Any country would be a lot better off with a parliament building made of chocolate.
Here in Australia, it's pretty much a rite of passage for most kids to make a big trip after years of studying are finally over. For me like many, Europe was the dream destination.
Now this was my first ever trip overseas, and no matter how much you read about it, nothing can prepare you for the culture shock of a new country. Be it more or less of a shock than what you expect, the only way to find out is to get there.
NOTE: This trip happened years ago, well before this food blog began. But looking back at my holiday happy snaps I was still taking shots of food even back then. However this post is only borderline food related. It's more a wins and fails list of things both edible and cultural that I maybe could have done differently. Hopefully other new travelers can learn from my mistakes.
What do you get when a passionate, creative chef has access to fresh local produce and wines coming from Port Stephens, The Hunter Valley and other neighboring regions? Add a dedicated team of chefs and floor staff that share that same passion to take you on a journey where you will rediscover ... Taste.
The answer is Ritual Restaurant.
Since first reading about Ritual, I have waited over 12 months to come and dine at this establishment. I would describe the restaurant as a Mary Poppins carpet bag. Nestled in the suburban side of Nelson Bay, there are no water/beach views and away from Port Stephens marina and other main eateries. It's located in a local shopping complex, next to a Blockbuster video store and a bottle shop - sound like a plain old carpet bag so far??
Zeta Bar turns 5! And what an adorable little 5 year old she is. The 5th birthday is really something to celebrate, it's when a child truly gains their own identity. They are no longer just a laughing, crying, eating, immobile mass of meat with liquids coming out of every orifice. They have passed the terrible two's and have gotten over the fascination of making things disappear down the magic 'flush hole'. Yes 5 is a momentous age, if not for the fact that they can be palmed off to public schools for 6 hours of the day, then for the first memorable beach trip where they can truly enjoy the wonders of the sea rather than just getting wet and rolling around in the sand (a kid schnitzel). Mama Hilton and Papa Belvedere organised a fantastic beach themed party for their little woman. Happy birthday Zeta!
cw: Papa Belvedere, Baby Zeta, Aunties Patty and Selma Chandeliers (aka Aunt Chandy), Mama Hilton.
Taste of Sydney this year was just huge and I got stuck at some really good stations, trying out all the great things they had to offer. The problem with this though was that there was much I didn't have time to sample. Also I got easily distracted by shiny things and flashing lights, so bouncing around like a moth from light bulb to light bulb I missed a lot of stores that way too. Reading all the great reviews from other bloggers of the things I missed doesn't help reduce the feelings of regret, but samples from the kind people at Pead PR does, as missing out on New Zealand Regal King Salmon was one of those regrets. Well not anymore.
Smoked Salmon Pastrami. What is there not to love about those words. Sustainably farmed king salmon, cold smoked and encrusted with a mixture of cracked peppers.
These king salmon are raised in the pristine waters of the Marlborough Sounds.
The Shanks and Lobo show were lucky enough to get into Billy's of A Table for Two food photography workshop. Seats were limited to fifteen per session and held at Mumu Grill function room in Crows Nest. At $85 for the workshop + meals, it was well worth the experience.
15mth aged Jamon Serrano with Catlan bread
Billy has a reputation within the food blogging community for his unique style of photography. Us Yummers have admired his work since his work on the exhibited Victorian bushfires, Tex Mex menu photo shoot, and his regular updates on his blog ATFT (particularly for me the Cambodian/Laos blogs). So this was an opportunity to learn from the jedi master.
When la chouquette sucrée suggested by email one day that the yummers should try a Uygur restaurant I was kinda confused. Staring at the word on my computer screen I slowly tried to pronounce the word. Much to the discomfort of my fellow work mates it came out sounding like Uhhhhiguuuarrrrh. The COO of the company sticks his head over the divider, concerned that I may be passing a kidney stone. Luckily he had eaten this type of food before and ensured me it was pronounced wee-goor. I was thankful for that because the way I was saying it I thought it may be the sound you would make on the toilet the day after eating said food.
Kiroran, one of a couple of Uygur restaurants on the much forgotten side of Dixon street, probably the restaurant I would have chosen if just walking by because they had a picture of a entire cooked lamb in their front window.
Whole friggin cooked lamb! Nice.
Unfortunately the menu said a days notice is required to order the whole lamb so sorry folks, not this time. I'm not sure if that was a typo on the menu but if they can prepare an entire lamb on a days notice....respect.I would give them a few more days notice just to avoid disappointment.
After taking a minute to accept the fact there will be no whole tandoori lamb this night, we focus on the other delicacies on offer.
Well it's the end of spring/summer, no wait it's back again. Ok now it's the end, hang on here's another warm day. Should be autumn now for sure, heck where did this heat wave come from?? It's probably safer to say, it's the end of the spring crop season. This season my green thumb was pointing me in the directions of tomatoes.
