At the Crystal Castle

Last time we drove through Mullumbimby, we saw signs to the Crystal Castle. It all looked a bit hippy, and we chuckled about it.

Well, now I've been there. It's gorgeous! Mum and I had a delightful visit there. There are beautiful gardens full of amazing plants, and pretty places to relax, think and contemplate.

We called these plants "Muppet Chickens".

Mum found this terrifying creature in her salad. Oh wait, it's a tiny cucumber. My curry was just excellent too.

Beautiful place to visit. If you felt you wanted to leave money on any of the statues, it was collected and sent to an orphanage they support.

They have a garden that supplies some of the food for the kitchen. And look, someone's left a pineapple on this plant.

Most important part of the visit, the wishing tree. You are invited to leave a message on the tree. Mum wrote a note to Peter, and sent it off on one of the high branches with fresh new growth.

New coffee quest - day 3

Today we left the building and went in the other direction. A pleasant downhill stroll to "In a Rush", a nice lunch place with the full range of goodies. They have chemistry lab equipment too (I think that's just a requirement now). A range of homely cakes, like the classic hedgehog, as well as fancy stuff. I admired the "open Nutella calzone", which didn't look open, or much like a calzone, but did look tasty.

An artful display of vegies on the counter advertised the very, very green juices they would be prepared to make. Gorgeous salads too.

Coffee came in three sizes, and the large was the big size Jeff normally prefers, at $4.50. The medium was my usual size, at $3.90. And we started a loyalty card.

Generic paper cup here, and now that I know the cup sizes, I will be able to bring my nice reusable cup.

This coffee was good and powerful. Tasted like, hmm, chocolate, and liquorice. Perhaps from Honduras? Oh, alright, I read that on their sign. So, another successful coffee run, and still no favourite selected.

Looking for a new favourite coffee

We've moved into a new office. Instead of the hipster delights of Collingwood, we're now amongst the hustle of the city. Collins street, no less,

And the coffee machine hasn't moved yet (and we do prefer a well made coffee anyway) so the challenge is on. We used to go to the Glassworks Cafe in Gipps st, where a medium latte is actually quite big, costs $3.50, and is well made by the barista who knows what everyone has. Loyalty card, one free in every ten.

So, is there somewhere near the new office to buy coffee?

Ok, it's Melbourne, there's about twelve places inside a minute's walk.

But which is the best? Where will we get delicious, enlivening coffee, from baristas who make us feel welcome? And don't sneer at the thought of making a (gasp) latte?

Will anyone give us a biscuit? Or other treat?

Each day, we've tried a new spot. 

First we try Bonnie Coffee. Friendly welcome. So much scientific apparatus, they obviously make very fancy coffee. Or maybe it's a meth lab. Excellent pastries, possibly just an art installation. The staff work at both sides of the center table, so you can't really tell where to wait. All smiles when we asked for latte. We asked for "large", which is about what we called "medium" until last week. $4.50, plain white paper cup. We introduce ourselves as new to the area. The coffee pusher gives us fizzy water while we wait. Because that's a completely normal thing. 

Bonnie's coffee was delicious, but later in the day, I wondered about a top up. I had tea instead. I know, I know, if you want your coffee strong, don't be drinking latte, but it's what I like.

Second day, we get more adventurous. Down an (almost) spiral staircase into what could only be described as a dungeon, we find Code Black, a properly serious coffee spot. The aroma could sustain you for at least half the day. We order our (gasp) lattes, and tattooed barista is unfazed. She knows that's what lots of people drink. I was amused at someone buying a tiny espresso in a tiny takeaway cup. 

We went for "large" again, still about the size of a Glassworks "medium". $4.20, but there was a happy skull on the cup, so that's a huge plus. Pastries also excellent. We introduced ourselves. They'd already met our IT guys. You know I work in IT, but we have IT guys that make OUR computers work. They are seriously smart IT guys, and they like their coffee. No fizzy water. No other treats.

Code black's coffee definitely sustained me all day. So that's a plus. And, the cup had a funny saying on the other side. But if you want to know what it was, you'll have to go and get one.

So that's the search so far. There will be another one today.

Urgent citrus news

This is an orange:

This is a grapefruit:

And this, the guy at the market assured Jeff, is a "Yellow". It's yellow outside, and full of orange inside.

The things they can do these days.

Fabulous sourdough Apple scrolls!

If you live or work near Bridge Road Richmond, you'd better check out Richmond Sourdough. They have gorgeous bread and pastries daily, all sourdough. Yes, sourdough croissants, and sourdough scrolls!



There's a table in the window with one of everything on display. I saw it riding past, and screeched to a stop.



The croissants have a great crust.



Here's what you're looking for...



And here we learn they are open daily.

I went in today with a $50 note and no change, and the baker did me a huge favour on the bill. So, until I pay him back, I'd better disclose that this is a sponsored post. That apple scroll was awesome.

Workers' treat

A hard day's work earns you a delicious gelato. Here we are at Gelato Messina enjoying a fabulous cone each.

Good day at the market

It's always a good shopping day when you have to photograph the capsicums before you can eat them!

Happy birthday boys

It's birthday season here - this is ONE of Jonathan and Thomas' birthday cakes. They had two of course, on different days, to lessen the strain on the fridge! This cake has maltesers, and kit Kats. Yum.

This is Thomas on the left, and Jonathan on the right.

