the time when masterch*f humbled me

My facebook feed featured a fellow Wellingtonian adrift in Melbourne lamenting how last night's Masterchef (Friday Masterclass) made her homesick.

Figured a MC episode shot in my hometown was worth breaking my program ban.

Here's a taste of some of my favourite cafes in Wellington...



...and yes it's very cold there in winter.


(p.s. sweetie it's Floraditas, not Florantinas.)

the winter solstice experiment

Twelve months ago I started an experiment on this site. To celebrate the winter solstice I shared some of my favourite healthy cookbooks and linked them to an online bookstore with affiliate sales, to raise money for a couple of my favourite charities. Some of you joined in and I added your suggestions to the list. Around summer solstice I updated the list and added a new donor.

So what did we raise for The Smith Family’s Learning for Life and Ian Thorpe’s Fountain of Youth? The princely sum is $286.53, which would have been more if Fishpond hadn’t halved its affiliate rate earlier this year. I’ve thrown in some bucks of my own and rounded it up to $400 in total.

I’m still on the lookout for healthy cookbooks – especially vegetarian ones that are simple to follow and don’t rely heavily on dairy or wheat. I’m also curious as to where you turn to for inspiration cooking seafood and if you have any vegetable gardening books that ring your bell.

The healthy cookbook roundup

Here’s the list, with a few new favourites added since the last update. Anything else you'd add to the list?



Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook has been popular with those who went shopping on Fishpond.


Melbourne’s own Flip Shelton’s latest offering Veg In: Simple Vegetarian Dishes from Around the World ticked all my boxes.


How to Cook Everything: Simple Meatless Recipes for Great Food: Vegetarian
I'm a big fan of Mr Bittman and I think this book is an absolute ripper for techniques and good vegetarian recipes.


Eastern Vegetarian Cooking
This is probably my most tattered cookbook attesting to how often I've used it. Madhur taught me how to make dolmades, roll sushi and cook tasty simple dishes with pulses and grains. It's a cheap book and written for the British who've traditionally not been known for their cookery skills - so it is also suitable for beginners.


Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian: An Unrivalled Sourcebook of Over 600 Recipes and Ingredients from All Over the Globe
This is newer than my all time favourite and not limited to Eastern cuisine. It's the pick of one of my oldest vegetarian friends.


The Cook's Companion
This might be too ambitious for a newbie but for those building some cooking confidence she covers basic techniques well but what makes this book a star for me is the list of other foods that the featured ingredients goes with.


The Kitchen Diaries: A Year in the Kitchen
If Nigel Slater was straight, and I believed in marriage, I'd tie the knot with this bloke because I like his writing so much. Wasn't Toast: The Story of a Boy's Hunger one of the best foodie memoirs ever written? I've included a couple of Slater books because not only is he a joy to read, his recipes are easy to follow and I figure for those who enjoy eating meat, you can't go better than his chicken roast.


Real Cooking
More Slater love!



Feel Good Food
Another local chef/food writer to be proud of. Great macro inspired recipes.


The Asian Vegan Kitchen: Authentic and Appetizing Dishes from the Continent of Rich Flavors
Lisa's pick.


Jam Today: A Diary of Cooking with What You've Got
Lucy's pick.



The Yoga Cookbook: Vegetarian Food for Body and Mind
Zoe's pick.


Edmonds Cookery Book
Ok not a health book but I was cruising the site and came across it. Other than my mother's tuition, the Edmonds ("Sure To Rise") cookbook was the one that taught me how to make afghan biscuits and fairy cakes.

And for those who like a serve a politics with their food


The Omnivore's Dilemma: The Search for a Perfect Meal in a Fast-food World
An eye-opening read, without the sledge-hammer approach of some other authors of the genre.


In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto
You can't get enough of "the thinking woman's crumpet".


Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: Our Year of Seasonal Eating
Barbara Kingsolver's journey into the locavore lifestyle never goes out of season.


