ANZAC Day '10

It's 9.16, and the old Diggers are marching from the RSL, to the wreath-laying ceremony at the Cenotaph.

It's ANZAC Day, today.

I have mixed feelings about ANZAC Day. I am not much for the "mateship forged on blood-soaked foreign shores" myth. That belongs to another generation. The ones who actually fought. Neither am I one for glorifying the war machine- for a while there, in my 20's I was a card-carrying member of Women Against Rape (In War). The "great sacrifice" confuses me, as does the "fought for our freedom" line of thinking. (But that might have more to do with the fact that Australian History was an elective when I was at school, and the subject "History" was solely focused on British and European schools of thought). The ANZAC march is something that calls me on a completely visceral level, and I am not too sure what it is or why.

But, I defy anyone not to be moved by the image of a single beam of light, and a sole bugler playing "The Last Post". There is something poignant about the simplicity of this ritual.

What I think about during the minute's silence, is the fresh-faced pictures of the young men, who honestly believed they were off on a "lark". Whether that be in Vietnam, or Fromelles or Kabul.

I think about the ages of my children, and the pictures of the reality of Villiers-Breteneux and Rabaul and Mogadishu.

I think about the complete senselessness of battles like Gallipoli, Kokoda and Guadalcanal.

And that's probably it, for me. The sheer senselessness of the whole war caper. Yet, I have the acknowledge, that there is SOMETHING about the whole ANZAC myth that pervades us, culturally. It's why I still cry when I hear Albinoni's "Adagio" (the music played at the end of the movie "Gallipoli"). It's why the simple few lines of "The Ode" leave me trembling.

When I go to War Cemeteries, it's always their ages that upset me the most.

That whoever the were, as young as they were, They died. And I need to, in some way, remember them.

So today, I got up at sparrows, to rug up against the brutal wind coming straight off the sea, and stood with other people of my community, to attend the Dawn Service at Dromana RSL.

And, in true Aussie spirit.. the spirit that speaks to me so much more than the Gallipoli myth, after the Service.. the poignant, visceral, moving, simple but brutal service, we all trooped into the dining room and eat. And laugh. And drink (free beer for breakfast and a not-so-subtle bottle of Bundy doing the rounds). And THAT larrikin spirit, where a profoundly anti-war ageing hippy can sit next to a decorated Navy vet, and his soon-to-join-the Army grandson, eating pretty dodgy eggs, bacon, snags and beans provided by CFA vollies.. THAT is what the "Aussie Spirit" means to me.

Fru Fru Fruit!

The Splitter’s Creek Fruit Company are not local to the Mornington Peninsula. They are a young couple from Albury. But you can forgive them this, when they tell you that they come down to do the Red Hill Market, and to stay with their Granny, who lives around the corner.

According to these guys

“People don’t make cordial any more. Even finding a recipe is a challenge. Cordials are now artificially coloured and flavoured, part of the junk food culture of the Twenty-First Century: Maximum sugar for the lowest price”.

Could we love them any more?? You can read more about their environmental commitment here.

The art of making cordials has almost been lost, even thought their history is rich and well recorded. Arnold de Vila Nova, the Catalan alchemist wrote in the 13^th Century of aqua vitae flavoured with herbs and spices, and believed they were divinely inspired from Heaven.

The good thing about the Splitter’s Creek Cordials is that all their products are made without preservatives. And the colours of the bottles will entrance you!!

And with flavours like Pink Lady and Raspberry (simmered with roasted black peppercorns for kick!, Granny Smith Apple and Ginger (which, I am told is awesome with warm water!), Pineapple and Star Anise, these are a pleasant change from the cloying sweetness of the Cottee’s of my childhood.

Our favourite was the Blood Orange and Coriander.

Watch out for them. They’re changing their name to Fru-Fru Cordials, soon

This little piggie went to market!

Market season on the MP has nearly finished for this season. Balnarring is done, and Red Hill has just one more on May 2nd.

Red Hill is the 'grand dame' of Victoria's craft markets.It began on the Red Hill Recreation Reserve in 1975 as a truly community event, where local producers and crafts people bartered their goods with each other.Bartering no longer takes place, but the atmosphere, colour and excitement of those early years is still there. We go for the fresh produce and the insanely good food. Like all markets, there are some gems and some tragedies, but at Red Hill, there are some truly outstanding gems.

