Bath Farmers Market

http://www.bathfarmersmarket.co.uk/

I'll let the pics speak for themselves.

Foodie bucket list.. check!

"Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is quite my favourite of all the prominent food-writers and presenters. Never quite as shaggy, messy and disgusting as he first appears, his great knowledge, passion, insight, intelligence and skill are hidden under the silliest hair in Europe," say Stephen Fry.




River Cottage Cafe @Komedia Bath  01225 471578
 

Hugh's 'Rustic Fish Cakes with Tartare, Devon greens and toast', accompanied by organic River Cottage nettle beer.
 
**happysigh**

SOLE for the soul

or:

There's more to eating locally than you think.

I'm here in Greece. Specifically in Mykonos. More specifically in Psarou Beach.

Psarou Beach looks like this:

Which is what most people think Greece and its Islands look like. And it does. I know this, I took the bloody photo. But this isn't all.

Greece is a bloody hard, rocky, barren, goddamn difficult palce to eek out a living. Moreso now with the oft-reported and usually over-hyped "Greek-led second wave GFC"

Behind the glam and the night life and the minor celebs and the dancing all night and the naked lovelies adorning the beaces, is the harsh, sun baked reality of Greece.

Quite literally like this:

All that grey 'stuff' behind the azure-blue-and-white Cycladic architecture is where the locals ply their farming trades. And it's bare, sun-baked rock. 

So. to Cavo Psarou.

It's owned by friends of mine, I will admit that up and foremost. Cos and Petroula have run the family-owned resto since 1993. It's been in Petroula's family since the 50's.

Cos and Pet have a severely physically disabled son, and the only access they can get to appropriate and reasonable health care for him, is in Athens.

So every Tuesday morning, Petroula and her son fly to Athens for 4 days a week, for him to get therapy. It's difficult, and it's costly.

Costas and their daughter stay and run the restaurant. And every day, they watch ships and planes fly in crates of caviar and sushi for the endless appetites of those frequenting more "known" venues.

Petroula hasn't the faintest idea what sushi is. She learnt to cook as a child, and then started working in the kitchen of Cavo when she was 15. Her food, and that of the restaruant reflects all that is SOLE. Apart from the very basics of flour, sugar, salt and a few other 'bits', every single thing you eat at Cavo is grown on the family farm at Drafilki. The lamb, goat, most of the beef, the vegetables, the olives, the olive oil, the oregano, the beans, the sweet baby zuccini's. The whole freaking lot.

And it's all grown without pesticides, because they just can't afford them. Like farmers in PNG, 'organic' is a term that is unknown amongst locals here.. it's just food.. As Mani says "why you put chemicals on things that just grow?'

And they reap all of the above out of the rocky, thankless soil of the hinterland of Mykonos, far away from the wanker-azzi oonce-ooncing down on the sunlounges, hoping for a glimpse of Adnan Khashoggi's grandaughter.

They serve:

Chicken souvlaki, on home-made pita, with kale and garlic, and beans in tomato sauce.

Greek salad, with all the ingredeints, including the fetta AND the oregano that adorns it, from the farm. The sparking mineral water is from a small supplier in Athens.

local octopodi, pickled in their olive oil, with bread from a bakery in Mykonos town, and beer from Athen's first (and currently, only) microbrewery.

And as I sat there, yesterday, soaking up the sun that is as heavy and thick as honey, I saw at least half-a-dozen tourist walk in and order cheeseburgers and fries.

Or eschew the food, in favour of a sushi platter and Stella Artois at N'assos.

This isn't a post designed to tug at the heart-strings. NONE of the family would want that.

But next time you holiday. Whether it be on Mykonos, or Crete, or Ibiza or Bali or Maldives, or Portsea, just take a moment to think about where your tourist dollars (or euros) are actually going. WHO they're helping, who they're harming and what kharma you're wracking up along with those holiday calories. Sometimes a child's access to affordable and appropriate health care depends on your choice of lunch.

Gurt Lush!

Sometimes I think that people think SOLE is all about organic fair-trade lentils. Or macrobiotic tempeh burgers, served on biodegradable, sustainable carbon-neutral plates, made by micro-bank funded land-mine widows from Burkina Faso.

