Reine's cooking adventures part 1
Re-doing this blog so that I can actually post progress pictures and nice photos of how my cooking went.Part 1, my first real time actually experimenting with food. The house/cat-sitting time doesn't really count :PAfter the ceviche, the next thing I made was tuna tataki. There's this place called Central Markets and it's the best place ever! There's so many fruit and veg stalls, as well as several seafood shops. And lots of protein. Mmmm all kinds of protein!Anyway, so having never made anything that required paying a lot of attention, I think my tataki came out very nicely. As I hadn't explored every stall, my salad was still very basic, with quinoa everywhere!
I then found some duck to play with. Since I'd never cooked it before I had to read up about in case there was something special I had to do, and there was - in this case, I had to make sure I rendered the duck fat correctly! I also prepared some beans, and purple and orange dutch carrots. I hate carrots, but I wanted to eat some, so I figured I'd try and butter them up.
The only other thing I found out about cooking duck breast is that I had to twice cook it - first just grilling the entire fillet, but then once I let it rest and cut it, cooked the pieces a tiny bit more each to ensure they were all cooked.
On my next trip to the markets, I thought I'd step up to a bigger challenge: kangaroo.
I also found some loose wild asparagus so I bought some. I originally wanted to blanch them, but then I was too lazy, plus I remember eating raw asparagus at Cornersmith, so I decided to do the same here. I ran across some fennel, and I've always liked the idea of it, and never knew it was aniseed/liquorice! So I bought some, and that set in motion my memory of wanting to make an awesome "house salad" like Rockpool does. So rocket and radishes then got added to the mix. I don't even like rocket, but it belonged in this salad! So peppery but so tasty.
The kangaroo was pretty much rare, though I was aiming for medium rare. It was still very tender and tasty since I got it marinated with herb and garlic. As a result, I ended up getting kangaroo two more times!
I ran across fresh sardines on my next visit to the markets, so I had to grab some, as they are very tasty and nutritious. Aren't they so cute???
I pan grilled them with salt and pepper, and placed them on my leftover salad.
Living the radelaide
So work has called me to Adelaide, to like, do things and stuff, including eat, cook and explore. Oh, and actually work.But during non work hours it turns out I really don't have time to work on the story that will never end. Instead I'm constantly debating where and what to eat, which cafes to go to, and whether I can find enough food to cook up something and somehow save money.So my experiment has been living without "sugar" (have honey and agave syrup instead), making wholemeal spelt pancakes and messing with other things, such as undercooking fish :)Here are some of the things I've done. I wish I had a nice picture of some food from a cafe called A Mothers Milk - they make some amazing baked eggs mmmmmmmmm but instead all I've got is a very bad shot from the outside:
And Coffee Branch was a little espresso shop, which features a single and a house. I tried both, their single was a yirgacheffe natural, but that was so Sydney months ago! Not my normal preference, but when I had the two side by side, I preferred the single.
During my first week there Bar 9 also had a "twilight supper" where they were screening Spirited Away - it was in English but it was still awesome because I got loads of coffee and some truffled popcorn! By the time I finished work to get there, they were actually all out of the truffled stuff so they charged me a couple of dollars less, but there were still remnants of truffle oil in it!!!
When my brother came over to visit, there was also lemon curd, orange, vanilla bean mascarpone, macerated strawberries on english muffin to be had!
Also visited the Coffee Barun, who did an awesome "Barun breakfast". They had a huge variety of espresso roast beans for sale, but alas, only yirg natural for their filter so this made me sad.
And what do I order at a place called Argo Espresso? A filter, of course!
Also went to First Pour and Paddy's Lantern, but no pictures of that. First Pour is interesting because they don't really do food; just pastries. Paddy's Lantern is cute (love their logo) and the one thing that I learned was that cold brew is something different from cold drip! I tried some and realised that it was different, so then I asked them how they made it, as when I was drinking it I noticed it had that liqueur tone so it was definitely brewed via a cold water method for a long time, but they just chucked grinds in water and let it sit rather than going through a drip, which explained the colour and sediment. It's a nice easy way to make something like cold drip!
I also managed to stumble upon Nic & Rocco's dessert shop (from My Kitchen Rules) bought some macarons and tiramisu etc. They were cute and nice, but sadly, I think Zumbo and Cre-Asion are both better, and more true to the flavours that the macarons are (e.g. real strawberry instead of tasting strawberry flavoured).
And now to home cooking 101! And how I miserably fail at it. Actually, I'm probably better than I think, but at the same time nowhere near as fantastic or genius as I think. A general rule is that I only do savoury, not sweet, as sweet has too many rules and measurements. However my spelt pancakes are pretty good.