Give a little

Don’t forget it’s only a couple of days until the end of the financial year, wouldn’t you prefer to give your favourite charity a few dollars and be able to claim some of that back on tax?

Coffee and art: a wet weekend in Newcastle

I came to wander around the foreshore but ended up hiding out in cafes and bookshops. All is not lost when the rain buckets down on the 9th best city in the world.


I’ll be honest, when I hit the Newcastle CBD early on a drizzly Saturday afternoon I wondered if the city was closed for the weekend. When the first of the recommended cafes came into sight I brightened. One Penny Black gets repeated mention in social media for the best coffee in Newcastle. Barely bigger than a hole in the wall, it’d be more at home in a Melbourne laneway than a rather sad looking mall. The food also hit the spot. Though the menu is limited to mainly toasties, they had a better than average vegan offering of falafel on toast with hommos, rocket and sweet chilli sauce. It worked.


The coffee was good.


Just above OPB, one of the many Renew Newcastle initiatives has set up shop. Currently showing at the ARThive gallery is Art Vandelay: an exhibition about nothing, a quirky homage to Seinfeld group show. I loved the stuffed dolls depicting the main characters.

For an art loving visitor artist run initiatives are a boon. It means there’ll always be an artist on hand to pick their brains for local knowledge. The exhibitor at ARThive sent us up the road to the Lock Up to catch the end of an artist talk and exhibition. Happily Ever After explores female narratives within the fairy tale genre. This group show covers a variety of media, including some exquisite artists books. The exhibition will be touring later in the year so keep an eye on the blog for details. It’s worth a look.

The Lock-up museum documents both the inmates and the police who locked them up. The Dickensian cells were in use ‘til the early 1980’s. Some are now incorporated into the gallery space but the padded cell is a statement in itself. Not for the claustrophobic.

Just opposite the Cultural Centre we spied a Balinese Restaurant. The friendly people at the surf shop next door gave it the thumbs up, so it was earmarked for dinner later that night. Bali Corner smelt great, a sure sign that fragrant fresh herbs are used rather than pre-made substitutes. Actually it was the aroma wafting from the closed restaurant that made me want to come back. The owner/chef chatted to me as I eyed up the menu on the door, she’s the real deal and I’m happy we trekked back up Hunter Street once the sun went down. We sampled some prawn and corn fritters, fish cakes (more Thai in flavour than Indonesian), a steamed fish curry (great flavour and presentation but a little over cooked) and the omnivore ate something meaty. The food was good, though Warung Agus in Melbourne sets a higher bar. Sadly we’d headed off without an umbrella and the clouds had opened. Once there was a break in the deluge we didn’t linger and set off at a fast to walk back to our hotel.

The plan had been to leisurely wander back via the waterfront, have a drink by the water and make it a late night. Oh well. Maybe next time.

Another recommendation for coffee and food was “anywhere in Darby Street”. Like a mini-Brunswick Street, the road connects the CBD with the inner suburb of Cooks Hill. It’s a short walk from Hunter Street. There was a good selection of cafes to choose from but we headed for another pick from a friendly local (can you see a trend here? All the Novocastrians we met were delightful and helpful). Grind was packed but we managed to nab the last table as the torrential rain ramped up once more. It’s cosy inside and the staff did a great job at delivering service with a smile and efficiency. The architecture and layout in Newcastle reminded me a lot of Wellington but it was the cafes that nailed the connection. Almost every breakfast menu had fritters of some sort. As I can’t pass up a taste of home, I opted for the corn and shallot fritters and wasn’t disappointed. The waitress helped me vegetarian-ise the order, swapping bacon for mushrooms, but it didn’t need the additional side as the fritters, stacked with crushed avocado and tomatoes, were whoppers. We lingered in the warmth over a second excellent cup of coffee and headed out into the damp once more.

Darby Street is dotted with independent stores, including the whimsical Blackbird Corner. It’s a handmade haven packed with clothes, magazines, jewellery, cards, decorations and Lomo cameras. Pop in and chat to the delightful owners and buy yourself a treat from the reasonable priced goods on offer.

