Noel Gallagher @ Enmore Theatre

Q: What's the definition of getting old?
A: Sitting down at a gig.

Q: When do you know you are geriatric?
A: Yawning during the encore!

Both of the above facts are sadly true.

Last Monday I went with my friend Dave to see Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds at the Enmore Theatre. My friend Dave booked the tickets and selected seats up in the circle, but I was pleased he did. The marathon training was taking its toll.

Perhaps it was my tiredness, or maybe it was because we were up in the circle a distance from the stage. However, I didn't think the gig was that good.

When Noel did interact with the crowd he was quite funny. However, he didn't speak until after the third song and then he didn't exactly say much.

He played eight or nine tracks from the ablum of his new band, and the rest of the set was made up of Oasis classics. Unfortunately Noel's vocal was too low for the entire gig so it could be difficult to hear him sing.

Back in the mid / late nineties I was into Brit pop as much as the next teenage school boy. Lyrics that were once cool sounded a bit weak. Some of the rhymes really are schocking. I beginning to think Brit pop ended for a reason.

I'm usually a fan of any live music. There's something more energising and engaging about a gig. However, this time I left slightly disappointed.

On the road to the 6ft Track

Is it possible to sign up for a marathon by accident? Or perhaps I'm too easily influenced by other people?

I have 'accidentally' signed up for The Six Foot Track, one of Australia's craziest marathons. I agreed to keep my friend Trish company without realising just how tough it is going to be. The race starts from Katoomba and ends at the Jenolan Caves in the Blues Mountains. Forty five kilometres on very hilly fire trails. If you want to see how hilly check out the elevation chart here.

In order to prepare I've joined the Sydney Striders running group. You might have seen the Striders running round Sydney in their distinctive green and white. The club seems really friendly so far and when I've been out training in my green and white top I've had a few 'hellos' and 'go Striders!' from other members.

I've done three pretty grueling training runs so far. There was the Kedumba half marathon, which is the toughest race I've done. This year I've been on two bust runs with the Striders. Quary Road up in Hornsby and this weekend the Roseville Ripsnorter. It was a very technical bush run with lots of rocks, trees roots and a few creek crossings as well. Luckily I survived with only a small graze on my leg.


Six weeks to go. I just hope I'm ready!

Sourdough: Barm Bread

From the depths of despair came one of my better loaves of sourdough.

Air bubbles, we have air bubbles!

When my baking oracle Brydie posted about a bread recipe using beer I knew immediately that I wanted to give it a go. Bottle fermented beer contains natural yeasts, the perfect partner to a sourdough. My favourite Aussie beer - Coopers Pale Ale - was the obvious choice.

I didn't really concentrate on hydration percentages (you typically aim for 60 - 70% of water to flour) and just cracked on with the recipe which uses the sponge method. The dough was giving off fantastic beery smells while I was kneading it.

I made the beer based sponge (barm) and left it overnight. The next day I added the remaining flour, water, salt and gave it a knead in the machine for 5mins.

I turned the dough out onto the bench to shape it and realised that I had a huge gloopy mess on my hands. Stay calm and give it a knead. At Breasserie Bread I saw how a wet dough could be brought under control if you treat it well.

Five minutes of kneading and there wasn't a hope of me being able to shape the dough. I couldn't fight the urge any more so I added some more flour. Quite a lot of flour, perhaps 100g? It was still a wet dough, but I managed to fold it and get it into my bannetton.

The end result? One of my best loaves. A Phoenix from the flames.

Once baked the beery smell had totally gone and it didn't taste of beer either. The loaf is the lightest and airiest one I have baked. It has a soft and chewy texture. If I'm being picky I would have preferred a firmer crust.

I plan to try the recipe again to see if I messed up one of the quantities.

A hacked recipe, adapted from Brydie.

Barm
220ml room temperature, bottle fermented beer.
50g flour
2 tbsp starter

Dough
365g barm (my barm didn't add weigh 365g so I added additional water to bring it up to weight)
400g flour + ~100g flour added to get the dough under control
133ml water
2 tsp salt

Method
1. Whisk together the barm ingredients and leave overnight.

