le quatorze juillet

Bastille Day is the perfect excuse to have a diversified taste of duck, even living down under. It was not an improvised move, so we had a plan in place to execute over the last three days. Recent explorations have made it really easy to find certain essentials like "les rillettes de pur canard", "bloc de foie gras de canard" or "terrine de canard".

A few "rustique" baguettes from Victoire, plus a wine selection from our neighbour Rommuald (the French wine man) provided a proper vibe. The mandatory kir opened this "petit événement", for which we engaged with Rommie's suggestion: a 2008 Guillemot-Michel, Pierrette et Marc, (100% chardonnay) from Quintaine, part of the Viré-Clessé region in the Mâconnais. It was actually saucisson what first got us started in the early stage of this celebratory gathering, to spend together with Stephen, Cheryl and her  Grégoire, who made us all cry with his irrepressible sense of humour. 

We moved onto a 2006 Chateau du Champ des Treilles (Sainte-Foy, Bordeaux) which was going to be followed, in no literal order, by a very nice Larmandier-Bernier -Premier Cru- champagne, an organic and biodynamic 2008 Clos du Rouge Gorge (100% grenache) from the Languedoc Roussillon area, plus a 2006 Jacqueson Cuvée 734 (54% chardonnay, 26% pinot meunier and 20% pinot noir) from Dizy. Litres of Badoit also joined us "à la table".

Another fancy ratatouille and a new selection of cheeses helped our nutritious "entente cordiale" .The sweet part of the day came again through the mastered techniques of Victoire's team. Kakawa also contributed with their divine cherry rocky road, as an encore for this tremendous effort of "frenchaussieness".  

a great trilogy by farr

I ignore why some of the Australian pinot noir makers I most enjoy decided to make three different types at a time. William Downie provided a real meaning to the holy trinity mystery, and a few days ago I learnt Gary Farr can also make such a complex notion come true, right from a different corner of Victoria.

Last Friday I had the chance to meet Nick, Gary's son, at their impeccable vineyard in Bannockburn (Moorabool Valley), part of the Geelong region. We tried all three types, including their most recent vintage, still in the making and very different at this stage. It's incredible how a different year, which happened to have a quite unusual weather pattern, changes the outcome.

Three single vineyards make this miracle possible: Farrside (black soils planted to 114, 115, 113, 667, 777 and MV6 clones), Sangreal (red soils planted to 114 and 115 clones) and Tout Près (above the other two, with clones that will acclimatise and mutate over time; currently 113, 114, 115, 667, 777 and MV6 to become the Tout Près clone).

A truly simple and elegant design identifies their bottles, accurately matching the liquid content, only to be enjoyed in fine company, I would suggest.

magic in collingwood

The recent trip to Melbourne was full of little fascinating moments. Saturday was a sunny winter day, ideal to visit again the Mornington Peninsula, so we started by energizing our systems with a combo of caffeine, juice and a couple of baked items on Oxford street. As usual at Proud Mary we first ordered their magic of the day.

We got to seat by the front window, which faces one of those amazing industrial buildings, former home of Foy & Gibson Pty. Ltd., now renovated as a residential space. Simple brick with generous windows make it look like the ideal urban place to live in.

It was time for the second decision of the day: which juice, freshly squeezed, to complete our morning stimulation process. I chose a Molina made out of lemon, beetroot, carrot, orange and ginger (right glass), while San appropriately opted for a Miss Molly, which contains apple, watermelon, fresh mint, strawberry and cucumber (left glass).

One strawberry and chocolate muffin for her and a cheesecake brownie for me became our only solid companion for the rest of the morning. We were then ready to navigate the M1, which was going to take us to our destination in Main Ridge: 10MXT.

pacific ocean power

Although down under we are in the middle of the winter, yesterday was a beautiful day and I decided to go swimming in the afternoon. It was windy, but I didn't really notice the implications of such circumstance until I came out of the water. There was nobody but myself in the pool, what made it even more enjoyable. Besides the refreshing immersion that fully stimulated my exhausted neurones, for me the other remarkable virtue of swimming in ocean water, or sometimes just floating, is how hungry it makes me feel. 

