In Melbourne, a city full of food, and obsessed by coffee, I cook, I eat, I share the good news and the bad.
In Melbourne, a city full of food, and obsessed by coffee, I cook, I eat, I share the good news and the bad.
I find it really difficult to walk past a new tonic water. Really hard. And I’m a bit of a fan of elderflower. So I somehow found myself buying a four pack of Bottlegreen’s Elderflower Tonic Water home from the shops.
Hello Blog – I’ve missed you. Yes, yes – too much to do, too little time to write. But I’ve missed you. I was going to tweet about what I made with my booty from the Carlton North Primary School Farmers Market, but it was going to be like three tweets so I thought I’d […]
Stonepine Distillery Straight – chilled – to be honest – I can’t smell anything. Tasting – has a very floral early, front notes which is obviously orange blossom. Without a big whack of juniper though it’s a bit “watery” at the end for me.
Gin – how much do I love gin? If you follow me on twitter you’ll probably know the answer to this question. I like gin very much. Very much indeed. In the last few years I’ve been quietly playing my part in driving it’s renewed popularity. I have 27 different gins at home (at last […]
Look I’ve been unwell OK? And I rarely go into a supermarket these days (thank goodness!), but, but … OK so my defences were down. When I saw the innocent looking plastic jar on the shelf I thought – well I read the other day that I should eat more cashews for pre-biotic goodness and […]
I wasn’t born a Queenslander, but I spent most of my childhood there and remember fondly the mango trees in my Nan’s backyard in Coorparoo. The house has gone now, as of course are the trees, but as kids my brother and I spent many happy summer days in the branches, gorging ourselves on small, […]
I was extremely fortunate to be able to spend some time with renown food writer / editor Ruth Reichl last weekend; attending a masterclass and a dinner with her for Melbourne Writers Festival. Like a similar workshop I under took with Richard Cornish a few months ago at the Wheeler Centre, I left the day […]
Here’s a story, about a lovely lady who was raising some very tasty pigs. All of them were rare-breed Berkshires, like their mothers, and all had free-range digs. Photo: Em Hart @thaladybaker Here’s a story about a chef named Alex, who loved pork, more than any other meat. After brining, braising, roasting and compressing – […]
I’ll let you in on a secret. I’ve been seriously considering not writing this post at all. If you follow me on twitter you’ll be well aware of my struggle to find decent food and coffee in Docklands when my work moved here 12 months ago. I asked, I scanned Epicure and Urbanspoon and watched […]
Oh Docklands – you promised so much, but delivered me so little. Since work moved from the Paris end of Collins St to Batman’s Hill in Docklands earlier this year I’ve tried, I really have. I’ve gotten used to your mostly useless addresses. (I’m looking at at you Cafenatics: Suite 10, 737 Bourke St is […]
Well, hello there everyone. In the midst of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival there’s a bit of news around to share. And whilst the office move has gone well, the search for interesting and affordable food (lets not mention coffee) in Docklands is continuing … slowly. Please let me know your favourites over here. […]
Next week my workplace is moving from 80 Collins street to 750 Collins street. This puts us riiiight down the end … nearly in the water – in the area officially known as Victoria Harbour, but known to me as #swampland. This is disconcerting for many reasons, but my most pressing need is coffee. And […]
There’s no such thing as a soft opening my friend far from famished observed at breakfast the other morning, especially if you have a reputation like St ALi. We were at St ALi North, and discussing the reaction on Urbanspoon to Sal Malatesta’s latest coffee haven. Seems like the plans have taken a long time […]
Some of you may know that for the last three years I’ve entered into the baking competition of the Royal Melbourne Show. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure what prompted me to enter, but gaining a “commendation” for my sponge sandwich entry in my first year, with the third sponge I’d ever baked, was […]
I was very excited today to be going to a new Victorian Farmers’ Market Association accredited Farmer’s Market at Fairfield Primary School, Wingrove Street, Fairfield. [flickr id=”7226068404″ thumbnail=”medium” overlay=”true” size=”medium” group=”” align=”none”] I didn’t take the “serious” camera as it was drizzling, but I will do a wrap up for those if you who didn’t […]
Many of you already know about my alter-ego – Essjaymoo. Every year I participate in the Tour de France by way of the local cows of France. Yep – lots of different varieties of cows in France, and they have very specific uses. It’s a thing .. ok? Anyway – this year we’ve decided to […]
Well, we talk about almost everything else on twitter, I guess the next step had to be a twitter wine tasting. Lead by wine guy Ben Knight (@benandwine) we are “gathering” this Sunday 29 April. A group of us are going to try 2010 Atlas Section 32 Cabernet Malbec from the Clare Valley and will […]
It goes against my grain to adapt recipes for vegans / coeliacs / food intolerances in general. Not cause I dislike my friends who eat in special ways, but because I find most substitutes are either highly manufactured alternatives (i.e. Nuttalex, Melrose Spread, non-eggwhite etc) or something that alters the texture or taste. There are […]
[flickr id=”6374914755″ thumbnail=”medium” overlay=”false” size=”medium” group=”” align=”none”] Longer days are upon us and balmy nights are sure to be here really, really soon. We’re celebrating with the Fringe Food Festival and Chef, Matt Wilkinson. You might have heard recently that Matt’s plans to return to fine dining (at the Hen & Coq) have been stalled, […]
[flickr id=”6210741892″ thumbnail=”medium” overlay=”false” size=”medium” group=”” align=”center”] I had a chance to skim through this book the other day while I was having a glass (or two) at Geralds Bar in Carlton, and I wanted it straight away. While Ferran Adrià is perhaps better known for his work at the, now defunct, elBulli, when I saw […]
If you haven’t heard yet, there’s a new festival around town. Some trumped up food bloggers and tweeters (me included) have prevailed upon their friends and contacts in the food industry to help put on some affordable, interesting and interactive dinners. So far we’ve hosted a truffle dinner and St Ali with Matt Wilkinson from […]
[flickr id=”6083866389″ thumbnail=”medium” overlay=”true” size=”medium” group=”” align=”centre”] It doesn’t happen very often these days unfortunately, but the meal I had at The Brix last week was astounding. Keen eyes have been keeping an eye on the space behind Foxton’s Real Estate Agency at 412 Brunswick street for a while now. The planning permit was […]
[flickr id=”5901178740″ thumbnail=”medium” overlay=”true” size=”medium” group=”” align=”center”] Autumn had just started to bite here in Melbourne, and it seemed like the perfect time to settle in and learn a lot more about cider, and eat some delicious food at Libertine in North Melbourne. Our hosts, Zoe and Nick, packed their restaurant with cider makers, […]
I swear, this is not going to become a blog about Masterchef, but my recent post about contestants posting on Facebook has sparked many comments and a few conversations that have gotten me thinking. I been thinking about the structure of the show, particularly in light of some comments that have been made about the […]
I was listening to the Food Show with Sheila Dillon on BBC Radio 4 the other day. It’s a great podcast (links below) and I found her program about the history of the burger fascinating, with particular relevance to some of the debate that is happening in Australia right now.