First up are the gourmet tarts from Bridge Farm Organics. This weekend they were doing a caramelised onion, and also an asparagus and Gruyere cheese.

The cases were  true short crust and had clearly been blind-baked. It's this sort of attention to detail that makes food like this memorable.They were sensational. As well as tarts (both sweet and savoury), they sell organic produce, this weekend being the last of the seasons asparagus and some wonderful rhubarb.

Next stop was the Crepe Man. We usually get one of his enormous crepes at the Balnarring market.  They're made of rice/chickpea flour and they're HUGE... at least the size of a car tyre, but so amazingly thin.

Our favourite is the olive, sun dried tomato and moz. One crepe, at $6 is enough for 2.. believe me. 

Next stop was a newbie for us, the Gilbert and Marcel mini-cakes. These perfect morsels are no bigger than a 50c piece. 

A perfect size for tasting several of their tempting choices. Furry opted for their mini pecan pie, but he was shaking so much with anticipation, the photo didn't turn out!!!


I wish I'd had a ruler, or a matchstick for scale, these things are just a perfect two-bite size!!

 

Don't they look wonderful in the early morning sunlight??

There were a couple more outstanding stalls, so good in fact, there are going to get posts of their own later in the week.

Balnarring Market

Balnarring Racecourse, Coolart Road, Balnarring, Melway ref. 163 H9

Balnarring Market, sister craft market of the famous Red Hill Market, has only one more week left, this Market Season. Balnarring Market runs from Nov to April every year, at Balnarring Racecourse. The ROTARY BALNARRING RACECOURSE CRAFT, ART & FRESH PRODUCE MARKET is a Community Project of the Rotary Club of Hastings Western Port. All profits go back into community projects and includes projects for youth, aged care,the disadvantaged and the local CFA Brigades. Support local markets and you are supporting the local communities.

Markets are held every 3rd Saturday from November to April, from 8am to 1pm.

Balnarring Market is probably one of the most picturesque markets in Melbourne, the stalls are set out between the Manna gums, and Kookaburra's laugh at you as you shop. Last week, we purchased 2 blueberry trees for the garden (stand-by for 2 years and there'll be some berries), partook of a most awesome vegetarian crepe for breakkie, picked up all the fruit and veg we needed for a weekend for $10 and came home with an awesome geko sculpture for the front of Chez Fur.

Next Market (the last one for the season) is on April 11th.

See you there!

Sunday Sundae.

Further more to my series on wonderful things to do on the Mornington Peninsula, I bring you the Sunny Ridge Strawberry Farm, a Mornington Peninsula institution. The kids can pick (and eat on the sly) while Mums and Dads sit back and enjoy a coffee... or in this case a FREAKIN" huge sundae. I had the Knickerbocker Glory, while Furry had a couple of Uber-Strawberries dipped in white chocolate, and Mme Mouse had the scones and jam platter.


They also sell an amazing array of strawberry products such as wine and freeze-dried strawbs. The kitzchy gft shoppe stocks various fondue sets, strawberry soap and incense, but at the end of the day, you're there for the sundaes!!

The Sunny Ridge property was purchased by Pietro and Rosa Gallace in 1964. Originally an apple and cherry farming area, it wasn't until 1968 that strawberries were first grown.

One of the couple's sons, Mick fell in love with the fruit and in 1975 it had become the dominant crop on the farm, which is now run by Mick and his wife Anne.

Currently the largest strawberry producer in Australia, Sunny Ridge now spans 350 acres of land with properties in Main Ridge and Boneo. The property now grows strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, cherries, and avocados.

Sunny Ridge Strawberry Farm

Cnr Shands Rd & Mornington-Flinders

Main Ridge, Victoria, Australia 3928
Ph: +613 5989 4500

Labour Day Weekend

.. So aptly named! Cos it was 17 years ago I spent the weekend giving birth to my very own Lima Bean!!! But, apart from a stunning high tea for his birthday (at which I forgot to take my camera), it was also a weekend of long, lazy mornings, and good food. So, here is the first in a series of half-a-dozen or so posts about my favourite place in the world, Melbourne's Mornington Peninsula

Flame tree in flower at Heronswood

We are blessed to have our holiday house, Chez Fur, so close to one of the Mornington Peninsula's greatest offering, Heronswood

Heronswood Dromana

105 Latrobe Parade
Dromana VIC 3936
Australia

Phone: 03 5984 7321
Fax: 03 5981 4298
Email: info@diggers.com.au
Website: Heronswood Dromana

Heronswood at Dromana on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula is a fabulous garden and the home of Diggers Seeds Club. You can spend hours just browsing around here, relaxing and looking at the view, the garden layout and rare and unusual plants. Its garden is a living catalogue of all the evergreen fruits and vegetables described in the catalogues and books. It is home to over 50 sub-tropical fruits integrated within flower borders.