But when it came to bargains, a second hand store down the road won the prize. We got lost in the shelves of Cooks Hill Books and Records for over an hour. A great mix of quality recently released novels, genre fiction and non-fiction. Oh and they have vinyl too. Judy Garland for $5? Yes thank you very much. The shop flows through a number of rooms but is well displayed, not overwhelming like some second hand book stores. I have to wait for my stash of books (including a 1930s British Grocers handbook) to arrive when the Significant Eater drives south next week, as my carry-on only baggage couldn’t fit them.

Opposite the Queen Street entrance to the shop is the rear of the Newcastle Regional Art Gallery. Their exhibitions were the jewel in the crown of our art crawl. A well proportioned gallery, big enough to spend an hour or two but not so large you have to bolt through the shows to see everything. Currently on display are two collections of Australian art, both studded with gems, Citizen Collectors and Laverty 2. These included works by Richard Larter, Patricia Piccinini and Rosalie Gascoigne, as well as some stunning indigenous art.

Outside the rain continued to pour and the drains over-flowed. Time to hit the road for Sydney, with promises to return. But perhaps, next time, it will be in summer.


Don’t go to Newcastle without:

Printing off the Renew Newcastle map to inform your art and craft crawl.

Flicking through the Novocastrian Files, a great blog chronicling the best of indie Newcastle. The interviewees’ favourite places to eat, drink and shop are also a wonderful resource.

Visit

One Penny Black
111 Hunter Street, Newcastle

ARThive Gallery
1/111 Hunter Street, Newcastle

The Lock-up Cultural Centre
90 Hunter Street, Newcastle

Bali Corner
95 Hunter St, Newcastle

Grind Coffee Co
127 Darby St, Cooks Hill

Blackbird Corner
90 Darby St, Cooks Hill

Cooks Hill Books and Records
72 Darby St, Cooks Hill

Newcastle Regional Art Gallery
Laman Street Newcastle

The meaty business of turning vegetarian

The biggest stir round these parts has been the Four Corners documentary on Monday, exposing the inhumane practices inflicted on animals due to live exports. As a result there are a lot of omnivores who've been put off eating meat.

The problem, nutritionally, is it's not just about dropping the meat. There's a whole heap of misinformation about vegan and vegetarian diets. So if you're a bit confused about sorting fact from fiction - check out this simple guide to becoming vegetarian.

If you've taken the plunge and experimenting with a meat-free diet - the majority of recipes on this site fit the bill. Just start cruising the "vegetarian" box on the drop down menu on the right side of this page.

For cooking in and eating out in Melbourne (and beyond) start with Cindy and Michael's delightful blog Where's the Beef?. These guys are responsible for the addictive soy bombs being made in every vego house in the city!

Heidi Swanson's cookbooks and blog 101 Cookbooks are a goldmine of wonderful recipes. Her generous site allows you to search for meal ideas by ingredient and she's formatted the recipes so they can be easily printed.

My two favourite local cookbooks (yes, I've mentioned them before) are Flip Shelton's Veg In, perfect for beginners and those converting to vegetarian food (full of vego "take away" recipes) and Tony Chiodo's Feel Good Food. Both make perfect gifts for those who've seen the light about live exports but don't quite know how to make the transition to a more meat-free diet.

Happy cow-free eating!

writing in the margins: vandalism or interactivity?

I come from a family that has a certain reverence for the written word. My father begins his day worshipping the newspaper. It’s now delivered at 5 am and I swear the early drop off is the cause of his insomnia. He can’t bear to think of all that paper and ink sitting out on the drive in the cold.

Books are even more holy. In our house you’ll find no dog-eared pages and never, ever has a book taken to be read in the toilet!

But contrary to the unwritten lores of my family, in recent years my father has begun defacing books. I can only imagine the inner struggle that must go on between the Virgoan twin desires of neatness and utter righteousness. One day I noticed one of the many tombs on his beloved national park had been sullied with his unmistakable handwriting. He’d taken a pen and annotated every single mistake the author made, neatly in the margin.

