My favourite Greek chef David Tsirekas tends to the Halloumi
Food is sizzling on the BBQ, a whole lamb is roasting on the spit and suddenly there’s a frisson, people are whispering and eyes are widened as the gossip passes through the crowd “He’s here!! He’s here!” they say. “Who is here” I ask Reem. “George Colambaris” she says smiling knowingly. “Oh” I say knowing of George’s dislike for bloggers and quotes such as “The biggest comment we get now is from girls who go to the toilet and love the moisturiser. You could put a dog turd on the plate and they’d still talk about the hand cream.” Meh, I say staying put. My favourite Greek chef is right at the BBQ, Perama’s David Tsirekas and Adriano Zumbo has just walked in. No need to get excited about a man who thinks he can serve me a dog turd and I’d be happy.
Adriano Zumbo
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November 3, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
Hello my pretties! Take my (severed) hand and let me give you a peek into my annual Halloween party. It’s an event that gets me going throughout the year. This month was particularly busy with the Sydney International Food Festival and before I knew it, it was the 20th of October and I hadn’t even sorted out my costume.
Luckily I had been planning this party even before last year’s finished (yes I’m an obsessive kind of person, can you tell?) and I had my menu sorted. I wanted to make different things from last year and I wanted it to be even more grisly than last year. I waited and waited and waited for my oven. It was about a month late and was on the way to me from the nice people at LG. It finally arrived and I can already see that she (and it is a she no doubt) is also something that loves dramatic entrances so we’ll get along just fine. I was set for my baking duties and so I had to get my costume together.
Bloody Brain Pannacotta and Shortbread Witch’s Fingers
I am not one for sewing. In fact the only craft I can muster up is really cooking. So I chose to buy my costume and there was one I had my heart set on, the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland (I even had the tiara ready for it). Now that I had my outfit sorted, I needed to turn my attention to the decorations. Places were selling out of their Halloween goodies and whenever I’d walk into a shop, there would be a gaggle of people amongst the Halloween section with adults and kids alike grabbing costumes and decorations.
I wanted to go more ghoulish and squeamish this year so I went with Donna the Dead, the moaning sensor activated animated moaning head. I picked up my charming severed head from The Party People in Sans Souci and discovered a treasure trove of ghoulish goodies. We got to chatting and they agreed to lend me some props for the party including these two charming mummies and a faux bloody brain and severed hand! Mr NQN dressed up as a surgeon gone psychotic and answered the door holding the body parts (he was originally to go as Hannibal Lecter holding a bottle of chianti, fava beans and a liver).
But enough dithering, let me show you the food which is always one of the most important parts to a celebration aside from the company!
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November 2, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
If you’ve been reading my tweets on twitter, you’ll know of my ongoing saga with our house renovations. We were originally told that the bathroom would take 12 days. It had been 6 weeks exactly since that fateful day and we’ve endured complaints from neighbours about hammering at 2am and yawning stretches of them disappearing for 2 weeks. So my Mother got serious and asked her friend Janice who works in construction to have a word to them. She did and he snapped into action and before we knew it, our bathroom was done. Of course one way to thank her for her help was with lunch and we asked her where she would like to go. Kaki Lima (which means 5 feet in Malaysian) was the best choice. If anything is going to intrigue me, it’s a name. Kaki Lima caught my eye many months ago as I was always interested by the name “Malaysian Breakfast Favourites”. I love breakfast food (but at much later in the day).
It’s a small space, not quite 5 feet long but perhaps 5 metres long. On the right there’s a display of the food and kueh (sweets). A list of drinks sounds good and we pick 4 different kinds – cold drinks are $3.20 and hot drinks are $3. As for breakfast food, I need to confirm this with Janice – is this really what Malaysians eat for breakfast. “Sure!” she replies. Okaaay…
Bandung on left $3.20 and Tea Tarik on right $3
The Bandung is more an Indonesian drink with condensed milk and rosewater tinged a lurid candy pink. Whilst it has ice cubes floating in it, the drink is warm and sweet and reminds me of a Strawberry Quik from my childhood with a rose flavour. Tea Tarik or pulled tea is usually served foamy due to the pulling of the tea (pouring it from one glass to another).
Kopi $3
The copi isn’t as sweet as I like it and of course it’s Nescafe so a coffee connoisseur would probably give this a miss.
