Green & Black’s Chocolate: 70% Brownie with White Chocolate and Macadamia

A little parcel was swiftly delivered to the office last week: a gift of some Green & Black’s chocolates to have a play with. Awesome. How did they know I love free chocolate?

Some bars of goodness: Green and Black's organic and fairtrade deliciousness!

Having guests to dinner on Thursday night, I did some browsing through the cookbooks… perhaps chocolate pots? not enough setting time.. nothing where chocolate would be overly disguised, this is lush organic chocolate here, people!… maybe self-saucing puddings? With a vague idea, flatemate Gen and I set off for a morning of errands, first stop, the newly opened Surry Hills Library and Community Centre (oh, how do I love thee? let me count the ways! I am unashamedly: 1. a big fan of public buildings, 2. a public servant to the core, 3. fanatical about sustainably and well designed spaces, and 4. my father’s daughter) for some free WIFI and general archi-philia. If you haven’t been yet, go, immediately. I mean, if you’re in Sydney and are into that kind of thing

Anyway, at the Library Gen found a copy of the Divine Heavenly Chocolate Recipes with a Heart by Linda Collister for Divine Chocolates, which has a whole section on Brownies, and our mind was made. Brownies would allow the Green & Black’s chocolate to shine through, and I could use both the 70% and the white chocolate in one dessert, with no fussy layering or 2 batters! AND, I could bring out my new (old?) 1940’s swift-whip – Miss C and I recently became the proud owners of a matching pair of apple green handled swift-whips circa 1940 and 1950 respectively (see this ad!), and I was itching for an opportunity to try mine out! Brownies: the solution to so many of life’s problems, as already discussed previously on the puku… what can’t brownies do?!

getting my Swift-Whip on

I checked out the Divine book and studied their recipes, but didn’t follow any – theirs varied so much in ratios of chocolate bar to eggs to flour etc I felt pretty confidant making my own way.

Green & Black’s 70% Brownie with White Chocolate and Macadamia

Melt a 100g bar of Green and Black’s 70% chocolate and set aside. cream 125g softened butter with 250g sugar (sure, use castor if you’re into it), add pinch of salt, dash of vanilla essence and 3 eggs, then the chocolate, and whip swiftly (if you have the right tool, that is).

Fold through 100g plain flour, a cup of macadamia pieces (raw, unsalted ones – though actually salted would be interesting too… or of course, use any other nut you like) and a chunkily chopped 100g bar of Green and Black’s White Chocolate, which is deliciously flecked, creamy and fragrant, not at all like the bleached waxy blocks you normally see. TRY not to eat too much of the batter, try to stop everyone else (Karin!) eating too much of the batter. It is a really delicious batter!

Blob into a shallow baking tray (I used my previously mentioned 31×25cm trusty Willow lamington tray) and vaguely spread it out evenly. Bake @ 180 degrees C for 20 minutes, or until nicely crusty on top, but better to undercook and have a fudgy brownie than overcook and have a dry one. Err on the side of fudgy, people!

Serve to guests warm, with cream – swiftly whipped with a generous zesting of lemon and a tiny touch of icing sugar – and then give up, because the rest will now be consumed, in ever decreasing sized squares, while standing guiltily in the open fridge door… and if you live in a house of 5, as I do, make sure to get up as early as you can to do your naturally lit photography, because it will be gone within 24 hours, guaranteed

check out those chunks of white chocolate and macadamia!

Verdict: I LOVED the chocolates (nibbled the 70% and white, still have to try the milk and maya gold – anyone tried?), and loved them in the brownie.. I’d decided not to use any cocoa in the brownie batter so the chocolate at hand could shine, and I was pretty surprised just how intensely chocolately the brownies were, especially with only 1 x 100g block. Both bars were really highly fragrant on unwrapping too, and as mentioned above, the white chocolate was really completely unlike the white chocolate one is used to.. flecked through with vanilla and darkly creamy.. mmm… so delicious eating chocolate, but also performed very well in baking!

