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Archive for the ‘Eatin’ and boozin’’ Category

February 17th, 2014 by Rose

Salamanca Market, Tasmania

So after I posted that last bit of 3pm coffee stream of consciousness I realised I haven’t posted since October last year. Bad Rose, no biscuit. I’ve done stuff and eaten things since then – here’s a really short one just to keep all three of you happy.

I went to Tasmania with Mr Gif in January to attend a wedding. It was a last minute invite (read: mid December) but we were like fuck it, we haven’t been in Tassie yet so we’ll do this thing. Everyone told us to go to Salamanca Market so we did.

Whisky tasting

We started the morning with a bit of whisky tasting cos we’re classy like that. On display here is the Three Capes Whisky and McHenry London Gin from the William McHenry & Sons Distillery. I’ve become a bit of whisky fan over the last year – I like this a lot, but for Tassie whiskies I prefer Nant.

Raspberry danish

“Wtf”, I hear you say. “Did you really just post a half eaten Danish on your blog?”

Well, yeah. Haters gonna hate.

(It was delicious. Look for the Summer Kitchen Bakery)

Tempura mushrooms

This was the highlight of the food there for me – tempura mushrooms. Giant plate for $7. Mr Gif doesn’t eat mushrooms so I got to eat the entire lot. Awww yisss

OK so I did feel a bit sick afterwards.

Wallaby burrito

OF COURSE I HAD TO STOP WHEN I SAW WALLABY BURRITO. This was the Pacha Mama Mexican stall.

Wallaby burrito

I was expecting something quite gamey, but the wallaby meat was tender and quite delicate. Tastes kinda like lamb. I like it. I reckon it’s a good one for people who aren’t too much into (or are new to) game meat.

I’ll eventually write more about Tasmania. Stay tuned for stories of our wild nights out in empty towns.

October 22nd, 2013 by Rose

Melbourne and stuff

I turned 32 last month. I like to think that I’ve come a long way from last year. With the help of good friends I’ve got my shit (almost) in order, I have a cute little apartment (with a particular emphasis on “little”), and I’m dating someone who’s pretty freaking great.

To congratulate myself on a job well done I booked a weekend away in Melbourne with Mr Gif in tow. We stayed at Hotel Lindrum (which I will recommend forever) where cake and flowers from friends await. The weekend was off to an awesome start, aside from the hangover from the birthday party the night before.

I didn’t take too many photos of the food but here are some I took when I’m not otherwise drunk or feeling too self-conscious.

Mamasita
1/11 Collins St, Melbourne
Chicken tostaditas

Chicken tostaditas with avocado, chipotle mayo and queso fresco. Delicious, crispy, more-ish.

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Eat ALL the food – pancita de cerdo (braised pork belly), plaintain crisps, beans and tortillas.

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A closeup of the braised pork belly cos I love youse all. The green bits are deep fried parsley, genius. It tastes as good as it looks FYI.

Mr Gif and I went to Mamasita very early on a Saturday – about 12pm – so we didn’t run into the infamous Mamasita queue. Service was great and food was even better. I don’t queue for restaurants anymore cos I hardly find any worth the wait, but I’d line up for Mamasita. Only for maybe 15 minutes, though.

Papa Goose
91-93 Flinders Ln

This was a bit of a weird one. The restaurant was completely empty when we went (admittedly it was at 12pm on the dot since we had a plane to catch), and the only other people to show up were a couple maybe an hour or so after we arrived. The food was great, so could just be a city on a weekend emptiness, idk.

This was our last meal of the trip after a LOT of eating, so we were pretty defeated at this point. Foolishly we still ordered the Sunday roast which was good value at the price of $50 p.p. for two courses (you’ll see why in a minute).

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Entree of charcuterie board with pickles and croquettes.

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MASSIVE roast lamb with Yorkshire pudding and roasted vegetables. Seriously this would’ve fed about four people it was so big. I almost wish I’d gone to the gym that morning so I’d have more space but, y’know, on holiday and all that.

We also went to MoVida on our first night and The European for my birthday dinner. Both incredible as always.

Mr Gif asked me last night if I’m happy. In short, yes. I’m still stressed out and anxious about a lot of things but really, they’re no big deal now compared to the ball of tightly wound rubber band I was a year ago. It’s amazing what difference 12 months make – here’s to another year of kicking ass.