The bounty of the plum tree

We've scored a whole lot of plums lately, and here's what I've made so far. Barbeque Sauce (from a Quirky Jo's recipe, full of wholesome ingredients), and Plum Chutney, from a traditional recipe, full of plums! I had fun prettying the labels too. So, I'm not sure if I should be sharing this with my cooking friends, my crafty friends, or my people who might come over to eat!

A good egg

Here's a really pretty egg I found in my carton of free range eggs today. It's in a carrot cake now. What a good egg!

Office cutlery

What cutlery do you keep at your desk at work? Jeff has lots of plastic forks - when they give him one he doesn't need, he can't bring himself to throw it out. I bring my lunch, so I don't face that problem.

This is my armoury - we have a grapefruit spoon, a silver plated tea spoon (for the tea caddy, not for stirring), and a grapefruit knife. Oh, I suppose I use regular spoons and forks from the kitchen too, but they are not as photogenic.

Tasty lunch on a park bench

At last I get to try Miss Chu rice paper rolls! I've got takeaway here, and I'm eating outside the Royal Society of Victoria. The rolls are yum, and the sauce with them is not only delicious, but comes in a darling little bottle I'll probably keep! There is an awesome tourist attraction just near me ...

A day off in Melbourne

I'm starting my day off with a stroll around Melbourne. It's been a while since I visited the city. The one problem with Melbourne is, it's just so hard to get a coffee. I can't have seen more than two to three thousand vendors since I got here, several hours ago. This is from Earl at Emporium Melbourne. That's a friand. Friands are nice.

I finally worked out how juice fennel

First of all, why did I want to make juice out of fennel? Fennel is tasty to eat, but not one of the popular juicing vegetables. Well, if you'd read Jim Lahey's book, My Bread, you'd see that for some of his bread recipes, he substitutes other liquids for the water. The carrot bread, for example, has you juicing carrots. I tried that, and it was excellent, so I was keen to follow the recipe for Fennel Bread.

The first time I tried, I used a little juicer, which did not like job at all. It hopped all around the benchtop. It was hard work getting a trickle of juice.

But now I have a Bellini - that's the poor cousin to the Thermomix, which is a super-powered blender, among other things. The Bellini can turn most things into atoms in no time flat. Hmm.

So I took my fennel, and chopped it very roughly...

... and let it have a turn in the Bellini.

Mere seconds later, we have this - severely smashed up fennel.

Now, remember, blenders and juicers do a completely different job - one smashes up the fruit and vegies, and the other separates the pulp from the juice. Blenders are in the smashing business. So, we need to separate this pulp and juice.

Squeezing it through a cloth would work, but let's have some fun with kitchen appliances...

... and here's my other great appliance, the Kitchenaid mixer, with straining attachment. It lets you push your pulpy mixture in the top, and it presses it through a sieve, using a cool gadget that looks like a drill. It forces the dry pulp out, so nothing gets clogged, and you can keep separating for ages if you want to do a big batch.

Try not to snigger as the squeezed-dry pulp gets extruded out the nozzle here... the juice is gathering in the silver bowl.

And here's the end result. One large fennel bulb turned into 250ml of juice, and a nice plate of pulp.

I used this juice to make a delightful loaf of fennel bread.

At last, I have worked out how to juice fennel!

More chocolate and whisky

The Corowa shire sold the unused flour mill (for $1) to the people who run the Junee liquorice factory further north, knowing that they'd work to turn it into something nice. So far, a very nice cafe, chocolate sales, and whisky tasting. Every time we visit, they've improved this great site.

So, go and visit the chocolate and whisky in Corowa!

At the winery walkabout

We've decided to leave great, drizzly Melbourne behind for the long weekend, and come to Rutherglen for the Winery Walkabout. This is how we do things now ... A glass of "After Dark", a semi-sweet durif, and a rich chocolate brownie studded with cranberries macerated in After Dark, from Scion Winery, one of the smaller wineries. Now that makes a very nice visit.

That's the man who wrote on my butter!

A fun afternoon at the office. David was boasting about his pen (it's a Space Pen) and claimed that, as well as writing upside down, and underwater, it can write on butter. Yes, butter.

Well, I'd bought butter that day, so I chilled it down in the freezer.

David got out his pen, and ... well, what do you know, it doesn't work! It made some nice dents in my block of butter though.

For the record, we tried a much more plausible scenario after that, writing on greasy paper. Which, as you know, works really badly with most pens. Well, the Space Pen writes beautifully on greasy paper, and keeps writing after that. So it IS an impressive pen. But I'll have to work out some other way to write notes on my butter.

A near death experience - with chocolate!

One of the edible (or rather, drinkable) treats of this trip has been hot chocolate. We tried the recommended chocolat chaud from Patisserie Vienoisse. It's dark and unsweetened. If you ask for cream, it comes with a lot of cream. That's how we had it first time. But I fancied trying again without cream. So we did, this time "emporter". That's take away to you. We took these cups of evilly dark and hot food of the gods to our favourite sitting place, in front of Death in the university courtyard. Cheers, Death!

Onion soup!

Not much in the way of photos for this day  - we spent most of the day at the Musee D'Orsay, where photography is not allowed. But lunch was at the nearby Cafe Mucha. Mucha was a French Art Nouveau artist. And this is proper soupe à l'oignon gratinée. Yum.

Sent from my iPad

Cheese on toast, French style

This is the kind of thing I get to have for lunch. Toast grilled with goats cheese, on a bed of salad, often with honey and nuts. This time the salad is apple and endive. So, so nice.