I also love the Green&Blacks fairtrade and organic -ness, and although I try to reduce the carbon footprint and all, and so would generally prefer not to be eating chocolate flown from the other side of the globe (made in the UK), I think some exceptions can be made now and then, right? We were discussing the whole food travel conundrum at a party on Saturday night, and decided that the distance limit could be flexible, depending on how much of a treat the food was and how far you would actually be willing to drive to gather it yourself – eg, pumpkins, fruit, dairy, bread, meat etc try and keep it as closely grown as possible, but for a real treat – say mangoes, truffles or spiced cider or handmade hot chocolate? yeah, you might drive 300km… especially if there was also going to be a great party (post coming soon). Anyway, based on this taster, I think Green&Blacks might well be worth a chunk of my carbon allowance from time to time! xxx

Food for the Brokenhearted

About two years ago, I started a draft of a post with this very name; Kiki had had her heart broken and asked me to post on the puku with some heartmending foods.. I thought I’d do something comforting, and then ask you all to tell us what your go-to comfort food was. Sorry Kiki, I never got this past the draft, until now.

I’ve written this post in my head about a hundred times over in the past couple of months, but the words are harder to find than I thought they would be now that I’m sitting here ready to write it. It’s quite simple really (and many of you already know): In March, Tom and I broke up, divided and packed up our 7 years of shared life, and said goodbye.

It broke my heart, completely and utterly and painfully. This probably needs no elaboration for most people – broken hearts are not so uncommon. But a smashed open open heart is nevertheless open, and openness is such a blessed state to be in. So, I let myself be brokenhearted, and here I am. Of course there a SO much more to that story, both gutwrenching and soulsoaring, but essentially, that’s where I’ve been the last few months. Thank you for still dropping by

As for Food for the Brokenhearted, I really wasn’t interested in any of the comfort foods I had thought would be Brokenhearted Food. I had my kitchen in boxes, unpacked in the new place, for weeks – in fact much of it is still packed. nibbling on fetta, sourdough, rocket and tomatoes led to.. boiling pasta: the first sign of cooking.

Then some real Food for the Brokenhearted: escape. I canceled meetings, got on a plane and met friends in Townsville for 10 days. I went to a tropical island (my tropical island! also OUR tropical island, but that’s ok too),

this bay is one of my favourite places on earth

I walked, I lay in the sun, I swam, I talked and cried and drank and laughed. This is Food for the Brokenhearted.

And we at pineapples on the balcony of our A-Frame.

Thank you Miss C for the invite/prompt, and everyone in the Ville for the aroha, laughs, beds and shoulders. And everyone in Sydney/London/NZ/Germany/Finland etc etc etc for the same over the past few months too – love you so much!

So back in Sydney (via a funeral in NZ), boiling pasta expends to sauteing something, a little foray of popping something in the oven (vegetables coated in miso), discussing blogging again, starting to read about food again, and digging through the boxes for a microplane, and then finally baking trays, I surprise Miss C with a text that I am baking and running late to meet her.

I’m baking, I’m taking photos, I am here. Thank you for being here too.

xxxxx z

some songs about food

Before we start with the puku-ing again, lets all get down and loose to some songs about food!

First: Tabbouli.

admit it, you danced along.

now, lets have some hummus with that, o?

and now put on your hoodies so we can go out for some burek!

do you love broccoli? not as much as this chick, methinks!

and just to top it off – that banana and his peanut butter jelly. you will actually want to kill me if you watch this one. seriously, go forth at your own peril.

So, any others out there??

Bright 09: Eating In in Victoria’s Alpine High Country

Here is an overview of a few of the things we whipped up while holidaying in Bright. With friends dropping in, there were 7 to 11 people for meals, which does require some forethought.