And it can be.

But it can also be about the ordinary. The humble.

The meat pie.

I'm here in Bristol, and of course, on the top of my list, even higher up than seeing Mild Mild West was to check out Pieminster.

One of my gorgeous online sistahs, Princess Laura the Brave, has been extolling their virtues for ages, and so they featured high on my list of things to eat here in the UK.

First to Bristol. Pieminster's HQ is situated in Stokes Croft, scene of last month's Tesco Riots. It's dingy, it's funky, it's in yer face ballsy-British.

I love it. It's Melbourne's St Kilda of the 80's.

Tricky Wiki says:

The name Stokes Croft has come to refer to an area around the road as an informal district encompassing Jamaica Street, the junction of Picton Street and Ashley Road, and the southern part of Cheltenham Road. The area is a centre of art, music and independent shops in Bristol, with clubs such as the Croft, Lakota and Blue Mountain; the nearby music college BIMM Bristol on King Square; and numerous pieces of graffiti art. The area’s character has given rise to a group of activists and artists calling themselves The Peoples Republic of Stokes Croft (PRSC), who are seeking to revitalise the area through community action and public art.

 And Pieminster embodies all of the above, in a pastry case!!! What's not to love.

From their web site:

We make great pies using fresh, local ingredients from farmers we trust. But that's not the whole story. As a growing business we have a responsibility to be....

good to our suppliers

Tristan has spent a long time working with local farmers and other suppliers to make sure we source the best meat and veg possible for our pies. We deal with farmers who care for their livestock and are as local to our Bristol base as possible. This has not only helped us win awards for the quality of our pies but also caught the attention of the good people at Compassion in World Farming.

good to our workers

Happy people tend to be more productive than sad ones. pieminister strive to make the workplace as enjoyable as possible by taking the time to listen to what people want. This is how a massive cow came to be painted on the main office wall and an allotment was built in the garden last year for everyone to enjoy. Jon and Tristan also have a open door policy, where anyone can come and speak to them without having to make an appointment first.

Tristan Hogg makes it his business to know where all food that ends up in our kitchens comes from. He takes provenance very seriously so that you can be sure that when you eat a pieminister pie, you can do it guilt-free.

Here's just a little bit about the ingredients we use:

Fruit & Veg

We use the freshest fruit, vegetables (apart from our British frozen peas) and herbs we can get our hands on. This means that we shop locally for them. The quicker they get from the farm to the plate the better.

Lambs

We breed great lambs here in the UK so we can’t see the point of using lambs from the other side of the planet. That is why you will only find British lamb in our pies. This not only helps British farmers it also helps save the planet.

Chickens

All our chickens are free range and British. They taste better because they are allowed to move around outside as chickens are supposed to. We also only use free range eggs (in case you were wondering). That’s why our pastry tastes so good.

The leading world organisation campaigning for better standards of welfare for farmed animals has recognised our commitment to using happy chickens and happy eggs in our cooking. Take a look at the work they doawards we’ve won here.

Cows

All our beef is farm assured and British. The same applies to our milk and butter. We use West Country Cheddar and Stilton from a licensed Blue Stilton Dairy. Our award winning Goats' cheese is from Lubborn Creamery in Somerset.

Pigs

Apart from our authentic Spanish chorizo all the pork and bacon we use is from Sandridge Farm in Wiltshire where the pigs have access to the outdoors.

Pies

All our pies are made by hand by chefs who really know what they’re doing. The mixing and baking has taken years to perfect and has been recognised by The Incorporation of Bakers of Glasgow. In bakery terms, that’s about as good as you can get!

 We bought a Chicken of Arragon for dinner (

free range british chicken, smoky bacon, roast garlic, vermouth and fresh tarragon) and had it with roast tatties and mushy peas. 

It was quite simply the best pie I've ever eaten. And I'm Australian. I know my pies! I suspect the base was a short water pastry, blind baked before filling, and the crown was a luscious buttery puff that held up well when cut. Filling was generous and chunky. And the tarragon really was fresh.

