Escape to Melbourne

My first visit to Melbourne was a high school music tour.  In the middle of winter.  It was freezing, raining and hailing, and they took us to the beach.  Needless to say, I wasn't a huge fan of Melbourne after that.  My second visit was only as the start of the Great Ocean Road.  I noticed just how flat it is (I like hills).  It was January.  It was freezing, grey and raining.  This did not improve my opinion.  However, when my bestie moved there a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to go and visit.  This was the only wedding-free weekend before the end of this school term. 

1.  I was actually looking forward to going to Melbourne.  Partly to see Jeannie, partly to escape a nasty neighbour situation, partly to learn to at least like this city.  Post-landing required a coffee by the window.  I caught the Skybus from the airport, then bought an actual ticket and caught the train to Jeannie's nearest station.  Later, I bought a myki (like Brisbane's gocard).

2.  Although even the pilot admitted the weather was foul (11C, blustery and raining), it was great to get some wear out of my coat.  And warm cap.  Thankfully, Melbourne knows its weather is horrible and compensates with heating.  This is good.

3.  Dinner was at the Oxford Scholars' Pub, then coffee (this was I think my 5th for the day...) at the Marriott (reasonable).

4.  Bennetts Lane Jazz Club.  Fabulous.  There was no cover charge, and the evening's entertainment was in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Mabo land rights decision.  Not just the music was great, but the vibe, the service - and I noticed that we weren't at the older end of the age spectrum, there were people of all ages there.  The general vibe out and about in the city was so different from Brisbane, much less raucous. 

5.  Saturday morning.  Running.  In a new place.  With no fixed route.  Agh!  I had to remind my brain, this is a good thing.  We ran 12 km around the neighbourhood, nice long straight streets, a few gentle rises, a bit of bike path and oval.  It was lovely seeing the gardens - although not pretentious at all, just the difference between the plants in Melbourne and Brisbane was interesting.  We're both running the Melbourne half marathon, and now I'm really looking forward to it!

6.  A train and a tram and we arrived at the Ceres Organic Markets.  The actual markets were closing up, but they pointed us towards the cafe.  I could spend a whole Saturday there, easily.  90% organic, sourced as much as possible from the surrounding garden farm, recycling as much as possible - just imagine the greenest possible place.  We both had green eggs (no ham), I had my usual coffee and Jeannie had a dandelion latte.  A great place for kids, they were running around and climbing the hill and just generally mucking around.  Nice people, too.

7.  A couple more tram rides, including the city circle tram, to get to Federation Square and the National Gallery of Victoria.  We couldn't find the stained glass (next time!) but we did see the Felton collection (Aboriginal art - some of the red works were wonderfully intense) and the Joseph Brown collection, as well as a textile collection which was akin to ballet costumes, so vibrant and Australian.  In the Joseph Brown collection I finally saw many famous favourites, including The Shearing of the Rams and Lost, and some Grace Cossington-Smith paintings of the Sydney Harbour Bridge under construction. 

8.  Food was needed, and I found organic coffee bean yoghurt.  Yum.  We found the Chocolateria San Churro, a Spanish chocolate place and I didn't have anything.  Most likely, only because I had just had the yoghurt.  But still...

9.  We went to a production of Under Milk Wood.  In St David's Welsh Presbyterian Church (of course).  This was a Whistling Vicar Theatre production - still running until September 1st I think.  Both of us were a little anxious about having to listen to words so much, but there was enough acting to help us along.  Plus good singing.  Plus Welsh accents (yet no "but I am the only gay in the village"!).  And, as I was meant to have read this in high school (I admit it, I cheated), references by other family members previously went over my head but now I know what they're talking about.  I would have missed about a quarter of the dialogue still, but that's much better than I expected.

The weather was still quite overcast on Saturday, and the general landscape reminded me at various times of Sydney, Adelaide, and Canberra.  However, it is starting to grow on me.

Lips and Leftover Lamb

I'm a bit addicted to lip things.  Every bag seems to have at least one gloss or balm within it.  And it's not that I'm obsessed with how I look, it's more the feeling of dry lips I find uncomfortable - although if I haven't applied anything, sometimes I can catch a glimpse of a face to scare small children, so it's as much for them as for my comfort.  Even though it feels like I have lip balms coming out my ears, occasionally I'll discover my bag of choice is lacking in this department.  And so my collection grows.

When I needed to replenish my supply of silk oil (for the hair), the only package available was a promotional package including lip balm.  So I didn't really have a choice.  Silk oil lasts forever so tonight was the first I needed to use the new bottle - and I tested the lip balm as well.  Oh. My.  Most amazing balm in my possession.  No colour, so I'll use it more to condition, but it is just wonderful.  Who would have thought?!  All organic (a big plus), but made in the USA (transport - bit of a downer) and no SPF (also a bit of a downer - I'll have to use some other sunblock method as well).  But wow, this one is a winner.