At Heronswood there are five separate vegetable gardens and it is within these gardens The Diggers have rescued the best heirloom vegetables. The garden has extensive plantings of flowers, including perennial borders, dry climate and cottage, annual gardens.

Much of the delicious food grown in the garden is served in the wonderful slow food café so not only can you see all the wonderful and rare foods growing but you can taste them too.

Specialises in rare vegetables, flowers and fruits. The Heronswood garden is moving towards drought tolerant species and low water use, so it should be an inspiration for all gardeners. Plan your visit around a meal (with produce sourced from the garden) in the the award winning Heronswood Cafe - a great place to rendezvous with friends.

From VisitVinyards.com.au

Unfortunately, it being a long weekend, we couldn't get in for lunch, so we headed off to Trims, one of the loveliest, and relatively unknown gems on the MP.

Trim`s Of McCrae
691-695 Nepean Hwy
MCCRAE VIC 3938

(03) 5986 1669

(Directly opposite the McCrae Lighthouse)

One of the reasons I love Trims, is that you can pretty much always get a table, their sandwiches and baguettes are INSANELY good and INSANELY cheap, and they also stock a wet chai. It's made by a local lady, and the staff at Trims guard the secret of their supplier very VERY closely. Forget the crap powdered stuff that most people use as the ubiquitous "chai latte", and try this stuff. The spices are all hand ground and bleded, and mixed with organic honey. The result is am amazingly heady blend of floral and spice notes. Furry had a BLT, I had a lean lamb burger, Mme Mouse had a tuna salad on a bagguette, with an orange juice, a wet chai and a Zabaglione-flavoured hot chocolate, it was less than $60!!

Big Day Out

Dromana-Styles!!!

Yes. it's Dromana's favourite festival. Australia Day. Where the Lady Lionesses man the scones and jam stall, the local CFA provides egg and bacon rolls for free, the Coast Guard turns up and lets the kids play all over the boat.



The local high school choir provides a rousing rendition of "Australians all and ostriches" and the kids get their faces painted.



While it might not be BDO, it's Dromana's BDO, and for me, it sums up everything love about being part of a small seaside town. Everyone gets in and lends a hand, the food is dodgy but free to all, the main drag (read: the pier) is cordoned off and people walk around smiling widely.



The sea really IS that blue, there are young women in hiijabs enjoying the petting zoo, Italian opa's are teaching kids how to fish from squid off the end of the pier, and the local Koori tribe has been honoured before festivities begin.



Best.. or worst of all, some poor sap is wandering around in the 37degree Celsius weather, wearing an electric yellow pig suit. Made of foam. As you do.




THIS is Australia at its best.

Menu for Hope. Winners Feedback.

Dear Ella and Ray,

Thanks so much for the use of Chez Fur du Mer this past weekend. We
really enjoyed having the base in Dromana for exploring the
Peninsula. You'll be pleased to know we spent most of our time
eating, or so it seemed. But we didn't get to the Tasting Station or
Darling Park Winery, so we'll have to go back for those another time.
We did have great coffee/meals in Dromana (including dinner at Two
Buoys), and got to Sorrento for breakfast. We also went to
Queenscliffe by ferry, and had another great meal there.

Your home is the perfect place to relax. We especially enjoyed
sitting in the garden (glass of wine in hand of course) reading the
newspapers and watching the birds. It was good to have the tutorial
on the light switches, I don't think we'd have found the one over the
doorway on our own.

Thanks again, it was a treat!

Catherine

SOUL lunch for 25

It's Easter, Eostre, Samhain (here in the Southern Hemi).. whatever it is you celebrate at this time of the year... and like Christmas, it's essentially a Christian holy-day that most people celebrate in an increasingly secular way.

