The Golden Ticket! I mean the Green Ticket…
The queue at Milson’s Point
Queue entertainment
It’s 5.47am and I’ve already been awake for almost 2 hours. Whilst I’m a mixture of barely coherent and half present, I’m also extremely excited. For this morning, starting at the ungodly hour of 6.30am Mr NQN and I are two of 6,000 lucky residents of New South Wales to be breakfasting on the bridge. Done by ballot, 40,000 people (although in some reports up to 190,000 people) in the state entered the draw to secure a seat to have breakfast on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the first time ever that such an event has been held. And the cost? Free to the lucky 6,000 (but at a reported cost of $1 million to stage).
The entertainment
The cows!
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October 26, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
This past weekend, for the first time ever, Sydney hosted The World Chef Showcase. When I first heard about this Chefapalooza I was excited to be invited to it and chose to attend Saturday’s World session featuring many of the world’s rock star chefs. I’m not simply using that as a trite term but some of them are into their music almost as much as their food. Case in point is the 18 guitar owning Spanish chef Sergi Arola, a disciple of Ferran Adria. He worked with Adria for 8 years in his kitchen and melds music with food with art. Just don’t mention the word “Tapas”…
There are three sessions on this Saturday, the first being Thailand/Vietnam, the second being China and the third being World which I am scheduled for. Each in a different room of Star City’s ballrooms and there is round table style seating with a stage at the front where there are two kitchen set-ups. Facing the stage, on the left is the Australian counterpart for the Overseas Chef. The first session today is with Sergi Arola of Gastro restaurant and Brent Savage of Bentley Bar. Matt Preston is at the microphone with his deep, husky voice booming a greeting to all. There are drinks on the table and mints and writing pads provided. The lighting is a little low (so please excuse the photographs).
Sergi’s Coca with Foie Gras and Capsicum
Sergi tells us of his impressions of Australia which start with his first encounter: The Church’s song “Almost With You” which he listened to for 3 days straight. He says that he learnt English through songs like this and interestingly enough, he even had a band called “Los Canguros” (the Kangaroos). He shows us some images from Gastro where the menu changes monthly and the food is strikingly beautiful. At the restaurant bread is made every day using organic flour and he explains the pictures of the Duck hams hanging in the cellar which drives his sommelier spare. There are photos of two kitchens – there are two, one for service and one for mise en place (where they prepare everything to cook). He then introduces us to Torsten his Swedish executive chef whom he says hails from “The Swedish part of Spain” and whom he says is more Spanish than most Spanish.
Duck hams hanging in the wine cellar
Now his issue with tapas is related to how he feels about customers and eating. “The main part of the restaurant is the guest, not the chef or anyone else “My ego is big but that as (sic) big“. He tells us that the service is the thing that separates the good from exceptional restaurants. He also tells us that “tapas is a way of life” and for Spanish, it is what you have when you’re with friends. He starts to make his first dish, the Ajo Blanco with Cherry Caviar and Asparagus which is made with fresh almond milk cooked for 12-14 hours. He shows us how to make each item telling us his names for certain pieces of equipment like the siphon which he calls “Devil Machine“. He uses tweezers to place everything on the dish, a rather cheffy thing to do to get the right placement.
“I try and make things more simple. Life is so complicated” he says to much nodding among the audience. He is also involved with the Oceana charity and says that he doesn’t use or eat tuna in his restaurant along with shark or turtle. With the duck liver he uses, he says that he only uses a supplier that treats his animals with respect. He also declares that Spanish olive oil is the best olive oil in the world.
His version of Patatas Bravas
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October 13, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
Betty and I doing our best C.S.I. imitations. Photo by Kath from A Cupcake or Two.
Picture this: six bloggers with their friends and or partners huddled around a dish. Some sniff, some look at it from all different angles, some close their eyes and inhale deeply. Then a portion is taken to the table where using a fork each piece is savoured, pulled apart and each minuscule, ground up piece turned over and examined as if under a human microscope. Welcome to a Forensic Eating Dinner party, C.S.I. food blogger style.
Ellie’s dish
This night we’re gathered at Trissa and Dan’s house and in attendance are Betty, Ellie, Kath, Trisha and Richard as well as their friends and partners. I first heard of the term “Forensic Eating” from my friend Liss from Frills in the Hills who mentioned it in a comment on my blog. I then floated the idea of having a Forensic Eating dinner party while we were brainstorming a theme for a dinner party one night at Guylian Cafe and everyone seemed eager to give this a try. Fast forward a few weeks later and we’ve all brought a dish to taste. A sheet of paper and a pen is handed out to everyone. The rules are simple: forensically determine what is in these dishes using sight, taste and smell. The creator of each dish tells everyone how many ingredients there are in the dish and everyone sets about compiling a list of the ingredients.