And their motto?:

SOLE is a bit like dust bunnies

it's everywhere, even when you think it's not. You just have to look, let it catch your consciousness out of the corner of your eye, just like a dust bunny.

So here I am in Weston, Bath. West Country, where everything sounds like it ends with a R.. as an an ARRRRRRRR,

Cider (pronounced Soida, by most people), here, is saiderrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

So, like dust bunnies, you just have to glance sideways, and you'll catch a glimpse of something sustainable, organic, local and/or ethical.

like the GL cafe:

Green lunches fuels Bath’s workforce with fresh, healthy and delicious food – delivered straight to the workplace.


Since Green Lunches was established in 2007, we’ve gone from strength to strength. Our customers appreciate the care that goes into our daily lunch preparation – it’s all done in our local premises, which have been approved by the local Environmental Health experts.


If you already enjoy Green Lunches at work, we want to thank you for your custom – and encourage you to spread the word to your working friends. And if you haven’t already signed-up, please do – we really will brighten-up your lunchtimes!


As a local success story, we’re proud of our products and how our business has grown so far. We aim to source our ingredients locally, to establish fair, ethical relationships with our suppliers, to minimise our carbon footprint and to re-use and recycle wherever possible.

At Green Lunches we even have a fledgling ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ policy, and the beginnings of a strategic business plan. So if you’re interested in partnering with or joining our company, just ask and we’ll show you ours if you show us yours…

Then there's the Weston Fruit Emporium, which doesn't appear to have a web address, but not only tells you where its fruit is from (Somerset pears, Winchester pumpkins), but will also tell you the farm from which some of its produce is sourced!

The bakery sourced a lot of its goodies locally, the pub stocked local cider.. I could be in foodie SOLE-varna!

Even in 'town' (Bath), there are street-side vendors spruiking local and seasonal wares.

Having been living in PNG for the past wee while, I just can't get enough of the cool climate fruits like apples and pears.

Now the above stall, with its rich tapestry of local and seasonal fruits, is RIGHT across the way from something called a 'Sainsbury'. For those not in the know, it's not like anything you get in OZ, or even, in my experience, in the States. It's like a 7/11 with booze.

It was selling, this day, pre-cut pineapple, pre-cut watermelon, pre-fab sambos, pre-mixed drinks and a mightly selection of crisps.

Erm, colour me arrogant, but pineapple? pre-cut pineapple? In Bath?

Dude, I am SO not going there after living in Lae. I mean, with this stall across the way, selling local and seasonal pears for a fraction of the price of Sainsbury's pre-fab crap, WHY WOULD YOU BOTHER?

However, I did, I must confess, make a purchase at Sainsbury's, and that was of my most beloved chockie bars.

Those who have known me since I last lived in the UK have heard me bang on ad nauseum as to how chocolate bars in the UK are the best in the world ('cepting the Aussie Chokito).

Detractors, may I present to you:

Now, all I have to do is find a Lion Bar, and I am set like jelly!!

West Fest

When I was young, we used to visit my great-uncle, who had a dairy farm. My mum grew up on a dairy farm, and used to tell us tales of scones and clotted cream. So this Saturday past, I took myself off to Weston's annual village fair, West Fest. For a SOLE foodie, it was possibly the ultimate 'mess in my rompers' experience.

There was bread.... REAL bread.... crusty and yeasty and fresh, a far cry from the sweet, white crap I get in PNG. I gorged on olive bread, baguette, cob. It was wonderful!!

Due to the ridiculous OH&S laws in OZ, We're unable to get raw milk cheese. No such ridiculous nanny-law here in the UK, so I stocked up on roquefort, stilton and Jersey blue.

Weston is the home of proper cider.... Somerset cider... apple and pear. Scrumpy, pale or dark.

I may never drink wine again!

And then there are the strawberries.. only just coming into season, in time for the Henley regatta.

I saw a proper May Pole, missed the Morris dancers, sat under an ancient celtic cross eating blackberry icecream, and then met friends for a pint at my new local.

Off to Bath today, to pick up some pressies for the kids, and to 'take the waters'

Erm…. My pronunciation is going to get me into trouble

See that big yellow thing in the background? I’ve been asking, since I came up here in 09, what they are. You can get them at roadside markets all over Morobe Province. Often, they come in the most amazing deep red.

