FoodieChat

Spotted – Pete Evans – equal first place for hottest celebrity chef (along with Curtis Stone) – grabbing a quick bite of lunch (linguine) at the bar at Sean’s Kitchen at Star city.

I love Gossip Girl. XOXO.

This year, Santa (myself) was very good at picking up great gifts that will just keep on giving.  Just arrived in the post, I got the New Larousse Gastronomique. A food encyclopaedia that rivals none other. It’s revised every few years and the 2009 edition comes beautifully boxed and hardcovered, weighing in at over 2kgs – it is in the league of Ferran Adria’s cooking manuals and other Phaidon Press anthologies! I can’t wait to dig into it!

I also bought myself the Veggie Twister:

http://www.kingofknives.com/Cutlery/Kitchen-Tools/Fruit—Vegetable—Nut-Tools/Veggie-Twister.html

King of Knives is selling it the cheapest. Dare you trick your kids with carrot spaghetti??

And also I FINALLY found a mini petit four madeline tin from Pantry in Bondi Junction, as well as some crinkled cookie cutters. I can’t wait to get baking once work finishes it.

What’s for Christmas dinner this year? Not sure yet, will definitely include some barbequed king prawn skewers, and turkey, but not sure what else. Really need to get my act together. Perhaps for the family do, I will make macarons or chicken wings?

Anyway, whatever you doing, whatever you are eating, make sure you have a safe, WONDERFUL and holy Christmas.

Foodiechat

It’s summer! And summer means amazing fruit. I don’t know how I survive the other 9 months of the year without mangoes, cherries, lychees and grapes. Thankfully the US imports help us out a bit, but it’s not the same freshness or price. What better way to enjoy Aussie grown fruit than to go to an orchard and pick your own. A couple of weeks ago, I went to pick my own cherries in Wombat and Young in NSW. We thought it would be a 4 hr drive as their websites said, but I’m thinking that this excludes traffic in Sydney and also no stops. In the end, we left at 9am and were picking at 2:30 after a fly ridden picnic there. There are several orchards you pick your own fruit including Ballinaclash, Allambie and Wombat Heights. Prices range from $5.50 to $8 per kg. Hurry because cherry season is nearly over, and probably all the good ones are gone! A word of advice wear insect repellant. I still have marks on my legs And wear a hat and heaps of sunscreen too.
If you can’t make it this weekend, never fear, peaches are here. You can pick your own at Pine Crest Orchard in Bilpin. Followed suite are the apples starting from February. See my previous blog entry. Good luck and happy picking. It’s a great way to get food from its source and give our farmers a fair go, as well as showing your kids what real produce tastes like!