Most Easters in our house mean a trip to Dromana where Furry and I have our wee shack, and also my family has its holiday house, dating back to 1967. Usually we catch up, do an Easter egg hunt for the kiddies and then go out to lunch somewhere as a family. Memorable outings have been the Cape Schanck Country Club, but last years visit to the Safety Beach Golf Club left us all with a bad taste in the mouth. This is a family that consumes my darling mother's Cat's Vom Stew, but even people with taste buds ruined by that particular dish baulked at the swill that was served last year.
So this year, now that the oven is up and running, I have offered to have all the fam to our house. About 25 people all up.

And this is my challenge to myself..

I am going to do a lunch based, as much as I can, on SOLE.

I have ordered my smoked ham and bacon from Coolart Smokehouse (8 Erramosa Road, Somerville, ph: 5977 5733) who source all their beasts from a single sourced free range herd in Hastings.

I am off to the farmers market on Sat morning for the last of the season's tommies, capsicums and asparagus (if I'm lucky)

My sources have yet to find a mushroom supplier down on the MP, but I hold out great hopes of my Greek friends knowing where to get some.

A quick trip to the organic shop on Cape Schanck Road for some free range googie eggs and a few other titbits.

And home via Red Hill Cheesery for some fetta and cheddar

Shopping SOLE-y AND having a lovely relaxing drive at the same time!

Now... if someone can tell me where to get SOLE pizza bases or pita breads, so I don't have to make my own dough I'll be a happy camper!

Bloggers Banquet #2

Saturday April 5th

From 12.30

Chez Fur du Mer.
(Dromana)

After the success of last year's much-blogged about Bloggers Banquet, organised by Ed, over at Tomato, I thought it might be time for another one.

BYO everything.

We'll have the oven up and running.. both the wood-fired one, and the indoor one if needed. We'll also have the BBQ up and going, with the wok burner, should anyone need it.

Email me at minor_deity1 (at) hotmail (dot) com. and I'll give you the actual address. Please include a link to your blog, so I know that you are a bona fide Aussie Food Blogger.

Y'all know that it's in Dromana, which is about 1 hrs drive from Melb.

Maybe some of you inner city guys could carpool??

Come, celebrate the last day of daylight savings!!

Interstate bloggers welcome.

A Tale Of Two Breakfasts (part 2)

After whining and moaning and sleeping most of Saturday, I had a severe case of cabin fever. Despite the fact my back was aching like a beeotch, Furry convinced me to jump in the car and go for a drive. The original idea was to head down to Sorrento and do a pie tasting for the new collaborative blog I am proud to be a part of, Piecon.

Sadly, it was not going to happen. 10 mins into the trip, my back was in spasm and I was sorely missing my Nurofen. So we ended up at a new venture in Dromana, D'alia.

D'alia is in the building that used to be the local hardware. And despite an extensive refit, it still feels like it. The space is too big. And it reeks of "let's reap the massive Summer tourist dollar", right down to the kids playground at the back.

Good on them, I say.

The decor is generic trend. Monochromatic mission brown and white.

I ordered the eggs Benedict. And, as you can see from the photo, it arrived sans garnish of any sort. It looked strangely bland. And tasted the same. One of the eggs seemed to not have a yolk. No cracked pepper was offered, but there was a pepper shaker with nasty generic white pepper in it.

The muffins were not toasted... naaaasty. The ham was so thin, as to be tasteless. The sauce was weird. Creamy.. not eggy. I don't know if commercial pre-prepared Hollandaise sauce is available, and bugger me backwards with a spoon id it WAS cooked there and then on the premises, but it tasted pre-fab.

It came with a hash brown, which I thought was overkill.

I am putting it down to being the newbies on the block, but it wasn't noice.

On the up side, the breakfast menu was very comprehensive. A big breakie includes the usual suspect, tomatoes, mushies, spinach, snags and umm.... scotch fillet.

The best feature however, was one that few breakfast places offer. Simple Bacon and eggs on toast. No trimmings, no jus, no chutney, no organic free range chevaps, Just. Bacon. And Eggs. On toast.

For $7.50, this was the highlight of the menu.

A Tale Of Two Breakfasts (part 1)

Due to a dodgy lift at work, I strained my back badly this weekend, so Furry decided to spoil me, while I sat around on the couch moaning like a bitch and mainlining Nurofen. Spoilage, in our house, pretty much always comes in the form of food. So I was instructed to sit on my fat butt and keep out of "his" kitchen.