They are called Mariposa, or so I thought. And I always wondered why they were called after the Spanish word for “butterfly” and why people always giggled and turned away when I asked then how you cook it, or “what yu use him for?”
A Spanish word as part of the local language is not so odd.Tok Pisin is a melange of Australian-pronounced English, German, Italian and French.

Umm.

No. It’s not Mariposa.

Its:

Mari Pleeza.

You work it out.

This morning's haul

It's Thursday. In Lae, it's pretty much universally referred to as "stay-at-home Thursday". Primarily because it's pay day for a lot of the locals, and the queues for the bank are so long, the often stretch around the block. Combine that with scorching heat, and strength sapping humidity, and you've got all the ingredients for a couple of the locals to let their inner raskol out for a run.  It's just another way we bounce up here in Lae. It's also means I get to work from home, so Thursday is going to be by blog/obligatory email home day. And I get to go to the market nice and early, to pick up the best the vendors have on offer.



Today I grabbed a mango for breakfast, a hand of eating bananas, some more rambutans and some kina. Kina is the name of the currency up here, but also the name of a tasty mussel/pipi/clam-like mollusc. Originally, transactions were made in Kina shells, thereby giving rise to the name of the currency. They are large and meaty and I think they're going to be awesome on pasta tonight.They're currently de-sanding themselves in the bath. You have to rinse them for at least 4 hours before you can cook them, to get rid of the sandy grit, and also the tiny kina crabs that live in some of them.

Lae is shrouded in its usual haze of overcast cloud, wood smoke and dust. The local ladies are getting to know me at the market now, They call me and show me their wares with smiles  that are blindingly white, and heart-grippingly genuine. Some of them have walked 6 hours down from the mountains to bring just a few hands of bananas or a bag of charko lif down to town. Pikininis stare unabashedly at my hair and ask their Mamis why the white lady has buai in her "gras bilong het".

The smell of Lae is one of woodsmoke, BO, mangoes, dust and the sea. Sometimes, when the mackerel factory is canning, it smells of that, too. When the vanilla factory AND the mackerel factory are processing at the same time, it can be a little...err...overwhelming.

We had an awesome tropical storm last night. torrential rain, lightning, thunder, the whole shebang. The overnight rain has damped down the dust and pulled some of the humidity out of the air, I don't need the aircon on just yet.  It's my haus mari's day off.. the workmen next door have yet to arrive and switch on that bloody gen-set, I have a puppeh at my feet, an organic, free trade, single source coffee in my mug  and a 'fridge filled with all sorts of local goodness.



Every day, I feel more and more contented, and more and more home.

Suprised? Anyone?

Coles Supermarkets wins Choice's "Shonky Award"

A $10 meal for four that actually costs $30, a credit card that makes you spend $12,000 for a $20 reward and olive oil that is anything but virgin have all netted Shonky Awards from consumer watchdog Choice.




The Coles "Under $10 meal promotion", fronted by celebrity chef Curtis Stone, was singled out for failing to include all the ingredients in the price of its budget meals that are supposed to feed a family of four.



"If you include the uncosted 'pantry items' (including 3/4 bottle of wine) in Curtis' $7.76 Coq au vin it would actually cost more than $30," Choice spokesman Christopher Zinn said.



"The deal claims you can feed four people for less than $10. The catch is you have to already happen to have some of the ingredients in your pantry, which aren't included in the price.”







Qu'elle Suprise

Kaiyfa Halik?

For a man that doesn't officially actually have a job yet, Furry is getting around!! He's off to Kuwait later this week to check out the state of the company's plants there. Then back to Dubai, and possibly off to Qatar to do the same!

In the meantime, he..we..are now members of the Coolibah Club, the Australian expat club in Riyadh... And guess who's going to his first black-tie function at the Embassy for Melbourne Cup?


Good thing I told him to pack a suit, although, apparently, designer clothing is insanely cheap over there, and he could pick up an Armani or Hugo Boss suit for less than $500.