After a rejuvenating session in such a gorgeous rock pool, I needed to feed my stomach, but it wasn't late enough to consider dinner. So, why not having another little "merienda" on the balcony while watching the early sunset? There was a piece of bread from Bourke street, and some other leftovers from the weekend: rotolo di capra (goat) cheese, a portion of cacciatorini (small rustic salami, made out of pork, sea salt, peppercorns, red wine, garlic, and the always delicious dextrose, sodium nitrate (251) and something else known as "starter culture") 100% Australian, produced in the Northern Rivers, in addition to another cheese which was new for me...

Since last week we got William Downie's jewels, it was more than appropriate to calm those after-swimming basic instincts of mine with a generous glass of his 2010 Yarra Valley pinot noir. At this point, I'm still not sure if this one or his Mornington Peninsula pinot is my favourite...

Nothing better to finish this much needed interlude than a Kakawa chocolate from William street: this time it was the turn for one of their hazelnut boulders, all by itslef.

ratatouille for ever

When it comes to French favourites "ratatouille" is definitely one of them, especially when the garlic exceeds the original formula. All by itself plus  parmigiano reggiano on top was all what it took to share another inspiring moment on planet Earth.

Spanish extra virgin olive oil, roasted red capsicum, roaster zucchini, roasted eggplant, tomatoes, garlic, onion, a pinch of salt, and a few secret herbs is all what it is. A generous amount is our preference, so the sencond day it tastes even better.

Good bread is always welcome to our table, but in this case it even made more sense. To match the French approach, we chose a classic baguette with mild kalamata olives from our recent discovery Victoire, magnifique!

It was a fast, clean and easy meal. Full of intense and resuscitating flavours. Ideal when there is not much time ahead, of course I'm talking about the second day. The first one is not quite fast. So, we decided to also go for a fast, clean and easy dessert, which one more time came from William street: passion fruit rocky road.

breakfast & "merienda"

It is Saturday, finally. A little extra time to focus on the crucial energetic segments of the day. I wanted a simple breakfast, but a bit more colourful than usual. Strawberries, greek style yogurt, cereal (with no raisins, please!) and delicious Maya Sunny 100% raw stringy bark honey from Illford (NSW); we don't like the iron bark one as much.

A quite easy start followed by nothing else than exquisite passion fruit, and my machinery was ready to deal with another sunny morning in Syd City. Pure and simple.

Later on we decided to explore another bakery in town: Victoire, a suggestion from David Kakawa. There is a shop in Rozelle and another one in Cammaray. We bought a couple of different baguettes, an olive-rustic one and a levain (sourdough -no yeast-) one. I also couldn't resist trying their meringue-lemon tart, why not?

Well, the adventure was totally worth it. Once we got back home a warm cup of tea, Mariage Freres' Tropical blend, and a tonka-vanilla chocolate from Kakawa became the right "merienda". I guess this is the Spanish equivalent to the English afternoon tea with biscuits, but a bit less formal.

snapper cum laude

Not too much to pick from at the fish market this morning. A medium sized snapper, under one kilo, was my "catch of the day". We were hoping to get a blue eye trevalla, but the only one I found was kind of big for the two of us, just around ten kilos.

A premeditated plan was orchestrated by San to have it steamed, probably the best way to keep most of its own flavour. Chinese cabbage, ginger, parsley and spring onions were to join it in a celestial communion that not even the holy trinity could have imagined.

A little less than ten minutes cooking and dinner was almost ready. Soya sauce, Shaoxing wine (fermented from rice) and sesame oil irrigated this delicious dish. Another successful incursion into the far, although sometimes closer than we may suspect, Asian vast gastronomic territories.

Somehow matching the unusual, for our kitchen, theme of the evening, we concluded the day with a new, since last week, item on the Kakawa catalogue: Earl Grey tea ganache with Manjari chocolate (apparently made with a blend of criollo and trinitario beans from Madagascar).