What a difference a Cray makes....

She rang early .

" Can we come for lunch? I'm showing the Great Ocean Road and the 12 Apostles to a mate. Can we bring anything?"

Instantly a friendship continues.
She had taken us to our first French restaurant, Julien in Faubourg St-Denis.
Cassoulet, with a Poire William sorbet at the end of the meal. The midnight drive to see the Corbusier houses, hot grogs at La Palette.
When she was in Singapore it was a sunset and pepper crab at East-coast Parkway, followed by the best duck popiah in town for breakfast. We paid her back one year with fresh foie gras and Tokai Aszu in Budapest.
But the best is always at home, hers or ours, without the distraction of waiters or any ceremony. More time to fill in the gaps.
Do a little cooking. ………..

Story with recipes continues under Sunnybrae Resources on the right hand side of this blog.

This time of year always makes us a little Crayzy.

Best Wishes for 2008

First Published in The Age Jan 24 2004

Mount Duneed Morello Cherries Available Now!

Spent the morning with Diane picking morello cherries at

Ken Campbell's vineyard and farm at Feehan's Road Mount Duneed. Ken has about 100 beautiful trees just coming into full ripeness and you can pick your own for $7 a kilo for the next 10 days. Give him a ring on 5264 1281. You will need some scissors, some shallow containers, a sun hat and a fly net is also useful. Ken and his wife Joy own a magnificent vineyard and orchard at Mt Duneed. Ken had the Mount Duneed wine label but now all the wines except the home paddock are made by Lethbridge Wines.

Diane and I spent a couple of glorious hours this morning picking about 18 kilos from 4 trees so get down, there are 96 left.

Again my Hungarian childhood memories are revived with these wonderful tart but balanced flavours. My mother used them for jam, strudel, pickled to have with goose liver or duck and she also preserved in marc or, as we call it palinka.

Preserving cherries in alcohol is a quick and simple [but you will have to be patient to enjoy them later] method.

Simply sterilise some glass clip top jars and add the washed morellos with the stems on, and sprinkle sugar between each layer. How much sugar is up to you, I like about 25%. Fill the jars with grappa, brandy or if you have access to it marc. You can add whatever aromatic spices you like but I like them plain with perhaps a very small piece of vanilla pod. Seal and store in a dark cool place for at least 2 months. Roll them occasionally to dissolve the sugar. They go well with simple cakes, in pancakes, with fresh cheese, one popped into a glass of fizz or indeed any way you please. The flavoured brandy left is also a brilliant digestive.

To spice them simply make up a pickling mix with good vinegar, sugar [I use about 30%] spices like bay leaves, chillies, garlic, black peppercorns. Whatever takes your fancy.

Let the pickling mix cool down so as not to soften the cherries. Fill some sterilised jars with the washed cherries [stem on] and pour on the cool pickling mix and seal. Set aside in a cool and dark place for at least 2 months. In this photo you see we used vacuum bags, they take up less room and work well. With this method we pour on the pickle mixture and seal but not to a full vacuum just tight.

Preserving with vinegar and this quantity of alcohol is a safe, quick and simple way to put these short seasoned favourites away for later. Make sure all containers have been carefully washed and sterilised.

Give them a go.

St.Kilda Dreaming

St.Kilda Dreaming

The St. Kilda Triangle Development must be stopped.

I grew up on the Esplanade in the block Sur La Mer top left where this sign is.
We got off the boat [good ship Toscana] in 1958 and effortlessly slipped into an Australian- Mittle European neighbourhood that was a perfect joy to a young street urchin. My mother opened a strudel shop in the old St.Kilda market in Acland Street where the supermarket development now stands. She stretched her dough on wooden tables and cooked them in two Early Kooka ovens to the delight of many other immigrants and locals.
My father had a fruit shop in Acland Street opposite the old Excellent café so the hood holds precious memories to this old St. Kilda boy.
But that was then, now a new sensibility is called for.
How can a bunch of developers be so greedy?
The momentum for rethinking of this atrocity is growing and hopefully the council will see and be guided to understand that for the long term survival of St.Kilda as a place of character and a sustainable recreational precinct, this development has to be re-designed.


To add your support go to http://www.savestkilda.org.au/

Reflections of an old ‘St.Kilda Bocher’

Sitting at my father’s side while he played cards at the Flamingo.

Sneaking in to the Palais and watching Erwin Rado from the top of the dome and not getting caught.