Coming across a defaced book in the house was a revelation. I didn’t know you were allowed to write in the margins. It was as if the world had tilted slightly. My father had become so incensed with the authors inaccuracies, that correcting them was the only option. He did not, as far as I know, actually send the notes back to the publisher. Instead the book just continues to sit innocently amongst others on the subject.

Though last month that changed. During my trip home my father handed me two foolscap pages of corrections for a different book. This one was written about the town he grew up in. Instead of sullying the edition he’d decided to send them directly to body that had commissioned the work. Each mistake was noted by quotation, page number and the correction supplied, often with references from his archive – including old copies of his high school’s own journal. From the 1940s. Page numbers included.

So this morning, lying in bed (an indescribably wonton act on a Monday morning while the rest of the world toils), I glanced at a new “healthy” cookbook I’d picked up from the local library. I was surprised to read that the author was Australian and alumni of my own profession, as I’d never heard of her.

I was only a couple of pages in and a photo showed seedling of “coz” lettuce. Not a good start. The following page spruiked the wonders of agave syrup. I checked the publishing date, 2010. No excuses because by then this highly promoted wonder food had since been relegated to the “almost as bad as high fructose corn syrup” department by most of the authors peers. And spriulina? Surely that’s not still doing the rounds in the 21st century?

Like father, like daughter - I was already itching to pick up men pen and write a few references in the margin. But it’s the fourth recipe that did me in. It’s one for rhubarb and guess what doesn’t feature in the ingredients list? Aha, rhubarb. With 4/5 of the book yet to explore, should I just take a chill pill and take it back unsullied to the library.

So here’s the deal. Do I throw the baby out with the bath water? There are some good recipes and health information amongst the inaccuracies. Should they go through to the keeper? It’s one thing to annotate in the margin if your own cookbooks. Because as far as recipes are concerned, the notes of your own experiences, the temperature and timing of your own oven, varying the amounts for your own palate – to me adds to the value of a cookbook.



Illegible teenage scrawl in my Moosewood cookbook. Indeed the sour cream cheesecake is pretty damn good subbed with tofu. Must make it again soon.

But should you deface a library book? In pen? In pencil? Is this bringing the interactivity of new media to an old format? Or is it just vandalism.

I’m leaning towards sticky notes. What do you reckon?

report from the trenches

With a spate of chilly, grey and wet weather I’ve given up and succumbed to hibernation. The garden is barely noticed, dull light deters photography and my cooking has been almost as inspiring as the weather.

But eat? Yes thanks, starch, starch and more starch. Hijacked by a primitive brain that anticipates a winter famine.

Potatoes: roasted, fried or jacket. Forkfuls of fluffy, warm goodness.
Rice noodles: with stir fried vegetables and crispy strips of tempeh, almost candied with kecap manis.
Delicious vegan burgers and hand cut chips.

Oh yes!

Between showers, it's too cold and wet to garden with any real gusto. The cos lettuce is growing very nicely, the odd bug dropping by for a snack but there are plenty of leaves left for me to consume. The cavolo nero has been visited by the sneaky little cabbage butterflies and is requiring some manual grub squashing. Fortunately they’re not interested in the rainbow chard and it’s slowly doing its thing but waiting for a little more warmth before it will take off. Strawberries are surviving, even with the odd flower and fruit, though this cold snap will surely put the end to that unseasonal folly.

The seed project has had mixed success. The spring onions are hanging in there but the coriander has grown so slowly that I’ve bought some seedlings in frustration. Parsley has been the only no show, so that’s also been purchased.

Newly added are a row each of heirloom carrots and parsnips, as well as garlic (that’s already sprouting), sorrel and garlic chives.

How’s your patch looking?




Rather dull photos, it’s soooooo grey here in Melbourne at the moment.

simple

The past month has been about:

Stir fries…tofu, tempeh or egg as protein plus finely sliced, julienned or half mooned vegetables. Rice noodles always a favourite. Tamari, kecap manis and fish sauce on rotation as flavouring.