Hmmmmm.. Furry in Armani?

Hawt!

Although, until he starts drawing a wage, he'll just have to get the maid to air out his good old Aussie David Jones microfibre one! (Yes, I just casually said "maid". He also has a "driver".. more on that next post.)

So, with Furry as done and dusted as he can be during this hideous long and drawn out process of him actually becoming officially employed, I am adjusting to single life once again.

And I have to admit, I LOVE it.I get ALL the bed real estate to myself, I can have yoghurt for dinner, I am not serenaded by Furry "humming me a love song with his nose" overnight, and I can do what I want, when I want.

I am taking Arabic lessons (emphasis on food terms and shopping skills), and...as always.. shopping and cooking seasonally.

The Spring weather is a bit fickle at the moment, so we're going from the heater on overnight, to the cooler on by the time we get home. It's playing havoc with my menus! But recently, World's Best Son and I bought up big on broad beans.

Now, broadbeans are a much maligned veggie. Most people my age remember them as vile, bitter, grey nasty lumps of pap.

Which they most certainly are if not cooked properly. When prepared correctly, they are delicious sweet nuggets of legume-y goodness.

pg and Lima Bean's Asparagus and Broadbean Bruschetta.

Buy good bread. We chose a pasta dura from our local bakery and we cut it into doorstop wodges. While Lima Bean toasted these and rubbed them with some freshly cut garlic, I podded the broadbeans and snapped the asparagus.

Bring a pot of water to a rapid boil and throw in the asparagus. after 1 minute, throw in the broadbeans. Let them cook for a further 1 minute or until the asparagus is vivid green.

Drain and refresh in cold water.

Drain again.

Pick up each individual broadbean and squeeze it. Out should pop the most brilliant emerald green nugget. Discard the grey skin... this is the source of all your childhood angst. THIS is the offending wrapper that has assigned broadbeans along with Brussels sprouts as the 2 most maligned veggies in history.

Fry up some bacon/pancetta/prosciutto, combine with beans, asparagus, maybe some shaved leek and some crumbled fetta. Drench the whole shebang in some fresh lemon juice, a goodly slurp of olive oil some freshly ground salt and a generous grind of fresh black pepper. Mix all together, top bread with said mix and scoff.

And the next day, add some freshly cooked and peeled prawns to it and you gots an amazing seafood dish for some lovely organic bucatelli! (I reheated it over a low heat with a small knob of unsalted butter)

And, because Lima Bean is possibly the funniest, smartest young man in the world, the conversation over said scoffage was all about Dan Savage and inscrutability, so I offer you:

Did you know that my left nipple is really the vestigial nose tip of my malabsorbed twin?

Hey, you TOTALLY just read that on the Internet so it MUST be true!!

**snigger**

So, if you think that random "information" and "facts" gleaned from the "Interwebs" are permissible as "facts" or indeed, "evidence", I gots me some cyber "real estate" you might be interested in.

You might also want to look up the definition of "poetic licence" and "satire" and "semi-fictitious"

Have fun, kiddies!!

I told you so.

It must be the season for smug self-righteousness. Today, in SMH/the age:

Rising prices are the work of our food giants, not landlords

MICHAEL BAKER

December 1, 2009

As all of the excitement ebbs from the much anticipated replacement of one Canberra political hack with another, Australian consumers will now refocus on the things that concern them most in the runup to Christmas. This includes the price of food.

University of NSW professor, Frank Zumbo, recently made waves by drawing attention again to what makes execs at Woolworths and Coles absolutely squirm—that food prices in this country are growing at a faster rate than anywhere else in the developed world.

The professor's explanation was pretty simple, basically that the Big Two raise prices faster than their foreign counterparts because they can get away with it. Why? Because they own 80 per cent of the market.

Read the full article here.

More and more I realise that most people out there are sheeple. And particularly truculent, habitual sheeple at that. Maybe because I am an old lefty hippy at heart, and believe in the collective ju-ju of "people power", but we (YOU!) have no-one to blame but yourselves.

This wee blog has been ranting on for just over 2 years. Others like Sticky, Grocer, the now-defunct Gobbler, Frog's Pond Rock and many more are all tooting various versions of the same horn.

