [...]

This delicious torte is actually pretty easy to make, and works well with frozen or preserved cherries, but is perhaps best in the middle of cherry season.   The fresh local juicey cherries that I buy from the Farmers’ Markets  were my inspiration to try this recipe. That and I almost always have all the ingredients I [...]