The Gelato Craze.

It's only been...what?...4 months since my last post?? I suppose it's fitting that I spend my Saturday night catching up. I suppose shit just got in the way.

I don't know if it's just me or what, but when did gelato suddenly become a thing? With places playing with liquid nitrogen, dextrose, maltodextrin and shit like that, it seems like gelato has definitely become something more than "ice cream". Because shit just got technical!

Firstly, N2 Extreme in Fitzroy. It is definitely a great fitout from the freestyle blackboard right down to the fake grass. Texturally, the ice cream is pretty good. If you've ever made ice cream ,  you would know that one of the key goals is to freeze the base as quickly as possible to prevent large ice crystals from forming and by using liquid nitrogen which is at -196°C, it happens pretty damn fast. And lets face it, N2 Extreme is all about the novelty and drama of watching kids throw around liquid nitrogen like it was liquid helium!! (ha ha, you get it?)

 
The ice cream list on offer isn't massive, and in my opinion could be more sophisticated given the limited range as not all the flavours and components work. For example, cheesecake should be banned from being made into ice cream. Seriously. Banned. And, a liquid ganache filled in a syringe, will solidify if you stick it into the ice cream. It will. Trust me. It will After trying it a few times, I've come to the conclusion that I'm generally ambivalent to the place. It is definitely worth a visit or in my case a re-visit, but only if I was nearby getting Naked for Satan or something.

Gelato Messina Fitzroy.
I'll be the first to admit, I don't know that much about ice cream. Sure I have an ice cream maker than I used...12 months ago but I had to ask what is the difference between gelato and ice cream was so..I lose quite a bit of credibility there. And yes, this is despite buying the Angelo Corvitto book "Los Secretos de Helado, El Helado sin secretos" which is arguably THE technical book on artisan ice cream which I SWORE I would use.........

Anyway, I digress. Back to Gelato Messina. Fuck, it was seriously good gelato. That's really all I have to say. Had the Cremino, Pistachio, Gin and Tonic and some other flavour. I am shaking just from a) the sugar hit, and b) remembering how good the gelato was. And the good thing? you don't have to wait for them to churn on the spot, and honestly, it was texturally just as good.

Get there NOW.

Where?

N2 Extreme Gelato
329 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy


Gelato Messina
237 Smith Street, Fitzroy

My urban garden....Spring 2013.

My garden is a complete disgrace.

If my garden was your child, you'd disown it. That's how much of a disgrace it is. Weeds. Everywhere. In every garden bed. Weeds.  Not just a few here and there, but a mat, a covering, an entire lawn, that is (was) on the cusp of flowering and going to seed. Luckily I avoided a major catastrophe, and ripped them all out today, because once they go to seed, it's over.

If you haven't figured out by now, I try to grow things organically (except for my use of pyrethrum last year to deal with the aphids), so any use of herbicides is not an option.Just hard labour of ripping out weeds, by hand. Weed by weed. I basically spent the afternoon filling up my green bin with weeds today, and there's still more to do, but I'll see how much impact this round has had.

Other than that, I started my summer plants a few weeks ago, but this year, I'm going to stick to the old faithfuls. No more experimental plants that yield like 3 tomatoes to then have to deal with the heart break of spending 1-1.5hrs a day watering to get a tomato plant that gives me THREE DAMN TOMATOES (I'm talking about you Hillbilly). So I'm going to grow things that give me millions. BILLIONS even.

Tomatoes
- Rouge de marmande
- Yellow pear
- Tommy toe
- Brandywine

Peppers
- Hungarian Yellow
- Some red one that is long and pointy
- Padron peppers (how could I NOT grow Padron Peppers?!)

Eggplants
- Purple striped ones
- Little Fingers

That's it for now, I'll start all my basils and other summery herbs when the weather gets warmer. I decided I'm going to grow mint in an entire garden bed, make it into a weed. Everyone loves mint, if I have too much I'll just have to drink mojitos all summer to use them up.