I actually love cooking for lots of people (suffering from Over Caterers Anxiety notwithstanding), and we found so many tasty things along our daily adventures to feature on the menu, and it is great fun cooking with friends – we would see something at a market or farm gate shop and start thinking about what we could turn it into later

These are in no particular order, and just photos. If anyone would like some sort of recipe, leave a comment and I will see if I can expand somewhat, but this post was going to be huge if I added more text!

Also, if somehow you haven’t heard already, this part of Australia has suffered a huge tradgedy the last couple of weeks – the worst bushfires in Australia’s recorded history. The loss of lives, both human and wildlife, is incredibly devastating. The ecological, social and economic impacts will go on long after the tv cameras have retreated, and it’s such a complicated issue – no easy answer, no simple solution. My heart goes out to those who have suffered – if you would like to donate money you can go to the Australian Red Cross or Wildlife Victoria.

Artichoke, fetta and hand-chopped basil pesto pasta

hot-smoked fly-caught trout...

.. flaked into sourcream, onion, parsley, lemon zest and juice, salt and pepper...

...and becomes the freshest smoked trout dip in the universe

this lamb was slow roasted with wild fennel, garlic and lemon

yep, we pretty much had cheese for dinner (don't worry, we had wine too!)

mushroom, tomato and spicy sausage pizza

yellow corgette, bacon and brie pizza; potato, herb and blue cheese pizza

the view from the house was terrible, too

grilled herbed farmed trout...

.. goes awful with asparagus, mash and mustard-dressed spinich

constructing picnic sandwiches

another terrible day in the Alps - Falls Creek picnic spot

a meat and 2 veg dinner.. delicious local potatoes = delicious potato salad

POM Wonderful – take one

POM Wonderful – it’s that cute curvaceous bottle of ruby red you might have seen on the supermarket chilled juice shelf recently – yep, the bottle that looks like a kind of harajuku-Betty Boop-Babushka doll – I just want to whack on some thick curly eyelashes and cupids bow lips! hhhmmmm.. I think that’s enough package fetishism for now

So, the marketing company looking after POM Wonderful in Oz/Sydney sent me an email and asked if I’d be interested in receiving some POM to try. I said yes – hello: a) I love free stuff! b) I love pomergranates! c) the bottle is so cute! (see above) d) I’ve been watching the promotional stuff POM has been doing OS (recipe comps, youtube video comps etc) and am interested in how companies are attempting to use social media to market products (although I am happy to be well, well, well out of the media-marketing game now!).

I wanted to try POM a few different ways, but first up we subject her to the Tropical Survival Treatment: fill blender with ice, add ingredient x, chuck in a whole knife peeled lime, flick switch to 3:ICE setting, blitz.

We then topped the glasses with a jeweled handful of fresh pomegranate seeds (also POM brand – get your market cornering on!). Very refreshing – I like that POM Wonderful is not too sweet.

pomergranate squared, lime, ice. hard to top

Then we added vodka for the second glass.

did I say hard to top? since when has vodka NOT improved a slushie?

Check out what other Sydney (and further afield) foodbloggers did with their bottles of POM (I wasn’t really surprised to see ice and booze featuring – how hot has it been lately?!)

Chocolate Suze

Spicy Icecream

Jenius

Not Quite Nigella

Fig and Cherry

Sarah Cooks

I guess great (and hot) minds think alike, hey?

I have another POM treatment I want to try, but I am currently laid low with the flu (man I hate summer colds and flus!) so it will have to wait until I can stand up without swaying later in the week.

Bright 09: Eating Out in Victoria’s Alpine High Country

We spent the first 10 days of 09 in Bright, Victoria. It rocked.

Bright is a small town in the Ovens Valley, in Victoria’s Alpine High Country. It’s freaking lovely, especially in summer – wildflowers are in bloom, stone fruit, nuts, berries, various fruit and vege are fresh and delicious, as are the local wines, cheeses, mustards and breads. The air is crisp, the sun is out, the river is sparkling and freezing refereshing. The boys ride their bikes up big hills, we romp around the valley, lie under trees, read books, take naps, visit markets, take photos and boy, do we eat!