2. The next morning combine the barm, 400g flour and water. Leave for half an hour.

3. Add the salt and knead for 5mins in the mixer with a dough hook.

4. Turn onto the bench, add the additional 100g of flour if needed. Fold the dough and leave for an hour.

5. Shape and place in the bannetton for 3hrs for the final prove.

6. Slash and bake with steam at 180 degrees for 40mins

Year of the Dragon: New Year celebrations in Belmore Park

On Sunday I decided to pop along to the Chinese New Year Markets in Belmore Park. I first visited the market two years ago and the crowds stopped me from enjoying myself on that occasion. I couldn't get a good look at any of the stalls. This time I had a lot more enjoyable time drifting round and checking out what was on offer.

Having run 35km in the morning I took the opportunity to take the weight off my feet and watch a cookery demonstration with Alvin Quah from Masterchef. I wrote a rather sarcastic tweet before the demonstration, but actually enjoyed it. I gave up my seat half way through to an eldery Chinese lady that was standing "Ah, such a nice boy".

Alvin cooked two dishes, a claypot chicken rice and a fried fish. The claypot doesn't look like much but I am tempted to give it a go in my rather under used claypot. Unfortunately the audience weren't allowed to taste dishes.

The hot tip of the show (from Alvin and Tina) was to check out the Sichuan food stall. Across three stalls they had a range of around nine dishes all selling for under $6, which I thought was pretty good value. I ordered some Sichuan style bean noodles with chilli oil ($4) and then followed them up with the Dan Dan noodles ($4).

I haven't had Dan Dan noodles before, but have had a curiosity about them ever since seeing Jamie's America a couple of years ago. I know he's not Chinese, but his episode from a Chinese food court in New York fascinated me. His reaction when eating the Dan Dan noodles is hilarious (4mins into the clip).

I was hoping to try a mysterious sounding Sichuan flat hard cake but they had sold out. The girl running the stall told me to come back in an hour! My tired legs needed to go home....

Restaurant Review: Bakery Nights, Marrickville

On Saturday night I went to Bakery Nights, held at the Bourke St Bakery in Marrickville. Chef Katrina Hollis and crew take over the café for two Saturday evenings a month to host long table dinners.

Self styled as a 'mystery', the menu is revealed on the night. It sounded good to me so I booked a table for six and assembled a group of hungry diners.

I hadn't been to the Bourke St Bakery in Marrickville before and the café was smaller than I expected. I think I was expecting a large factory similar to Brasserie Bread. There were four large tables filling the room and one group seated outside too. Being a party of six we had one of the smaller tables to ourselves.

On arrival one of the efficient waitresses took our wine and placed it in one of the ice buckets located round the edge of the room. I thought the service was attentive throughout the evening, always keeping our water glasses and wine topped up.

Onto the food!

Polenta chips and olives

On arrival we were given share plates of polenta chips and olives. The polenta chips were a real winner at the table. The crunchy chips had a light texture (I can find polenta a bit heavy) and as every chip should be, they were nicely salted.

Bourke St Bakery Bread

As everyone knows the Bourke St Bakery sourdough is very good. In my current phase of project sourdough I'm enjoying flavoured breads. Some of the fig and barberry or spiced fruit loaf would have gone down well.

After the appetisers all of the food was brought out in share plates. Generally for two people to share.

Roast pumpkin, zucchini, basil and roast tomato lasagne 

with blue swimmer crab and olive salad

If the poleta chips were good the starter took it up a notch. Roasted pumpkin is one of my favourites. The pumpkin was soft and richly flavoured in between the layers of silky pasta. The lasagna sat in a deep and lightly spiced tomato sauce. The salty spanner crab provided an interesting contrast in flavour (if not texture).

My favourite dish of the evening.

Rabbit saddle stuffed with artichokes, tomato and red wine. 

Mushroom ragu on pearl barley salad

I enjoyed the rabbit main course, but it was a bit of an opinion divider at the table. The saddle of rabbit was moist which can by tricky to achieve. The strongly flavoured stuffing was the dominating force of the dish.

I think the thought of eating 'fluffy' was part of problem for some diners. The rabbit wasn't quite as delicate or as balanced as the other dishes. However, that's a reflection on how good everything else was, rather than a poor reflection on the rabbit.

Green salad

For me the mark of a good salad is it's dressing. I enjoyed the wine vinegar dressing that accompanied our green salad. We had a solitary small bowl of salad to share between the six of us. A second bowl would have been appreciated.