The smell of the ice at St.Moritz while listening to a scratchy Elvis singing Mystery Train around the rink.

Kicking a footy on the Peanut Farm.

Walking home from Lorca at midnight at the junction with the rhythm of flamenco in my head.

Listening to Pete Seeger songs at the “Fallout Shelter’ under the church hall on Brighton Road

Listening to the Stones and the Easybeats from the stage door at the Palais.

Lemon and Chocolate Gelato at the old Leo’s

Shnitzel at the Sheherezade and much later understanding the history after reading Arnold Zable’s extraordinary book Café Sheherezade.

Eating felafel with mates at the Lebanese restaurant on the corner of Chapel Street and Dandenong Road on the eve of the Six Day War thinking that the world has changed.

Coffee at The Black Rose

Sneaking in to the mock submarine from the movie On The Beach near South Pacific and painting a peace sign on it.

Taking guitar lessons from dear Rio Lani in Blessington St on a vintage Martin

South Pacific on weekends when families would order food from Fitzroy St to be delivered by waiters from Sarti to the beach.

South Pacific during the week where you could swim in through the broken bars under the surface and enter the set of West Side Story with the Wogs on the left and the Sharks on the right guarding the diving board. Not needing a towel because you could simply walk home……..

Much later

Watching the old Palais de Danse burn down, and much later again learning that it had a Walter Burley Griffin interior.

Then…
Opening day at the Dog’s bar with Don…

Have to stop…. Too much nostalgia.

One third the size is plenty for this development.

Thankfully the Astor has been saved.

F.A.Q CLASSES AND OPENING

The two most common questions being asked via telephone and email [don't be shy to ask in the comments section here] are:
When are you opening? And will the classes be the same as they were?
The Restaurant and Cooking School will be opening around the time of the olive harvest to celebrate the new oil. We estimate Mid April to early May, but we will give you plenty of notice here on the blog. STOP PRESS OPENING ON MAY 10 FOR CLASSES AND MAY 11 FOR THE RESTAURANT FOR COOKING CLASS LINK For those that have not tasted freshly made extra virgin olive oil, you are in for a treat. Most commercial oils are about 4 to 6 months old before they are released but the real fresh fruit flavours in our opinion are best as soon as it comes out of the press. The iridescent green colour gradually settles and becomes clear. A full detailed blog on when, and how the olives are harvested and pressed will be posted when it happens.


















The classes will take the same format as before with a maximum of 14 places. All classes are 'hands on' with participants choosing to get as involved as they choose. Classes are based around groups of seasonal ingredients, special techniques, the garden or topics that may be appropriate to the season. As well as the classes that I will give, we will again be hosting guests presenters , both from the restaurant world and also writers, artists, musicians and others that may not be principally known for their love of food and wine.
We will welcome school groups of all ages, gardening groups, also smaller groups from the restaurant world who need to recharge their batteries, develop their menus or just use this space to break out of their usual routines.
If you have any requests for topics and guest presenters now is the time to let us know as the programs are being developed.
I hope you are getting some of the rain that seems to be whizzing by.

Jamon Jamon?

Angel Cardoso pictured lives in Lara Victoria. On this day last year Primesafe [the body that governs meat processing in Victoria] raided his property and removed all his stock of naturally matured Spanish style smallgoods and took them away to be destroyed. The stock amounted to many hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of, for my money, the best charcuterie being made in Australia at that time. Angel is over 70 fit and feisty years old, and for the last 30 years or so has devoted his life to bringing to Australia the wonderful tastes of his native Spain in the form of Jamon, Lomo, Chorizo, Morcilla and such. Products that are now at the forefront of a very neophillic food culture in Australia. At about the same time last year or just before, the laws governing the importation of Jamon from Spain and other European countries were relaxed and naturally made Jamon using the same techniques as Angel used were allowed to be imported. And boy do we know about those now! The explanation that primesafe made was that Cardoso smallgoods were a threat to human consumption. No general alert was issued and it was possible to purchase product from reputable suppliers for months until they ran out. As far as I know no samples were kept for analysis to back up the claim that they were dangerous. I have known Angel for over 15 years and during that time have enjoyed and used in the restaurant many hundreds of kilos of his wonderful products with not one incident to suggest they were in any way dodgy. Over the years Angel's fame grew and many good restaurants and delis proudly sold his products. From Anthony Bourdain to Stephanie Alexander he was hailed as a pioneer with many palates pleased over the years. Angel is a very proud and sometimes difficult man totally devoted ,you could say fanatically, to his craft.
His reputation, as well as his livelihood has been destroyed. He now has to watch imported products take over the market with little chance of a local maker willing to take up the challenge of making these artisan goods in this country for a long while. His dream is to teach some young people to prepare them. I miss them so much. After tasting some of the imported Jamon I can honestly say that none of them have the vibrant flavours that Angel's have. Angel's products are unique full of life like a living cheese. No Roquefort style funeral was offered for the hundreds of Jamon, just a sad anonymous end at an unknown tip?