Anyway, so I finally got to try my hand at ceviche! I've always wanted to make it, and turns out the only mistake was that I chickened out and didn't buy any chilli.
My recipe was basically:
- Snapper marinated in lime juice for about 45min (cause I only had a little bit)
- Cucumber
- Heirloom tomatoes
- Coriander
- Red onion
And some salt and pepper. Here are pics! It turned out quite tasty, just needed more heat.
Don't mind the knife, it was there for something else. I used a new knife that cut the fish quite nicely!
With this being the final result:
Then I used the rest of the fillet for a hot cooked dish! I bought some seaweed and had to use it somehow!
The next night I made the leftover vegetables into a quinoa salad.
And here is a picture of Bubbles/Butters/Ruby/Harry the Eclectus Parrot my boyfriend got! She's super young and still being trained :)
MERRY CHRISTMAS
Home Cupping + Zumbo
Hallo!An interim post as I'm too lazy to actually put effort into making a blog about my Adelaide/Melbourne trip of caffeine.So in the meantime here is my attempt at home cupping without any instructions! Plus some obligatory Zumbo pictures :)
Basically I bought some Proud Mary Brazil CoE (can't remember which) in Melbourne, roasted on 18/10 - that's on the left. Then today I went to Reuben Hills and got some Kenya Nyeri, also roasted on 18/10 - that's on the right. Since I have no idea how to cupping (yes), I made it up by putting 7g of each in roughly 175mL water.
Ground them both, the Brazil was more aromatic - I couldn't smell much of the Kenya, but that may have also been because I ground it first - they were about a minute apart with my hand grinder.
Then I poured the water in, but I was sloppy as the only way I got both water levels round about the same was to first pour into my aeropress - so it was a violent pour, messing everything up and leaving me without much crust - so I probably ruined it. Oh well!
Cleared it up and started slurping! The reason why I tried it was because I couldn't really tell how the Kenyan tasted when I tried it today, and the last time I had the Brazil was yesterday. So when I had these side by side it was then obvious that the Kenyan was much more acidic while the Brazil was sweeter. Yay I had a mostly successful cupping! Hahahaha
Now here is some sugar
Hypercaffeination to the eyeballs
And a side of narcissism.So I took some leave and spent it all on a somewhat pseudo but mostly fantastic coffee adventure crawly thing. I figured that since I love coffee so much, I'd take leave just to have as much as possible. And when people at work asked me what I was taking leave for, my answer was COFFEE.Anyway, so I went to Bean Drinking first because I wanted coffee from a Slayer. Turns out I went at the worst time possible because it was lunch time. Plus since it's next to Professor Plums it was hard to resist spending a kazillion dollars on lots of fun stuff and things such as a George skeleton for $575. I ended up not buying anything from there, and so hopped over to Bean Drinking. I thought about what I wanted to get but they had so many single origins that I really had no idea what I wanted. So when the people started talking to me I freaked out and wanted the coffee tasting plate. Since they were really really busy they said it would be a bit of a wait but hey I wanted coffee and I was in a good mood so I stayed. I fiddled around with my phone for a bit and I think it was about 20 minutes later that they were able to start working on my coffee.The first one they gave me was a Columbian Geisha on cold drip which was amazing because it was the first time I had cold coffee and wow, it indeed had a liqueur type feel to it. It was kind of weird and bent my brain a little since it seemed to be salty to me? It was awesome though, and one of the customers there had no idea what I was drinking so it was cool to try and describe it though I probably failed miserably. Then the second one I had was a filter. I can't remember where it was from, however I do remember that it was one of the more smooth mellowy ones rather than a bright acidic one. It was still nice but the problem with the filtered coffees is that they always serve a decent volume and I was filling up with coffee fast. The last one was a Kenyan (I think) and that was an espresso via the awesome Slayer. It was super awesome but honestly I don't think I could have tasted the difference between that and a shot produced by an ordinary machine. And personally I would have preferred the filter and espresso swapped around since I like smooth espresso and bright fruity filters.I really wanted to pay for the coffee since I really enjoyed it, but they told me it was free because I waited so long, so that was super awesome yet again. I had theories that maybe they thought I was some secret coffee judge/reporter thingy person thing, but then again maybe they were just nice. All in all a good day!Then Friday was the action packed day of hypercaffeination which I dragged my brother and a lot of my friends into. Started the morning by going to Reuben Hills for breakfast. Wasn't really sure what to expect, so the first thing I asked for was the single origin... but they didn't have one! They did mention that their house blend was really good, so then I opted for the filter. They had a Guatemala and some "la esmerelda" from Panama, but since there was a huge price difference between the two we all ordered the Guatemala, which was really nice and fruity. The food was