As the days progress, it is clear that the diagnosis of an allergy to prawns may or may not be the correct one, so I am following a medical diagnosis path, to exclude other possibilities. Boring and may not provide any insights at all.
In the meantime, I must smile cheerfully when someone suggests prawns, or fish and chips or a seafood platter...
In a preliminary diagnosis, following some disagreable symptoms, I am now labelled as allergic to one of my favourite foods, prawns. Anyone who knows me well, will know that I consider this to be an absolute disaster, because they are a guaranteed pick me up and first choice on any restaurant menu.
I first experienced symptoms some years ago on holidays in Queensland, with a rash after eating prawns every day for a week, but recently I've had more serious symptoms such as tingling all over. The fact that the symptoms are getting worse each time means I have to be careful in the future.
The reason that the diagnosis is only preliminary is that prior to the previous incident, I had eaten seafood for three meals, so it is not certain exactly what was the cause. I now have to reintroduce each item gradually to determine if there are any ill effects.
Perhaps I have already consumed one person's lifetime allocation of prawns already, and I should feel grateful that I could eat them for as long as I have?
We had a pre-planned outing to the Mornington Peninsula yesterday, and when in my first foray out of the door at around quarter past nine, a wave of heat hit me, I figured that we were going to be in for a hot day, but the plans, the company were in place, and what better way to spend a day?
We had a reviving coffee in Mornington, as we took notice of the changes since we moved from there in mid 2001, with an explosion of housing to the east of the town, made me think that on another day, it would be a good outing for some shopping therapy. We lived in Mornington for a year after we first left the farm, and thoroughly enjoyed it, but found that the move to closer to the city was essential to cut the amount of travelling.
Happy memories, though, as we drove down to the pier, and the bay was sparkling, and the sky was bright blue, though with a hint of haze, as we remembered Aussie Lass’s adventures on the pier, befriended by the fishermen, and learning how to fish…, and the taste of freshly caught garfish, just superb...
Then, further down, to Red Hill, and a relaxed, though hot shady lunch at T’Gallant, with a glass of sparkling wine, mushroom and blue cheese pizza, and a tasting plate of Italian preserved meats, before ice creams at the Strawberry Farm, just down the way…
The heat had its effect, and we only had the energy to visit one antique shop in the day, before turning for home, as the much awaited cool change started to roll in.
To celebrate the birthday of Pink Ukulele on Saturday, we went out for dinner in the City, at a restaurant called 100 Mile Cafe, which had been highly recommended by a work colleague of PU...
This restaurant serves food which it has mostly sourced from within a one hundred mile radius of Melbourne, with the exception of things like coffee and tea which it is not possible to grow in this climate.
The concept of "Food Miles" has hit the news recently, as a result of increasing concern at the amount of fossil fuels used to get food from it's source to the end user. However, this concept does not take into account the amount of energy taken to produce the product in the first place, and that an overall "Carbon Footprint" might be a better way of measuring the effect of this food being consumed in a particular place.
Research recently released indicates that low energy input industries such as the dairy industry in New Zealand, and maybe also Australia have a lower carbon footprint when their products are consumed in Europe. This even takes into account the fuel consumed in transporting these products from one side of the world to the other.
So, getting back to the meal, it was a splendid one, and it makes sense to source food from the region in which the restaurant is situated, whether or not you go along with the theories.
The French have the eating regionally concept down to a fine art, and it seems to me that we should be following these practices wherever possible. Firstly, because food that doesn't have to travel too far should be fresher, and secondly although we haven't developed regional dishes here in the same way as the French have, it would encourage development of regional cuisines.
The only trouble I have, very selfishly, with this concept is that it might make prawns a much rarer treat for me, but perhaps if we all adopted the regime on a global basis, maybe we would not export our best crayfish, fruit and vegetables to other countries. We would mainly eat what is seasonal, and produced or caught in our own region, except where it is not feasible to do so.
As a relatively rich nation, perhaps it is somewhat of a luxury to be able to choose a restaurant with this ethos. In other parts of the world, people who are starving don't have these choices, and it is a responsibility of human kind to provide least cost food to all parts of the population. Sometimes, doing that would not be compatible with least food miles, or least carbon footprint, but may be a price we have to pay.
Despite the common misperception that Australian Christmases are always celebrated in 40 deg C heat, this year we were pleased to have a day that was on the cool side for an Australian summer, with the maximum temperature around 23 degrees, so we could enjoy a hot Christmas dinner, although, not strictly traditional.
