November 1st 2009

It's drizzling this morning, with the threat of sunshine. Last night we had another long electrical storm, mostly lightning and only some rolling thunder as the rain came on. And yesterday we had a hot hot day and me my first swim in the bay. Sparkling sunlight on the water and light, cool water. Gorgeous.

Since I ordered my new computer last month and it's arrival i've been keeping track of things to talk about and i am already weeks behind. Here's a snapshot...

Dinner at Arabesques in Elsternwick.

We had halloumi filo cigars and spicy lamb sausages with harissa potato salad to start. The filo was crinkly and crisp, the halloumi light and soft and the dish was sweet enough for pudding. It was an elegant looking starter too, where most of the other dishes had a more rustic charm. For mains we had a whole grilled barramundi with roast potatoes, chicken skewers with rice and the lamb koftas, which were full of juicy cinammon flavours.

Next stop mama ganoush, there more modern chapel street restaurant.

http://www.mamaganoush.com/menu.html

Korean set meal in Brisbane.

In Glasgow there is a korean restaurant and they do alot with kimchi and claypots, but I don't think I ever had Bibimbap before i came to Melbourne. There's a great korean restaurant near work and they make it really well in a sizzling claypot dish. I had something similar in Brisbane. The claypot comes straight from the oven and is filled with a layer of cooked white rice then a layer of neatly ordered vegetables (shitake mushrooms and thinly sliced carrots, courgettes & red cabbage). In the middle is a mound of beef and on top a raw (or sometimes, fried) egg. On the side you get a dish of chilli sauce that sometimes is close to a chilli and satay sauce and you tip this in stir the whole lot up and it carries on cooking in its very hot dish. By the time you get near to finishing the vegetables are soft, the rice is crunchy and there is a tasty caramelised egg/ chilli/ satay coating to be scraped off the bottom of the pot.

The rest of my set was made up of a dish of kimchi, cold roast potatoes with a syrup dressing and a tuna pasta salad that took me straight back to student days.

I ate the lot. And washed it down with a couple of korean beers.

At the state library in Queensland the next day I wolfed down a chorizo filo roll between lectures. It's a lovely part open air cafe with a great bookshop next door.

And the day after that I had a zucchini cous cous slice with a tamarind chutney at the main art gallery. My attention was more taken by the ibis wandering around (ignore them and they will walk right up to you, look them in the eye and they turn quickly away) and the lovely water sculpture.

Walking back to my hotel after class I came back to the weekly food market that had been setting up in the main square that morning. The stalls that caught my eye in the morning were the french baker's, a man selling homemade sand crab quiche and a range of gourmet cheeses. I thought that these were the foods of winter and the smells were rich in the hot and humid morning. When I had time to wander later there were kilos and kilos of strawberries, baskets of heritage tomatoes, fresh local seafood and huge bunches of bananas. My food photo skills are not up to scratch, but the tomatoes turned out nice.