Soups…easy red lentil served with fish sauce, chilli and a squeeze of lime juice.

Fish fillets cooked the way I was taught at primary school…fresh gurnard in a foil parcel with slices of lemon, salt, pepper and nothing else. Cooked at 175c for 11 minutes. I’d forgotten how good it tastes.

Autumn fruits…feijoas, tamarillos and persimmons.

Out…not often but well chosen..an intimate dinner at The Commoner (the most amazing mushroom coated version of a scotch egg, not on the menu but offered as a vegetarian option)…two vegan burgers to choose from at the Tramways plus the best hand cut chips.

Purchased…a beautiful, large ceramic bowl from a local potter. Big enough to fit a swag of fruit.



Nothing fancy. Just keeping calm and carrying on.

television chefs: the real deal

While dissing the current crop of reality TV cooking programs, I mentioned in passing a kiwi classic. Now for you viewing pleasure I give you a taste of Graham Kerr. Yes, it's a bit meaty but keep in mind this episode was shot in 1966. No, I didn't watch it first time round.

It's worth watching both episodes. The whole show is entirely ad libbed, with Graham answering questions from a "live" studio audience. I almost cried with homesickness listening to the accents of the good Wellington housewives.

He really was a charming devil, who tried his best to bring haute cuisine to the culinary desert.

Please enjoy - The Graham Kerr Show.

vegging in after popping out

I've been across the Tasman for a while. My mother was moved recently to a nursing home after a fall. Do you know how difficult it is, in a small city, to get care for someone with dementia who is not mobile? The good news is she's walking again, shuffling and sometimes falling but hopefully that means she can stay where she is. Anyway, long story short, I've not been cooking much of late. So excuse this little cheat, a post I've made elsewhere on the net, tweaked a little for you reading pleasure.



For many years my favourite part of waking up on a Monday was listening to Flip Shelton talk about food on RRR. I miss her vibrant recipes and triathalon updates. I loved her first cookbook Green (now sadly out of print) and have been waiting eagerly for her next publication.

Veg In: Simple Vegetarian Dishes from Around the World is a nifty book of easy to prepare “takeaways” made cheaply and healthily at home. She promises the recipes will save you money, calories and even time. From Greek dolmades to Japanese tempura, Flip sets out simple ways to recreate your favourite vegetarian dishes, as well as innovative baked potato and pizza toppings.

Veg In is a simple but effective cookbook. The recipes are uncomplicated, perfect for novices and under confident cooks. The recipes aren’t rocket science and won’t take all day to prepare. Being written by a Melburnian is an added bonus as all the ingredients are easy to source locally.

This cookbook is ideal for someone who’d like to extend their vegetarian repertoire, omnivores wanting to diversify their diet (or choosing to practice Meatless Mondays) and those newly “converted” to vegetarianism. The majority of dishes are vegan-friendly and many are also gluten-free.

My only criticism of the book is that it has no index, so you can't hunt by recipe or ingredient. I found this rather frustrating and hope if the book gets a second print run that this problem will be remedied. Veg In is probably not for the gourmet cook, for those more accomplished in the kitchen wanting to expand their vegetarian range my pick would be Feel Good Food

Veg In: Simple Vegetarian Dishes from Around the World by Flip Shelton (Wakefield Press, RRP $29.95)

See Lucy's review of Veg In and one of Flip's recipes.

tuning out

This post was originally published in May 2009. I've just polished it off and filed it under:

Why I'm not watching MasterChef

I’ve been more than lukewarm about the latest hyped reality television show – MasterChef. I love food, like cooking but I’ve known enough chefs to get an inkling of just how tough being an actual chef really is. Hospitality has nightmare working hours, inhospitable conditions and should carry a health warning for both body and soul. Boudain’s , Kitchen Confidential wasn’t a piece of fiction. Yet despite this brave soul’s brave all to follow their passion, get paid ridiculously low wages and sign up for apprenticeships to become chefs. Good on them.

