My enablers.

Hi. I'm pg. I'm a manners Nazi, inveterate snob, book whore and foodie.

And my son, The Lima bean is my enabler.

As some of you know, he took 2010 off as a gap year, before he's off to join the Army (to train as a helicopter pilot... he's too tall to fit into a jet, according to the ADF!)

So where does the son of a book whore and foodie choose to work during his gap year?

IN A BOOK SHOP IN CAMBERWELL!!!

It's kinda like a smack addict having a son who works in a meth lab.

So, while the north of my country experiences the worst flooding in history, with 75% of the state of Queensland declared a state of emergency, it's also pissing down here in Melbourne Town.

Not to the extent of what's going on up North, but enough that Lima Bean and his most beautiful and succulent girlfriend, The Pussy Kat, made me a deal this morning.

Drive them to work in Camberwell and they'd buy me breakfast. AND bring me home a book (Geoffrey Robertson's treatise on why the Canonical legal system of the Vatican encourages and perpetuates paedophilia, no less!)

**sigh**

I hate that my son knows how to enable me.

So we braved the rain, the tram tracks, the aqua-plane-ing of the car, the plethora of dickhead drivers through the Camberwell junction and finally made it to Cattivo.

Now if you are a languages freak (as opposed to a language/spelling/grammar/syntax freak, of which I am both.), you'll know that cattivo is Italian for "naughty" as in bad or wicked. It's possibly derived from the Latin "capttivus" meaning "caught by the Devil"

And Cattivo has captivate me in just one sitting.

From the communal table, to the funky retro 50's music (sets at an excellent volume), to the waft of fresh ginger as they freshly squeezed our breakfast juice (I ordered orange, pineapple, carrot and ginger), everything was perfect.

Including the waitresses response to me ordering "I'd like you to move the entire cafe closer to where I live, please"

**wink**

I had the omelette with pancetta, fresh tomato and spinach.

It was perfection on a plate.

The portion size was just right, the omelette was light and fluff and thick, no scrimping on the eggs, and it was folded over the other ingredients, rather than having them incorporated into the omelette itself, which is the "proper" way to fill an omlette. The heat of the omlette warmed up the tomatoes and spinach, so they retained their fresh characteristics, which lent a quite different flavour and texture than if they had been cooked in with the egg mix.

It was served with a single piece of perfectly toasted sourdough.

The only down side? pre-packed butter.

Served with a knob of Lurpak, this would have achieved taste-varna.

Lima Bean and The Kat had the crepes, made fresh and filled with ricotta, topped with fresh strawberries and a glaze that tasted like it had organic honey in it.

Not my cuppa tea for breakfast, but they loved. it.

Urban spoon says:



In a town where breakfast restaurants are more frequent and on every corner, much like McArches, and most serve food of the same McArches standard, it's quite awesome to find a breakfast place, that has a commitment to using fresh ingredients in a really respectful way.

Awesome.

pg says stop what you;re doing, whatever it is, right now, and go there.

Bake A Difference this Xmas

Every year, the lives of thousands of disadvantaged Australians are transformed by the support of Mission Australia. This Christmas, please join with CSR Sugar to give others a fair go by baking gifts for your loved ones, friends and co-workers and donate the money saved from buying presents to Mission Australia.

In return, CSR Sugar will match your donation, dollar for dollar, up to a total of $100,000.

“With everyone’s support we could raise a massive $200,000…” says Toby Hall, CEO of Mission Australia

“… that would go a long way to help transform the lives of so many people”.

All money raised will go directly to support Mission Australia’s key services helping individuals, families and communities in need. Mission Australia strives to transform lives and create a fairer Australia.

“We really want everyone to get involved in this great cause…” says Tim Hart CEO of CSR Sugar “…from kids cooking a sweet gift for Mum or their teacher, to friends who just want to give a gift that is made from the heart and helps those less fortunate. It’s very simple Bake a Difference and donate the dollars you saved to a great cause.”

Everyday is a time of giving but even more so this Christmas. The GFC is over and even though the interest rates have gone up again, many of us are the still the fortunate ones. There are many that are homeless or have little money to enjoy and celebrate this festive season.






So, this Christmas pop on an apron, grab a whisk and bowl, and get baking a gift your loved ones are really going to love. Make sure you’re a part of CSR Bake a Difference for Mission Australia.


The very delicious Jeroxie is hosting this event,

You don’t have to be a food blogger to join in. Just as long as you have a blog, you will be able to post your recipe. As with all events, there are a few simple rules to follow:




Please cook/bake or create a dish that includes sugar and also embrace the Christmas theme

Add a link back to the host, Jeroxie (http://jeroxie.com/addiction) and also to the donate page on CSR Bake a Difference (http://www.bakeadifference.com.au/Donate.aspx)

Include CSR Bake A Difference logo in the blog post. Please copy and paste the HTML code provided.



Please submit your post by the deadline of 14th of December 2010 and also send your entries to events [at] jeroxie (dot) com with Bake A Difference in the subject line and the following details:



Your name

Your Blog Name/URL

Your Post URL

A photo that is 600px X 400px

Your mailing Address (for the thank you package)

All participating bloggers will receive a THANK YOU package from CSR Sugar as a form of appreciation. And a round up of all the creations will be showcased both on Jeroxie's and CSR Sugar Facebook page

BULLBOARS!!!

Oh!

My!

Giddy!!

Aunt!