You are only allowed to name as many ingredients as the creator says there are in the dish and points are awarded for correct answers (none are deducted for wrong answers). First up is Ellie’s dip served with French bread. “The dip has 7 ingredients and no salt and pepper” she says and we get to work. I’ve teamed up with Mr NQN who loves the idea of a challenge. There is a strong taste of garlic and it reminds me of a tapenade and there’s a salty fishyness which screams anchovy. “There’s something else in there to give it body” Mr NQN says “like bread and there’s also water”. I can see parsley and tomato and what I think is olive but he is less convinced about the olive. We come up with a list of 7 ingredients based on both of our guesses.
Kath’s dish
Next out comes Kath’s dish, or more specifically Mama Eugenio’s (her mum’s) noodles. “This dish has 11 ingredients” Kath says counting them mentally. There are some obvious ones like carrot and obviously noodles (points are deducted if you couldn’t figure that one out), Lup Cheong or chinese sausage, sugar snap peas, wombok and chicken as there are clear pieces of each. However we have trouble coming up with 10 ingredients.
Trissa’s dish
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September 29, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
“I think I’m a little bit excited in the pants” says Steph giddily when a plate of food is set in front of her. A little later we say “We have four girls and two meatballs” and immediately burst into laughter. For those that think that I’m hanging out with a particularly rowdy bunch of girls, you’d be slightly off the mark for today I’m hosting a “Meet My Suburb” Walking Tour of Kensington and Kingsford with a bunch of fellow food blogger gals Betty, Reem, Steph and Trina. In our best effort to eat but still fit into our clothes, we’re going to stop and eat and then do some walking. We were very lucky and had some lovely warm weather this particular weekend which made the stroll down Anzac Parade all the more enjoyable (and the iced drinks at our pit stops all the more satisfying). Our tour started at High Noon on a Sunday at Pondok Buyung where we were baying for brains…
The Bain Maries at Pondok Buyung
A few days before I had emailed the group asking them if they wanted to try brains. The answers were swift and decisive and all in the affirmative so we fronted up to the colourful bain marie display and ordered a plate of lamb’s brains, fried chicken and chili chicken along with a Es Campur and Es Telur drinks. In order to eat as much as possible, all 5 of us split a plate which thankfully doesn’t bother any of the shopkeepers there as we eat and go (ok and chat for a while but no-one was waiting for a table I promise). Total damage for the group at this stop? $17.
Mixed plate with 3 selections $11
Close up of the brains-don’t they look oh so brainey!
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September 15, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
First of all, I promise that this will be the last Masterchef post…for a while at least. Tonight is the night-the night where we learn whether Julie or Poh is crowned the Masterchef Australia winner. Weeknights will now be empty – no rushing to prepare food before the 7pm deadline and Sunday nights will be cliff hanger free. I thought I had Saturday “off” from my addiction but this was not so – patissier Adriano Zumbo would be holding a Masterchef Cake Auction.
Up for auction were the cakes that he made for a photoshoot for the upcoming the Masterchef cookbook. Rather than have the cakes go to waste, they thought that they would auction them off with all proceeds going to the Children’s Hospital at Westmead. The Masterchef cookbook will come out in November this year (the winner’s cookbook will come out next year) and will feature recipes that contestants have contributed from Mystery Box challenges and Invention Tests with the contestants writing the introductions for their own dishes as well as commenting on others by telling us what they did right and what they did wrong and explaining what they would have done differently, given the chance. The celebrity chefs that have contributed recipes are Adriano Zumbo, Alex Herbert, Manu Fieldel, Pete Evans, Matt Moran, Guy Grossi and Ben O’Donoghue among others. And fans of the show, they want to hear from you as to which recipes you’d like to see so you can leave a comment here to let them know which recipe you want or twitter “Masterchefbook”.
Watching a photo shoot for a cookbook is interesting stuff indeed. For as much as a photographer like myself loves light and flocks to it, the background and lighting for the shoot were quite dark. The photographs however looked amazing on the preview screen so obviously they have a much greater knowledge (using a long exposure and a tripod) and much more expensive equipment than I could ever dream to possess.
Adriano Zumbo
Adriano’s mum, Mrs Zumbo and his nephew
While we’re waiting for the auction to start, I chat to another woman who confesses that she had a $40 a week Zumbo chocolate habit (which is about 30 chocolate’s a week) which culminated in a chocolate intolerance. We even have a chat to Adriano’s mum and nephew (who just happens to look quite like Zumbo at that age) . Mrs Zumbo says that she allowed Zumbo to leave school early as long as he had a job lined up but if he quit the job, he would go back to school. We also meet the self confessed “really, really good customers” Sebastien and baby Mathilde who loves visiting because she gets chocolate.
Zumbo and chocolate fan Mathilde
The crowd gathered for the auction
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July 19, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
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