Melbourne Jaunt

Last month Melbourne hosted another spectacular Food and Wine festival. I was chuffed to be invited to present at the weekend masterclass with sake master Toshi Maeda san and to moderate Rosa Mitchell's wonderful session on Sicilian cuisine (Rosa's mother and several aunts hand rolled fresh pasta which was immediately cooked and served to class attendees while Rosa demonstrated some of her specialities - including farsamagro and her famous cannoli).  A big shout out to Masterclass coordinator Sharlee Gibb who gave birth just one day later to a mini Matt Wilkinson (immaculate timing). Thanks also to Tim and Amanda and the crew from Books for Cooks (and Shannon from Murdoch) for arranging my books and Sharpies for signing! And of course to Frank and the Movida crew for a cracking closing party and Gerald for the impromptu after party... which I can barely remember getting to let alone getting home from... boy, what a night!

I adore Melbourne and thoroughly enjoyed a couple of lovely meals, escorted by some of my favourite menfolk,  at Raymond Capaldi's Hare and Grace and Shane Delia's Maha Bar and Grill. I also revisited Cornershop - a fab cafe in Yarraville I just can't get enough of. They do great breakfasts and coffee but their lunches really blow me away - simple, fresh, healthy and absolutely pumped full of flavour - perfect day fare!

 It was great to catch up with friends and colleagues (despite being a little shaken by news of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami on the Friday night and having only arrived home from Kyoto the day before) and I had enough time up my sleeve to wander a little between meetings,  gathering my thoughts and capturing a few examples of Australiana on film. 

Cornershop Cafe

Some rather dark shots from Hare and Grace.... unfortunately I didn't have a camera at Maha ( next time...)