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.

Sydney Food Bloggers Picnic

We all know the first rule of Fight Club.

It appears the annual Food Bloggers picnic organised by Chocolate Suze and GrabYourFork has the same rule. A secret location we set and we even went as far to hide our faces in the group photo.

The photo was tongue in cheek, although there are some bloggers out there who like to keep their identity hidden.

Simon manning the bar 
 

After a tortuous training run in the morning I arrived with only an hour to go. However, it being a food bloggers picnic there was lots left to eat and Simon's pop up bar was still in full swing. 

The food blogging community is something I really value in Sydney. It's fantastic to attend events like the picnic, Eat Drink Blog conference and just meet up with fellow bloggers for dinner. It's something I doubt exists in London in the same way.

Group photo, just to prove we aren't pretentious!

Thanks to Helen and Suze for organising!

Hat Tip to The Heart of Food for the first and final photos.

Restaurant Review, Cafe DOV, Potts Point

Oliver, Mary and I were hoping to have a casual Saturday lunch at Ms. G's. Caught unawares that they'd be closed we headed across the road to café DOV.

A Potts Point institution that has been open for twenty one years café DOV was filled with hip young Pointers. (I don't think people from the suburb are actually called Pointers. I just made it up. Do you think it will catch on?)

We monopolised the private tables at the rear of the restaurant and settled in for a good catch up. One of the staff who was taking their lunch break learnt rather more than they probably hoped to about Japanese Onsen. What goes on tour stays on tour.

I ordered the corned beef, pickled fennel slaw on toasted rye. It was one of the finest sandwiches I have had in a while. The soft pickled fennel had a subtle tang and the thick cut slices of corned beef were fall apart tender. It could only have been made better if they'd buttered the rye bread to make it even more decadent.

Mary ordered the attractively presented rustic pork sausage and four cabbage salad, potato galette. The large size came with two sausages and two squares of potato gallete. It made me wonder if the small serving came with one square of gallete and only one sausage. Could you serve just one sausage?


*If anyone knows what DOV stands for please let me know!

café DOV
130 Victoria St
Potts Point
2011

Granda, 1913 - 2011

Just twenty six days after losing his wife, my grandfather passed away on 30th December, aged 98. It was a privilege to be able to spend his final days with him.

It was rare to see Granda without a suit on. I remember once asking him why he wore a suit gardening. "Well, it's not my best suit" came the reply. Silly me.

He'd often have an old photo in his suit pocket showing a member of the family or his first motorbike.

A master decorator by trade he was retired for my whole life. However, until very recently the family name of R Elliot & Son was still displayed on the old shop. I was always a little proud when we visited one of north Cumbria's smart country houses and I learnt he had decorated the place.

His mother and thirteen siblings, so there were many, many cousins. Granda was full of stories about the family or the history of Brampton. He was a member of the Conservative Club, Bowls Club and Masons. I sometimes though he was part of the history of the town, he seemed to have been present at all the significant events in nearly one hundred years,

I found my grandmother's death very upsetting. Granda's passing was very peaceful, he didn't suffer and I think it was his time to go. I am thankful for a great life.

Granda you will be missed.

xxx

Restaurant Review: The Sweet Olive, Aston Tirrold, Oxfordshire

Lunch with my family provided the perfect opportunity to visit The Sweet Olive in the small village of Aston Tirrold. A classic country pub it is known locally for having some of the best grub in the area.

The first thing you see as you walk into the pub is a chalk board highlighting some of the local producers. Game and several other goodies come from the village. I didn't realise Aston was so productive!

The second thing you can't help but notice is the French influence. From the accents behind the bar to the wine boxes stuck to the wall.

We were given some complimentary bread and olives to nibble on while we made our selections from the menu. I initially thought the slab of butter was a piece of cheddar to looked so crumbly and open in texture. I really enjoyed the marinated olives.

The menu is on a small chalk board in the corner of the dining room. There were around ten specials which our waiter explained to us. It proved quite a challenge to remember everything. They could have done with a bigger chalk board or perhaps some printed menus.

From the specials menu dad chose the Tapas plate as a starter (I was saving room for dessert). A selection of salami, pesto, fried goats cheese, smoked salmon, rocket salad, lamb samosa, toast and a couple of others that I can't remember! I enjoyed the slice of peppery salami that I snuck from dad's plate.

I ordered the intriguing Nepalese pheasant curry, also from the specials menu. I thought the dish must have been a novel invention, but a quick Internet search tells me that pheasant is the most popular game bird in Nepal.

I enjoyed the lightly spiced curry which provided a great balance between the gamey pheasant and aromatic spices.

It was a very generous serving of pheasant, I must have had a whole bird. Including a little bit of lead shot, just to prove it was wild.

Three of the four main courses we ordered came with the same mixed medley of vegetables. Very early 90's and, I thought, slightly naff for a gastropub.

The French aren't known for accommodating vegetarians and there was only one veggie starter on the entire menu. They made a main course size Goats cheese parcel for my sister. The rich goats cheese was served inside a filo parcel with caramelised onions.

It was tasty for the first few bites but then turned into a cheese bomb. The goats cheese was just so rich, especially for a main course.

For dessert I chose the Lemon Cheesecake, Raspberry Coulis and Mango & Passion Fruit Sorbet. The tart sorbet and coulis helped cut through the dense cheesecake. When the plate arrived I thought it was an enormous amount of of blood red coulis, but it turned out to be the perfect amount. If I'm splitting hairs I prefer a lighter textured cheesecake.