My love of bullboars snags is well known. I have been known to beg friends who were doing a weekend trip to Daylesford, to bring me back a Winter's worth. Or nag Furry into taking me away to Spa Country, on the premise of a dirty weekend, when really my hidden agenda is to get my hands on these specialty sausages.

Slow Food Australia says:

THE bull-boar is a beef and pork sausage produced by the Italian-speaking Swiss population of the Victorian goldfields since the 1850s. It is not known why so many Swiss-Italian immigrants chose to settle in and around this area. Certainly there are similarities to the northern Italian and Swiss mountainous regions, and of course language barriers made it important to congregate together. Some Swiss and Italians made their fortune on the goldfields, but the less lucky saw their future in agricultural pursuits, such as wine-making and dairying, as well as using other skills such as stone-masonry. Many agricultural and social activities still survive in today’s community, along with many names of Swiss and Italian origin.
Spices, wine and garlic make bull-boar a distinctive sausage. The recipe is at risk of extinction in the Swiss/Italian population because of the huge investment and time and labour to make a batch of these sausages. To Italian immigrants, it was simply referred to as salsiccie or ‘sausage’.
It was called bull-boar on the goldfields by the English-speaking settlers because it contained both beef and pork in roughly equal proportions, with lean beef and pork that is roughly half fat and lean. The sausage is made with wine in which garlic has steeped and has a sharp, almost ‘high’ taste. It is less fatty than most sausages so can feel slightly dry. It is full of spices such as cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and allspice, so during cooking it releases an aroma like a meaty hot cross bun.
Every family in the district has their own recipe which are all carefully guarded secrets. In many instances, apart from their family name, it is their last link with their Italian-speaking forebears who settled the area. The traditional way of cooking bull-boars is to drop them into a pot of water and then bring it to simmering point for 10 minutes.
Today, bull-boar sausage is made by a handful of local butchers. There is danger of the name being used to produce inferior product. In Hepburn Springs – a center of Swiss-Italian immigration – an annual festival celebrates local food traditions, including bull-boar sausage.

 All of the above aside, I now no longer have to beg, borrow or steal, to get my hands on 'em.

BULLBOARS SAUSAGES ARE NOW AVAILABLE IN SUBURBAN MELBOURNE!!!

Steve, of Ozzie's butchery on Mount Waverley, is a Daylesford expat, who has set up an awesome SOLE/SLOW butcher shop in Hamilton Place, Mt Waverley. He will also age steaks to your specs. Try his smallgoods, made and smoked on the premises, and his bacon is AMAZING!!

Stop what you're doing right now and go there!

Ozzies Gourmet Butcher

http://maps.google.com/?cid=5444028998609850646s=7698411050273480579

Place page

55 Hamilton Place
Mount Waverley VIC 3149, Australia
(03) 9809 5208

A sick day

I'm the first to admit that I am terribly accident prone. Tearing rotator cuff muscles pole dancing, breaking 3 tarsals falling of a pair of 4inch purple suede CFM's... that sort of thing. But I don't get sick very often.

Well, ok, I get sick. I bitch and moan and mainline congee. BUT.. I still keep on going. With kids and dogs and husband that like to blow shit up, I don't have much choice.

Or maybe I am just lucky enough to RARELY get sick enough to actually warrant time off.

So, today, after spending the night at Monash Medical Centre on endone and a drip or two, dealing with heart palpatations and diverticulitis. I have a real, live sick day! Apart from a quick jaunt up for a CT scan, I actually am sick enough to stay at home!!

Welcome to my first real proper sick day in 7 years! It's almost worth the photophobia.

So today's AGITK comes to you from my couch, wherein The Lima Bean (who has the day off, thank goodnesss) is feeding me ginger ale, roast chicken and tabouleh in fresh Vietnamese rolls.

And we're watching "The Dark Crystal" and a SMOKING hot Jake Gyllehaal in "Prince of Persia"

I am ALL over this sick day business!

Hello, I'm pg and I'm a...

phaffer.

I come from a long line of phaffers. My Mum's a phaffer, my father was a world-class phaffer, and I fear my children have inherited the phaff gene.

So, I'm home from work, I've completed my nighly phaff (clean the kitchen in prep for starting dinner, put on load of washing, answer personal emails), I've got me a brandy and dry, to ease me into the weekend, and as one does, a goddess' thoughts turn to dinner.

Here's what's happening on the stove right now:

 

Not a bad action shot, hey? Further to my impening move to Saudi Arabia, I've sprinkled them with a mix of Rasa al'Hanout. I'm thinking of mandhi smoking them, once they've melted a bit.

And in true phaffer style, I'm not too sure where I am going with this, but I'll let you know.

Addendum:

In true phaffer style, I took inspiraion from last weeks broad bean bruscetta, and created this:

See, that's what phaffing is all about. It's opening the 'fridge half a dozen times and weighing up how well saganaki would fo with broadbeans. It'd about starting off with a Middle Easten profile and the realising that the last of the shredded smoked chicken would  totally work with that! It's about World's Best Son, the Lima Bean sniffing and tasting and choosing to add some smoked sea salt and fennel.

And while phaff-style cooking doesn't always work, and is NOT for the faint-hearted, when it comes together, as last nights "smoked chicken, broadbean, saganaki and slow roasted tomato bruscetta" did, it's worth it!

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

I can haz....

iqama?

YES I CAN HAZ IQAMA!!!!!