Thanks to Donna Hay*, this year’s Christmas menu was relatively stress free, with the entree an easy to prepare concoction of sour cream, herbs, prawns and smoked salmon, followed by herbed butter roast turkey, with a splendid array of vegetables: roast potatoes, carrots and parsnip, steamed asparagus, cauliflower cheese, and a baked tomato, onion and gold zucchini topped with breadcrumbs, for people to choose from, and some baked salmon. Pink Ukulele made a delicious garlic sauce and a wonderfully rich gravy from the turkey drippings.
To finish the meal some individual serve Christmas puddings kindly made by our friend S and custard flavoured with Cognac… and ice cream, of course.
And I almost forgot to mention the Pink Ukulele Christmas cocktail, which started the celebrations of on a delicious, albeit alcoholic note, and caused at least one guest to slumber the evening away. This delicious concoction: cherries, strawberries, Cointreau, pineapple juice and sparkling wine just begged one to have just another glass…
We started eating at around 4.30 pm after the last guests arrived, and finished the evening with games of scrabble, chocolates and chips, as if we hadn’t had enough to eat already…
* Donna Hay is an Australian cookery writer, who specialises in good food, with simple but excellent preparation and presentation. Although, our vast selection of vegetables would not be in keeping with her general style.
One of the pleasures of living in Melbourne is the opportunity for a range of culinary experiences drawing from a number of different food cultures. Add to this an opportunity to dine with friends visiting from the Middle East, and you have the ingredients for a lovely evening. Even more special when the dinner is the result of a wager that is being honoured, albeit not quite the one that I was expecting. And I acknowledge that making assumptions may not always be the wisest thing to do, but reading between the lines, and reaching a considered conclusion on the basis of known facts will often reap rewards.
Approaching the eve of the Melbourne Cup weekend is not an easy one to find a restaurant with bay views in St Kilda, as most of the signature restaurants were already booked out by mid week, however, a recommendation from a colleague saw us heading to Mirka at Tolarno in Fitzroy Street for an early dinner, with G rostered for a 4am start the next morning, and our companions still to recover from jet lag after arriving in the morning. This restaurant has a menu which is strongly influenced by French and Italian cuisines with some classic dishes like Bouillabaise,
The restaurant has kept the murals painted by the artist, Mirka Mora, and windows overlooking Fitzroy Street, where you can watch the world go by
As I had perused the menu on the internet before we went, I had pretty made up my mind by the time we got there to have snails, served as an entree, without shells but with garlic and parsley butter and a flaky pastry topping, which proved to be absolutely delicious. Other choices for entrees included oysters, black pudding with scallops, and mussels marinière.
Other delicacies included Pork with crunchy crackling, the afore mentioned Bouillabaisse, Sword fish and a range of other yummy stuff too numerous to mention.
And, yes, I found room for dessert, too...
And I'm looking forward to the next one...
If you, dear reader, have missed my musings over recent weeks, please accept my apologies, for I seem to have been overloaded, both on the work and the home front, for many weeks…...
Luckily, while the pace of life has not dropped off, last week I was able to enjoy some of the tourist attractions of Melbourne, and all in the guise of work.
On Wednesday night, we hosted some colleagues for dinner at the iconic Young and Jackson’s Hotel on the corner of Flinders and Swanston Streets in the city. Drinks in the upstairs bar, with the feminine charms of “Chloe”, displayed on the wall. It’s hard to see why, in 2007, that this painting created so much fuss in a bygone era, as she does not look in any way a hussy… Maybe, it was just the nudity in an outwardly “prudish” age. Dinner in the upstairs restaurant saw us enjoying the view of Flinders St Station, Federation Square and the bustle and hum of a busy city, and a lovely meal before heading home at a decent hour, with two days of conference in front of us.
Next day, we had lunch at One Fitzroy St, in St Kilda, as part of a team building exercise, with several tram rides during the afternoon, especially for the benefit of our Kiwi visitors, followed by dinner on the Restaurant Tram, which took us on a slow, but relaxing journey round the city and inner suburbs of Melbourne, while we ate and drank with our colleagues. One late starter (to the drinking) demonstrated his capability to catch up quickly with an attempt to cut his steak with the back of his knife.
An animated discussion on the chances of the All Blacks in this year’s World Cup Rugby about to commence in France, did not result in our Kiwi boss promising we could have the week off for celebrations should the All Blacks finally win the World Cup after being hot favourites for every event, but somehow finishing short of the line every time since their last World Cup in 1987.