After Thursday, I still have plenty of leftover roast lamb.  Tana Ramsey has a recipe for rogan josh using leftover roast lamb and this has been my first opportunity to give it a go.  I would be pretty happy to have roast lamb more often in order to have leftover lamb rogan josh.  It's really delicious, and super easy too. 

Just heat 2 tablespoons groundnut oil in a large pan over medium-low heat, add 2 medium onions and 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and diced, and fry till softened.  Add a red chilli (deseeded and finely chopped), 2 teaspoons curry powder, 1 teaspoon of ground turmeric, 3 teaspoons garam masala, 2 teaspoons each ground coriander and ground cumin; stir with the onions to form a paste.  Add 500g leftover cooked leg of lamb (diced into bite-sized pieces) and any leftover sauce from the roast; stir to mix thoroughly. 

Add about 300g tinned chopped tomatoes - adjust according to how much leftover sauce you had, and how runny you want your curry.  Also stir through 4 tablespoons natural yoghurt, and simmer gently 8-10 minutes, until the lamb is heated through.  Stir through 2-3 tablespoons hot and spicy mango chutney (adjust according to taste).  Add 3 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander.

Serve the lamb on a bed of rice, with an extra tablespoon of coriander sprinkled on top; scatter with 2 tablespoons lightly toasted flaked almonds.

As we know, I'm not a fan of rice, so I went global and used some leftover Turkish bread from Saturday night instead.  And I'm all out of flaked almonds so you just have to use your imagination - good thing I'm not requiring imagination for the crusty bread as well then!

Today's photo:

Not terribly artistic (as hoped yesterday), but it delighted me to see a rainbow as I got home from the gym, arching over the whole neighbourhood.  It's been a while.

Flowers of the World

3 in a row!  New coffee places Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  Just quietly drinking my way around Brisbane...

Today I had coffee with Jeannie for the first time in ages.  Both of us have had crazy terms and had hardly had a chance to breathe, let alone catch up.  But today (holidays! woohoo!) we met up at South Bank.  Our first choice was super busy, so we wandered down to Flowers of the World (Little Stanley St, not too far from the Suncorp Piazza).

This is one of those arty organic wholesome places.  I loved it.  For starters, the flower vibe was not so great that I was fighting sneezes.  It was a little heavy on the affirmations in the form of booklets and cards etc, but there was enough other goodness to ward off any vomit vibes.  We chose upstairs - check out some of the artwork:

Sofas and crocheted chairs and recycled settings.  Eco products.  All organic produce - so I didn't feel overly guilty about my indulgences.

Unfortunately the service was a little slow.  It took a while to order, and while it was busy (ie lots of people around) there didn't seem to be a rush in the service department, nor was there an apology for the wait in taking our orders.  Coffee took a while, and the cake was so much later that I'd actually gone to the register (for another really long wait) to see if it had been forgotten.  Good thing we had bonus gingernuts on the side.  By the time the orange and almond cake actually arrived I was so hungry I practically inhaled it (or maybe it's just that it was amazingly delicious).

I was glad we opted for inside and upstairs.  It was not only much quieter, but so much warmer.  I really want a return trip so I can try a much healthier treat of a Gaia ball - the chocolate variety of course.  Good thing it's now holidays.

Silverbeet Quiche and Cinnamon Hearts

For my most recent organic fruit and vegetable delivery, I opted to include silverbeet.  I don't think I've ever done this before.  Looking for recipes, all I could really find was one for cannelloni.  Tempting - and it almost happened, but I felt it required a few more people consuming it to be justified.  Substituting silverbeet with spinach, though, and I thought a quiche would work well.  By the time I was actually about to cook though, I was having to work with what I had in my fridge and freezer.  Ooh, and on Saturday I walked past a pie-type thing with green stuff and roast sweet potato.  So, the following recipe is a mishmash of a quiche Lorraine recipe and my own substitutions.

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Lightly grease a fluted 3cm deep, 23cm (base), loose-base flan pan. Steam about 1/4 bunch silverbeet, drain (squeeze out as much water as possible) and roughly chop.
2. Line base and sides of flan with 2 sheets thawed shortcrust pastry (really only a bit more than 1 sheet is needed). Trim excess. (Here I would prick the base with a fork).  Line pastry with baking paper. Half-fill with dried beans or rice. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove paper and beans. Bake a further 10 minutes or until golden.
3. Heat some oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add 1 chopped onion. Cook for 3 minutes. Drain on paper towels. Cool. Sprinkle over pastry, along with about 1/2 cup roasted sweet potato and silverbeet. Top with 1 cup grated tasty cheese.
4. Reduce oven temperature to 180°C. Whisk 3 eggs, 1 1/2 cups milk (originally 300mL cream, 1/2 cup milk - I didn't have cream, and this was far too much liquid, so next time I'll use this amount), and a teaspoon plain flour in a jug (and salt and pepper if desired). Pour over vegetables. Place onto tray. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until set. Stand for 5 minutes. Serve.
   
