Lazy Sunday Lunch

Yesterday's indulgence carried over into today as we all slept in until noon :D Our plans to check out the Rundle Street market were pulled from under our feet as we strolled down the street hoping to see a street market only to find that.... there was no visible market. Ok, where the fark was it? We had 3 pairs of eyes and none of which could see this so-called Sunday market.

We stopped inside a cafe to find out what's the deal and was told that the market was canceled because it was too hot. Too hot? I mean, we're in Australia! We three walked had down and neither of us thought it was too hot. It was just hot, normal hot.

The starving little bunnies that we were, we made our way to Mesa Lunga for tapas.

It well past lunch time and the restaurant was empty except for one party of four. We asked for a table and the waiter insisted on seating us right next to the party already present. Wtf. The restaurant is freaking empty, why can't I sit on any of the other tables? Why do we have to sit right next to the only other patrons in the restaurant? My brow furrowed and I was a bit miffed at that. Gimme a break. Bad first impressions of restaurant being too snooty for it's own good.

The waiter was (kinda) forgiven once the carafe of Clara sangria was brought to the table.

Aren't you pretty, you drinkable thing you.. mmm mmmm mmmm

We asked for a selection of tapas to share and I do have to say I've had a fair amount of mediocre Spanish food (mainly in London), but this is has to be one of the nicest tapas places I've eaten in. Of course this came at a premium price for Adelaide standards.

Mushies, tortilla de patatas and croquettes.

Seared scallops, chorizo, paella and pork/veal meatballs which along with a serving of bread tipped us over to the stuffing point.

It didn't really look like much, but when you graze slowly and keep drinking the sangria, you get quite full. Yes I definitely could come here again based on the food, but if they again insist we sit next to other diners in an otherwise empty restaurant, I might just have to have a word with the waiter!

Barossa Valley - The Sequel

How does one compensate for boredom?  Alcohol often does the trick and let's see hmmm yes I would say that the Barossa Valley does indeed make up for the quiet that is central Adelaide.  SuBoo and Moo decided to make use of my free accommodation and flew on over for a visit.  A tour to the Barossa was priority!  Or as Mooey christened it - the BarAWESOME valley!  

I don't know why people kept asking me who was the designated driver - errr NO ONE of course!  How can we ALL enjoy the *happy sniff* wine tasting if one of us has to drive?  A coach tour it is! 

Happy moo on the bus.  Happy SuBoo on the bus.  Moo making herself comfortable in an attempt to freshen up for the booze.

The drive to the wine county was via the hills area and not really the ideal route.  I don't suffer from motion sickness but I actually starting feeling ill on the bus :S Not a good start for what was intended to be a boozy day!

The reason for this detour was to bring us to the Whispering Wall.  I actually wasn't terribly interested in doing any of the touristy sites (bring on the booze!) but I have to admit, this was kinda cool.

The wall was constructed as part of a dam, but the workers realised they could clearly converse with each other even though they were standing at opposite ends!

One of our fellow tour group members ran to the other side to test it out.  A question was asked from our end and we waited for him to reply from the other end.  I kept getting annoyed that other tour members were answering on his behalf until I realised ... wtf!! It WAS him answering!  Wah, so cool. 

We finally made our first pit stop at Kies Winery, where after a quick morning tea we had our first wine sampling.  Mmmmm, mmmm, this is where I made my first purchase of the Deerstalker Merlot.  Make your own purchase here!  Mmm so easy to drink.

Admittedly, I wasn't terribly keen on re-visiting the wineries I saw back in 2006, but in terms of trying to choose a tour which maximised our tastings, this would involve re-visits.  That all being said, I'm very glad to have returned to Langmeil after being highly impressed with their wines previously. Not that I'm a wine connoisseur but they just happen to go down very well with me.  And you know what?  Langmeil sure didn't disappoint the second time round!

The folks at Langmeil are pretty damn proud (and so they should be) for having their 160+ year old vines which are possibly the oldest wine producing vines in the world.  The vines are treated with TLC and are lovingly caressed - hand pruned rather than machine-hedged like their volumes-for-sale counterparts.  You could totally taste the love.  Totally. 

The last time I was here, it was in the dead of winter and all the vines were a bunch of gnarly twigs.  But oh oh OH!  To see the grapes growing in their glory *sniff* it was just beautiful. 

  The grape which will one day be transformed into Langmeil's prime product, the 1843 Freedom shiraz.  So luscious, so juicy. You can watch the process below!

