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The Brooding Architect and I spent last weekend in Sydney, celebrating my birthday with the usual excess of food and drink. In a whirlwind 48 hour trip we managed to pack in:
Breakfast at Bill’s, Darlinghurst - where I immediately regretted my outfit choice of a floaty black summer dress (packed because of its crease free functionality, rather than any deliberate style agenda) – which according to our (good humored) waitress made me immediately identifiable as a ‘moody Melburnian’. (I did not have the heart to point out that I am actually a moody Queenslander) . The food and Bill’s is clean, simple and fresh. I started the day with some sweet corn fritters, served with crispy bacon and a zesty avocado salsa.
Bill's Sweetcorn Fritters
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The Brooding Architect and I spent the Australia Day (extra long) weekend out in country Victoria in honour of ‘The Pilot and The (Almost) Architect’s 3 Day Wedding Extravaganza’. Amongst all of the wedding festivities, we managed to sneak in a side trip to Beechworth to check out some of the local food and wine.
In keeping with tradition, Australia Day Weekend was hot and dry – which was fantastic for the pre-wedding pool party and Bush Ranger BBQ, but not so great for the drive from Euroa to Beechworth without the luxury of air con. After a disgustingly hot 1 hour drive, to escape the heat The Brooding Architect and I retreated indoors for a late lunch at Gigi’s of Beechworth.
The lunch menu at Gigi's
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After a much needed extended break – to recover from the madness that is a property lawyer’s life in December (and a couple of weeks of pure laziness) – I am fully rested, recovered and ready to tackle 2012 head on.
I was lucky enough to score an ice-cream maker from The Brooding Architect and his family for Christmas and am not ashamed to admit that I have become completely addicted to churning my own icy treats. I spent a solid week of my holidays experimenting with all sorts of weird and wonderful flavour combinations from traditional vanilla, to a very boozy Lemon & Gin Sorbet. After numerous and rigorous taste tests, The Brooding Architect has endorsed Lemon Gelato as his preferred flavour.
Lemon Gelato
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Without a doubt my favourite thing about Melbourne in the summer time is daylight savings. As someone whose winter sunshine consists entirely of office fluorescent lights and the brightness of my computer screen, I use daylight savings to catch up on some much needed Vitamin D.
The Brooding Architect and I like to make the most of the extra sunshine by swapping takeaway in front of the TV for a simple, no fuss home cooked dinner the balcony. This very easy, one pot dish of Ginger & Coriander Mussels fits the bill perfectly, especially when washed down with a cold beer or refreshing G&T.
Ginger & Coriander Mussels
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A few Friday nights ago, The Brooding Architect organised a double date with one of our favorite couples – The Botox Babe (to clarify, she injects it and does not receive it) and The Artistic Pharmacist. Because we were so disorganised, we could only get a booking for the fashionably late dinner sitting of 9.30pm. Having said this a 9.30pm is better than nothing, as at least you can settle in across the road at Atticus Finch for a relaxed round of pre-drinks, rather than queuing around the block for hours (I am looking at you Mamasita and Chin Chin).
Navigating our way through the extensive menu.
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As long time readers will know, The Brooding Architect is my harshest food critic – particularly in respect to my baking. He comes from a long line of ‘baking purists’ and gets very anxious about my somewhat relaxed attitude towards baking, alleging that my unauthorised recipe modifications often result in ‘rock cakes’.
This month’s Delicious Magazine had a recipe for a very impressive looking blueberry crumble cake. Under strict instructions from The Brooding Architect I followed the recipe to the letter - no modifications, substitutes or shortcuts - and ended up with the your worst baking nightmare, a dry (rock) cake!
In an effort to redeem myself (and prove The Brooding Architect wrong), I broke all of the baking rules and modified the original recipe; resulting in a deliciously moist, spicy and citrus-y Blueberry Crumble Cake. Perfect for afternoon tea, or after dinner with a cup of fancy tea.
Blueberry Crumble Cake
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Despite being the end of October, Melbourne is still only teasing us with the prospect of summer. One tantalizing day of 30 degrees and sunshine, followed by yet another cold, grey rainy day, is certainly testing my patience for winter. Fortunately, like 90% of all Melbourne office workers, I am taking a self-declared ‘Extra Long Weekend’ next weekend in celebration of the Melbourne Cup and will be heading up to the Sunshine Coast for some much needed Vitamin D.
In the meantime, a food that always reminds me of hot, tropical weather is Som Tam (Green Papaya Salad).
Som Tam (Green Papaya Salad)
The Brooding Architect and I learned how to make Som Tam at the Thai Farm Cooking School in Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand. The day started with market tour, followed by a walking tour of the organic farm at the Cooking School (all of the fruit, vegetables and herbs used in the classes are all grown on site) and a full day of cooking. Well worth the $30 (1000 Thai Baht) investment, if you ever happen to find yourself in that part of the world with a free day on your hands.
Personally I like to leave the dried shrimp out of my Som Tam recipe, as the instructor at the Cooking School explained that these dried shrimp are full of chock full of chemicals and preservatives – hence their often fluorescent pink colour. If you like to live (deliciously) dangerously though, pound up half a dozen dried shrimp in a mortar and pestle and add this into your salad dressing. {read the rest of this entry}
During our travels, The Brooding Architect and I were lucky enough to spend a week eating our way around the coast and countryside of Normandy (in northern France). The highlights included, but were not limited to: drinking far too much apple themed booze – cider, pommeau and calvados – along the cider route, ‘almost-better-than-sex’ truffle infused Camembert and ridiculously cheap oysters.
The Cider Route
Being a cider fan, the Cider Route was on my ‘Must Do List’ while in France. The Cider Route is a clearly signed route, approximately 40km long, that passes through the producers of the traditional AOC Pays d’Auge cider. If you happen to get lost, just keep your eyes out for these signs marked ‘Route du Cidre’.
Apple trees along The Cider Route
The route takes you through, narrow, apple tree lined country lanes in some of Normandy’s most beautiful villages. Best of all you can see how cider is made, taste it and buy it.
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I am going to try really hard not to bore you with too many details of our recent holidays – but will instead let the photos speak for themselves. Here, in true lawyer-style, numbered list form, are my Top 10 food highlights of Paris:
1. Sunset Picnic under the Eiffel Tower. Fantastic French food and even more Fantastic French company.
On our first evening in Paris, our newly wedded friends – The French Dentist and The Australian in Paris – organised a wonderful sunset picnic under the Eiffel Tower for us.
Sunset at the Eiffel Tower
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The Brooding Architect and I landed back in Melbourne last Sunday after a month of travels around France and Croatia. The holiday was outrageously good. Highlights included:
- Drinking ‘ridicloulsy cheap but good’ rosé with every second meal;
- Eating our body weight in unpasteurised cheese;
- Dancing and eating crepes until 4.00am at a real life ‘Big Fat French Wedding’;
- Dining on a dozen freshly shucked oysters for less than $10; and
- Celebrating The Brooding Architect’s birthday in style - snorkeling in the crystal blue waters of the Adriatic Sea.
It has taken me about a week to get back on Australian time, catch-up on work emails and do a month’s worth of laundry. However, with my “life administration” tasks now complete, I know have enough free time to bombard you with an obscene amount of travel snaps. Don’t complain that I did not warn you!
