Listening is certainly an art and it’s one that I must confess I’m guilty of trying to learn it as it does not come naturally. Perhaps it’s the fact that I’m so busy writing my opinions about things that means that I don’t often listen to others. I do try to listen though and I do make a sincere effort to do so. But my efforts in listening are often thwarted by my enthusiasm for a subject and I often find myself getting so excited that I blurt out things over people and my words climb all over them like an overenthusiastic (or badly trained) puppy. I swear that I am listening but I am also often so delighted to be talking to you that I appear not to be.
Mr NQN is a pretty good listener but there are times where he doesn’t. Shopping for this salad is a case in point. I was weighed down by work so I asked him to do the grocery shopping. It’s a daring task to assign to him as it often means that a second trip is needed to recover the items that he couldn’t find or purchased incorrectly. Either that or there are a half dozen phone calls from the supermarket. The poor thing…I do realise I am a nightmare to grocery shop for as I insist on certain brands.
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When you travel somewhere there is always one place that people ask if you have visited. For me when I visited Canberra last time it was Silo bakery. Inevitably it will also be the place that you fail to visit which happened to us last time as we were in Canberra on a Sunday and it was closed. But not this time as the gorgeous Gaynor from Accor made sure that I got my wish to visit Silo Bakery in Kingston which is about a 10 minute cab ride from the city centre of Canberra. It’s busy of course as they do a roaring breakfast trade. The line stretches all the way down the counter this Friday morning and on Saturday it is said to stretch all the way down to the back of the 47 seater cafe.
Silo Bakery was started by Leanne Gray who is a chef by trade and Graeme Hudson a former scientist who runs the front of house. We sit down and take a look at the menu. Since it is truffle season there are two truffle based options: scrambled eggs and baked eggs with truffles. I opt for the scrambled eggs as I know that that is a great way to showcase truffles while Gaynor and Katrina order the baked eggs and Heather orders the poached eggs with chilli jam.
Sunrise juice $5.50
I start with a Sunrise juice which is freshly squeezed orange and raspberry juice which lends the fresh orange juice a gorgeous richness in flavour and colour. Gaynor starts with their hot chocolate which isn’t bad although I like super rich hot chocolates. While we wait for our food we check out the cheese room which has truffle butter and a range of cheeses, French butter and chilli jam.
Truffle butter
Fresh local truffle
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The goddess and the scuba diver
I learned one thing last week. If you want to remain inconspicuous, do not take a jelly cake for a car ride. When Mr NQN and I were driving the jelly cake through Surry Hills with it precariously perched on my lap, it’s glistening wobbling presence was like a spotlight beam into our car and people stared transfixed at the wobbling, jiggling creature in my lap. Although if you want to feel like a celebrity driving around in a car, this is a good way to get get the same effect as there was a lot of gawping, curious looks and a bit of finger pointing from the public.
When my friend The Second Wife celebrated her 1st year blogsoversary for her blog She Goes I wanted to make her a cake to celebrate the occasion. The inspiration came from discussions about her wedding cake which I am also making. She had given me carte blanche to make anything for the wedding and had even suggested a jelly cake. The idea of a jelly cake stuck in my head and so determined to give her a “normal” wedding cake, I decided to give her a fun, kitsch cake for her blogsoversary. I thought that since her blog is a travel blog and she had just come back from a trip to Thailand, that there should be an underwater theme to the cake.
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Happy Spring Dear Readers! I feel like I can truly say it now, even though we’ve had almost a month of September as the air is now filled with the heady perfume of jasmine and other Spring flowers. Queen Viv is my purveyor of great and fantastical adventures and this sunny Spring weekend just past, we decided to go on a short little road trip down to Caringbah where we would farewell the last of the season’s Winter camellias and indulge in an afternoon tea. And long time NQN readers will know that when Queen Viv and I go anywhere, we always get lost and this was no exception…
We park outside and enter the gates and are instantly enveloped in a sweet mix of perfume from all of the flowers. To the right is the Tea House and we are shown to a table. Booking is highly recommended – Queen Viv recalls it being busy even on weekdays. There is a regular menu and then there is a high tea menu. High Tea needs to be ordered 24 hours in advance and a seating lasts for two hours. It is also very kid friendly with a “Littlies High Tea” for $15 per child and there is also a separate kid’s menu which they can colour in. On the regular adult’s menu there is a choice of breakfast, morning tea including a Yummy Mummy special with two of their flower cookies, a kid’s milkshake and a coffee or tea for $10 or a Devonshire tea for $9.50. A blackboard specials board shows the more substantial meals. Once a week on Thursdays there is poet in residence who writes and discusses poetry.
Afternoon Tea stand for two people $60 ($30 per person) plus two teas and scones
Back view of stand
But today we are here for afternoon tea! They set the tables with white tablecloth and we choose a couple of teas from the selection. We go with the T2 Girlie Grey and the T2 Lemongrass & Ginger infusion. Our three tier stand of goodies arrives and our eyes widen in excitement. “There’s also scones to come!” they tell us placing it down on the table and explaining each tier to us.
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It’s usually a bit of a battle to get Mr NQN to go along to a cooking class. He’s innately resistant to the idea of cooking but the lure of a cooking class at Peter Gordon’s restaurant Dine was hard for him to resist as he considers the meal cooked by him at Longrain among his favourites. Peter Gordon is one of NZ’s most successful chefs and one of most famous chef that they’ve exported. He does a mixture of Asian fusion cuisine and owns The Providores in London as well as being the former owner of the Sugar Club.
His restaurant Dine by Peter Gordon sits in the SkyCity Grand Hotel where we’re staying. It’s an early start this Sunday morning at 8:30am and the class is to conclude at 2:30pm after a spot of lunch-that we cook ourselves!
Sous Chef Nancye Pirini
We’re greeted by the offer of a cup of coffee or tea by Gregory, the maitre’d. He hands us a striped apron and invites us into the kitchen where Nanyce and Giann introduce themselves. Nancye is the sous chef here and Giann works with her and they have a great rapport between them. She tells us that the kitchen itself is like a Fishtank so they are constantly being watched (which also spurs them to call each other names from Finding Nemo). Do they ever get people knocking on the window? All the time apparently including the host of Whose Line is It Anyway Wayne Brady who was staying at the hotel.
They show us the mise en place with the ingredients that we are to use today. Most of them are familiar albeit in a slightly different context than we’re used to. The first item is the plantain for which Nancye shows us two varieties, a long one and a short one the size of a sugar banana. The larger one has a more potato like taste to it whereas the smaller one has more flavour to it.
She shows us the tamarind paste that she makes up by mixing it with boiling water and allowing it to break then and then purees and sieves it. This can last for a long time in the fridge if the very top is covered with cling wrap. There are also wood ear mushrooms which have been rehydrated as well as gai larn.
Wood ear mushrooms
Rehydrated!
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