I’m splitting the Bright blogging into three posts – eating out and eating in, and local producers, and sorry they might be kinda long. Here is eating out.

A quick note about the eating out: I am only posting those places that we both visited and loved. We ate/drank at a few other places that I’m not covering, but there were also many wineries, cafes and restaurants in the area we didn’t make it to, so this is by no means a definitive guide – just my recommendations

Food Wine Friends

2/6 Ireland Street, Bright

(03) 5750 1312

Food Wine Friends serves great coffee, some tasty breakkies and has a range of quiches, foccacias, tarts and scones, muffins etc, but more importantly, they stock all the best local products – Milawa Mustards, Granny’s Pantry relishes, Jim Jams jams and relishes (omg), Milawa cheeses, AND a great selection of local wines (we even bought bottles here cheaper than at the cellar door! ok, only 5c, but still cheaper!). It’s great, and our regular for the morning coffees, but we don’t call it Food Wine Friends. We call it Cute Girl Cafe, because all the girls who work there are cute! Breakkies/light lunches + coffee $10-17-ish per person.

a crema covered long black @ Food Wine Friends

A BLT with beans and hashbrown as add-ons @ The Butter Factory

Eggs Florentine plus local trout @ The Butter Factory

The Butter Factory

15 Myrtle St, Myrtleford
(03) 5752 2300

We popped over to Myrtleford for breakfast one morning, to sample their housemade butter (of course) and everyone at the table was delighted with the coffees and selections of local sourdough, homemade beans, local trout, organic eggs and cured bacon, homemade hashbrowns, holandaisse, mushrooms etc etc. Breakkies + coffee $15-25 per person. oh, and I didn’t yet mention the venison chorizo and olive baked eggs, did I? delicious!

Baked eggs with venison chorizo and olives @ The Butter Factory

Seafood stuffed zucchini flowers @ Simone's of Bright

Chocolate Plate @ Simone's of Bright

Simone’s of Bright

98 Gavan Street, Bright

(03) 5755 2266

Umbrian-inspired, highly locally-sourced Simone’s was on our must-do list, and should also be on yours. Awarded 2 hats in The Age Good Food Guide 2009, we each enjoyed 3 courses of seafood-stuffed zucchini flowers, cannelloni, prawn and watermelon salad, rabbit, duck, Angus beef and melt-in-your-mouth goat, tiramasu, chocolate plates.. as well as great wines, great service and a lovely atmosphere in Simone’s candlelit cottage, for about $100 per person! (we went easy in the wine). Unfortunately, the lens that had been playing up all holiday decided to really throw a tantrum, and I have hardly any photos of the food – but trust me, it was gorgeous!

Blue eye cod bruschetta @ Brown Bros Epicurean Centre

rustic pie @ Brown Bros Epicurean Centre

Spatchcock w truffle butter @ Brown Bros Epicurean Centre

Brown Brothers Epicurean Centre

Bobbinawarrah Road, Milawa

(03) 5720 5540

After visiting the cellar door last year, a lazy lunch at Brown Bros was also on our to-do list this year. A quick zip over to Milawa (and a stop over at the cheese factory and Milawa Mustards to stock up the esky) and then an afternoon of great wines – selected with the help of our sommelier Rebecca – matched to 3 courses of our choice. Great-great-great were the rabbit lasagne, the bruschetta of blue eye cod with onion and currants (omg), boar sausage rustic pie and the spatchcocked baby chicken with truffle butter, and wow, the flourless chocolate tart, and the unbelievable caramelised peach tart. The food was a little bit hit and miss – nothing was downright terrible, but I guess there is always the danger of serious menu envy at a table for 7! Brown Brothers is also great value – each course is matched with 3 wine suggestions, or you can take your choice from off menu (though Michael – chef? head sommelier? – may get his knickers in a knot if he doesn’t like your choice!!). Entrees are $12-20, mains $20-35, desserts $15, each including an accompanying wine choice. We paid around $60 per person, and got to try – and then rushed over to the cellar door to purchase – some lovely drops we may never have discovered without doing the Epicurean Centre experience. Worth it! Bookings recommended – we sat near the door and saw several hopeful groups turned away.