What I really wanted was the excuse, should the All Blacks finally get over the line, to not turn up at work to hear the Kiwis crowing about a victory at last…As in all matters sporting, it all depends on performance in the games that count, not who they’ve managed to beat in the years between World Cup events. And as a pommy colleague crisply pointed out, that’s the one they really want to win and England is the current holder of the World Cup, an absolutely indisputable fact. So, I guess the crowing, if it comes, will be accompanied by many beverages, so maybe it won’t be soooooo bad….
So, after all of the merriment from these I had to admit defeat at 11.30 pm, and headed for the comfort of bed in a hotel on the edge of the city, while the more extroverted members of our party headed on to the casino for more drinks and frivolity. Clearly, I haven't had enough training in the art of partying on into the wee hours, then being able to present oneself in fine form for early morning sessions the next day, and I think it's too late now to start...!
We had been wondering why A, a friend of ours, had been insisting on going to a particular restaurant in Port Melbourne for some time, so when the opportunity came up to try out the Graham on Monday evening, we were looking forward to it.
Now, I mistakenly told a couple of colleagues that we were going out for a counter meal that evening, and it was only when we were on the Westgate on the way over, that our friend B, who was coming with us, remarked that it may have been a pub once, but that she seemed to think it was somewhat better than that...
We arrived at the restaurant just in time for our 7.30 pm rendezvous, which is situated a block or two away from the main shopping and dining thoroughfare in Port Melbourne. Crisp linen, shining cutlery, glasses of iced water at the table, and in a few moments our friends arrived.
Next, the menu, and we were intrigued to see stuffed pig's ears on the menu, the first time we have seen it on the menu since our visit to France in 2003, where G tried this delicacy out in a very good and favoured dining out destination for Aussie Lass's father in law in Paris, called Georgette. G had to restrain himself this time, as we opted for mains and a dessert, rather than having an entree to start, and he will have to wait until another time to experience this delicacy. Now according to the restauranteur, the pig's ear is merely a vehicle for carrying the filling. The pig's ear itself is marinated for six hours, to ensure a tender result for this dish.
Instead he opted to try the venison, served rare, while A had pork belly, and the female contingent all had whiting, done in a very thin filo pastry shell which was cut into slivers...
When asked, Peter, the restauranteur, suggested a white wine from Alsace which was a superb companion to our main courses, and when the first bottle proved to be corked- he picked this up, not us, he swiftly replaced glasses, and provided another bottle to enjoy with our meals.
The dessert menu was sufficiently unusual to cause us to take several moments to consider the choices, and I was very tempted to try the honeycomb icecream and blood orange sorbet. However, the rhubarb and apple mille feuille proved too tempting, and was delicious.
Next morning, when chatting with my colleagues about the night before, I had to admit that the Graham could not be considered a pub meal in any way, shape or form, and will be a venue worth returning to, for the quality of food, the service and the ambience of the place.
Sparkling white wine followed by a red, of course
Beer
Lasagne
Salad
Tiramisu with vanilla icecream
Chocolate Cup Cakes with hot pink icing
Stories of adventure in exotic places which would have been funnier if we weren’t planning to go there ourselves in a few weeks…!
A phone call from France and an extended chat
A few stitches in time around the dining table- will I ever get that cardigan finished?
Prawn skewers on the barbeque with garlic and chilli
Footy tipping 7/8 restores pride, until next week.
Lunch on Easter Sunday was an impromptu affair- I had expected to be eating alone prior to the arrival of dinner guests later in the afternoon, but a phone call at 12.15pm from Y and C saw us walking down the main street of Footscray looking for a place to have some Vietnamese food.
The restaurant that we chose was doing a roaring trade, and we were lucky to get a table without waiting. But then, the decisions, what to have? In the end, vietnamese spring rolls with lettuce, bean shoots, vietnamese mint which we shared, the other two chose rice noodle soups, one with chicken and beef, the other with chicken, and I chose rice vermicelli with prawns. The colours of the vegetable garnishes contrast with the white of my vermicelli noodles, and the sauce poured over the top provides a taste sensation of chilli, mint, fish sauce, rice wine vinegar, sugar and coriander.
We staggered out after an hour or so, replete, with people still queuing up for tables a sure sign of a great place to return to.
This restaurant is one of many situated within about 2 kilometers of our house. We can choose from a variety of cuisines: Vietnamese, Ethiopian, Indian, Chinese, Thai as well as modern Australian which is heavily influenced by the Asian and European cooking styles. We have not even begun to explore the range of restaurants available within a twenty minute walk.
