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!

Check out this cute toaster by Tefal for the time poor or perfect for students/bachelors who have no time to cook!

 http://www.petersofkensington.com.au/Product/ProductInfo.aspx?code=635268

What will they think of next?!

Forget powdery soft apples.  You have never tasted the fruit of the Garden of Eden (or the fruit that took the breathe away from Snow White) until you have eaten fruit you picked with your own hands 2 seconds old from the tree.  Crispier than you could imagine – the crunch noise reverberates across the office when you take a bite.  Where? Pine Crest Orchard, Bilpin, aronud 1hr 15mins from Sydney.  When? February til May. How much? A mere $3 a kilo, free entry.

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I first came across this italian eatery and delicatessen when we held a function at the Waterside, Homebush Bay, and someone came in with these amazing woodfired pizzas.  Crispy thin base, and with topped with fresh ingredients to savour the base and not piled one inch high like some pizza joints these days.   So on another sunny birthday day off (why do they only come once a year?), we set out to find this pizza again.  It’s actually in a little piazza hidden away between the apartment blocks – I’m sure the locals would like to keep their secret to themselves!  I’m torn – do I shop first, or eat first??  Well stomach won as usual, and we sat ourselves at one of the tables on the street – strangely enough, all enclosed in a plastic awning despite being a gorgeous day.

I had to have a taste of the pizza again – from a plate not a takeaway box, and it did not disappoint.   For lunch, there is only a limited specials menu, and I selected the salamari, olive and chilli pizza ($15).  Just enough for one person – the base was as crispy as I remembered – not merely the vessel for a mountain of topping, but as much as star as the toppings itself – which complemented it, not over powered it, the real way it’s meant to be done.  None of the processed plastic cheese either – real slices of mozarella melted into the fresh tomato base, and scattered with just enough salty salamari and torn olives.   The review on Sydney Morning Herald recommended the calamari fritti ($16) which my friend ordered – and I reluctantly swapped a slice of my pizza to try.  It wasn’t the oily greasy rubber bands that I expected (who am I to disagree with Simon Thomsen!)- but the flash fried, and ever so slightly battered rings were much lighter than most versions, and served with chips and salad.

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