Frank, Food & Me

BLOG HAS MOVED

2011-04-14T12:31:00.001+10:00

Hiya,
I probably should have told you this months ago! But Frank, Food and Me's blog, is now our website!
So check it on www.frankfoodandme.com

We are still here because there are sooo many stories on here from early on in our days, that we wouldn't want to lose them!

Happy ogling at our cakes and stories!
Kath x

it might look unassuming now

2010-06-12T22:31:00.002+10:00

See Frank, Food & Me "Locable Kitchen"

2010-06-12T22:23:00.003+10:00

What is the Locable Kitchen?

a space where poaching rhubarb, toasting almonds, whipping butter and sugar, and baking is all in a day's work...

**ohh of only you could inhale the goodness of our baking while you were reading this! **

If you peep through the window, the delicious heaving array of baked goods ladens down the benches.

We would love to bake yours next, so you can order two ways: at www.frankfoodandme.com, or fill out one of the order forms, and pop it under the door.

so where is it?

answer coming soon...

The Dinner Party

2010-05-26T09:59:00.002+10:00

a few weeks back we had a little dinner party to thank a few close friends for all thier support of the first year of Frank, Food & Me.
Stupidly I didnt take any more photos of the actual night, but the next day - in a heady state, I did manage to snap the menu, in the clean up!
All that beautiful produce from the Farmers Market, went to a great cause!

DEEEE_LIGHTFUL - 1st birthday

2010-05-11T18:19:00.004+10:00

Oh Saturday was great!

My wonderful chef friend, Ange, and I rose early and met at the Collingwood Children's Farm Farmers Market. I love walking down the wooden walkways over the vege plots, and across to the goats, and furry footed hens, as you make your way to the market. The morning mist was hanging low over the bending Yarra.
(why dont I ever think to take photos! - I take them in my mind- that's why!)

We were hunting and gathering for a "Thank you" dinner to my mates who have actively helped me make Frank, Food & Me what it is, on its 1st birthday.

We picked up a tussy mussy bunch for the table centrepiece...grabbed the pears, oranges and rhubarb for the business for the week.

And then we had some serious fun...

fresh sage and rosemary (grown in a drought so the oils were so vibrant) and some AMAZING sweet heritage tomatoes from Meg & Blakey, pine mushrooms, _(a Growers Espresso Flat white)_ and Kingfisher lemons...the makings of Coq au vin, goats cheese for part of the entree...and we were loaded up! With wheelbarrow in hand, we hauled out of there, stopping by Monique's "rock the free world" Larder Fresh felafel stand (for next week's dinner) and on to the next foodie destination...

Sydney Rd we are on our way! LOVE IT!!
At Balha's pastry we picked up some Katyfi pastry, baclava and Lebanese fairy floss...then nipped into A1 Bakery for a cheese pie for breakfast - ahhh Haloumi how I love thee.

Back at home we made aioli, and gremolata for the Katyfi wrapped deep fried King Prawns, and served them with Dill Chevre on lavosh, and heritage tomato tart tatin.
Mains was a braised Chicken Coq au vin style, served with home grown beans, and roasted beets.
Dessert was the highlight - beurre bosc (poached in mulled wine) stuffed with vanilla bean marscapone, resting on a nest of fried Katyfi pastry, with a little Belgian chocolate tart, and red wine reduction - topped with lebanese fairy floss!
Oh how much fun!

Port, strong coffee, and baklava followed and I am pretty sure we all then died and went to heaven!

Amen.

SLOW FOOD STAND _ BROADSHEET ARTICLE

2010-05-10T07:56:00.007+10:00

You might be interested to know, that coming up in "Broadsheet" paper in Melbourne, I have inspired Jane De Graaf to write a piece on the importance of understanding and living the Slow Food Principles...
Keep your eye out over the next few weeks...
in the meantime, feast your eyes on this

see you on May 29th at Abbotsford Convent Slow Food Farmers Market....