Anyway, here are some pictures of what I've been growing.

 1 (one) beetoot. Not sure if it is bulls blood or candy stripes. I'll have to just eat it to find out.

 General weekly harvest, of beets, cabbages, kales, chervil (omg, I have so much chervil), chicory, nasturtium, french sorrel, a couple of carrots.

 

 I really don't know what's happened here, it's a 3 year old swiss chard plant that went to seed, but the main plant stayed alive and now I have a hanging garden of mini swiss chards.

My wasabi plant - grown from seedling approx 12 months ago and is currently in flower. The caterpillars got to the leaves, but otherwise still doing very well. I wonder how I'll propagate the plant...

The summer to come, seedlings. A little later than usual, but there is still hope.

Where?

My urban garden

THREE WHOLE MONTHS?!

SHIT.

Was my last post 3 months ago?! In all fairness, I have planned to blog about something for a while, but time has been so so precious.

Let me take you back to May.

I ordered a whole lot of chocolate. I ate it. I decided sugar was not my friend. I decided I needed to do more physical activity to counter my sedentary lifestyle of sitting in front of a computer all day and yes, please don't even highlight that I'm blogging about that very fact, in front of a computer at night.

Anyway, to cut the long story short, I decided to get off my fat ass and changed my routine. 5am starts. 9pm finishes, training twice, three, or even four times a day (not necessarily advisable if unless you're really ready to be crushed).

Kettlebells, Yoga, Pilates, Swimming, Running. It is a miracle that I am in fact alive after such an intense 3 months.

My weekly schedule would consist of:

Yoga - Ashtanga (2x week)
Pilates - (up to 5x a week, reformer - I won't lie, been some of the hardest sessions I've ever had).
Swiming - (up to 2x week, 2 km per swim)
Running - (1x week, when my knee doesn't decide to cave in, 10km)
Kettlebells (2x week, 2 x 30min HIIT sessions with a PT)

So, that is where I have been.

On top of that, meticulous food preparation. No matter what people tell you, it's not fun people. It is NOT FUN preparing breakfasts, lunches, dinners that, let's face it, isn't that appetizing when it's meant to be "clean food". What does "clean food" even mean?? Well it means basically nothing delicious.

Right now, I really just want a fucking burger to calm my nerves.

Anyway I digress,  at about 12 weeks I decided to get some metrics because I'm that much of a nerd that I don't believe in mindlessly exercising and eating clean without some hard, scientific evidence. None of this tape measurement or scale stuff, I decided to go straight to get a DEXA scan. The most accurate way to measure your body compositions such as body fat, lean mass, and bone density. To cut the long story short,I am still basically fat, need more muscle and am borderline osteo. No jokes. That is the literal truth and I'm not even exaggerating. Ok, I'm exaggerating a little, but I still have some way to go. (~80,000kJ).

Week 15 over. 3 more weeks, and I'll go in for another scan to see if I've improved.

Anyway, back to eating chicken, and grass for another 11 weeks - I'm aiming for 26 weeks and then I'm eating a whole fucking cake. Not a bite, slither, or slice, but an entire cake.

Chocolate bars - chuao, porcelana.

I have a confession. I'm a guy who has a cake and chocolate addiction. Judge me if you will, but like coffee, chocolate is not just "dark, milk, and white" - there's a new type called "blond" from Valrhona. There's different cocoa cultivars, regions, estates, plantations. Unlike coffee however, the bean to bar space in chocolate is still fairly young, but single origin chocolates are become more and more popular, with the pointier end offerings that include single estates - such as the Chuao, then there are specific beans like Porcelana.

Over the last few weeks I ordered a number of different varieties online, with bigger bags of valrhona (manjari, guanaja, dulcey, albinao...you get the idea) for moulding chocolates and smaller bars of amedei, pralus, michel cluizel well for eating.