Moo getting gnarly with the gnarly, old vines.  Moo getting gnarly with the Langmeil puppy dog.  The sweet lil' old soul that is. 

Oh yes, tasting time. *shuffles inside*

The last time Moo and I were here, the Freedom shiraz was sold out and unavailable for tasting, but today, well today was a different story.  We certainly got a taste of the wine and more importantly to Langmeil, we were sold!  We all bought a stupid amount of wine (ok, so part of it is Moo's celebratory wine) and had it shipped back home.  It all tasted too, too good. 

Lunch was at Kaesler vineyards where I chose to have the German Platter.  SuBoo had the chicken caesar while Moo had the Roo. 

My platter complete with mustard, pickle, cheese and sauerkraut. Our sticky date pudding dessert which was yummmmmoooooo. 

Tasting at Kaesler began in the adjacent building and while we dearly wanted to try the Old Bastard, it wasn't available for tasting.  Boo hoo. 

We did get a taste of The Bogan instead - which wasn't to our liking.  But Moo did have the urge afterwards to drink from the vat.  I'm not usually a white drinker but the Rizza went down a treat and we did the usual exchange of cash for a bottle. 

Our final vineyard for the day was Wolf Blass.  The last time I was in the Barossa this was the first winery on the list.  In retrospect, it was the winery I least liked and a return visit just kinda reaffirmed my thoughts.  The wine tasting was more structured and formal. That's not necessarily a bad thing given their large selection of wines.  While it wasn't busy in the tasting room, it sure felt like the wine steward wanted to move through all the wines quickly.  To boot, none of the wines were to my liking (Too dry? Not to my palate?  Devoid of love and hand pruning?) except for the newly released Verae, which is a lightly spritz summer red wine best served chilled. 

Of course Moo and I had to re-create each of our pose with the Eaglehawkie.

We enjoyed an alcohol induced nap on the way back to Adelaide and while we were far from hungry, we decided that we'd already gone overboard with the eating and the drinking so having a waffle wouldn't hurt. 

Waffle makes different of your tasting!  My strawberry Liège waffle.  Looks nice but actually wasn't that good.  

Thus ends our visit to the Barossa. *unhappy sniff*

Fireworks

Today was a public holiday - Australia Day to be precise.  I had assumed that I would be working but was genuinely surprised to be told that shopping centres would be shut in Adelaide.  Weally?  WEALLY?  The whole concept of shopping centres not opening on public holidays (bar Christmas, New Years and Good Friday) is a foreign concept to me. 

I was hoping that at least Rundle Mall and supermarkets would be open but ... no... the streets were deserted except for the occasional cafe.  I tell you what though, Adelaide Chinatown was pretty happening today! 

I'd been provided a most comfortable apartment which was prime location for fireworks viewing.  I was going to post up my 5 minute video but decided nah..... I'll just post two photos instead!

Butter and Soy Sauce

That's right - butter and soy sauce.  A most unusual combination but not as unusual as you may think.  I first heard of the mixture while watching a Channel 4 documentary about fish in the Japanese diet.  I thought that the Japanese novelty rockband were joking when they suggested cooking tuna in butter and soy sauce.  Little did I know.

Smee suggested that I cook this dish as a quick, cheap and easy meal for one.  Yesiree, it was tasty!  

Don't be put off by the butter (fat), soy (salt) and pasta (carbs) - if you can't enjoy food, you can't enjoy life!  (And that makes YOU a loser!)

The recipe is based on this one but with a few tweaks.

Ingredients:
Shiitake mushrooms (I used 4)
Egg pasta (just a personal preference)
Butter (of course!)
Soy sauce (Japanese is better)
White pepper
Parsley (but I used coriander cos nowhere had parsley!!  Not to matter - coriander goes well with shiitake)

Method:
Soak the mushrooms until soft and slice. Chop up coriander and set both aside. 
Boil the pasta until al dente.  Drain and set aside.
Melt a sizeable amount of butter (2-3 tablespoons should do it for one person) in a hot frypan to create a sauce. Fry the mushrooms until fragrant.
Add two capfuls of soy sauce and allow the sauce to caramelise and thicken slightly.  Add more soy to taste.
Toss in the pasta and coriander and mix.  Add white pepper to taste.
Serve and enjoy!  Yippee!!!

