Tetsuya Wakuda
I do have a few dreams left and many of them involve eating at spectacular restaurants around the world. One of them is located here in Sydney and it’s one that I haven’t visited in over seven years as the last time was for my 30th birthday. So I was very happy to be invited to attend a Electrolux Masterclass with Tetsuya Wakuda at his world famous restaurant Tetsuya’s. Only twelve classes are held a year and needless to say, spots are very much limited to a lucky few. Tetsuya would be showing us how to cook some dishes and talking to us about how he likes to cook and answering any questions that we had for him. To top it all off, we’d be sitting down to one of his famous degustations, an epic 10 courses that no soul in their right mind would ever pass up. And the best part? One of you Dear Readers, have a chance to win a spot at a Masterclass including, flights, accomodation and transfers! 
Yes the Electrolux Tetsuya Masterclass is a “money can’t buy” event and tickets to it are not available to the general public so the only way to get to attend one is through invite only-or of course a competition like this.
The evening started with a chauffered car pick up. The driver opens the door for me (don’t you just love that?) and I get into the car and we pick up Christie and Peter on the way. We arrive along with the other bloggers invited and enter the upstairs newly fitted kitchens. We mingle with some champagne while Tetsuya and his staff are busy prepping for the evening’s class. After a short time we are ushered into the new kitchen, a stunning marble topped island with knee pad activated sinks, a sleek fridge and a shiny induction cooktop. And this would be this kitchen’s maiden voyage!
His first tip after welcoming us and confessing his nervousness is about induction saucepans. People are apparently put off from buying induction cooktops thinking that they will need to buy new saucepans but he tells us that if you place a magnet on the base of a pan and it sticks, it will be induction cooktop safe and he also mentions that 80-90% of pots made today are induction suitable.
Tetsuya and Christie
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March 5th, 2010 by Not Quite Nigella
I hate wasting things. So much so that I’m forever trying to find ways to use things – some less successful than others. Case in point: pumpkin seeds. I used to bake pumpkin pies for a living (much more fun than it sounds) and I’d go through kilos of pumpkin each week.I tried to do something with the seeds – after all weren’t pumpkin seeds an edible commodity? One day I was horrified to discover that stashed in the back of the bottom shelf of the fridge, I had amassed kilos of slimy pumpkin seeds. I proceeded to wash them and then was so exhausted after that that I simply gave up and threw them out. Like I said, some instances were more successful than others.
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March 4th, 2010 by Not Quite Nigella
The Kiama Blowhole
Dear Reader, I must tell you that once upon a time I almost failed year 12 Geography because I refused to go camping. For someone with hand washing O.C.D., the idea of camping is unacceptable to my fragile being. I know it won’t kill me but it would have been a miserable few days and even the threat of failing Geography didn’t stop me from opting out. Mr NQN has tried many times to convince me to go camping to no avail. It was only when I given the option of “Glamping” that I finally relented. And “what is Glamping” you may ask? It’s Glamour Camping!
The Pink Post Office!
We were taking a five day drive down the scenic coast thanks to the nice people at Sydney to Melbourne Touring. On the way we’d be stopping at various places to eat and finding quirky little places. Did I mention we’d be looking for seafood too? Oh yes seafood monster reporting for eating duty!
Kiama view
Our first stop is in Kiama. And yes there’s a pink post Office which is so Elle Woods don’t you think darlings? The blowhole isn’t spouting any water today so we stop by for some lunch at the Sebel Kiama where they’ve kindly prepared some of the items from the 1871 restaurant dinner menu for us to have at lunch.
Lobster and scampi papardelle
Serves for mains are huge as we soon learn and the papardelle ribbons are paired with a generous serve of local lobster and scampi. The sauce is thick and creamy and very rich.
Chicken breast with wild mushroom and chard fricasee and port jus
The chicken breast comes out sitting in a huge pool of creamy sauce. It’s incredibly rich although good but even Mr NQN who seemingly has a bottomless stomach for food barely finishes it. The chicken is nicely tender though and the deep fried leaves are a nice contrast to the creamy sauce. After having a quick tour of the grounds and seeing the lovely heritage listed former school building turned into a conference centre, we set off again for the picturesque area of Jervis Bay.
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March 3rd, 2010 by Not Quite Nigella
Being the way that I am i.e. what some people would politely call “offbeat” or “quirky”, means that I’m not often the first choice for some things. I was always the last one picked on a sports team and lord knows I never expected to be asked to do baby sitting. After all I love Halloween and last week tried to buy a Taxidermied Owl. Not exactly babysitting or Godmother material – and I didn’t think that I really wanted the role. But when my good friend from High School Lulu called me asked me to be the Godmother to her new baby Evie I squealed with delight and twittered and facebooked about it for all to hear. I was chuffed! She was entrusting me with the spiritual upbringing of her child?
I checked with her “Are you sure? You know that I’m a bit weird right?” and Lulu simply laughed. She’s known me since we were 12 years old and we both had to wear our ugly brown and gold Sydney Girls High School uniforms – a uniform that had everyone dubbed ‘Brown Cows’, how flattering! “We just want you to be you” she said which made me feel so warm and gooey inside. I in turn promised to take her to afternoon tea, buy her Baby Dior dresses and not take her to see Bruno.
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March 2nd, 2010 by Not Quite Nigella
Christie and I are a touch frightened. It’s raining and there’s a note under the windscreen wiper. We’ve just attended the opening of the new Essential Ingredient store in Rozelle and we were just about to find somewhere around here to eat when we go to feed the parking meter and find this note. It’s wrapped in cling wrap and says “Wayne 04xxxxxxx Call me, Cute yellow car”. It’s so random and so doesn’t make sense – we don’t have a yellow car and there’s no yellow car around. Because it’s a sinister looking dark and stormy night, we abandon plans to eat locally and high tail it out of there wondering why and how someone cling wraps a note like that and sticks it under a windscreen wiper? And what kind of person carries around cling wrap? The kind that has human heads in their freezer? Yes, let’s get out of here, we agree.
I check my book for places to eat. Apres jumps out at us although it is in busy 1 hour parking only Potts Point. We ring and ask whether at this lateish hour we can secure a table and they tell us that the kitchen closes at 10pm but they’ll keep it open until 10:15pm if we just want one plate. Done. We arrive and by some miracle find a park and arrive. It’s in a gorgeous Art Deco style building with ruby shaded velvet boothed seating. The manager is friendly and leads us to our table. When he asks us what we’ve been doing that evening thus far we tell him and he remarks how their sister place La Grand Bouffe is near there. Doh! Except that we did want to leave the area pronto of course in case a human head hunter was after us. There is a 3 course set menu but we’re not hungry enough for that and we’re too late for that. Entrees are $18.50, mains are $29.50 and desserts $14.50.
Amuse Bouche: Escargot
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March 1st, 2010 by Not Quite Nigella
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