Choc torte with vanillabean icecream @ Brown Bros Epicurean Centre

Caramelised Peach tart @ Brown Bros Epicurean Centre

Morrie’s Homemade Icecreamery

Great Alpine Road, Harrietville

(03) 5759 2612

OMG. Go. To. Morries. As. Soon. As. You. Can. Not only is this kickass homemade icecream and gelato, in unbelievable flavours using local ingredients (local hazelnuts, strawberries, wild river plums!!!), they did something I have never, ever seen in all my icecream eating years: they chipped off several long chunks from the tub, and carefully slotted them into the waffle cone. And then still built up a tower of deliciousness. I had double chocolate and wild river plum. And then died of being happy. $5-ish for a towering double flavour waffle.

OMG best icecream ever @ Morrie's

Roksalt Gourmet Fish and Chippery

Camp Street, Bright

(03) 5755 1515

Though I may be prone to hyperbole from time to time, I am with all seriousness stating, really truly, I’m not kidding, this is the best fish and chips I have ever eaten. This may even be one of the top seafood meals I have ever eaten in any kiosk, cafe or restaurant. Bright may be far far from the ocean, but this is super fresh, simple, expertly cooked seafood, homemade condiments and handcut chips. Not to mention the corn (quartered lengthways) which is juicy, sprinkled with herby salt and indescribably delicious. Tom, Kath and I grabbed a quick lunch here – cajun spiced marlin, grilled salmon and tempura battered flake, a curl of corn each, a pile of fat handcut chips to share, and a tub each of wasabi mayo, coriander and basil pesto and chunky creamy tartare: all up around $10 per person!!! Not sharing chips, probably $10-20 per person – and they have a great range of salads and other tasty things on their chalkboard menu.

Fish & Chips for three @ Roksalt

Ingenius BBQ corn on cob @ Roksalt

The Berry Farm

6300 Great Alpine Rd, Eurobin

(03) 5756 2523

Have you tried their Berry Cup? it’s Highly Delicious! The Berry Farm also makes and sells sorbets, icecreams, pies, jams and wines, along with fresh and frozen berries. But seriously, can you go past a cup of vanilla icecream layered with mixed berries and handmade berry syrup, with cream on top? I didn’t think so. Maybe you’re even up to the challenge of a Mega Berry Cup? (Go Lauryne!). Anyway, very much worth dropping in for something berryfull and refreshing, under a leafy tree.

Highly delicious Berry Cup @ the Bright Berry Farm

Mount Beauty Bakery Pasticceria Cafe

Kiewa Street, Mount Beauty

(03) 5754 4870

Baked goods. Coffee, Made to order sandwiches. Truely crap coffee pay and order system, where if you want both coffee and food, you have to line up twice. Without that being explained to you. And then getting yelled at for standing directly behind the person at the second counter, instead of to the side, where another line has formed since you’ve been standing there. They also have lime trees in their courtyard, with the limes going to waste! But still, they have some nice baked goods and we haven’t tried anywhere else in Mt Beauty (somehow, no photos!).

Bright Brewery

121 Great Alpine Road, Bright

(03) 5755 1301

The Bright Brewery is down by the Ovens River, and the “bottom end” of town (that’s some local lingo for you – Food Wine Friends is at the “top”). This microbrewery produces a range of ales, wheat beers, dark ale and a raspberry wheat beer! It’s a great spot to relax under the shadecloths and try a few local drops of a different kind – although they also stock a few wines if you prefer. They also serve simple single-serve pizzas ($15) and other snacks.

a cheeky afternoon rose @ the Bright Brewery

Beechworth Bakery

27 Camp St, Beechworth
(03) 5728 1132

That crazy Tom O’Toole. If you’re driving ANYWHERE NEAR Beechworth (say, driving home to Sydney from Bright?), seriously: STOP and get a spinich and fetta roll. And a chocolate eclair. Maybe a Ned Kelly Pie (what is it with Ned Kelly and meat pies???), definitely a Chicken and Leek pie. And probably a copy of More Secrets of the Beechworth Bakery, so you can try your hand at making them all when you get home (thanks for the b’day present, Andy!).