Furry is a great cook, He's not much for poncy food, but does a mean breakkie, insane gow gees and pretty amazing wraps, nachos and other "batch" foods.

He also listens.

So what was presented to me on Saturday morning was thus:

sourdough Turkish bread from the local bakery, toasted. (not a chain bakery, a real live local baker)
1/2 a chorizo sausage, from the local butcher, made on site from locally sourced beasts.
Bacon, as above.
Free range organic eggs, from the Farmers Market (supplier from Red Hill)
1/2 a cheese Kransky (Sadly, from IGA Dromana, source unknown)
A hash brown (also from IGA, but)
topped with Tassie smoked salmon from Angelo's Fresh Fish in Rye.

Serve generously topped with fresh ground black pepper.

Total cost: $15 a serve.

Served with some free trade plunger coffee and a Valium.

No need to eat lunch.



(note the naughty Spewpermarket Kransky hiding in the background. Sorry, they're my breakkie weakness.)

I am so freakin IN, man!!!

New Year Eve evening. We (16 adults and 12 kids) are sitting under the portico somnolent and swollen after consuming 9kgs of pork on a bed of fennel, pomegranate, lemon and orange along with a 5kg schnapper (see recipe in entry below) and a 3kg pinkie done with no trimmings, to let the "caught less than an hour ago" taste shine through.

It's 43C. the wine is flowing, the kids are playing tappity-run cricket in the drive way. We're relaxing in the gloaming and I am basking in the compliments of my friends. Furry is dehydrated and gnarky, having run a woodfired oven at 800c in a 42C day, but no matter.

Talk turns to last years riots on the MP, and the statistical anomaly of 16 friends knowing 29 people who've lost a parent this year. Just the age we are, hey?

The blokes are hatching a plan to rig up microspray jets under the pergola, to mist us for tomorrow's scorching heat. Any excuse for a Bunnings run, eh?

Our reverie is unteruppted by someone calling my name. Someone who sounds as if they're crying. I leap up from my chair and peer over the fence. Our beloved next-door-neighbour Bill and his wife are looking at me mournfully.

It's Bill's Name Day tomorrow. They have 25kgs of lamb, skillfully split and marinated by Bill's brother, waiting to be spit roasted. Bill is 80 and has never celebrated his Name Day since he came to Australia at 17. But now, for reasons unknown, he's decided to. Invited all his family and friends, and has the lamb ready to go. In the bath, as we speak, he explains.

Except. It's a Total Fire Ban tomorrow. The CFA are clear. No. Spit. Roasting.

Can we cook it in our oven for them? I am thrilled to be able to help out Bill and Margaret on such an auspicious occasion. I ignore my inner Mater Beige, telling me I couldn't POSSIBLY do it, I'm not good enough, I'll bugger it up and spoil his day and people will hate me.

A cross-cultural conversation ensures. Is Nick home? He'll know what to do. Maybe Little Nick in Fig Street might have a roasting pan big enough for 25kgs of lamb. You don't know him? He's Big Nick's cousin. No, not Dirty Nick, Big Nick! Yes. the one married to Helen. Not Elena, Helen... the ones from Keilor. Oh, That's CON's cousin.. sorry.

Alas, even after confering with all the Nicks in Little Samos, no-one has a pan big enough for 2 x 12.5 kgs orf lamb. They'll have to be jointed. Bill's heart breaks as his vision of 2 side by side lambikins slowly revolving over a charcoal pit shatters. No matter, he says, his gruff manner hiding his heart break. It's all good, we'll still have lamb. Con and Nick are summond to joint the beasts. Louis is there too, but with a name like that he can't be trusted to do anything but help me wrap them in foil. I might be part-Greek, or "nearly Greek", as Elena likes to tell me, but jointing the carcasses is a job for someone called Toula, or Con, or Ephiginea. Not me.

So, as soon as the clock chimes 12.00, it's off to bed with Furry and I. The alarms are set for 5.30am. I cringe on the inside, remembering how much wine I've consumed, but when you're on the outer circles of the Dromana Greeks, and one of the inner circle ask for your help, you put such things as hangovers aside. Maybe after this we won't be known as "the mad skippies with the oven" any more.

We're up at sparrows fart. The oven is still blood temp, but all the ashes from last night's firing must be removed, and the oven swept clean before we re-fire it. 2 hours of carefully setting last years vine clipping and split red gum before we see the golden glow of the dome. The signal that the oven has reached perfect cooking temp.