Cinnamon doughnuts with cherry parfait and rose water syrup

The dessert of Cinnamon doughnuts with cherry parfait and rose water syrup took us soaring back up to the heights of the starter. I seriously want to the recipe for the cherry parfait. It was thick, intense and no doubt insanely bad for you.

My only criticism is that we found the room got quite loud during the evening. At times it was almost difficult to hear the person opposite!

At $65 per person (byo drinks only) I thought the evening was good, but not outstanding, value.

Overall the evening was a fun concept that had been well executed. The food and service were both very good. It made for a great evening to catch up with friends. A trip to the toilets comes highly recommended as you get to walk straight through the middle of the bakery and the action taking place in the kitchen.

Bakery Nights (held at Bourke St Bakery)
2 Mitchell Street
Marrickville
2204

Restaurant Review: The Duck Inn, Chippendale

A pub with an identity crisis?

Thursday night saw my first visit to The Duck Inn in Chippendale for dinner with friends to plan a hoped for trip to New Zealand in May.

I hadn't been to 'The Duck' before it's face lift. Some friends from work who live in the area lament the loss of their local boozer where they could go for cheap schooners. However, as old customers leave, others appreciate the change and new ones arrive. The Duck Inn must be doing something right as as it was pretty busy for a Thursday evening.

We were seated in the back room. On a pleasant Sydney evening with the windows open and whitewashed wooden batons on the walls the place had a beach house vibe going on.

A look at the menu gave me the first hint that the restaurant might be having problems deciding what it wanted to be. There were pub favourites such as Duck Inn Burger and Sausage with mash at under $20. However, there were also a selection of more 'gastro pub' dishes in the mid to high twenty dollar range.

My dining companions and I subconsciously all ordered from the more 'gastro' end of the menu. I selected the Sea Bass with salad of fennel, rocket and lemon dressing. My first impression when the dish arrived was that the sea bass fillets were very small (which doesn't really come across in the photo). The fish was nicely cooked and still moist. Despite the salad containing some punchy flavours like fennel and rocket it didn't really work for me. The flavours didn't clash with each other or the fish, but they didn't come together either.

The dish was also inconsistent. Jen also ordered the sea bass and had a mound of radish in her salad. I got none.

One of my companions (not used to dining with a food blogger as they tucked in before I could take a photo!) ordered the Fillet of beef with cavello nero, horseraddish butter and jus. We've all seen the Sydney trend for serving food on wooden boards. However her steak was bought out on a plate sitting on a chopping board. What was the point of that? Totally odd presentation.

The side of broccoli was overcooked.

The small slice of cheesecake came served on an enormous place which only emphasised it's petit size. Around the table we guessed it was shop bought. My humble apologies to the kitchen if it wasn't.

Having never been to the 'old Duck' I have no emotional attachment to the local boozer which has disappeared. The light and breezy decor has a lot going for it. I'd be happy if it was my local. However, the kitchen don't seem to be able to decide what they're doing. Premium pub grub or going for something a little fancier?

The burgers at a nearby table looked great. If it was my pub I'd concentrate on reasonable pricing and serving up lots of dishes similar that good look burger.

The Duck Inn Pub and Kitchen
74 Rose St
Chippendale
2008

Reading The Economist for free on the Kindle

I've been reading the Economist off and on for twelve years. I like the interesting articles that make you think. Pro-freedom, democracy and free markets with a does of realism it's very much on my wavelength.

A subscriber back in the UK the price here in Australia is just absurd. I can't afford to but it!

When I got my Kindle for Christmas I thought it might be a good opportunity to subscribe to the Economist again at a more sensible price. However, I was surprised to discover that the Kindle edition is a bit more expensive than the paper version. With no printing or delivery charges I'd expect it to cost less.

Then I discovered Calibre. A slightly clunky e-book management tool, it has a nifty 'news fetch' service (which is the only thing I use it for).

The full edition of the Economist is available for free on their website. Calibre goes onto their site, downloads all the articles, converts them to Kindle format and emails it off to your e-reader. Hey presto.

I've wondered a couple of times about the ethics of doing this. Am I stealing something I should pay for? However, I'm only reading articles that a freely available on the web. I am sure they'd prefer me to read the content on their website, but I'm doing the economically rational thing. It would be hypocritical if they didn't approve.