Spinach and Fetta Roll @ the Beechworth Bakery (tomato sauce optional)

Chocolate Eclair @ Beechworth Bakery

Next post: eating in – the tasty things we made and ate – feeding 7, 9 or 11!

Seasons Greetings and Happy 2009. with Garlic-Caper-Lemon Mayonnaise.

Wow. I hope everyone had a lovely solstice, christmas and general festive season, and/or whatever you celebrate. We’ve just returned from 10 days in Bright, Victoria, after Sydney-based christmas, new year and birthday celebrations, and I have about 1200 photos to download, and a huge pile of puku posts to write.

Before I start on the Alpine Food Blogging Marathon, a quick post on christmas. Down under, we – of course – celebrate our christmases in the heat of summer, and that may seem odd, crazy, un-christmassy, bizarre or unthinkable to you if you are used to a winter christmas, but you know what? I don’t care, because I’ve been celebrating my chrismasses with sun, blue skies, prawns, stonefruit, blackberries, the beach, the pool, the river, cherries, mangoes and avocadoes for nearly 30 years, and it freaking ROCKS!

See:

At Tom's parent's, we each make a salad for lunch

prawns! fresh & delicious, only the best seafood can be served so plainly cooked

plus kingfish - hotsmoked in the backyard (10 mins before this photo was taken)

before we went up to YLM and YLD’s place on the 24th I made mayonnaise to go with our christmas day seafood lunch (and in the ham and turkey sandwiches for the days after that)

I decided not to crop this photo so you can see those two powerpoints - the only two usable ones in my kitchen! (there is also the one behind the fridge, the one in the washing machine cupboard, and another in a cupboard above the stove rangehood. which have the fridge, washing machine and rangehood in them respectively. for reals people - 2 powerpoints!)

I roughly was using Jamie Oliver’s mayo instructions, but less than half way through the oil pouring, I found the mixture at it’s max oil capacity – getting very jellyfied and about to split, so I added a lot more vinegar (Jamie only uses 1tbsp each vinegar and lemon juice!), and also some more lemon juice later. I could have simply stopped at the good consistency with half the oil, but I prefer less eggy taste (and, um, more mayo).

adding garlic, capers, a little lemon zest, salt, pepper

Garlic-Caper-Lemon Mayonnaise

place 1 freerange/organic egg yolk and a good pinch of salt (and some mustard if you wish) about 6-8 (maybe more?) tablespoons of any style of white vinegar in a food processor or bowl and whizz/whisk well.

once egg-vinegar mix is creamy, begin slowly adding 500ml vegetable oil (I used grapeseed oil, you can replace up to half with olive oil, but 100% olive oil is way too strongly flavoured) in a slow and steady trickle, building to slow stream, while whizzing/whisking vigourously.

when all the oil is incorporated, add 2-3 very well crushed garlic cloves, a little pile of chopped capers, 1/2 the zest and all the juice of one lemon and some more salt and pepper to taste.

Mayo is really really really easy to make. don’t be afraid, and feel free to play with the flavourings (try wasabi, or basil, or chilli!) and also the consistency until it is right for you – as long as you continue to whizz/whisk, you should be fine adding more oil, more vinegar as you go, until you’re happy.

then go and make the most delicious sandwhich ever. and be even happier!

happy 2009!

x x x x

Cocoa Farm Shiraz Chocolate Barrels: a mature, nom-nom, sneaky treat

I've got a lov-e-ly box o' choco-barrels!