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August 27th, 2013 by Rose

The weekend in haiku

Pimento made this
Amazing arcade table
He’s a genius

Arcade table motherfuckers

Oh but wait there’s more
He also made sausage rolls
Ladies, he’s single

Sossij rolls

Yeah that’s right bitches
Braised pork belly in a bun
Jealous? You should be

Braised pork belly inna bun

Mr Gif chipped in
Made him chop all the chillies
Because I’m a wimp

Motherfuckin chillies

Although, looking back
Wasn’t the best idea
That stuff really burns

July 4th, 2013 by Rose

Rozelle Cafe Crawl

It was a dark and rainy day when

The hardest thing about

The road to hell is paved with

Fuck it, am so out of practice. So Sara and I went out to breakfast one Saturday. It was that rainy Saturday a few weeks back – you know the one, the one where you went “aaargh” when you woke up.

The plan was to go to Manly, but we settled for Rozelle as we were both on a quest to find a dress for a 50s night. We hoofed it to La Grande Bouffe first and only just made it in time for breakfast. La Grande Bouffe, being quite civilised, finishes its breakfast service at 11.30am – there are a few all day items on the menu but the options for these aren’t as ridiculously plentiful as the all day breakfasts from most places around here. So with 5 minutes to spare, I ordered:

Oeufs sur le Plat with Wilted Spinach and Truffled Mushroom Duxelles

Oeufa sur le Plat with Wilted Spinach and Truffled Mushroom Duxelles – yeah I totally copied and pasted this from their online menu, you wanna make something of it? Duxelles, if you’ve not had it before, is a sautee of finely minced mushrooms. You may recognise it as one of the primary components in beef wellingtons.

Sara had the croque madame with fried egg:

Croque madame

This filled me with breakfast envy. Even more so after she kindly let me sample it.

Then we went to the vintage clothing store where Sara scored a couple of shiny clutches. Flush with shopping success, Sara suggested that we continue eating the rest of the day. I wasn’t going to say no but the back of my brain did go “hold on, aren’t you going to Tommy’s beer cafe tonight?”

I drowned the concerned voice in sangria and a smoked salmon bruschetta at Rosebud.

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Sangria was delicious, bruschetta was only so-so. The last time I was here (granted, it was probably last year), the bruschetta was served with white anchovies and I preferred that version by miles.

Ignoring the increasingly high pitched shrieking of my sense of self preservation, we continued on to Corner Bar, one of my favourite locals. Open for all three meals with WINE (possibly not for breakfast though).

We had:

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Pulled pork sliders awwww yeah. These had jalapenos, some sort of spicy mayonnaise thing, cheese and crushed corn chips on top.

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Crispy chicken wings with barbeque sauce

Totally as good as they look. They also have one of the best bathrooms I’ve seen, though I have to admit I did wince at the ultra-hipsterness of it all.

We only stopped eating because both of us had dinner plans. I rolled home, took a nap, braved the rain to Tommy’s Beer Cafe and had this:

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THE END.

(Turns out, I’m a bit shit at writing endings to blog posts too)

June 16th, 2013 by Rose

Art and sharks and donuts, oh my

This post is a bit overdue, but well, it’s not like I’m disappointing any readers. I also had a draft of this entry in my head but I forgot to write it down and have had a couple of heavy drinking sessions in the last week so you’re not exactly getting Shakespeare here.

First off, me and Mr Gif (formerly known as Pork Ribs Guy) are a thing. Not sure how this is going to go and how long this will last but I’m trying very hard not to let my neuroses get the better of me. I think I’ll be relatively happy even if it ends tomorrow – it’s been pretty amazing.

To celebrate the Queen’s birthday I had a dirty weekend padded out with some stuff (thanks, Queen!). There was art:

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Ryoji Ikeda’s Test Pattern no. 5 at Carriageworks. If you hurry you can still make it – this one finishes up on the 1st of July. Dunno about the other stuff at Carriageworks. One of the installations is a dude in a gold spandex bodysuit undergoing his daily dialysis treatment. Idgi.

Then Mr Gif took me to Sydney Aquarium because I told him I like sharks. Here are some motherfuckin carpenter sharks.

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And this here is a fish I can’t remember the name of, but it’s apparently v. poisonous:

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That’s pretty much all the photos y’all are gonna get cos the rest of the photos are a bit shit even with heavy GIMPing.