Adelaide

I've accepted a short term posting in Adelaide and had kinda forgotten how (relatively) quiet this city is.  Gosh, it felt smaller than ever before. Supermarkets shutting at 5pm on a Saturday!?!?!?  Wtf!? Shopping centres closed on a public holiday?!?!  Wtf!?!?  Me not working on a public holiday?!?  Wtf?!?!

Smee and I originally planned to go to the Barossa Valley yesterday afternoon but we realised that our late afternoon flight didn't really allow us enough time to drive there in time to sample the mmm mmmm wines available.  Not only that, Smee was feeling a bit sick too. 

Today we enjoyed the sun and had a wander around Glenelg beach.  

Smee washing his feet in the sand.

We decided to have dinner was on the eating strip that is Gouger Street.  Smee and I wandered up and down and considered each of the menus on offer.  We had a hankering for lobster noodles and popped into Star House which I must say impressed me with their sizeable servings and value for money. 

I've eaten lobster noodles in many places but both Smee and I dare say that this $168 lobster was the meatiest lobster we've ever eaten!  In fact, the serving was so large that we couldn't finish it!  Having the pippies on the side didn't help either.  Oh no!!  Seafood wastage!  But yes, Star House gets my thumbs up. 

I topped off the lobster with a weather appropriate guava gelati.  Mmm gorging on Gouger st.

The Shrug - Take 2

Well after my previous attempt to make a shrug, I've decided it's time to bring the knitting needles out of hibernation and try again this time with different pattern.  I'm hoping this will be less tedious than the previous shrug and knit up more quickly given the 'holes' in the lace pattern.

My shoulder span is the same as the pattern's author so I'm going to follow the instructions exactly as written and hope for the best.  I'm not going to commit hours on end of continuous knitting like the previous shrug but rather just knit in my spare time.  So while you probably won't see the finished product anytime soon, rest assured that I'm not killing myself trying to complete it asap.  I'm quite lucky that the nature of my work often gives me some 'quiet time' and more importantly, no eyebrows are raised when I pick up my knitting at work.

Here's a progress shot - yay I've finished the initial ribbing. 

Let's hope I don't have to frog this one too!

Book Review: Superfreakonomics

I decided to buy the book Superfreakonomics while in Cairns as I was sure wasting a lot of money on trashy mags.  I hadn't brought with me the book which sits in my 'Currently Reading' sidebar but to be honest, so far it has been quite the crappy read.

Before I start my review, I do need to ask why the fark are books so expensive in Oz?!?  Superfreakonomics was placed on a shelf well beyond my reach and so I requested assistance from the shop staff to bring it down for me to purchase.  They scanned the book at the till and I was taken aback to see that it cost 30-something dollars! Ok, ok in the scheme of things that's not really expensive (when you compare it to a say... a car) but as a new release, this book retails on Amazon for half the price I paid!  With free delivery too!

Well I was much the fan of it's predecessor Freakonomics, so I was pretty excited (as excited you can be about economics) about this book's release.  "Important" questions such as why a street prostitute is similar to a department store Santa are answered and once again, economic principles are applied to explain the unlikeliest of relationships.  I particularly enjoyed the chapter on apathy and altruism and was not surprised to find out that altruism isn't necessarily inherent in humans.  People just aren't themselves if they know they're the subject of an experiment!  Of course they want to make themselves look good!

I did find that the last chapter on global warming dragged a bit.  Not that I don't care about environmental issues but I just didn't want to read about it in a book I was otherwise thoroughly enjoying.  (I actually rationed my reading to avoid finishing the book too soon - Nerd!)  Also, it probably didn't help that I was reading this chapter on the plane next to a screaming toddler.

If you enjoyed the first book, you should enjoy parts if not all of it.  There are plenty of reviews out there which question the validity of the research but this review isn't one of them.  I just liked reading it and am not interested in the intricacies of the data.  The book doesn't quite have the same impact and newish insight of it's predecessor but hey, what do you expect from a sequel?

Quality of Content:  4
Readability: 4
Would I recommend this book: Yep
Who to:  Same as my Freakonomics review - To everyone except those who can't quite grasp.... concepts of any kind.

Yay for Interwebs

Yay, I have returned from the internet-less abyss that was Cairns.  My NYE was orrite - I spent it alone watching TV, packing my stuff and listening to the fireworks from my air-conditioned apartment.  I didn't go out to the beach to see them.  It's not like I haven't seen fireworks before!  NYE comes around every year so I can always watch them the next time.  Why do people make a big deal about spending NYE alone?  I'd rather do that than be squashed within the drunken hoards and get a shite view of fireworks.