My mother used to tell people that when I was a small child I could hear a chocolate block being unwrapped from several rooms away… apparently without fail, as soon as the adults would begin to tear the wrapper, my tiny blonde head would suddenly appear out of nowhere, or come running in from the other end of the house.

This story would both embarrass me, but also secretly make me a little proud; I mean, if you’re going to have a super-power, never missing any chocolate eating is a pretty sweet one to have, right?

So when the lovely folks at Farm By Nature invited me to review some Cocoa Farm Shiraz Chocolate Barrels on the puku, needless to say I jumped at the chance, and they sent me a box of the new Shiraz Chocolate Barrels to try. Yay!

barrel of shiraz / barrel of chocolate: win-win!

And here they are, in all their adorable barrel-shaped cuteness!

I really didn’t know what to expect, and decided to go in blind – no googling, no reading up on the company or product, not even reading the back of the box until I’d had a moment to gather my first impressions. Tom and Andy also gave me their thoughts:

Smell

Z: very dark chocolatey, warm, fruity, bit raisiny

T: smells like rum chocolate

A: woody, a rustic smell

Taste

Z: really luscious smooth dark chocolate, very very chocolately, raisiny, very small tart clean raisin pieces (not the huge overpowering whole too-sweet raisins you normally find in fruit chocolate)

T: Oaky overtones, strong chocolate taste.. tastes like a rich Cherry Ripe

A:.. without the sickly-sweetness! The chocolate is quite, um, whatever the eating equivalent of quaffable is… it’s quite nom-nom!

overall impressions / final thoughts

Z: rich chocolate taste, love the raisins: not-overpowering but complimenting, very sophisticated taste, slightly warming alcohol taste, barrels just the right size… hmmm, maybe not: want another one.

T: it’s tasty, it’s strong, more like a port, would be really nice with a port.. hmm.. I’d better have some just to see (uncorks bottle, comes back) – would be perfect for skiiing or a cold wintery day!

A: much nicer chocolate than in other wine chocolates, the flavours are balanced, it’s constrained, mature.

Z: what did you think if the little raisins?

A: very discrete!

T: they’re sneaky

All agree: it’s a very adult chocolate

The ‘raisins’, my favourite bit, are in fact currants. Of course – now I’ve read the back of the box – currants are not the big juicy loudmouths raisins are, and make a much tarter and polite contribution to the flavour – no dominating the conversation.

Apparently this boutique Melbourne-based chocolate company have developed an innovative way to incorporate real wine into their chocolates, and they are hoping to be the first completely Aussie-produced chocolate – they’re working on Australia’s first commercial cocoa crop, hoping to be used in production next year – and they’re doing it in FNQ! In Mossman, a lovely part of the world, and just up the road from the ville

a discrete little current, making polite conversation

All in all Tom, Andy and I really enjoyed the Cocoa Farm Shiraz Chocolates. They are a rich dark chocolate, and I really liked the wine and current flavours – very harmonious and restrained, no gimmicky chemically flavours overpowering everything, just a lovely warm dark flavour.

I would even hazzard a guess that the flavour will be a bit too richly dark and a bit too sugar-subtle for younger paletes. Adults: you might just get away with eating this alone, even children with super-chocolate-related-hearing powers withstanding!

check out the Cocoa Farm website, and use their nifty location finder – just type in your post-code to find your nearest stockists!

MasterChef Australia 2009 and Saturn Return

Did you happen to be doing something this year that allowed you to watch daytime tv? Um, I did.

First there was my knee surgery last year, and then this year I have to say, having miss Oprah available for a 1pm date each day, if I needed it, kept my sanity intact when I really couldn’t face another page of de Certeau, and had had it up to here with writing sentances and deleting them again. ah thesis writing, fun times!