I gulp and beat my inner critic areound the ears, as I am solemnly handed tray after tray after tray of this precious lamb. More than anything, I want to help Bill out and contribute in some small way to his name day. If only to say thanks for being the world's best neighbour. Furry and I spend the next 5 hours turning the trays of lamb every 45 mins, to ensure a thorough and even cooking. We periodically baste the lamb in oregano, olive oil and lemon juice.

The smell is heavenly.

The outdoor temp rises to 34+. The temp inside the oven stabilizes at about 550C. We're roasting, in more ways than one. Friends follow through on last night's suggestion and put up the micro-misters under the pergola. Our back are wet through, but we dry off instantly as we return, every 45 mins to the oven for another rotation.

Finally, Bill comes over and pronounces them cooked. It's 1.30, and we've been at it since 5.30am. Furry and our friend Matty and Bill groan under the weight of the lamb as they carry them next door. On Furry's return, I greet him with a St George's beer, and we collapse under the micro sprayers to the cheers and applause of our friends, all who have taken it in turn to rotate the trays, or bring our more marinade, or mop our sweaty brows as they pass us.

I reckon I've lost 5kgs in this mornings sweat bath.

Next door we hear shouts and cheers as Bill and Margaret unveil the perfectly cooked lamb. Throaty shouts of "Yasou Furry!!! Yasou Ella!!" drift over the fence. Bill and Margaret's grandkids, grand nieces and nephews, random kids off all descriptions join our mob in the street for more cricket. Margaret smiles as our god-daughter, Beck goes "slips" in their front yard.

We are sublimely happy.

20 km platter

I've blogged about Darling Park Winery before. Numerous times. Years ago, Furry and I made a random left hand turn, and on the off chance, we ended up there. Since our first visit, DP has become spookily entwined with the life and development of Chez Fur. This is where our wood fired oven came from.

So, This is what DP's tasting room looks like now, a little bit different to last time Furry was there!!!:



So, once again, we tried their local tasting platter.

















Unfortunately There was a Monty Python moment with my favorite cheese, no the cat hadn't eaten it, but it HAD been accidentally frozen when someone turned up the 'fridge.

No matter.. All the more reason to go back NEXT weekend!!!

She got the way to move me...

She got the way to move me, cherry
She got the way to groove me
She got the way to move me
She got the way to groove me

Neil Diamond.

After sampling this seasons dark cherries on the tasting platter at Darling Park, Thanh, Tin, Furry and I went in search of the real thing. Not for us the insipid, bitter offerings of SlaveWay, but the fresh, dark almost meaty goodness of dark chocolaty fruits.

Our noses led us down yet another path less traveled, right to the farmers door.



Where the ubiquitous farm dog came out to say hello.



We tasted cherries of various quality and price.. all were fresh and sweet









We purchased a kilo of "eat 'em now's" and Thanh took home a kilo or so of better quality ones, to munch on this week.

Never EVER buy cherries from ANYWHERE other than the farm gate... It's worth the trip.

A weekend for 2 at Chez Fur...

As part of the Menu for Hope campaign, we have donated a weekend for 2 at Chez Fur. As you will know, dear reader, this is our beloved holiday house, down at Dromana on the beautiful Mornington Peninsula.

The prize consists of 2 nights for 2 people. You will have access to our famous wood-fired outdoor oven!

The house itself, is walking distance from Dromana beach. Take a stroll along the pier at sunset. Have brekkie at Jett, book a lunch date at Salix, grab a haggis burger at The Flash Duck, or head up into the hinterland and check out Darling Park Winery. Explore the wonderful food world of the Mornington Peninsula and you'll see why Furry and I love it so much!!

If you're expecting resort-style accomodation, this ain't it. This is our family owned holiday house, complete with trashy novels and jigsaws with one piece missing!!

The house is open plan style, with warm polished floor boards and semi-matching furniture. It is spotlessly clean and a bottle of local wine will be chillin in the fridge for you. Your bedroom is furnished Asian style, with a futon and gorgeous antique Chinese altar doors on the walls. The bathroom is semi-painted!

The kitchen comprises of a stand alone Eurolec chef's quality oven and the world's dodgiest bench tops.

It's a bit like pg and Furry, and the MP itself, stunningly beautiful in parts, and a work-in-progess in others!!

