Monday, August 8, 2011

Puddles, cuddles and banana cheesecake

What a lovely way to spend a weekend. A long overdue drive down the Victorian coast to visit friends in the sleepy, beachside village of Anglesea. 
Great company, excellent food cooked by my talented friend Gina, delicious local wines....
                          
(I'm always chuffed when friends cook from my books - this banana cheesecake is from Grub, and if I do say so myself - its a little ripper - I will post the recipe here soon!!)


But most importantly I finally met her little girl (bad Aunty Jane!!)
Time flies all too fast when you spend a fair amout of time out of your own country.  
What fun we had jumping in puddles. 
And whizzing around on oversized critters with her big brother
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
And eating together of course....

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Jiki Miyazawa じきみやざわ

As is common in Japan the restaurant is named after its proprietor - and according to a Japanese Foodie friend Jiki Miyazawa is one of Kyoto's finest young chef's. (the link is in Japanese but the map shows you it is two blocks east of Daimaru and about half a block north. It is on the east side of the street)

The photos of this meal are from the vault I'm afraid - I ate here almost 18 months ago when my oldest friend (and sista!) Vanessa came to visit.  Here she is in the restaurant entrance - playing tourist ...
We were first offered our choice of beautiful sake cups. People travel across Japan to dine off the dinnerware - many of them extremely valuable antiques....
Seasonal starter of tiny firefly squid - smaller than a broadbean!
Fresh wakame - "scratched up" which makes it more porous and slightly... er slimy. It is served in the dashi it was cooked in with some bamboo shoots and garnished with kinome - the leave of the sansho (pepper) plant
My nemisis - namako shiokara - the fermented (raw) guts of the seaslug, on rice, hiding under a sakura leaf
Chef preparing a beautiful sashimi dish with a very soft variety of uni (sea urchin) and a sweet soy dressing
On of the most divine renditions of goma dofu (sesame tofu) - grilled and served with a sesame dressing (yaki goma dofu)
Kinome yaki sakana  - Grilled fish with kinome
This Akagai (red ark shell clam) was slammed down, live, onto the bench  - where it tried to slink away before being quickly sliced into submission
With fine shreds of udo and slices of raw okra it was a particularly refreshing, elegant dish - if somewhat brutal...
Grilled anago (conger eel)  in thickened dashi
rice and pickles
custard apple
Sakura monaka  - a cherry blossom shaped wafer filled with cherry blossom flavoured anko (red bean paste) - it is being warmed in the background above
Chef preparing Matcha ( whisked, powdered green tea) for serving with the Sakura sweet. 

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Collingwood Childrens' Farm Market

Not a bad little market - quite the scene on a satdee morning in Melbourne town.
 For more info and dates look here!
um..... OK!
Chestnuts... it must be winter
Local olives and olive oil
Fresh walnuts
Super fresh greens
The lovely Lady Lizette of the Warialda Belted Galloways! ( and my dinner - what a ripper bit o'steak)
Breakfast at the open-air cafe wasn't bad either. Coffee, newspaper, friends dropping by to say hello - lovely.