It was the glorious Froggie who was shunned as "the ferals up the hill" when choosing to live as sustainable lifestyle as possible.

Me? I don't get shunned, but I still have friends and family who look at me with that endearing moist-eyed, pitiful smile when I tell them I buy most of my produce at small independent supermarkets, or at farmer's markets. They think it's a game to come to a BBQ at my house, bringing with them their pre-fab Slaveways coleslaw and asking "where did this come from" as they poke my Rutherglen Lamb.

It's like recycling. Once upon a time, it was only loonies like me who recycled. Now everyone does it without a thought. Some of us have been saving water for years. Now even the most hard-hearted right winger gets a twinge of conscience at taking a long shower (Except for Tony Abbott who I suspect takes perverse delight in singing all the verses of "American Pie" during his morning ablutions)

So I will brook no whingeing from the "but groceries are oh-so-expensive" crowd, because there ARE alternatives. And the information about those alternatives is easily accessible and valid.

Once again, I jump up on my soapbox and point out that shopping the way I and many other do IS CHEAPER THAN SHOPPING AT COLES AND WOOLIES.

So shut up all you numpties with your designer grocery bags, and your "free-range" eggs. You're still shopping at Coles or Woolies for all your posturing. If you are REALLY serious about saving money AND doing something nice for the planet, get to your local farmer's markets, learn about seasonal produce, source an ethical supplier and buy the other stuff like toothpaste and bog-roll at Aldi and IGA

SOLE Butcher.

Kerrie Road Butchers
6 Kerrie Rd
Glen Waverley, VIC 3150
(03) 9802 0857

I often rave about my local butcher. When I first started shopping SOLE, he was the first person I approached with my tentative "Where is this stuff actually from?" questions. Instead of withering my budding SOLE shoots, he enthusiastically answered me, and gave me the confidence to delve deeper, and become more confident in approaching my providers. And it recently occurred to me, that I talk about him a lot, but I've never given him a shout out. I've reviewed spices from interstate, olive oil from overseas, but never given my humble, local butcher a shout out.

All snags made on the premises

And here's the thing. A few people who've gone to John, as a result of reading this blog, get back to me surprised that it's so "normal". I don't quite know how to respond to that. Maybe any butcher associated with me should have Nag Champa burning, statues of Amateratsu in the window, Baba Yaga flavoured sausages and wrap their roasts in Feminist coloured paper.

And here's the thing. In offering to take some snaps and do this post for the guys, I realised how absolutely bloody normal the place is. It's a bog standard suburban butcher shop. There is nothing overtly SOLE (whatever that means) about it.

It's the questions that you have to ask, that unlocks this unprepossessing shop's SOLE.

All the beef and lamb are sourced from Cardinia, the chooks from the Mornington Pen. They stock free range chooks and eggs from Lilydale, and their pork comes from Hastings. They smoke all their own small goods on the premises, make their own snags (we're having the chicken and asparagus tonight), corn their own beef. They do a sensational range of boerwors sausages and biltong (dried jerky, South African style). They stock the ubiquitous marinated chicken wings and schnitzels, but their standard T-bone is some of the best beef eating around.

All pretty bog standard stuff. The difference with the guys at Kerrie Road, is that they have realised that "We travel all over Victoria to bring you the best!" ISN'T necessarily the answer the punters today want to hear.

Jells PArk Farmers Market.

Well.. on a cold and wet Melbourne day, young Joon and I headed off to the inaugural Jells Park Farmers Market. You enter from the south side of the park, via Ferntree Gully Road. The council, in its wisdom, is doing road works at the entrance at the moment, so actually finding the entrance is a bit of a nightmare, but that will be a temporary set back. We got there at 8.15, and parking was plentiful and free.

There were about 20 stall set up, and all the stall holders I spoke to were friendly and cheerful.. and knew their stuff. They were all very accommodating to me, asking to take photos and pestering them with my tricky SOLE questions!

First stop was Nar Nar Goon Fruit:



Nar Nar Goon is probably only 20 mins from Glen Waverley, and the stall had a good selection on in-season fruit, both first and second quality, and had samples for snackage.



