The Gimlet

While recently reading Raymond Chandler's The Long Goodbye, I was inspired to:

a)   try one of the Gimlet cocktails the characters kept slamming down, and;

b)  write a piece of short fiction, in the voice of Raymond Chandler.

I had a go at both, and present each here for you to enjoy.  Make the drink, then read the short story!  It didn't make the cut for my new collection Tales of the Dark (just sent to the printer's ~ due out in December), but may whet your appetite for my soon to be released book anyway.

Bon appetite!

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Heathcote Wine Show

Ah Heathcote!  "Heathy one day, coatey the next," (you can quote me if you like).
Cor blimey, this guy is an unstoppable video blogging machine!  This time he's done a short film about wines of the Heathcote region.  We learn about shiraz, how much one can drink, and the joys of bus travel.
Strap yourself in!  We're in for a bumpy ride!

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Stephanie Alexander at the Festival of Ideas

Hello!
I was recently invited to the University of Melbourne's 'Festival of Ideas', where I went to see Stephanie Alexander talk with a panel of experts about her Kitchen Gardens program.
'Boring!' I hear you think.
But nothing could be further from the truth!  It attracted all-sorts, and when I say "all sorts" I am not suggesting for a moment that anyone was handing out liquorice.  No.
In fact, you were much more likely to get a silverbeet tart, or possibly some beetroot dip.
Either that or a knuckle sandwich.
But what's this?  Another video blog!  Hooray!  Click on the link below:

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Fitzroy Dining Recommendations

I recently received the following email from a friend and was immediately flattered, and yet simultaneously unnerved:

Hello Kit.
I'm looking for a recommendation for a restaurant in the Collingwood/Fitzroy area for <>'s 40th. She digs Easy Tiger but I was thinking elsewhere - a bit groovy and not uptight.
Who better to ask than your good self.?
Chin chin,
<>

Making a suggestion about where somebody else should cram their gob is always an onerous proposition. I mean, is it for a group, or just the two of them? And what if they have a totally shit time, and blame me (more than likely)?  The waiting staff may have changed, or the chef set his apron on fire... anything could have happened.

The best bet is to spread the risk, and just mention some of the highlights, which I duly did. Since I'd already typed up the list, I thought this might be something you might benefit from too.  So here, without further ado, are some of my current top tips for where to graze when taking someone out for their birthday celebrations in the Fitzroy area.  Please feel free to send me your suggestions!!

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It's a Cardonnay Cucina!

What do I buy?  French or Australian wine?  What's a burgundy, and how is it different to a white burgundy?  And is the "aitch" silent in "chardonnay"?

Join Kit as he plumbs the depths of two bottles of wine for your amusement.  And look!  It's a video blog, doncha know?  Avante!

http://youtu.be/vQylQCNEJsM


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Reykjavik Restaurants... and Hot Dogs

Iceland! Icy one day, landy the next.

Actually, the name comes from the Icelandic word Ísland, meaning "island" (**see comment below - I stand corrected!!).  It's a volcanic piece of outer space inhabited by Vikings.. a place I most heartily recommend you going to.

No military, no navy, geo-thermal heating of houses and water, hydro-electricity, and hydrogen fuelled busses. Yoko Ono liked it so much, she built a light sculpture tribute to John Lennon there (the Imagine Peace Tower), that lights up in winter.

You'll find yourself swimming in lakes with steam under glacier capped mountains, marvelling at nature, smelling sulfur and noticing the sun not going down / or coming up (depending on what time of year you're there).

When you're on the plane to Iceland, Icelandic Air makes a big deal out of the most popular restaurant in the country being a hot dog stand (I wonder what John would say?).  Our bicycle tour guide, Eggy, explained why:

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Loeb Boathouse

Hey!  There's another video blog on Kit's Cucina.  He must have used one of those mobile phone scenarios while he was away.

Click here to watch a review of Kit in New York

But how do I find out more about this place?

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One If By Land, Two If By Sea - New York

http://www.oneifbyland.com
17 Barrow Street, New York City 10014
Ph (212)255-8649

While staying in New York on the first leg of our adventure, we stayed with my enigmatic brother and his gorgeous wife... who are both very generous (Thanks for having us, Jim and Sue!).

They took us out for dinner to a very nice restaurant called "One if by land, two if by sea", so I'll start my series of travel dining articles here.

Most people think the name of the restaurant is based on the famous American historical event of Paul Revere riding around yelling about the English coming (something to do with wearing ladies knickers at a tea party), but I suspect its actually referring instead to the menu items.  They're rumoured to be bringing out a delivery service called; "3 if by bicycle, 4 if by waiter on roller skates, push the pound key..."

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Syracuse Restaurant & Wine Bar

http://www.syracuserestaurant.com.au/

23 Bank Place, Melbourne, VIC 3000.

Last night we got taken out by our friends Genine and Tim for dinner to celebrate the purchase of their new city apartment - slap bang in the middle of Collins Street’s financial district.