Celebrity chefs/cooks are not a new phenomena. Graham Kerr, The Galloping Gourmet, first started broadcasting in 1959 and no one can forget Julia Childs. Both were more television personalities who cooked rather than classically apprenticed, restaurant chefs. Kerr’s parents owned hotels (as did Jamie Oliver’s) and his first job was in management rather than the kitchen. Childs took herself off to Le Cordon Bleu to study and started teaching cooking classes. So perhaps considering the lineage of television “chefs”, it is not so crazy to turn a home cook into an overnight media sensation, with a little training in technique and a lot of PR.

Celebrity chefs are an extension of the “food porn” industry, complete with glossy cookbooks, Nigella pouts and Oliver wannabes bashing herbs into submission. Food is sexy, so by extension are those linked to it. Even oversized, cravat wearing food critics. Reality television is the home of the overnight sensation, so our current obsession with food and watching Ms Average getting all teary on telly is an obvious hit. However when it comes to those who actually go into the industry the old fashioned way, the reality is most chefs don’t even get a guest spot on Ready, Steady, Cook, no matter how well they cook.

Masterchef will not turn these home cooks into chefs. There’s not enough graft or training to do that. I doubt if any in the top 20 (or more than a handful of the 7,000 hopefuls who auditioned for the show) would be prepared to swap a future in the law, their current established career or at the age of 40-something actually choose to step onto the bottom rung of the commercial kitchen hierarchy. What attracts people to the gig is fame and fortune, book signings and the odd gig demonstrating a dish. Will any end up in a restaurant kitchen and if they do could they stick it out? I find it very doubtful.*

My food nazi moment for the week was the episode that was actually of interest to anyone who has a passion for cooking, rather than the soapy storyline the series is trying to spin. This week featured an actual masterclass, a down to earth "here is how you make restaurant food" demonstration. Four simple dishes - some lamb (a great basic intro for carnivores), mash, eggy bread (fantastic loved that one) and a simple though creamy chocolate mousse. For me this was the standout of the whole series. In fact, can we cut the hype, jettison the star making, drop the amateur dramatics and just have Gary and George do some simple cooking demos? No cravat wearing critics need apply.

But the genius of adding lemon zest to French toast aside, the health abiding person in me loved the reality-check moment when Gary made mash (or pomme puree, if you prefer). Just watching the skinny, food loving female contestants faces when he threw in the stick of butter was fantastic. Yes this is what restaurant food is all about. Bourdain didn’t just dish the dirty of the secret life of kitchen staff but he drove home the message to readers that the amount of butter in traditional chef-cuisine is literally heart stopping and don’t forget – never order the fish on a Monday!

But back to the heart stopping pomme puree. The spud cooking technique was brilliant – whole jacked potatoes cooked at 160c for 2 hours, baked on a bed of sea salt to draw out the moisture. But wait here comes the butter. The demo showed Gary throwing in 100gms per spud, with an extra dollop for luck plus some whole milk for good measure.

In nutrition terms that worked out to over 720 calories/3000 kilojoules of 80% fat butter, in each modest serve of mash – over a third of your daily food requirements in the side dish alone. Nowhere on this site have you seen the dreaded word “kilojoule” before. It is a cold hard technical term, not sexy and definitely not part of the vernacular of food porn. But “reality” television in its truest sense has driven me to it.

So, the take home message. If you have any respect for your health – skip the mash. Go for a steamed potato, even by comparison a scant handful of chips doesn’t look so bad.

But most of all, stick to being a cook, just use a modest splash of fat in your mash at home. Even if this won’t bring the dreamed of book deal you hanker for, you might live long enough to achieve a whole lot more.


* 2011 update: A couple of seasons into the Masterchef phenomena we are yet to see any contestant in the final cut to hack a traditional apprenticeship. Two notables from the first season have by-passed the basics and on gone straight to opening a restaurant, though don’t seem to handle criticism well. Injera has an update on what some of the MC alumni are doing now.