It's a bit of an anomaly, but it IS a fabulous, central place from which to explore the MP.

The house is yours alone, if you want it. Or Furry and pg are happy to host you. Furry will have you in stitches with his raconteur wit, and pg will cook pretty much anything you heart desires.

Weather permitting, Furry will take you fishing on The Butt, and show you our secret Gummy Shark spots. On return, pg will have a local tapas platter waiting for you, and the wood-fired oven ready to cook your schnapper in!!

If this sounds like your ideal weekend get-away, go.. get bidding!!!!!

Prize code is: AP18

To check out what other lovely goodies you can bid on (not that you'd want to win ANYTHING but a weekend at Chez Fur!!)

go HERE.

Snot Block review.

The Vanilla Slice, aka the Snot block. As Aussie as the lamington or the pav.

People blog about them.

People compete about them.

People make travesties out of them. **Warning.. viewing the recipe in this link may cause some of you to vom**

People do television stories on them.

They are so iconic, people even do this to them.

There are more recipes online for Snot Blocks, that I've had... well... Snot Blocks.

Not for me, the rubberized, gelatinous mass sandwiched between two Sao Biscuits. I want the real deal. Flaky puff pastry, custard that's been whipped until it's fluffy. I am not a fan of VS's with cream between the custard and the top pastry. Makes 'em too hard to chow down on. I like my custard almost cheese cake-like.

Since I've been blogging, I haven't managed to get down to The Conti in Sorrento which, in my humble opinion, has the best VS's I've ever had. Vastly superior to the ones next door at Just Fine Foods, a Sorrento Bakery that proclaims itself to be the home of "The Best Vanilla Slice".

A few weekends ago, Furry and I ate a VS at Flash Duck, in Rosebud (for the full story, click here.)

And here, in glorious Technicolour, are their Vanilla Slices.

They're big. The pretty much fill the salad plate on which they're served.



I got mine nude (no cream or icecream)

The ratio of icing sugar was good. We all know what happens when you open your mouth to cram in a piece of VS and accidentally inhale some of the icing sugar on top. The coughing fit can last up to 2 hours. Believe me, I have seen icing sugar come out of people's noses after doing this. This is NOT GOOD, and can justifiable be called a Vanilla Thriller Killer.

The custard was lighter than the Conti version, a white wine custard whipped with cream, I suspect. This was a good thing, given the amount of food I'd already ingested. I didn't need any further artery-hardening, cheesecake rich dairy produce!!

According to the staff, they're made exclusively for the restaurant by a retired pastry chef in Red Hill.



Peakie allows me to take a photo of her "squish test",



Not the best VS I've ever had.. not the worst.

Get thee down to the Flash Duck and give one a go...

Sticking it to Golden Arches!

Incase you don't know about this, here is the background story. Ian MacDonald runs The Flash Duck. Named so, because, well... he likes ducks, and because McDisgusting Corp. made his change it. Can't have people thinking a resto, with green and black as the predominant colour theme, and a menu that includes vegan burgers and haggis burgers might be confoozed with the tasteless boiled pap that extrudes from the servery windows of Golden Arches, now, can we??

More info on his David and Goliath battle is here at Ian's Blog.

I eat there because a) I'm an old hippie, and any time I can stick it to the Corporation, I take it and also b) because the food is bloody good. The produce is sourced locally and the burgers are hand ground from local scotch fillet.

See??



We went down to FD, with our friends, Peakie and Dr Trevorkian, and had a most pleasant arvo.

A bottle of wine:



I ordered the Thai chicken burger. T'was fragrant with Vietnamese mint, coriander and sweet chili sauce.



Furry and Dr Trevorkian ordered the cleverly named UNOHOOZ burger.. basically, one with the lot.

Peakie, after much deliberation, ordered the haggis burger.



Now. Peakie is a haggis eating FOOL!! This woman knows her haggis. After the Great Gleneagles Haggis and Whisky Creme debacle of 2001, I was not keen to sample it, but after much coaxing and nurturing, I did.

Can't se the point, myself, but Peakie was coo-ing over it. I'll take her word that it was great.



Apparently Ian sources his haggis from a local Scottish butcher in Dandenong,

Check out the resto's site: The Flash Duck. and go there. And eat REAL hamburgers.


Oh, and another reason to go.... the support these guys:

Land Of Smiles Foundation.