Additionally to my Oprah hour, I also found myself watching ReadySteadyCook, until my solitary yelling at Peter Everett drove me totally insane (hey dude, no one wants to give you double high-fives. especially not septuagenarians. give it up!), old All Saints, the occasional Dr Phil, and towards the pointy end of the thesis (when I really shouldn’t have been watching tv at all): BBC’s Masterchef.

Masterchef is a chef competition for amatuer cooks.. meaning, contestants are untrained, non-prefessionals competing as chefs – they have secret ingredient challenges, food and food safety knowledge tests and spend a sweaty day in a busy restaurant during lunch service. Yikes! if you havent seen it before and want to check it out, here is a youtube search link so you can waste a few hours.

I am intrigued by Masterchef – watching it, and pondering the concept: what is the goal? from what I saw of the BBC version (and this is from a short sampling, so let please let me know your thoughts if you saw more of it than me!), because the contestants must be amatuer, and they are not 16 years olds just entering the industry, and because of the pro-chef style, I felt contestants were people looking for a seachange or deciding to give a go to the idea they’ve always had at the back of their mind that they might, really, actually want to be a chef.

My mama would say they are having their Saturn Return. In case you don’t know, my mama is an astrologer, and we’ve been talking recently about Saturn Return, the period around 28-30 years old when Saturn returns to the spot it was when you were born, and all hell breaks loose. Actually, most people just have a good hard look at their life (consciously or subconsciously) and make some changes. There’s been a bit of that going around, as Tom and I, and many of our friends, are hitting our big 30 / big SR. It is scary, it can be traumatising, but also very positive. I have been moving towards making changes in my professional life and am feeling better and better about new directions as I sort it out.

Anyway, back to Masterchef – it was interesting watching contestants who were obviously very passionate about food, putting themselves into a professional kitchen environment, testing their skills – and the waters I guess.  The winner, at least on the BBC version, gets a placement job in a top restaurant, which would obviously be a big leg up if entering the industry. Other constants seem to be in a good position to enter the industry, also in other ways – 2007 contestant (the series I saw parts of this year) Hannah has 2 food writing columns and a cookbook coming out – check out her blog.

SO: are you Saturn Returning? or prehaps you’ve just been re-evaluating your life, thinking about your interest in food – is it the direction you want to start to follow?

Because guess what??? Channel 10 has bought rights to Masterchef, the word on the grapevine is that it is their big replacement for bigbotherbr0ther. Frankly anything would be an improvement, but I think the idea of an Australian Masterchef will be interesting indeed. I got an email this week from a casting agent spreading the word that they are currently searching for applicants.

Are you up for it?

If you are 18+, are not a trained chef, do not work as a chef, or get your main source of income preparing food, and are prepared to be available between Feb-June next year (for full rules of entry follow link!), and up for a challenge…

go to www.masterchef.com.au and get your application in by 9 January 2009!

Thoughts? anyone interested in entering? anyone running in the opposite direction?

a catch up

I’m back! I spent the weeks leading up to 20 October finishing my honours thesis, and the weeks since kinda just recovering and getting back to normal! anyway, it was all worth it (the sleepless nights, the coke-consumption read all about it here) and I got my results last week, and it’s great news – 1st Class! Horray!

So, here is a bit of what I’ve been doing along my travels and procrastinations. Thanks for continuing to drop by, and I’m looking forward to bringing some new puku-licious things this way soon!

I baked cupcakes for Kat's 30th....

Grrrrr! tiger-Kat blowing out her candles

we ate yummy things at the Danks St Festival...

... where we scored the sweetest car parking spot! woot!

I decided to make Peanutbutter Cookies for my gluten-free boss...

instant infatuation & repeat requests from the office: warning! dangerous cookie!

my girl Jade-o visited from NZ...

we went to Nelson Bay and ate Red Neds pies

Danks Street Festival

Peanutbutter cookies @ gluten-free girl, cookie madness, best recipes, (none of these recipes are chocolate chip, but I seriously recommend the addition of some chunks of a milk or dark block!)

Red Neds Pies

The end.  ; )