Fred Bread: Learning to Make Sourdough

There’s stacks on the internet on how to make sourdough; this article references some of the better resources, gives my tips and cheats on doing it without all the equipment, and hints at the history of the rivalry between me and my sister Ange in the kitchen.  The whole thing started when I sent her a cartoon from the New Yorker, where a woman with a sourdough loaf is in front of the Wicked Witch’s mirror from Snow White, which tells her:

“Your sourdough smells great, it is true.  But there is a better baker here than you.”

My sister’s riposte?  Giving me my own starter, like a Slovakian wedding curse; i.e. giving the bride a crystal ornament she’ll have to keep on display and dust for the rest of her life.

So, let’s get dusting!

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Ice Cream Cake

 My wife, in the throes of a diet,  asked me in an unrelated question:

"What are we going to do for our 20th Wedding Anniversary?"

My reply?
"Eat ice cream cake."

Well, I'd had it with the calorie counting.

I said it flippantly, but it fired up everyone's imagination, and I was called upon to make one come the fateful day.

A first timer, I had to find out how one actually manufactures such a thing, having anxiety dreams the night before.  It was simple, but there are hazards.  So what did we learn?  Read on...



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South Wharf quicky lunch: Melbourne Cellar Door

 

http://www.melbournecellardoor.com.au/ 

A quick lunch while at the Melbourne Convention Centre, anyone?

How about the $12.50 prawn chili pasta, $6 (150ml) of wine... hard to beat (at Melbourne prices)!

Just thought you’d like to know...

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Scugnizzo! Melbourne Italian Restaurant

http://www.scugnizzo.com.au/
558 Little Bourke St
Melbourne  VIC  300

It was a long time between meals for me at this little gem of a place, one of my all-time favourite restaurants in Melbourne.  I stumbled back across it as I was making my way home to the beach; catching a V-Line bus at Southern Cross Station in Melbourne and having two hours to kill.

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Royal Melbourne Wine Show 2019 - Results!

On Friday, I attended the industry wine tasting event – and the Jimmy Watson Trophy lunch – at the Royal Melbourne Wine Awards. It’s a big deal.  Let’s talk numbers.

This year they had 3,050 wines entered, from over 500 wineries.

39 judges tasted these wines, and gave them points out of 100, ranking them and awarding medals in 18 categories, then awarding 8 trophies for best overall, such as the “best white wine of the 2018-19 vintages”.

It’s a lot to take in.  What's that? How many wines did I try??? Well, while we’re still talking numbers, let’s see:

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The simple things...

Hello You!

Well, I just had lunch (and sorry for neglecting you BTW... I’m working on a new novel which is eating all my time), but I just had a Florentine style lunch and thought I’d share it with you.

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Camber... well....

And bievenu my dear readers/poissons.  I'm so very sorry it's been a while between entries.  I've yet to finish:

*  the Umbrian entry (truffles, beautiful country side, can I recommend Spoletto, Assissi and a small nunnery out of Solarno?);
*  my trip to ®Adelaide (where I ate royally, and had a surprise in the inner west under the flight path... Francesco's Osteria, a humble building but authentic Venetian cuisine, reasonable prices and warm hospitality)
*oh yeah, my trip to New Zealand (or Kiwi) where I was introduced to the delights of muscle fritters and kumara chips.

But if you take those points, you can take those entries almost as read.

The reasons for my hiatus are two-fold;
a. because I've been busy with publication production on Tales of Enlightenment* – my short story collection to arrive in bookstores soon (!!!!), and;
b. I've been slumming it in Camberwell.  I know what you're thinking!  Boring.  But the old dame still has some tricks up her sleeve...

I've been surprised to learn that there ARE some really good food offerings there despite my early prejudices that good food stopped at Glenferrie Rd.  And the gourmet strip?  Camberwell Rd, opposite the cinema, of course.  Let me take you on a quick tour of the offerings:


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