Next stop was Jeni's Eggs.



Owner Adrian guarantees that his chooks are not de-beaked, free to roam, hormone and antibiotic free, and are fed natural grains, as well as being free to scratch around and eat natural chook tucker.



I think they're prices are excellent and definitely on par with a similar quality egg bought at the Spewpermarket! We'll be having Jeni's eggs for breakky, in fact Furry is working on that right now!

They're from Yabba North and can be contacted on 0448 328 418 or jeniseggs@bigpond.com

Next stop was Cocoa Rhapsody for some NASAA certified and guaranteed Fair Trade chocolate.



All their chocolates are hand crafted in Melbourne, and their farmers market special contains 70% Mount Buffalo hazelnuts



Their web site is wwwcocoarhapsody.com.au, or you can call Floyd Millar on 0407 290 176 or email at floyd@cocoarhapsody.com.au

Next visit was the WE LOVE CAKE flavour station (0432 588 348, email at flavour-station@hotmail.com). Joon purchased their choc mud cake



and a date loaf which apparently you can heat and serve just like a pudding.



Joon was having morning tea with a friend, and I will get back to you with a review when we catch up next week.

Next stop was:



Boosey Creek Cheese is from Northern Vic, just out from Katamite, and is run by three generations of the Cameron family (sorry guys, the photo of both of you didn't turn out! Maybe next market when my hands aren't shaking with anticipation!)

Newborn calves are hand reared, and then left to the open paddock until they can be milked. All cheese are made on the family farm from the Fresian-Holstein herd



I samples the Oma's favourite, a gouda-style cheese with cumin.



But what I walked away with was a bag of Burramine Blue, the cheese that won the DIAA Victorian Dairy Product Silver medal this year!



What happened with the last batch was, that on tasting, it was found to be luscious and flavourful, but too hard.. so the Cameron's grated it up and sell it in bags for $5.00. I am planning a pork roast with sauerkraut, apple, walnut and blue cheese stuffing!

Boosy Creek Cheese is at 734 Grinter Road, Boosey, 3730, email is info@booseycreekcheese.com.au or call 0409 307 320.

On to The Gourmet Provider (mathesonclan@yahoo.com.au)



They provide a range of meats and cheeses from King Island, Lilydale free-range chickens, Otway free-range pork and Timboon farm bred rabbits. The couple behind the jump were just lovely and none of my pesky SOLE questions stumped them... we got talking so much, I forgot to get any of the pork, and nearly walked away without paying for my one purchase!!



What I DID buy was a Timboon farm bread, hormone-free rabbit. They come frozen, as TGP get a once a week delivery. At $14 a bunny, I want the very best, and was provided with a recipe sheet. Look out for Sauteed Rabbit with Sour Cream and Bacon next week! Poor Joon, who keeps bunnies as pets couldn't even stand to be next to me, as I made my purchase! She did however, get a slab on King Island beef for roasting, and at $20, was outstanding value.

Next stop was



Little Creek Cattle Company. I had heard much about these guys, and was chuffed to find them at the Market. They are from Coldstream, in the Yarra Valley, which is about 45 mins from Glen Waverley. I purchased a topside roast for $14! Thet are members of the Yarra Valley Regional Food Group and guarantee no hormones and no organophosphates. All meat is dry aged and they deliver to your door. You will find them at http://www.littlecreekbeef.com and on 0419 887 712. I did the topside roast for dinner last night, just a plain old-fashioned roast with jacket potatoes, kumara and vine tommies and it was divine! The texture of the meat was silky and tender, and the flavour was outstanding!

I was also thrilled to find The Convent Bakery from Abbotsford was there, and I bought a ciabatta. I had heard so much about the quality of their wood fired oven bread, and I wasn't disappointed! The ciabatta was dense and chewy, and will be perfect with my egg and bacon breakfast that Furry is currently conjuring up!



The last purchase was from Blue Bay Cheese, a very sharp Cheddar.. it was divine, but pricey at $9.00 for 250g

So here are my goodies!!



Next market is September 20. Mark it in your diaries and GO THERE!!!