Barley water $3
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November 1, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
Happy Halloween Dear Reader! When I first saw Jenny from Picky Palate’s Mummy Dogs I think I actually giggled and clapped. Yes I do those sorts of embarrassing things. And yes this is why Mr NQN gets embarrassed by my behaviour and asks me not to sing while walking through the shops. Suddenly I’ll be singing and then notice that my hand is no longer clasped in his and he is walking several metres behind hiding his face in his shoulder. I shudder to think that if I become a parent, I’ll be that eccentric lady that embarrasses their children-who am I kidding? I know I will be. However looking at how much I love Halloween, if I don’t raise a little ghoul, then I will be surprised.
What I loved about these Mummy Hot Dogs was how relatively easy they were and how preparing them on the day took less than half an hour. I’m not including the time it makes to make the bread or pizza dough as of course that needs to be done ahead and all the better for a party I say. The less I have to do on the day the better for me.
Jenny’s recipe called for Pillsbury Dough which we don’t get here in Australia so I figured I would make a bread dough. But I was running out of time as I had events galore and things to do on Halloween and I recalled stashing some pizza dough in the freezer for emergency times such as these. I found that one dough round wrapped 4 of these frankfurters in an adequate way with a little left over dough. You could also try this with puff pastry too if you cannot get the pre-made bread dough which comes already rolled out which helps a lot but I found that with puff pastry, there were more joins as the pastry itself comes in a square and it is therefore shorter than the length that you can roll dough.
I know mummies’ wrappings are supposed to be more white than yellowed but I blame the distractedness on the fact that I didn’t hear the timer when it went off. If you watch it like a hawk then you can ensure that yours turn out only mildly yellowed like Jenny’s. Kids, both young and old love the novelty of these and just make sure that you have some tomato sauce…ermm I mean blood ready for them to dip these Mummy Hot Dogs in.
And look out for Monday’s story with a wrap up of my Halloween party! I promise that “normal” transmission will resume after then 
So tell me Dear Reader, what embarrassing habits do you have?
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October 31, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
Justin North
The recent World Chef Showcase was exciting for me for a few reasons. One if them was getting to meet Justin North, the chef and owner of Bécasse restaurant (along with Plan B, Etch and Le Grand Cafe) and the SMH 2009 Chef of the Year. When we got to talking after the show he mentioned the Producer’s lunches assuming that I had been invited but had been too busy to come along. Not so I said and Justin promised to ensure that I’d be on the list for a future Producer’s lunch, an initiative where Justin hosts media and other guests and introduces them to the actual producers that supply the restaurant with their special produce. And sure enough, a couple of days later, I received a phone call from Justin inviting me to a very special one – one with Carlos Petrini as the guest.
Carlos Petrini started the Slow Food Movement which started in 1989 as a way of consciously combating fast food and life and preserve a quality of life in response to people’s waning interest in the food they eat and its origins and it also looks at how our food choices impact the rest of the world. He visited Sydney to be part of the Sydney International Food Festival and held a talk just a few days before at the Opera House.
Margaret Fulton
The crowd is full of media including Helen Greenwood, Lyndey Milan, Indira Naidoo as well as the guest of honour Carlos and his table of guests. Next to him is an interpreter as he does not speak English. Smooth voiced Simon Marnie from ABC 702 is hosting and just as we’re about to start, the 85 year old Margaret Fulton (and shameless flirt who told the crowd when he’d won Chef of the Year that she’d rather see North undressed) arrives, sharp as a tack. Later, when Simon can’t immediately remember the name of the Australian of the Year she names “Tim Flannery” without missing a beat. Justin in his chef’s whites introduces us to everyone and gives us a quick overview of the Producer’s Lunch concept as well as the canapes, breads and amuse bouches.
Canape: Goat’s curd, olive and lemon thyme biscotti sandwich
We start with a canape – what looks like a delicate biscotti sandwich is one speckled with black olive and lemon thyme with a goat’s curd sandwiching it together. The crunchy biscotti combined with the salty goat’s curd makes my tastebuds rather excited.
Freshly baked Becasse bread: pumpkuin brioche, stout epi and garlic Rosemary Auverge
Justin tells us about the bread which is baked every day when the baker arrives at 2am. They are still warm which is always good in my books and the pumpkin brioche is sweet, buttery and with a centre of smooth pumpkin. The stout epi is a bit hard for my taste but the garlic and rosemary auverge is gorgeous and heady in rosemary. Served alongside it is butter or an olive oil solid square – I recall seeing him make something similar at the World Chef Showcase using a product called Glice.
Amuse Bouche: Spring bay Scallop with organic radish stems, green chilli and black pepper served with 2008 Freeman Rondo rose
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October 30, 2009
by Not Quite Nigella
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