When looking for a place to eat, we strolled up Bank Place, past the “historic” Mitre Tavern (had the usual argument about whether it was the oldest or second oldest pub in Melbourne), and then walked through the glamorous curtained narthex of ‘Syracuse’.

Syracuse, the city, is in Sicily, but I wouldn’t typify the food at its namesake restaurant as Italian.  It’s more of a high (HIGH) food blend of European cuisines with a kind of road kill twist.

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Old polls... Easter and Martinis!

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Luke Nguyen's Duck Blood Salad - the intro to 2013!

WELCOME!!1!

Welcome to another year of Kit's Cucina!

2013 eh? Where does the time go? We're entering the fifth year of stuffing our gobs together, and for that I'm truly thankful (well it beats the alternative - not eating ever again!).

First stop, I'd like to apologise for my erroneous assumptions about the duck blood salad in Vietnam (as per my previous "welcome") on Luke Nugyen's show. I was discussing the hygiene of such foods with a Swiss chef, who opined at least the duck would be free range, organic, local produce, hormone free, and freshly killed... unlike the majority of poultry here en Australie.

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Pipped Olives Can Get Stuffed

Is it just me? OK, I get that pipped olives are notionally easier to eat, because you don't have to spit out the pips.

But THEN you find a secret pip you weren't expecting and smash a tooth (or your dentures - we're not "teethist" here) on the stone they were supposed to have removed from your path.

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Bendigo Provencal: A Maldon / Castlemaine weekender

Rendez-Vous

http://www.maldonbbrendezvous.com.au/

35A Reef Street
Maldon 3463
03 5475 2194
0466 069 093

Bonjour!  Ca va?  Beauty!

Qu’est que si que ca?  Why am I speaking French while being whole heartedly Aussie?  Let me tell you a story about last weekend.

We went away with some friends up to the Central Goldfields of Victoria; specifically a weekend in Maldon with a day trip into Castlemaine.  We ate at an auberge, I gorged like I was on a Bacchanal, ended up like a haggis AND came up with the concept of "Bendigo Provencal".

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70's food styling is BACK!!

You heard it here first!  Ring the bell, Kit's Cucina: always at the forefront of what's HOT HOT HOT in food styling.

Bring on the macrame angel wall hangings, brown tiles, exposed timber, and boiled eggs in Bendigo Pottery two tone ceramic egg cups next to a jug of mulled wine, with candle light, blocks of Coon™ cheese, and a bunch of parsley...


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How To Make a Soufflé… and Rise to the Occasion

Yesterday, we spent most of the day, or more accurately the afternoon and evening, on the couch watching television.  I had had visions of launching back into the book, for a couple of hours, maybe playing my guitar, doing a thorough vacuum, etc., but… nah.  In the end, it was just too relaxing lying around doing next to nothing.

We did, however, as a married team, bake a soufflé.  My first.  Which leads me – in an ambling kind of climb over the stile and wander up the garden meadow, touch the tree at the edge of the pasture and then log-roll back over the cow pats way – to this:

Mrs Brady, or Carol, from the Brady Bunch.

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Dolcetti

http://www.dolcetti.com.au
223 Victoria Street
West Melbourne VIC 3003
(03) 9328 1688

OK, I know what you're thinking.

"I'm a lady! I like lady things! Like pussy cats, and lace, and tea parties, and frills... and shit." (Little Britan)


Whatev's.  I popped in to Dolcetti, a kind of plaret (now I've Googled this word and there's nothin' - ploirette, plaré??? – answers on a postcard please), for a meeting yesterday, and realised how little I travel around Melbourne.

North-ish Melbourne?  West of Elizabeth St?  You're joking???

My friend Suze said "you should review this place."  So what the hey?  Here I am.



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A Valentine Tart

Kit's Tarte Frommage et l'Oignon a la Mode Stephanie
~or~
(in a bogun voice) Cheese and Onion Tart

I can understand the ambivalence many hold toward a holiday dedicated to keeping the flower business single handedly going.

"Why do we need so many freakin' themed days?" they cry.  "One day it's Christmas - am I being Christmassy enough? My birthday? How am I tracking against my self-identified life landmarks? Father's Day? Mother's day? How am I as a parent? (I don't even have any kids - people should be thanking me!) Give me a break!  Do we really need another day showing up our inadequacies?"

The answer is, I'm sorry to say, a resounding YES!


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WA Part 3 - Perth and Fremantle, The Big Smokes!

There's so much to enjoy in Western Australia: the Pinnacles (standing stones), wildlife, monks... even Gina Reinhardt's hole (apparently she's got the biggest one in history, and is importing workers from all over the world to come and make it bigger).

There’s even a town called Wanneroo, also known as the town that lost it’s “t”.

But if you want to have a quality nibble, and I'm not talking getting bitten in half by a shark, you'll need to go to the big smoke of Perth and Fremantle (two country towns that have had a growth spurt and become one through the agency of urban sprawl) .

One thing people told me before going to Perth was: “listen, it’s not cultural, but it does have character”.

I don’t know if that’s local cringe factor, but I found it all very easy going and pretty good quality. Here are some top tips.


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