So today, the bars.

Amedei - Chuao
Amedei - Porcelana
Pralus - Chuao

Amedei are seriously famous for their chuao and porcelana bars, possibly some of the best chocolate available in the world. Chuao (the region) has been labelled as one of the best region for cocoa (of the Crillio variety, which at one time, was exclusive to Amedei). After reading up on their chocolates a bit more, Amedei are in my opinion revolutionary. Active at origin, they have made the the pure strains of crillio beans available to well, the world. Porcelana, being one of the purest strains of Crillio is only made in small quantities, is highly prized and made in extremely limited quantities, the packaging (which is hand numbered by the way), indicates that only 20,000 bars are made per year. So yes, it is something special. It also comes at a special price, anywhere between $15-21 per 50g bar. It is seriously expensive. Like seriously expensive. So make no mistake, I had high expectations.

I wanted to compare the Amedei Chuao with another producer to see whether there were material differences despite its identical origin. So I'll be comparing it with the Pralus.


Pralus - Chuao
First thing you notice is how smooth this chocolate is. Incredibly smooth, the mouth can only detect particle sizes of 30-50microns, and really good chocolate when conched for long enough, can be below detectable limits. This one just melts, like butter, which perhaps suggests a higher cocoa butter content to cocoa mass. This bar, overall, was quite mild, with vanilla and floral notes dominating with only a light acidity.

Amedei - Chuao
Unlike the Pralus, it isn't as smooth, but the flavour profile is more complex. Strong acidity, and incredibly long finish. The hallmark of a really good chocolate is how complex it is, generally devoid of a monotonous and uniform flavour profile as it melts and changes in your mouth. I won't go into describing all the notes (because I don't know how). But a very enjoyable chocolate, despite a slight graininess.


Amedei - Porcelana
Ok. There is a reason why this chocolate has such a reputation (and a wikipedia page devoted to it - anything on wikipedia must be FACT and FAMOUS). The old adage, you get what you pay for, holds true in this case. Basically, unbelievably nice chocolate to eat. Balanced acidity and smoother mouth feel than the chuao with a very complex flavour profile. Long finish. This one is not one to just eat in the car..

When eaten side by side, there is no doubt the porcelana is the winner. Despite the fact that each of the bars have their own strengths, the finish of the porcelana is something that leaves an overwhelming sense of wanting more. The deep complexity of this chocolate that won't polarise people, with balanced acidity, strong aromatic notes threaded with the right amount of sweetness, it is what you really want a chocolate to be. At 70%, you'd expect some noted bitterness, but the balance and harmony of the overall flavour profile ensures the hallmark bitterness of some dark chocolates to fade into the background, with a finish that is long, satisfying and certainly complex.

The Porcelana is a very expensive chocolate, but it will be worth every cent.

Oh, and here are some moulded chocolates I also made with my Valrhona Guanja. Quite a bitter 70%, so a bit strong for the fillings, but still DELICIOUS!!


Where?
Online

Little Hunter

Holy toledo, how long ago did I visit this place?! Anyway, I'm blogging about it now.

Well there sure has been some hype about this place even before it opened. Some hype indeed. Maybe it's because the guy heading up this place used to work at the Fat Duck, or because the other owner is on MKR, who knows. I sure didn't see any activated almonds on the menu. I totally would've ordered them. You know I would.

Anyway, located beneath the St Georges building on Little Collins, the entrance is as discreet as it gets, no significant signage, down some stairs into a bunker space. We followed other people and hoped they knew where they were going. They did.

Truth be told, I really only wanted to try Little Hunter because of its name. It's a cool name don't you think? Or not.....

This place is not for vegetarians. So beware blog buddies. If you're a vegetarian, this place may not be for you, as almost everything has a meat component, even the bread. It started off with a baked pull apart mini loaf, herby and delicious (and was unashamedly white white white - let's face it, no one likes to admit it, but white bread didn't survive this long because it tasted bad). Oh, don't forget the chicken skin butter. CHICKEN SKIN BUTTER.

