an upper yarra salmon midweek trip

The initial idea of eating farmed salmon is never too exciting to me. It automatically reminds me of the delicious wild Pacific sockeye I used to often enjoy in Vancouver ten years ago. So, this unavoidable  comparison never helps. However, I do like salmon a lot. Its texture and its flavour, even if artificially modified, still make it for me when Sandra's own tzatziki joins the equation.

A simple combination of greek style yoghourt, extremely fresh cucumber and dill, a big clove of Mexican garlic, a bunch of pink salt flakes, a few drops of lemon juice, plus a generous splash of Spanish virgin olive oil, worked quite well. It is very refreshing and ideal to neutralize the fatty juices coming out of those farmed salmons.

I still have in my head that catchy song from Our Lady Peace we kept listening to during the making of this phenomenal tzatziki: "Angels | Losing | Sleep".  It is part of the first album, a brilliant one, I bought from Raine Maida's band back in 2005: "Healthy In Paranoid Times", far away from the monotonous sound on their rather boring 2009 release "Burn Burn".

Last night we also had green grilled asparagus, an always favourite, which provided the perfect counterpoint.  I wasn't sure about the wine to pick for this occasion, but I wanted to open a bottle of pinot noir we first tried in Gembrook (Victoria), while visiting Andrew Marks a couple of months ago. That afternoon we literally caught him with his hands on what will become his new shiraz. Anyway, his 2010 Upper Yarra Valley pinot noir was almost gone by the time we finished dinner. A fully satisfactory choice, really smooth and aromatic, considering it was such a young wine.