Although my parents are usually quiet and relatively well behaved there are times when their eccentricities come out. Like when my father first interacted with Aura, Mr NQN’s new 14 month old niece. Whenever small children are around he generally pays them no attention (sometimes he does this with adults too) but he was faced with baby Aura and forced to interact with her, if only for a moment.
Adults can play with a child one of several ways. See if you can choose the way generally not recommended to interact with a child.
1. Say hello and make waving gestures and talk in baby voice
2. Pinch cheeks and tickle a child
3. Threaten with planting your palm on their face
If you chose number 3 yes that’s the one my dad chose. He means well but he is just not a kid person and when he lunged at her face with an outstretched palm she reacted as you would expect – with a genuine “W.T.F.” face. Mr NQN laughed and recalled the story to me and then added “I guess you didn’t turn out too badly after all, considering!”
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February 2nd, 2012 by Not Quite Nigella
I have to mentally prepare myself when entering hipster joints. I have to tell myself that they’re just hipsters and they mean well enough and that they don’t harm anyone really. For good measure I remember the quote from Seinfeld when they referred to Kramer as the “hipster doofus” and realise that being a hipster is not a state of being for most people. And when I was warned by many that The Corner House was hipster central, well I braced myself. Mr NQN and I were on a date night, just the two of us.
Mr NQN and I walk into one entrance of The Corner House in Bondi which takes up residence where the Old Castile pizza joint used to sit. We’ve dining early at 6pm and we are shown to the empty back room. The maitre’d is brusque and seems as if he has a thousand other important things to do other than seat us. Thankfully the Arctic chill ends there and the waiter and bartender are lovely and everything settles down just nicely. We take a look at the menu (a sheet of paper wooden pegged onto an A4 sized piece of box cardboard) and the waiter gives us some recommendations. Prices are excellent here with most mains hovering around the $30 mark.
This drink is a riot in London $18
The cocktail list has a fun list of names including this one which caught our eye called “This drink is a riot in London” and has Tanquerey, St Germain, Campari, apple and cucumber and is sweet and refreshing and summery. The description reads “All the elements of an English Summer: fresh, floral and a hint of bitter lawlessness.” The bartender that conceived the idea was in London during the riots and was inspired to make this cocktail.
Bread
The bread, two fresh fat fingers, is drizzled in olive oil and salt with roasted pepitas and sunflower seeds.
Crowded House Pizza $23
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February 1st, 2012 by Not Quite Nigella
There are certain things that you remember from childhood. Seeing your friend’s mother naked is one of them.
I should explain. My parents were and are very conservative. Particularly on some topics although on others, they don’t really care. But getting naked was not something that we as a family did (unlike Mr NQN’s family whose photo album has page after page of naked bottoms). My mother was a strict, knitting, cross stitching mother who cooked food that my father liked and I thought all parents were like them.
I remember when I would visit a friend Erica’s place. Mother would say that Erica’s mum was “alternative” or “European”but as for me, she just seemed cool. I enjoyed being over there because Erica was allowed to do pretty much anything that she liked. Erica could eat donuts. Erica could play wherever she wanted. Erica could eat ice cream (are you sensing a food theme?). Until one day, we were playing and the electricity went out and we went squealing to her mother. She was in the bathroom and stepped out of the shower stark naked in front of us.
I had my first encounter with what I now know to be hippies.
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January 31st, 2012 by Not Quite Nigella
Some may call it gossip, I prefer to call it a catch up and when you haven’t seen a girlfriend in weeks or even months, well I think that the polite thing to do is avail yourself of all of the girly gossip ahem…current affairs you can.
Except of course if you’re sitting elbow to elbow to the table next to you which happens to be the position Christie and I happen to be in. We’ve got a booking and we are the first customers at 12 noon at Honeycomb, the already popular new place from Cafe Sopra’s Andy Bunn and we take a seat at the banquette against the window of the restaurant. Within seconds, two tables of two sit down right next to us and then suddenly all juicy bits of information disappear from our lips as we feel like we’re sharing them with the other diners so we zip our lips and concentrate on the menu.
The menu is tighter than the sprawling chalkboard menu at Cafe Sopra and seems to be more hand picked favourites which makes choosing easier. The waitress is friendly and recommends some dishes to us-the specials also sound good and we choose quickly. Unlike Sopra where there is a no photos policy, they seem a bit more lenient here at Honeycomb and when I ask if it is ok to take photos the waitress asks if it is for a blog, I nod yes and assent is given.
Vitello tonnato $20
I’m an absolute fiend for vitello tonnato, the Italian dish made with thinly sliced veal, tuna and a creamy sauce. It’s a doppelganger of the Cafe Sopra version except there’s added flavour from the plump white anchovies, baby capers and paper thin sliced lemon. It’s the kind of dish where we wish we had some bread to mop up the sauce (noticed by the waitress who brings bread with the mains).
Roast pumpkin salad with coriander, chilli, aged balsamic and grilled quail $24
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January 30th, 2012 by Not Quite Nigella
I’m nervous and have popped a Mintie into my mouth to steady my nerves. I had forgotten how enormous Minties are and instead end up chewing on it to try and make it softer, a seemingly impossible task at least for the first few seconds. Chris adjusts my P plate on the front of the car and we are off. And I’m driving a new car, a Yaris for the new Toyota launch and we are headed off to the Yarra Valley to Locale at De Bortoli estate to test it out and I’m a little bit petrified. And the giant lolly isn’t helping.
Chew
Gulp
Swallow
What Barbie might drive
Ahhh thats better! The Yarra Valley is one of those fabulous areas just one hour outside of Melbourne that along with Beechworth, Daylesford and the Queen Victoria markets makes me feel slightly sad that we don’t have. I take the one hour drive and test out the car. It’s quick and there is a soft acceleration which causes me some alarm at first but before you know it I’m driving it and relaxing!
Winemaker Steve Webber
We arrive at De Bortoli estate which sprawls over acres and acres. They are known for their Noble One botrytis dessert wine. The wine maker Steve Webber tells us of how they make wines and the don’t try to be everything to everybody. It is a family run business that started off in 1928 with Vittorio De Bortoli who arrived here and lived under a rainwater tank. He married Giuseppina De Bortoli shortly after, their son Deen in 1951 started expanding the business and now and there are four siblings that run the estate.
Chef Heath Dumesny
Chef Heath Dumesny has been cooking here for two and a half years first as a sous chef stepping up to head chef. Their garden area grows herbs and vegetables to supplement the restaurant. There’s all sorts of herbs, rainbow chard,purple carrots, zucchini, artichokes to name a few and they like to use the garden to help guide the menu. Even if the produce isn’t enough to cater for the whole restaurant, it helps them decide on the menu as what is growing in their garden is what is grown locally.
House made bread
We start on the bread which is a fabulously satisfying and moreish house baked ciabatta which has a layer of salty polenta giving it a nice crunch. There is also a crispy paper thin rosemary carta di musica and a herb cheese that is like a labne yogurt cheese and is spreadable-delicious!
Seasonal antipasto
Our first course is a share plate of seasonal antipasto. There are tender, thin spears of grilled asparagus, calabrese salami, torn pieces of milky buffalo mozzarella, some crumbly, flakey and fabulous cheese biscuits and some salty olives in a range of sizes. My favorites are the mozzarella and the cheese biscuits which I could eat by the handful.
Pan seared snapper fillet with fregola sarda and roast vegetable insalata and salsa verde
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January 29th, 2012 by Not Quite Nigella
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