Then in the morning we made some bacon and egg Krispy Kreme roll:

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This was his idea, and I fell in love with him that little bit more.

Mmmm sexy:

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The best I can say about it is that it’s not as bad as I’d expected. It’s pretty much a sugar coated cholesterol roll so I won’t be making it again anytime soon.

January 15th, 2012 by Rose

Stuff what I’ll try and cook in 2012

  1. Chocolate and Nutella cupcakes
  2. Hainanese chicken rice
  3. Macarons (eek)
  4. Chicken briyani
  5. Laksa lemak
  6. Corn fritters
  7. Coconut and kaya sponge cake (storebought kaya, I’m not that crazy)
  8. Almond milk (not technically cooking but w/e)
  9. Rendang using my turmeric leaves
  10. Ricotta cheesecake
August 28th, 2011 by Rose

Toriciya, Cammeray

Guys, I have to admit that I wasn’t at my best when I rocked up to Toriciya last Friday. On Thursday, I had a corporate trivia night where I had lots and lots of free wine. Afterwards a friend convinced me to go to La Cita for mojitos. She had one mojito and then danced with a dude. I had one mojito, watched her dance with a dude (I am now a respectable married woman after all and all the dudes there were manky) then had a another mojito. We stumbled home at 2.30am after the obligatory Maccas run. Next morning I woke up, realised I was STILL drunk AND have a sore throat, then proceeded to have a highly stressful day at work. I did have a bacon and egg sandwich in the morning, which helped some. The hangover and sore throat hit full force at around noon. Yes I know I did this to myself. I really should have been better behaved knowing that I’d be at a SAKE BAR the next day.

Still, I gave it a red hot go. This is another Daniel and Chika recommendation. Someone told me that if I go north of the bridge more than twice in a month, I’ll get my Inner West resident card revoked. But officer, I’d say, Daniel and Chika said the place is good. Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t know – the burly policeman says, as he puts away his notepad – we completely understand, you found some of your top 10 eating places through them after all.

OK, OK, we’ll go straight to the food. Read the rest of this entry »

August 21st, 2011 by Rose

Restaurant 16, Neutral Bay

I get asked this about a million times in the last four months: “How’s married life?”

I mean, I get it. It’s a nice way to start a conversation when you haven’t seen me since I got married. Nothing’s changed due to the fact that the SO and I have lived together for about four years before we got married, but like, if they’re asking me what married life is like they’re expecting something a bit more interesting than “bugger all’s changed”, right?

“Fine, except we’re way overdue for an affair.”

“Fine, but we can only have sex in the missionary position with the lights off now.”

“Fine, I really like washing his socks.”

I’m not sure how to make this train of thought pull nicely into Station Segue Into Food Review so I’m not even going to try.

On Friday, The SO and I had dinner with Daniel and Chika, who you may remember as the people who introduced us to Bodega. Thank god for Daniel and Chika. I’m a pretty typical Sydneysider in that I don’t often venture out of my suburb, so I don’t have much of an idea of what the food scene is like north of the bridge. Restaurant 16 is owned by Daniel and Chika’s friends – the chef worked at Buon Ricordo for years before parting ways to do his own thing. The chef is also Japanese, and the food has all the punchy Italian flavours put together in a more subtle way, if that makes sense. It probably doesn’t but I just had a glass of wine so whatever. You can also have sake/plum wine with your meal! Awesome, y/y? The restaurant itself is a cosy little place perfect for a first date – the noise level doesn’t get higher than “comfortable” and service is super friendly.

Seeing that Daniel and Chika knew the owners and have been there a few times, they ordered dishes they’ve tried in the past that aren’t on the specials board. It pays to have friends with connections.

Complimentary bruschetta. How do you pronounce these things? Brus-ketta? Brushetta?

As far as I can tell (Daniel and Chika spoke Japanese to the owners), we got to be guinea pigs and try out this special entree that’s not on their current menu or specials. The dish is sardines coated in herbed crunchy breadcrumbs with a touch of orange zest. I love sardines, and this dish was absolutely stellar. The crunchy breadcrumbs complements the creamy sardines perfectly. The SO can’t eat anything too fishy so he gave me half of his portion. I love being married.

Calzone filled with three cheeses and salami, topped with fresh tomato and basil sauce. The calzone pastry is a bit more flaky than what I expected but not in a bad way.