While you are enjoying this year's festivities have a good look at the ham you are eating.
The powers that be have allowed imported Canadian pork to be fused to a local pig bone to make ham that is allowed to be sold here. I am not saying that they are a threat to "human consumption" but it does not seem like an improvement to me. If Angel was more articulate, better connected and less proud, this would have been the biggest food story of 2007. There is more to this than we have been told.

Tomatillo

The Tomatillos are back!
Some of the best plants in the garden self-seed every year. The first emergence of these "weeds" are like old friends returning for a visit. The lovage has bounced back even after planting out their bed with pinot noir, but they can stay put for a few years while the vines develop. Purslane will provide green mulch throughout the garden as well as many tasty salads and accompaniments to seafood and yabbies. Many more edible weeds continue to emerge.
I have been fascinated with the nightshades or solanacea for many years and collect as many examples as I can . Check out the Masterclass notes at http://www.scribd.com/doc/938177/DEADLY-NIGHTSHADES-PDF

Tomatillos are one of the most forgiving and tasty members of this extra-ordinary family. They belong to the husk-tomato or physalis group of which the most common member in Australia is the Cape Gooseberry
I cannot understand why Tomatillo are not grown more for the commercial market. They survive both a light frost and dry conditions.
Tomatillos are the basis of many Mexican dishes have a crisp texture and an alluring flavour that is unique. The flavour develops on cooking, one of the best ways to use them is for a Salsa Verde. Quite different from Italian version, this classic hot sauce brings out the wonderful flavour of the tomatillo.
Ingredients
Tomatillos, Garlic, Serrano chillies, coriander, onions, lime juice.
Cook them like you would a hot tomato sauce, there is no need to remove the skins as they will melt into the sauce.

The hardest thing about this sauce is finding the Tomatillos, but in Melbourne Cameron Russell's old stall at the Victoria market just outside the deli section is good bet. If not just grow some, there is still time to plant. Seeds are available from New Gipplsland seeds, Eden Seeds and many other specialist seed merchants.

Ground Cherries
the plant below is a ground cherry also another physalis . This one has the most delicate flavour, a hint of mellow sweetness with a gentle overtone of Vanilla. I see today that its also back in the garden but its not as prolific as the Tomatillos this year.

Last years bounty of Tomatillo

Preservation Day

Time to Load the Larder
Busy day in Melbourne organising new equipment. I always relish a visit to Consante Imports 377 Bell Street Preston an Aladdin's cave for all things to do with home preserving. Here you enter the world of home made salami, olive oil, wine. cheese and much more. Resisted the urge to buy a new Fusti to hold next years oil, I was very tempted to buy a grappa still but scored some new garden tools and containers for the coming preserving season. Chances are if you have any reservations about any preserving techniques there will be someone in the shop either staff or customers discussing the very thing that you are chasing. This is a shop for all seasons. This month at Sunnybrae we will be putting down spiced cherries both Morello and sweet, chillies, peppers, making cassis, jams. But the favourite December harvest is white peaches. Our tree always comes good just before Christmas. After mongeing too many for our own good its time to make the Bellini Mix. Simply pass the fresh white peach flesh through a fine moulli add some lemon juice to taste and just enough sugar syrup to enhance the natural flavour of the peaches.I also add a very small amount of pure vanilla extract. We freeze this in small 500ml containers for as long as they last....
If you are new to the preserving game Consante stocks copies of Pietro Demaio's great book "Preserving The Italian Way" http://www.preservingtheitalianway.com.au/ The book is clear, simple and an excellent volume for new and experienced home preservers. Pietro also has a blog on this site. The Memoirs Foundation that published the book is another wonderful organisation that works towards the preservation of private family traditions.