Mixed box of heirloom tomatoes from Eveleigh markets.
From my limited knowledge I'm guessing it's a Black Russian species. Can anyone confirm?
I've never grown my own tomatoes before but people were always telling me it was easy. Doing my own research on the internet it all sounded a bit daunting. Beware the descending swarms of aphids, don't shock the roots during planting, water daily or the fruits may split, keep the plant off the ground to avoid fungus, pinch the suckers, prune the plant to concentrate sugars to the fruit but don't prune it when you have fruits else you may get sunscald. arrrgh! The most helpful advice I got from one of these websites was this - 'just have a go'. So in that frame of mind I went to a nursery to pick up a plant.
Next challenge, which type of tomato to plant. Beefsteak, roma, plum, cherry tomatoes, the list went on and on. In the end i decided on a nursery branded plant which just said tomato plant on the label. Heck at only $2 for the pot what did I have to lose.
Editors note: Before anyone gets over excited, this is not a blog of The Taste of Sydney 2: the Encore Event. Yes the Taste of Sydney was 3 weeks ago but it was so good we thought people would love to revisit the event that was so eloquently reviewed by many other bloggers. So enjoy this walk down memory lane and prepare to salivate again. Lobo.
Taste of Sydney 2010, Centennial Park
It's the first time Yaya's Yumyums is attending Taste of Sydney. To try and cover most of what the menu had to offer Lobo, Bisycl, La chouquette sucree and I formed an eating tag-team. With crowns (the events currency where $1 = 1 crown) in hand we were unleashed into the realm of Sydney's finest.
Team Shanks didn't start off too well. My inner city navigation skills are not as good as they used to be - man I'm so suburban these days!!
Plan B's Wagyu Beef Burger (12 crowns)
After a quick scout of all the stalls our first stop was to try Plan B's infamous wagyu burger. I had been warned that it cost $2 more than what it normally would in the cafe, but I just had to try it. The legends are true... the wagyu was super moist, juicy and bursting with flavour. The sauce and cheese blended well on the crispy bun. Of no fault of Plan B's I inhaled a rogue sesame seed off the bun choking and gasping for air for the next 2mins, knocking the rest of the bun out of the W's hands. I painfully resisted the 30 second rule, and left what I tried of the legendary burger as a blissful memory in my belly - mmmm!!
Once upon a time there was a little food blogger named Goldilocks who went for a walk in
the forest. Pretty soon she came across a house. Goldilocks tried the front door and noticed that it wasn't locked. Opening the door a crack she was confronted with an alluring aroma. Salivating, she entered the house. Goldilocks wandered into the dining room where food was cooling on the table. She stepped up to the first dish and eagerly took a bite.
"Yeouch! This simmering pot of homemade feijoada though delicious and hearty is too hot!"
So she tried the second plate.
"Brrrr this amazingly presented Kobe Jones sushi tasting plate is too cold for my sensitive teeth"
So she tried the third plate.
"Wow this aromatic and delicate, tomato based goat's curry is too spicy!"
So she headed over the what looked like a communal table filed with canapes.
"Yum these pan fried pieces of chorizo and oregano scented meatballs (along with the other nine different canapes present) are a taste sensation and just what I'm craving. So goldilocks proceeded to eat all the canapes (after taking photos for her blog of course).
"Hey the feijoada has cooled down, and the sushi plate is at room temperature, and the goat's curry is still spicy but it smells so good I'll tough it up and get through it anyway". And Goldilocks did just that, and happily ate everything else on the table.
"Wow what a feast for the senses that was. I really should continue my walk in the forest and burn off some of these calories but I'll do that after a quick nap".
So off she went upstairs where she found three beds. Yada yada yada, she fell asleep.
Moments later the three bears came home from a food bloggers picnic.
Papa bear said "Hey! What the heck happened to all our food?!?"
Mama bears first response was "Papa, did you remember to takes photos of the food for our blog!" followed by "call the police I think we've been robbed! (but at least we have the photos and can post the blog on time)".
Baby bear tipped toe'd down the stairs and whispered "I think a lady ate all our food and is sleeping in my bed right now".
The three bears rushed up to Baby bears room and saw Goldilocks waking up. Golidlocks screamed and made a run for the door only to be crashed tackled to the ground by Papa
bear and torn to shreds. The only thing remaining of Goldilocks was her heart.
A few months later, the three bears had put the horriffic breaking and entering incidence behind them and were doing quite well in there new business of manufacturing anatomically correct gummi hearts as novelty Valentine's day cards.
