Are you one of those people that can eat and walk with food? I am to a certain extent and ice cream is one that always gets eaten while walking but for the most part I like standing still or sitting down and eating. I like concentrating of my food. Fixating on my food. Dissecting my food. Yes I often look deep in concentration when eating. So when Mr NQN and I made a quick trip to Katoomba and we see that the rain is falling on the tables outside and there is nowhere inside the bakery to eat we make a quick decision. Eat on the bench, outside. With everyone staring at us taking photos of the food.
Hours earlier, as we knew that we wouldn’t make it there until late afternoon we rang ahead to reserve some of their famous potato bread. Hominy is an organic bakery and the potato sourdough is legendary. Legendary enough so that when I call and tell them that we’re driving from Sydney and would they pleeeease reserve a loaf of each she answers that it isn’t a problem, as if we weren’t the first to do it. In fact when we get there we see that we aren’t with several reserved wrapped bread loaves.
We’re ravenous with hunger so we pick and pick and pick and then when she has rung up the total I add in an Easter bun for good measure. There are whole cakes for around $14-$15 as well as slices and pastries for around the $3.80-$4 mark. We go outside and unwrap our bounty. It’s cold and busy and all I can think of are the hot pies we have in our hands.
Chunky beef pie $5.70
We unfurl our first packet given clues by the hot package and the meaty aroma. The chunky beef pie has a flaky pastry top and a shortcrust base and the pastry although not what I would call buttery is actually lovely and crispy. Perhaps they use another type of fat, I’ve had similar results with lard but I’m just guessing. The point is that the pastry is lovely and crunchy, the crunch mainly from the top. The filling is tender beef chunks with an aromatic star anise aroma to it. Mr NQN who doesn’t particularly care for pies (too much pastry he grumbles) suddenly takes an interest in my pie and claims 50% of it. This 50/50 marriage rule certainly puts a crimp in my pastry lifestyle. Humph. I give him my last quarter of it.
Brown rice pie $5.70
“Shall I get another pie?” I ask him. “No” he answered. “Alright then, get one” he then adds after a moment’s consideration. No matter I was on my way to get one of the vegetarian ones, a rather intriguing brown rice pie filled with carrot, mushroom with a soy and ginger sauce and that same lovely pastry. Now I’ve never seen a pie like this so I was interested to see what it was like. It’s very unusual but good. It’s too unusual for Mr NQN who thinks it’s too unexpected for a pie filling but I actually really like that about it and the sweet carrot and ginger lifts the filling’s flavour.
Mushroom pastie $3.30
The golden glazed mushroom pasties were filled with large chunks of freshly picked local mushrooms. Mr NQN likes this but I’d personally prefer some more filling and a warm pastry whereas these were baked earlier and didn’t have the warmth to them that the pies did. And here I am shivering on a bench in the cold weather clutching to baked goods for warmth…
Custard tarts with paradise pears $5.20 for 2
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| July 6th, 2011 by Not Quite Nigella
I wouldn’t call myself a nature girl. Prior to meeting Mr NQN I had never visited a forest or engaged in much activity that involved nature (unless you consider eating beachside “nature driven” which I suspect not). And then I met him and along with his very crazy family he introduced me to the beauty of greenery. And the drive to Megalong Valley throughout the picturesquely lush green forest which I had dubbed “the Enchanted Forest” was a pleasure-even if I as a newly minted skittish driver were responsible for driving down this windy, narrowish double lane road.
Aura Lily and I
We arrive at the basin of the valley where there’s a crowd already drawn and plenty of cars in the car park. There is an enclosed room which houses a fireplace and we’d imagine this would be popular during the chill of winter as its just a few degrees warmer in the sheltered valley compared to up on the mountains but as it’s a lovely day we go outside to the outdoor seating where Araluen, Paul and Aura Lily are waiting.
Customers order and pay at the counter where there is also a sign for a dozen farm fresh eggs for $5 (sadly we have just missed out as another customer bought a dozen which they fetch fresh from the yard to order). The man behind the counter is very Quentin Tarantino with a bit of something else and we notice that some of the prices are a little odd ($6.05 and $1.55 and $4.45). It is cash only and we later realise that we were charged an extra $6.40 for something (perhaps a Sunday surcharge for 4 people?).
Local apple juice (Logan Brae) $4.45
My favourite apple juice is Logan Brae-we fell in love with Logan Brae apple juice a few years back and it’s such a fresh, sweet, crisp and unique juice. Given that the Logan Brae orchards are literally up the road it’s their local apple juice.
Ice cream soda $6.05
The ice cream soda can be made out of any of the drinks in the fridge. I chose the raspberry creaming soda as it’s been years since I had a creaming soda. It’s quite refreshing and nostalgically transporting in the way that only luridly pink soft drink and ice cream can be.
Earl Grey Tea $4.40
The Earl Grey tea is good and comes with an extra pot of hot water although we had to ask separately for sugar and sweetners etc. Interestingly, the water for the tea is boiled in the same cast iron urn that the owner’s grandmother used sixty years ago.
Steak and onion pie $10.45
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| June 5th, 2011 by Not Quite Nigella
On our way to Jenolan Caves, a place I hadn’t visited in over 20 years, we stopped by the Whisk & Pin cafe and shop for a little sustenance on our drive. OK technically we didn’t need to as we could have eaten breakfast before we left but I will take any opportunity to stop for a meal. I had heard that the cafe version of the boutique muesli and cookie brand was cute. If a cafe has a shop attached to it, it’s a source of excitement for me and a source of frustration for Mr NQN.
Formerly a post office, it’s a cute white building with seating outside but as it’s lightly drizzling we take a seat inside. To the right there is the kitchen with a range of their cookies, slices and chocolates and further in there’s some more seating with a big comfy leather couch and more things to shop. It’s 11:15am when we arrive and the breakfast menu finishes at 11:30am so they ask us whether we’d prefer the breakfast or lunch menu. We take a look at both and decide on some blueberry pancakes from the breakfast menu and a Reuben sandwich from the lunch menu. Our waitress returns a few minutes later to let us know that one cannot order from separate menus which we find quite arbitrary so we order breakfast of housemade baked beans with speck on sourdough with a fried egg and the blueberry pancakes with blueberry sauce.
Vintage molds
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| February 1st, 2010 by Not Quite Nigella
When reader Crystal emailed me about Common Ground cafe in Katoomba, I immediately looked it up. There were very positive reviews of it on eatability but they also revelaed that it was a cafe with a little twist to it. It was run by people of the Twelve Tribes religious movement, which immediately intrigued me. So when Myriam, Ed, Mel and I are headed through the area on our way back from Wolgan Valley Resort & Spa one afternoon and needed a refreshment I suggested that we go here.
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| December 29th, 2009 by Not Quite Nigella
When I was asked if I’d like to come along on a Media trip to Wolgan Valley Resort & Spa in the Blue Mountains it didn’t take me long to decide to start packing. Wave the word resort and spa in front of me and my ears swivel round (well if they could) and eyes go from tired to alert within nanoseconds. And when I hear the words Luxury and Emirates well the rest of my body goes in packing mode and I may have done a happy dance. So strap yourself in, this is a long story…
Logs found on the land made into a wall design
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| November 30th, 2009 by Not Quite Nigella
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