Having ordered almost exclusively from the specials menu I wasn't quite sure what the bill would be. I was pleasantly surprised to see that all the main courses were under £14 ($20).

I thought the food was a bit more deluxe home cooking than true gastropub. That probably goes down better with the locals who are certain to approve of the local producers and reasonable prices. As long as you aren't a vegetarian that is.

Dramcember: A time to taste something new

I've been busy over the past couple of weeks on the DTWC group blog that I'm a member of. The Distant Thunder Whisky Club (DTWC) has an annual Dramcember challenge:

The rules are simple. Between the 9th of Dramcember until the 9th and Dramuary you are tasked to try at least 1 whisky you have never had before. This can be a single dram or a full bottle (it really does not matter). In doing so then post about it somewhere, anywhere, to let us all know how good or how bad it was.

We all get stuck in a slump and do not step to far off the beaten track which can make our pallets bit stagnant. If you have been wanting to try something new and need some inspiration well here it is.

I managed to sample four new whiskies during the month.

Bell's - the UKs favourite whisky:

A simple, easy drinking good value whisky.

A cheap dram: Tesco's special reserve:
 
Remarkably smooth for the money.

Aberlour 10yr old

A deceptively sophisticated whisky that tingles and teases.

Homemade Damson Whisky

The dessert wine of the whisky world.

 

Restaurant Review: The Heron, Marylebone

I do quite a bit of keeping up with the latest goings on in my old haunts of London. There is the wonderful Brockley Central and south east London food blogger Hollow Legs is worth a read too.

When Hollow Legs titled her post about a Thai restaurant "Fire in the Depths of London" I knew that I had to go. She described the pub as being opposite a "ropey-looking estate", but she failed to mention that the pub looked very ropey as well!

When my policeman friend arrived he remarked that the place was familiar. He'd been there in an official capacity to break up a scuffle. Everything was screaming don't enter, but we pressed on in and down to the basement.

The brightly coloured dining room / karaoke bar was empty when we arrived and we had to check they were open. But the place had a certain Thai style and I was already starting to warm to it.

We ordered a som dtam (ส้มตำ) which is my favourite Thai dish. Fresh, crunchy and warming it was slightly heavier on the lime juice than I'm used to but still pretty good. If a place makes a good som dtam the rest of the food is invariably good. I was hopeful for what was to come.

Our second dish was sai krok (ไส้กรอก) which is a street snack favourite. A Thai style sausage made with glutinous rice. The rice inside the sausage makes them filling little snacks. The sausage had a nice rich flavour with refreshing slices of pickled ginger on the side.

The third dish was another cafe favourite of laab ped (ลาบเป็ด). A salad of minced duck. The laab was my least favourite dish of the four. It wasn't bad, but it didn't have anything about it which particularly stood out.

Lizzie had called the Kai yiew mar kra pow krob ( ไข่เยี่ยวม้ากะเพรากรอบ) her favourite dish. We couldn't see it on the menu so in my broken Thai I gave it a crack and am pleased to say that we got the right thing! The blackened century eggs had been fried to give them a crispy coating. The eggs were the star, but went well with the minced pork and slightly sweet sauce. This was my favourite dish of the day.

Readers of the blog will know I love the authentic Thai flavours that I'm used to from Bangkok. The Heron was the best Thai I've eaten in London. The dishes tasted authentic without being standout examples. For the best Thai food outside of Thailand I'd still rate Chat Thai more highly. But it's not really a to compare places in London and Sydney. You can't exactly catch a cab between the two!

The Heron
Norfolk Cresecent
London
W2 2DU

Kindle 4: Initial thoughts

I've been toying with the idea of getting a Kindle for the last twelve months, but something in my subconscious has been stopping me. I swap most of my books with friends and enjoy the occasional browsing in a bookshop. Both of which are hard or impossible with a Kindle.

I was also hesitant about the idea of taking a Kindle on holiday. I'll happily leave my book by the side of the pool and wander off without a second thought, but would be worried about a Kindle being pinched.

However, just before Christmas I decided to take the plunge and have been loving the Kindle experience so far.

In Apple-esque fashion it came with minimal packaging and accessories, and was very simple to set up. I'd connected it to a WiFi network and downloaded some books within a matter of seconds. It worked very smoothly.

It fits nicely in the hand and has a textured (rubber?) back which is tactile to hold. It is very light. There aren't too many different functions, but then you don't need a lot. It was simple to change the font size and text spacing which is about all I've wanted to do so far.

The screen is very clear and the e-ink means you don't get eye strain even when reading for long periods.

Of course there are a few niggles. I'd prefer it if the page 'turns' were marginally quicker. Every four or five turns the screen transitions through black before painting the next set of words. Something which I find annoying (although I'm not sure why). This version of the Kindle is better than the previous model which transitioned through black every page.

There are forward and back buttons on each side of the Kindle and the forward button is larger which makes sense. For me it would be more ergonomic for the scroll forward button to be on top, but it is in fact the other way round.

There are two features I'd like to see added (I'd love someone to let me if they are already there). Firstly, a clock at the top of the screen. Secondly, a bookmark feature would be useful so that multiple users could share a Kindle or you could read several books at the same time and quickly jump back to where you left off.

Best of all my mum made me a case to carry round my Kindle in.