And the moral of the story is? Well as a food blogger I think we all have a bit of Goldilocks in us, a part of us that will occasionally yield to temptation. Willing to cheat, lie, steal to get the last macaroon on sale, or drive miles and miles out of the way to satisfy a hunger for the perfect pie so I kinda feel sorry for Goldilocks. On the other hand, I also have a bit of the three bears in me and that part says "Hands off my food lady!"
Giant gummi bears available from candyship.com. I couldn't really justify spending $40 on one gummi bear so the one pictured is the "small" size. The part of Mama bear tonight was performed by Buderim Ginger Bears (can't get enough of them!) and baby bear was a run of the mill gummi bear (hard to find these days! Head to Aldi's or Coles have their own branded ones).
Oh yeah and whilst I'm on the topic of of novelty giant sized confectionery treats:
!!!GIANT LINDT BALL!!!
Anatomically correct gummi heart was from thinkgeek.com Happy Valentine's Day everyone!
As you know, the yum yummers were recently enjoying the launch of the new Food Bloggers category of the Australian Media Food Awards at La Mint, hosted by The Australian Pork Corporation. The goodie bags were mouthwatering and generous, and each of us took home a couple of luscious looking Murray Valley pork loins, and trays of delicious rosemary pancetta.
I am a bit of a pork lover (and don't we ALL love a well done Pork Belly?), however I will say I'm a bit hit and miss with my cooking of pork. As with everything, I think part of that equation in this is the quality of the pork. After trying the Murray Valley pork, I suspect I won't be buying anything else! Surely it can't be fail-proof (or should that be fool-proof? ha ha), but this loin was was so easy to handle and even came through shining after my usually distracted way of cooking dinner. I was incredibly happy with the result.
Firstly, I made a simple marinade of honey, seed mustard and soy. I didn't use just any honey, I used my deeply toffee coloured honey, direct from the bee-keeper, John Donvito.
I used to buy generic brands of honey from the supermarket, but since buying a whole lot of jars of John's honey at a roadside stall in Galston a few months ago, will probably never do so again (unless he's not there again for while...don't leave me John!!). I always thought honey was a purely natural product, made by bees, and not tweaked very much by the brands that packaged it. Now having tried the other style, I guess I'll be doing
some research into what the big brands actually do with the honey and if they add anything to it? Another blog perhaps?
Anyway, I'm convinced there is a very big difference between the two varieties, and will bend John's ear about it next time I catch him. I don't think that'll be a problem, he loved a chat and was happy to talk honey last time.
Ok, honey check, seed mustard...was generic and fine, soy, all mixed with a little dab of oil. Pork in, not for long as I was throwing this together after work and the kids were hungry! Whilst the marinating was underway, I flicked on the oven to 180, and tossed together some assorted green leaves I picked up at the Asian supermarket, a nicer mix than the usual supermarket variety.
I seared both sides of the pork in a hot frypan, just to seal them, then quickly put them back in the baking dish with the marinade and cooked them for 15 minutes with no lid. I just had time to set the table and get everyone sorted, before removing the pork to rest under foil for 10 minutes before carving slices and stacking it on top of the leaves. I dribbled the remainder of the marinade over the top as dressing and voila! I had a warm pork salad ready to serve.
The pork was succulent, sweet, soft and yummy. It was a perfect light dinner for a warm evening. Friday nights we are usually all tired and uninterested in dinner, but there wasn't a skerrick to be seen on any of the four plates! I'm sold. Murray Valley pork is a nothing short of a sensation!
Oh, I shouldn't forget the pancetta, we served that cold with a salad the following day for lunch and thought it was beautiful. The kids were less enamoured with the "black stuff" in the middle, so I think we'll stick with plain pancetta for them next time. Hubby and I have always been porchetta lovers as well, so this is just another choice for another day in our book! If you haven't seen the new Pork ad, check it out !
Over to YaYa here
This is what I did with my Murray Valley pork but first (cue lecture mode) being of the curious researcher type in my day job, and having been introduced to Murray Valley pork chops by my local butcher a couple of years back (who enthusiastically called it the Wagyu of pork and yes it is more expensive than the regular variety) I wondered exactly why the pork was always so tender and juicy, was it a special breed of extra fatty pig, what the farmers fed the pigs or was it the way the meat was processed?
A quick google search reveals the the meat is the product of a company called Rivalea Australia based in the Riverina town of Corowa. According to their website the secret is in the processing of the meat. Murray Valley Pork is brined for you in advance. This is a technique of soaking the meat in a salty solution akin to marinating which locks in the moisture ensuring a tender product. You can do this to any ordinary unbrined meat or poultry but having it pre-brined from the butcher does carry a greater convenience! The brining process doesn't appear to make the pork particularly salty, I guess I would have to cook it without any flavouring to see what it tastes like, perhaps it's only a mild solution as any flavour I add to the cooking process is not exaggerated!