Oh my god, my heart just stopped when I saw this photo again. Linguine with sea urchin, garlic, tomato and bottarga. Wikipedia tells me bottarga is cured fish roe. Lesbianhamapedia tells me bottarga is fucking delicious.

Hands down my favourite dish of the night. Prawn and artichoke linguine topped with breadcrumbs. Just stop what you’re doing right now and rush to Restaurant 16 for this. You’ll probably kiss my feet for this recommendation. You’re welcome.

Impressed? You bloody well should be. Zuppa de pesce – fish stew with cod, mussels, octopus, scampi and calamari. The scampi as sweet as your nervous first kiss with the first person you like-like in the back seat of your mum’s car.

After all the delicious seafood, this was a little bit of a letdown. Spatchcock stuffed with egg, mushrooms and bacon. It’s not that it wasn’t tasty, it was just a bit overcooked and a bit bland compared to everything else we had that night. If I had this as the first dish of the night I’d probably rate it a bit higher.

Dessert time! Daniel had the orange tart. I liked it, but it tasted a bit too eggy for me.

Chika and I had the panna cotta with berry sauce. This was a bit of an unfortunate one because it was grainy. It really is a shame because it tasted fantastic aside from the texture.

I totally ate the whole thing though. That’s how I roll.

Earlier that Friday, a friend at work asked me to let him know if Restaurant 16 is any good. I told him I’d score Restaurant 16 using the probability of getting in your date’s pants, on a scale of 0 – 100%. Don’t ever tell me I don’t give people what they need.

My score: 90%. take your date elsewhere for dessert, and bring an extra toothbrush.

Be prepared to shell out a bit of cash, though to be perfectly fair the four of us ordered a LOT of food, plus a bottle of wine, four glasses of Prosecco and a glass of dessert wine. Damage at the end of the night was $80 per person.

Restaurant 16
236 Military Rd, Neutral Bay
02 9909 0160 (bookings recommended – it was pretty quiet when we went there but the place is small)

August 10th, 2011 by Rose

I need a stiff drink

WTF, world? Stop it.

In the spirit of keeping calm and carrying on, here are some food I’ve had the pleasure of putting in my belly recently.

Smoked salmon with avocado, rocket, goat’s cheese and homemade pan brioche from Pizza Birra. I don’t think they have this on their winter menu at the moment. The brioche was genius – absolutely perfect with the goat’s cheese.

Pizza Birra
332 Darling St., Balmain

Beignets from Sucre. If you’re unfortunate enough to follow me on Twitter, you’d know that I am completely obsessed with these babies. I have no idea how “authentic” these are, but I do know that they’re amazing. Sucre makes these to order so they’ll always arrive at your table piping hot.

Ohhhh yes. I just had a moment. Hold me and tell me you love me.

The beignets also delicious when dipped in Sucre’s dark hot chocolate. It’s that crazy thick European style hot chocolate that congeals into an unappetising mass if you don’t drink them fast enough. Now, I really like them, and I like the fact that they have sugar-free hot chocolate so you feel slightly less guilty about drinking a cup of melted chocolate, but I always feel really bloated after having one of these. Although at $8 a cup you would expect that you won’t have to eat anything else for the rest of the day.

…Except beignets. There’s always room for beignets.

Sucre
325 Darling St., Balmain

Other things that made me happy recently:

  • Adorable polar bear post it notes from BusinessClass (will take a photo of this later)
  • Husband always remembering to turn on the electric blanket on my side of the bed if I’m in bed late
  • Baguette vending machine
  • Rotate Your Owl
  • Seeing Sneaky Sound System live
  • Masterchef recaps, and the following email spam between me and a friend at work to discuss said recaps

Life could be a hell of a lot worse.

October 31st, 2010 by Rose

MoVida Aqui, Melbourne

I squandered the afternoon watching Mame on the Nine Go! channel. These are five things that would have been a better use of my time:

1. Look for split ends in my hair

2. Watch Franz Ferdinand clips on YouTube and wonder how Alex Kapranos fit in those pants

3. Make origami cranes out of credit card bills

4. Update long-forgotten blog

5. Throw origami cranes at passing neighbourhood children

I’ve got a backlog of entries that I need to go through, but let’s start with a familiar thumb:

Read the rest of this entry »