This place is also not for the dieter. So beware blog buddies. If you're watching your calories, this place may not be for you.

We started with the "crackling" and watermelon salad. The crackling was interesting, it was "puffed" rather than the classic rendition of crackling. So it was almost like eating crisps...but well, not quite crisps.  It was fine, but after a few servings, you do get sick of it.The watermelon salad was excellent, the creamy goat cheese and refreshing watermelon. I loved this dish.

For mains, I had spatchcock and my buddy had the lamb...I think. The chicken was good, but it wasn't incredible, it was solidly cooked and not sandpaper dry. Perhaps it was a long day for me when I dined there, as I ultimately found it difficult to stomach all that meat. We also ordered a side of fries and yams. The fries were really more like 7 fries or something (realistically, it was 1 potato), tasty, but really you didn't get into double digits with the number of fries served. This was a bit of a disappointment, when you order fries, there should be a sense of abundance.  The yams were sweet potatoes...and was quite nice...but why not call them sweet potatoes?!

We finished with the licorice ice cream and the frangipane with passionfruit curd. The licorice ice cream was delicious with the only "minor complaint" was that it was quite sweet. I make ice cream with my ice cream machine regularly (ok, I made like 10 batches in 2 weeks and then nothing afterwards since), so I'd like to think I know what I'm on about...and I really think it could've done with less sugar or something that isn't as sweet as sucrose. But then again, a minor issue...you eat ice cream well because it's meant to be sweet, so perhaps I'm just complaining because it's fun.

The passionfruit curd component of the frangipane dessert was excellent and incredibly smooth, I love passionfruit curd - did you know that? Well you do now. I love love love passionfruit curd. Even though there was really only a small amount of it on the dish, I'd order it just for the curd.

Overall, the main disappointment of the night were our seats, we were seated at the bar despite arriving for a 6pm session, and well, it wasn't very comfortable. It was fine for a few drinks, but after a couple of hours, we were ready to leave. Honestly, fix your damn bar stools.

Notwithstanding that issue, the food is generally good, service good, and if you were to eat here you would generally be satisfied. It won't change your life, but then again, it's a fairly new restaurant so perhaps it'll find its groove later down the track.

Where?
Little Hunter
"Down the stairs", 195 Little Collins St
Melbourne, CBD

Huxtaburger

I can't lie. I really love burgers. If you had asked me a while ago (before BBK) if I loved burgers, I would've told you, NO. I do not love burgers. But now, I love burgers, so much so that I'd eat one before going for a swim. That's how much I love them - I am willing to risk drowning.

So it's a wonder why I've been so slow off the mark to try Huxtaburger, I mean, how many times have people asked me "what you think of huxtaburger?" when they find out how much I love burgers.

So finally bit the bullet and tried it. Try it twice in fact, over the last week or so (just to be sure). Finally. So now, I can say I've tried the Huxtaburger, I can tell you, blog buddies, what I think of huxtaburger.

Not bad. 

There has been so so so much hype around huxtaburger, expectations of it were high, and in all fairness, I did enjoy it. Totally. The bun was however, quite sweet for a burger, brioche if I'm not mistaken, but I'd say it is in balance with the tomato sauce (or "ketchup"), pickles, mustard, pattie and cheese. The burger certainly has a "fast food" element to it, you know...the sugar, the salt, the fat (pretty much in every single component).  At $8.50, it's cheaper than the Beatbox Kitchen, but also smaller. It's probably the right size, anymore and you could be over it.

So , Beatbox Kitchen vs Huxtaburger? I mean, that's what you're all thinking right? If I were to crave a burger, like so much that I'd get into a street fight to get to one? I'd say the Beatbox. But I'd happily devour a huxtaburger still. Despite all the reviews indicating ridiculous waits, both times have been  less than 10 mins. Just go on a weekday.