   So, being a conscientious recipe-follower, I thawed 2 sheets of shortcrust pastry.  And I used only just more than one.  Not wanting to throw out food (I'm of Scottish ancestry, can you tell?), I looked for some more recipes.  These cinnamon hearts were perfect!  Quick, easy, no blind-baking required, hardly any ingredients... The original recipe is here or this is my version:

Preheat oven to 180C.  Line a baking sheet with baking paper.  Use cookie cutters to cut hearts (and stars and whatever else you want) from 1 or 2 sheets of just-thawed shortcrust pastry.  Brush with eggwhite, dust with cinnamon sugar.  Bake for 15 - 20 minutes or until golden.

New Food - Quark

I have often seen Quark in the general store when I'm ordering extras with the fruit and veg box, and never before been game enough to order it.  A friend has just started eating it and said it was the best stuff, so I thought I'd give it a go.  The apparent selling point of "it's just like cottage cheese" was quite a deterrent (having loathed that as a child, I tried it again last year - still foul), but a reassurance of "but it's so much nicer, not lumpy at all" made it better.  Plus it's meant to have some good stuff in there for your brain.  And who can go past that name?  Quark quark quark...

Looking at the nutrition information, there was a bit of a reorganisation of my plans for it.  10. 8 g protein and a whopping 9.6 g fat means I'll count it as a fat, not a protein.  (I had ordered the skim version but they were out of stock, and as I'd never had this before I didn't mind the substitution).

When I started eating it, my tastebuds-brain connections went a bit haywire but by the end of the meal they'd settled somewhat.  In taste it reminds me more of mascarpone than anything else, rich and creamy, so it will be a healthy dessert option for now.  Unless I get creative and do a dip or something. 

Do you eat quark?  Any recipe suggestions?

Kathmandu

Last night I went to Kathmandu for dinner. 

I taught this girl from when she was in grades 8 - 11... She's now in grade 12, and her mum called me a few weeks ago.  "I'm so sorry", she said.  "She's giving up everything, even debating... Can we have you over for dinner?"  I understand grade 12 students cutting back and focusing on study, so I wasn't upset with them.  I remember being at that stage of life, and although I still had violin lessons, there was a phone call around the end of August of that year from my violin teacher.  "I'm putting exam entries in tonight.  Yes or no?" Ummmmm.........No.  Like many other students, I wanted to focus on getting good grades.

So, dinner last night.  Originally the plan was for me to go to their place for dinner, but their life has been rather hectic so they took me to Kathmandu instead.  I had passed this little restaurant several times and always thought, that looks nice, but never eaten there.  It's good.  And, apparently (according to a Nepalese colleague of this girl's mother), authentic.  We all shared, of course. 

Starters: Tibetan bread (yum!), vegetarian and meat momos, and pakoras.  I'd had momos before, at the Tibetan Kitchen in the Valley, but not the other selections.  Sometimes food, sometimes food.

Main: ummm, No. 54.  I think it was called Goru ko masu (apologies to any Nepalese reading this...).  The main thing is, slow cooked beef with cardamom, chili, coriander, cumin.  I love all the 'C' spices.  Plus I tried the very delicious Sherpa Chicken and Pesto Chicken. 

We ordered coffees, and our waiter let us know it was organic coffee so it might taste a little different.  I've not had that before - but as I use organic coffee myself, and try to go to coffee places that use organic, it tasted normal for me. 

I was going to take a photo of at least one of the food items, but we were in a dimly lit area so I didn't even try.  Obviously, I'll have to go back.... And maybe next time, try the floor cushion seating instead of a regular table.  This restaurant is on Latrobe Tce, Paddington, if anyone wants some traditional Nepalese yumminess, aromatic yet light curries, and gentle, lovely wait staff.

Peach

I'm not sure if I should admit this.  I mean, it's one thing to just not buy them.  My absolute closest friends know.  Here it is: I don't like fresh peaches. 

I tried, I really did.  My mum developed an allergy to them before I was born, so I didn't grow up eating them.  When I left home, I'd buy them...eat one...erk.  So I stopped wasting my money, and I'd leave them in the shops for more appreciative consumers.

Now I have my fruit and vegetables delivered (organic, easy, wonderful).  If peaches are in the set box, I choose something else.  The last delivery, however, included them anyway.  I contemplated offloading them to those close friends who know my secret - but thought, maybe the organic peaches will be different.  These have lasted wonderfully well - the delivery was 12 days ago and they are largely unblemished. 

This afternoon, I ate one.  It won't be my last.  I'd still rather have a yellow-flesh nectarine, or a peach without the skin.  But it wasn't wasted, it was enjoyed.  Maybe there's hope for me after all.