The Alan Scott Oven at Sunnybrae

While Sunnybrae has been on sabbatical we have continued to hold a number of workshops and events and one of the first was to build this wonderful wood fired bakers' oven. We asked Alan Scott the renowned ovencrafter http://www.ovencrafters.net to come to Sunnybrae and conduct an oven building workshop in 2003. With 12 enthusiastic visitors over 3 days of action-packed building and conviviality this wonderful oven was built. I am happy to say that many of the participants of that workshop both amateur and professional have now built ovens and those ovens in turn have inspired others to do the same. The oven will be a major new focus for activities in 2008. This year as a prelude to the opening we were delighted to host John Downes for two workshops. For those of you too young to remember, John, he practically started the sourdough revolution in Australia with Feedwell Foundry, Natural Tucker, Firebrand Bakery. His book The Natural Tucker Bread Book is still in print and for my money arguably the best book on naturally leavened bread available. Do not be put off by its small size, every word is carefully chosen and I can recommend it to anyone embarking on this wonderful voyage that is naturally leavened bread
This is the class photo from the non professional day. John Downes can be contacted at http://www.sourdough.com.au/
A display from 14 of Victoria's finest bakers from the professional day at Sunnybrae. Full notes will be available on the new website.
We were also pleased to have Dan Lepard the celebrated expatriate Australian Baker to another workshop-lunch. Dan has for many years been doing wonderful things in London and has published a brilliant book called The Handmade Loaf and his workshop was a part of the launch of the book in Australia.http://www.danlepard.com/

History of the old Cottage

Sunnybrae cottage is one of a small number of surviving buildings in the Birregurra district that were constructed by John 'Bricky' Pell. The bricks are from the local Price's kiln. They are laid in Flemish Bond with a bi-chromatic effect whereby the end on bricks are a darker colour.

The four roomed cottage was built in 1868, on 28 acres owned by John and Mary Bicket. John was a shoemaker from The Waterslap, Fenwick, Ayrshire, Scotland. He had a bootmaker's shop in Birregurra.

The interior of Sunnybrae was decorated with false marble effects and folk art stencil work.

John died in 1878 and Mary in 1902. She had lived at Sunnybrae as a widow for 24 years. They are both buried at the Warncoort Cemetery off the Princes Hwy. [The cemetery adjoining Sunnybrae is the Whoorel Cemetery.]

We have been living here together since 1981. A full history of the Bickets will be available on the website.

If perchance you have seen any old material related to Sunnybrae please let us know. Prior to Mary's death it was supposed to have been 'the showpiece garden of the district'. We would love to see an old photo of the garden as the only remains are the old Robinia trees at the corner .

Spring Harvest

Before we can invite you back to Sunnybrae there is a great deal of work to be done in the garden. And I have to learn how to manage this blogging biz! The original artichoke and asparagus beds are all thriving and while the asparagus has finished we are letting it go to fern and heavily fertilising the beds for next spring. Artichokes take on a completely different persona in summer, they grow close to the ground and develop saucer sized heads not seen often in the markets. During summer they need a great deal of water and sadly we do not have the reserves to grow these to fruition. However they make new plants at this time and we are now in the process of separating them for new plantings next year.

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New Season's Garlic

Back in 1981 when we started the original vegetable garden at Sunnybrae garlic was the first crop that we planted. Since then we have kept some of the same stock for planting each year.

The markets should start to stock this year's crop and if you wish to grow some, keep the best largest locally grown heads to plant next winter. In our district we plant on the shortest day and harvest on the longest day. This year will be a bumper crop as the winter rains were abundant.

The Seven

Year Itch


Sunnybrae Restaurant and Cooking School will be re-opening around April or May 2008

STOP PRESS

COOKING CLASSES BEGIN ON MAY 10 LINK HERE http://sunnybraecookingschool.blogspot.com/

AND RESTAURANT OPENS MAY 11 LINK HERE http://sunnybraerestaurantandcookingschool.blogspot.com/search/label/Sunday%20May%2011%20Opening%20Date%20and%20vale%20the%20Plongeur

This blog will keep you up to date on the developments as they happen and will provide an opportunity for you to be placed on a register to receive information as things develop.

We will be adding to the content of this website every week to build up a large useful resource for anyone with a curious interest in food and wine.

George is still available for consultative work and special projects.

Do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or special requests.
Diane and I are very excited to welcome you back to Sunnybrae.