I marinated my pork in lemon infused and plain olive oil, Murray River pink salt, white pepper, some rosemary and a gorgeous saffron flavoured marmalade I had on hand.
A quick pan fry to brown the outside and then popped into a hot oven for about 15 mins
before serving with a mango salsa (mango, red onion, coriander and sweet chili sauce) and some baby potatoes which had been steamed, sprinkled with salt and pepper and olive oil and crushed with a potato masher and sprinkled with nigella seeds before baking.
Thank you to Australian Pork for the opportunity to try out this new recipe! The pork was tender and perfectly cooked, the marmalade adding a slightly bittersweet caramelised bite to the meat which was delicately perfumed by just enough rosemary. The Montecatini rosemary pancetta which we also received in our take home packs was just so good eaten out of the packet, we didn't do anything with it except serve it up with some sourdough bread!
Hey readers, Lobo here
Congratulations for getting this far. I know it's a long post so I'll try to keep this short but when it comes to pork Yaya's Yummers have a lot to say! A Homer Simpson quote sums up my feelings about this amazingly versatile meat quite nicely.
Homer: Are you saying you're never going to eat any animal again? What about bacon?
Yes Homer a wonderful, magical animal indeed and especially magical when it is received as a gift. So what did I do with the rosemary pancetta? Pan fried pancetta wrapped asparagus with poached eggs anyone?
I tried poaching eggs once before with terrible results and have stayed away from the cooking technique since, always using the more forgiving methods of scrambling and sunny side up. But under the tutelage of Youtube instructional videos, I thought I would give it another go.
I missed the centre of the swirling water a couple of times so the egg white didn't wrap around the yolk but luckily the yolk stayed intact during plating up. I loved the combination of the creamy egg yolk, the salty crispness of the pancetta and the crunch of nicely blanched asparagus. One asparagus hating guest suggested that next time I should replace the foul weed with fried sourdough bread stick soldiers and serve it up for breakfast.
The last couple of weeks have been filled with talk about pork. It seemed to be a consensus with most that their favourite part of the pig is the belly. I just couldn't resist going out and buying some organic pork belly and attempting my fathers crackling pork. The process requires 2 days of curing with a dry rub so you need to think in advance for a dinner party but it's well worth the wait, the result being a light, extremely crunchy crackling that is brittle and yields easily to your molars. Another success story for pork!
What does a gathering of 50+ bashful food bloggers look like? Well...this.
What is best in a food bloggers life? To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women. No wait, that's Conan. To feed your friends, meet like minded people, and to hear the speed shutters of digital SLR's taking happy snaps of food. So when the invite came out for a party that guaranteed all this, Yaya's Yum Yums had to show up in force.
Helen from Grab Your Fork and Chocolatesuze organised a shindig at Hyde Park over the weekend with an amazing showing of over fifty food bloggers. What to bring? A sweet or savoury dish and a $10 Kris Kringle present. That being said, you know there was going to be a heck of a lot of food. Here is a miniscule selection of what was on offer:
Bacon and onion baked goods courtesy of Sara from Belly Rumbles
Extremely satisfying Peking Duck Cocktail Wontons by Almost Bourdain
Grab Your Forks Elvis inspired bacon and jam cupcakes with peanut butter icing and a very much appreciated piece of bacon rind at its center. It's the little things that count the most.
And my contribution: Dark Chocolate Rocky Road
Recipe for Dark Chocolate Rocky Road: 100g Pistachios 100g Hazel nuts 100g Turkish delight (thinly cut) 100g Craisins (dried cranberries) 1 cup Marshmallows 500g 70% Dark chocolate 100g 85% Dark chocolate White chocolate for decoration
Cooking Instructions: Ummmm, melt the chocolate and mix in the rest of it.....OK I can't leave it at that. The thing I like about this recipe is it's easy to impress. Just get quality ingredients and let them do their thing. Be sure to roast the nuts well so they release their natural oils and provide the crunchy texture. I was very happy with the addition of turkish delight which turned jelly like without sweetening the road too much.
All in all a great day with good food and wonderful people. Thanks Suze and Helen for making things happen. As for the Kris Kringle, I didn't vie for the much sort after Food Face plate (a plate with a cartoon face on it you can dress up with your food e.g. potato mash beard and green bean monobrow) but I'm lucky to have a food face plate in the form of my little niece mini B.
Camera shy and when she likes a dish, happy to lick every bit off the plate. You can tell we are working hard to make sure she grows up to be a food blogger.
't be fail-proof (or should that be fool-proof? ha ha), but this loin was was so easy to handle and even came through shining after my usually distracted way of cooking dinner. I was incredibly happy with the result.
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