Disclaimer: I know Mat Byer via twitter and the Melbourne food blogging network, however I haven’t spoken to him about the incident nor the contents of this post. These are my thoughts alone and definitely not his, nor any other contestant current or prior. So, according to the Herald Sun they’ve expelled Mat from Masterchef […]
If Chin Chin is trying to captivate me and seduce me into a long term relationship, it’s going about it the right way.
Shopping at my local farmers’ market is a joy – such a joy that sometimes I end up with waaaaayyy too much of a good thing. I decided last year that the next step in my pursuing a more ethical lifestyle was to stop wasting food: to eat it all. Quite a challenge in […]
My philosophy of using all the food I buy has led me to seeking out some better ways to serve my old favourites. There is nothing better than freshly picked corn on the cob. They say that corn is best eaten a few hours after picking, so if I buy it at the market, I’d […]
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.
Monday night (Season 2 Episode 4) on Channel 7’s reality cooking show, My Kitchen Rules, something happened that quite literally shocked me. Did you see it? Now I know that I and my foodie friends sometimes sit in the stratosphere pontificating about local, sustainable and ethical food. We don’t just blindly buy “organic” or “free […]
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 […]
Sights, sounds and tastes from childhood can seem so ephemeral, but appear to be hard wired. Since my mother’s death some 9 months ago a few things have bubbled up to my heart and head and set me to thinking about how the past influences the past – and the future. If you grew up […]
So, today I took up smoking. I’ve wanted to for at least a year now; I’ve been researching the hows and whys and wherefores, and finally today I took the plunge. Hot Smoking at Home. Smoked tomatoes and smoked mozzarella.
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. […]
I had spied the cumquat tree in a friend’s back yard a week ago, and had been craving the preserved cumquats I had eaten at The Hardware Societe one morning on their famous brioche. There was also a thought about making mustard fruits and cumquat mustard fruits are my favourite, and so a plan was […]
There are times when I am very grateful for my mother’s approach to feeding my family as I was growing up. Alhough Dad’s parents were British and Australian (4th or 5th gen); and my Mum was 6th Gen White Australian, we rarely ate the kind of food my friends often complain about – “English Style […]
It felt like a dinner made specifically for me … my favourite independent wine seller, Cloudwine, was joining forces with one of my favourite haunts, Gerald’s to serve me back vintages of my favourite wine variety, Pinot Noir. I didn’t know a lot about Eastern Peake wines, except that they are supposed to be one […]
Ultimately, I cook for others because I want to be liked. If you bring the cake, someone will always be your friend. So I like to have a few standby, easy to make, crowd pleasing recipes on hand. Tonight we had a gathering to celebrate my neighbours 86th birthday. No small occasion I’m sure you’ll […]
I’m not sure why I’m surprised really… For those of us with memories of a George Calombaris with more hair, practically having to beg us to eat his food (in the days of Reserve); it’s a bit of a hard ask to ignore the elephant in the room.
Winter well-and-truly struck Melbourne last week. It’s been quite a while since we’ve had a “proper” winter, cold and drizzly, requiring stew and stodge to keep the inner fires burning. Last Sunday I wanted a cup of tea and a pikelet or two. Warm liquid, and delicious stodge! While I was mixing up a batch, […]
A couple of weeks ago I went to the markets with friend Mellie, half of Tummyrumbles. We spied “tamed nettles” lovingly picked off their stems and bagged for us by one of the stall holder’s sons as his “pin money” job. I quietly suggested that nettle gnocchi may have to be in order to Mellie. […]
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.
I love a good challenge! Don’t you? So join me on this one and help me with some inspiration. I often cook for one or two mouths, and I don’t really love eating leftovers the next day for work .. so I have a freezer full of odds and sods, bits and pieces, and “that’ll […]
Now that I have found a ready supply of free range chicken frames I find myself making chicken stock regularly. It is so easy and lends itself to a quiet Sunday afternoon at home, then to be turned into soup or risotto for an easy Sunday meal. You can also use up any not […]
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 […]
Have you? If not, why not? Yes, Food Inc is disturbing. But not so horrible that you can’t watch it. Yes it is a bit depressing, but you can feel morally superior because “that’s not how we do things in Australia” … yet. I did think I’d heard all this before, I’ve read Omnivores Dilemma, […]
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