Where?
106 Smith Street, Collingwood

Señoritas

Holy shit. Have I neglected this blog or what? And no one even bothered to send out a search party. Disappointing people. Disappointing.

But in any case, I'm alive.

So a few weeks back, a friend was over from Perth so the decision to catch up resulted in a two part dinner, firstly at Senoritas and then a some extra bites at MoVida, the original. Let's face it, who doesn't like a bit of a mexican fiesta?!

Given it was quite a number of weeks ago,  I cant' remember exactly what we had, but I do remember they had some pretty awesome margaritas. If that counts...

They look like tacos. Yes, you'd expect tacos at a house of Mexico....and they were good tacos. Not the dodgy shit that taste like dry beans with a corn tortilla.

Bugs and spatchcock. The spatchcock was particularly good, but yeh, it was a child chicken that copped it.

Overall, it was good. Foodwise, better than mamasitas imho. And guess what? They take bookings, so you don't have to wait 3 hours to get a seat.

Adios amigos.

Where?
Senoritas,
16 Meyers Place,CBD

My urban garden...where's SPRING?!

Well, I'm actually still alive everyone. So calm down.

Yes, the world has not brought me down just yet, almost, but not YET!

It has been such a busy time in recent months, and the amount of work that I used to put into my garden seems almost an impossible thing to repeat. I remember around this time last year, I had my summer crops in, and all I had to do was deal with my aphid (and DAMN white fly) problem.

I will admit, I have cheated this year. Last year, I ordered lacewings, used pest oil and garlic sprays to deal with the aphids. It seemed to have worked, as the beneficial insects took care of the aphids in the rose beds. I however, lost the whitefly battle through high summer as the population exploded amongst my beans and tomatoes. The impact on some of the beans was horrific.

I am not going through such effort this year to be beaten by those damn white flies again. As we've had a what seems to be a very cool October in Melbourne, the infestation has not been so severe (yet), so I decided I'd try out pyrethrum sprays, a botanical poison for insects and aquatic animals (and cats apparently). Luckily, I don't have aquatic animals or cats. The active ingredient is non selective and will kill all insects, good and bad. Not ideal, but let's call this an integrated approach to gardening...without using the systemic and synthetic poisons.

I've decided I will need to get the pest population under control early on so that it is not too late before they become uncontrollable. The plan is to spray for a few weeks and then introduce beneficials as the weather warms up to sustain them, to maintain balance in the garden.

So, yes blog buddies, I've cheated this year.

But other than that...this is what has been happening in my urban garden..N/NE of Melbourne.

 Purple podded peas - Angela's blue from memory. A beautifully deep purple pod with lime, almost fluorescent green. I swore I'd never grow peas again...but this may have changed my mind.

Staggered harvests of some rainbow carrots - from purple dragon, solar yellow and lunar white carrots. Funnily, I don't actually have orange carrots.

As far as the eye can see - my strawberry plants from seed (and some more mature white alpines fruiting away). Alexandria, Reine de valles, Mignonette, Yellow Wonder, Pineapple crush and Musk Berries (soon to be transplanted!).

Of course, what would Summer be without these? My tomato seedlings, smaller than hoped but they'll be fine. Tommy toe, Yellow pear, Red fig, Aunty Ruby's Green, Maldovan Green, Hillbilly, Stupice, Rouge de Marmande and my two hopes of this season - Red Brandywine and Pink Brandywine. The Brandywine are meant to be the best of all tomatoes.

Some horseradish with lettuce and beetroots. My beetroots did not get very large...and I don't know why.

I aim trying to be as productive as possible with the land that I do have, so in went a Jiro Persimmon, and a White Shahtoot Mulberry.

And I have to end with this - a random potato plant in the back of the garden in some abandoned soil through deep winter produced that crop of potatoes. Not bad for absolute neglect. 

Where?
My urban garden