amazing as well. Usually coffees with good coffee don't have amazingly fantastic food but WOW I ordered a Tradesman Brioche - which was avocado, eggs, spicy relish and jamon and that was so good, it tasted like real mexican food instead of all that boring stuff at food courts and etc. I was very impressed.We then had to trek all the way to Marrickville for Coffee Alchemy since it's supposed to be COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE. And it was true! I think I counted 7 grinders with all sorts of origins, with different ones designed for filters and espressos. Here I decided to be brave enough to order the Esmerelda, along with an Ethiopian "cherry red" and a Tanzania filter. They were all different in their own way, and while I'm not too sure why the Esmerelda was superbly rave-worthingly awesome, it was definitely different. It didn't actually remind me of coffee, it was more like tea, really gentle and fruity at the same time. The Ethiopian was massively cherries and the Tanzania, since it wasn't described to us, was simply yummy with no clue of what was going on. And this place was so awesome that they even have coffee on tap, much like beer. Again it broke my brain that cold coffee tasted like this!Timing was perfect as we rushed back to Surry Hills to visit Single Origin Roasters, since it's my favourite place. They had a beef brisket pancakey-pizza thingy as their special, so I ordered that. And since it was my coffee adventure, I asked them what single origins they had and then ordered accordingly. I think everyone seems to have Kenya at the moment but I'm not sure that I like Kenya, so I chose Mexico on aeropress, which was awesome. They didn't really have too many sweets so lemon lime bitters macarons it was! There was no particular highlight since I've probably visited this place to death but hey, Shoji is there and that in itself is always a squeal-worthy moment (so is Klink but I will talk about that later).That was it for coffee since it was then that everyone was now probably at their caffeine limit, and for me it felt like it was right behind my eyeballs. Apparently I was pretty funny when I mentioned that 1. I was hypercaffeinated and 2. to my eyeballs. I am pretty insane, I know.So anyway with the coffee adventure done for the day, we had time to pass until Sake that night. I've wanted to go to Sake for a long time since it's reputedly a great sushi restaurant. The only thing I was disappointed about was that my booking only lasted 2 hours and we had to leave by 8:30. We ordered a whole bunch of stuff but I'm currently too lazy and time poor to post photos so it's just a continuous wall of text. It was funny because it seemed like I had already planned what I wanted to order (which wasn't entirely untrue), which consisted of tuna tasting plate (with tuna avocado rolls, tuna tataki rolls, tuna taco and sake shots), some sashimi, beef tartare, beef tataki, salt and pepper bug tails, karaage chicken, teriyaki chicken, oysters and a soft shell crab salad.Everything was amazing, and it was my first time trying wagyu tartare. I wasn't sure what to expect and I wasn't sure I was going to like it. Luckily the portion size of the tartare was small so I didn't get totally freaked out at it. And the best thing was, I think what got me loving it was the truffle oil that came with it. As soon as the wagyu had truffle oil on it it was OMG AMAZING WOW FANTASTIC. So now as long as there are truffles with my raw beef I will love it. Everything else was delicious as per expectations. Unfortunately no dessert cause we ran out of time. And also note to self to have more time or smaller stomach as Japanese food never fills up. Much prefer a Rockpool Bar and Grill bar burger cause that things is seriously WIN.Anyway. Onto Saturday when I decided to chill at Swallow Coffee Traders with a Tanzania espresso which was bright and fruity, not unlike the distant memory of a Yirgacheffe I had months ago from Single O. Then I found out that I should go to Proud Mary's in Melbourne cause they had it there as their light roast, and that was pretty tasty, with winey notes and stuff like prunes and sultanas I think.Not much else except a house espresso from Workshop and looking for a fancy watch, however now I've decided that I will stick with my current watch and will only buy an eye catching shiny wind up.On Sunday I was on my own and didn't actually have much coffee, even though I went to the Aroma Festival. It was way too crowded and the lines were way too long so instead I bought a chocolate maple bacon cupcake which was funky.Then Monday I went back to Reuben Hills to get the Esmerelda again and it was indeed impressive! I think I tasted cherries in there and it was still tea like and the gentlest filter I've had. I also finally decided to try their house espresso which was quite fruity. Unfortunately I am still too nub to try and figure out what was in it, however there was definitely an AHA moment when I found out their house blend was Nicaragua and Guatemala :).Last stop was Klink where again I kept staring at the barista cause they way he does everything with the coffee is drool-worthy.Also I been chilling to blasts of high school and I think I have scribbled enough to start doing some Photoshop Takes Zero Skill again, which is basically taking a scribble and running it through as many filters as possible to so utterly destroy the drawing so that it can't look bad since it's already so hideous.Gooooooooooooooooooey.