SLOW FOOD FARMERS MARKET THIS SATURDAY

2010-02-24T12:27:00.003+11:00

I am so looking forward to getting back to my roots this saturday at the Abbotsford Convent Farmers Market.
My little family will be surrounding me...Kingfisher Oranges family on one side, and Di and rhubarb on the other.
I know its going to be another hot saturday...but one taste of my rhubarb orange cake will make you melt more than the heat!

See you there...
Abbotsford Convent Slow Food Market
Abbotsford Convent
8-1PM SATURDAY 27TH FEB

X

Locable

2010-01-29T14:04:00.003+11:00

I want to coin the phrase "Locable"....let's see if it catches on

Yes that's right - you heard is here first.

Locable: (adj) describes food or produce, even raw materials, that are grown, harvested, and distributed in a sustainable manner, from the local area.

Done...

next task!

Sensory Lab - David Jones

2009-12-01T14:23:00.003+11:00

Another big win for us! It seems not a week passes without something AMAZING happening for the support of Frank, Food & Me.
Last Saturday our cakes debuted in "Sensory Lab" the new face of David Jones on Little Collins St, Melbourne.

INSANE! I know!

I just couldn't have even imagined 6 months ago that this little concept of mine and my love for baking would take me so rapidly to such soaring heights, when there are so many amazing pastry chefs out there!
I am so humbled by it all.

But I have to say it wouldn't be even the remotest bit possible without having such an inspiring group of mates, and the world's best husband!
The farmer's Market community have become my Melbourne family, keen to find out more and do anything for you. And my mates have been rallying around with enthusiasm...seems if you pitch a dream at people, it is almost an imperative for them to want to help make that happen for you.

So here I am, staring at the top rung of my brown paper poster i stuck on the fridge six months ago, where i said that my ultimate life would be:
" Farmer's market involvement, a produce business, vege patch, plenty of love, and a big kitchen"

I think I have pole vaulted past that - might be time to set some new goals...like "time" to give something back to everyone that has helped me!

Thank you for your support and encouragement...it never goes un-appreciated!

Farmers Market and more!

2009-11-24T22:19:00.008+11:00

It's been a few months of mayhem and growth for Frank, Food & Me.
We have been attending markets at the Abbotsford Convent on both Friday night's Supper Market and Saturday's Slow Food Farmers Market.

It has been grand getting to know our customers face to face, as wholesaling to cafes around the traps doesn't give me that opportunity.

The feedback has been amazing. I now understand that FFM cakes are unlike any other cakes available in Melbourne cafes. I have been offered old family favourite recipes from regulars, and have got fantastic following of kids who live for the rhubarb swirl shortbreads!

It's so festive and fun being around the laughter and indecision of children choosing their favourite treat, or their parents deliberating if they too should treat themselves. In the background live salsa plays, and drinkers shake barakas in one hand, beer in the other...

It feels like all the hard work in the kitchen is worthwhile when I get to come and play at the market...and its pretty fun getting my tyres pumped up by all my followers!

Speaking of followers, the Chef and part-owner of Outpost by St. Ali, told me today that people come in and actually say "Oh yay, you have Frank, Food & Me cakes"!!!
How funny is that...people want to eat my cakes!

So if you want to come and eat cake, or buy/ order your Christmas Puddings or Fruit cakes with me in person, come and visit me at the markets!

Saturday 28th NOV at Abbotsford Convent Slow Food Farmers market 8am-1pm
Friday 4th DEC at Abbotsford Convent Supper Market 6-10pm
Friday 11th DEC at Abbotsford Convent Supper Market 6-10pm
Friday 18th DEC at Abbotsford Convent Supper Market 6-10pm
Wednesday 23rd DEC at TWILIGHT Abbotsford Convent Slow Food Farmers market 3pm-8pm

Di's Rhubarb

2009-10-27T22:46:00.015+11:00

Di McDonald has been growing rhubarb for years.
It all started when a farmer she was working for couldn’t afford to pay her, so he gave her some rhubarb cuttings.
Evidently he gave her a lot more than a bit of cash to get her though the next few months, he gave her a livelihood.

Di leases a block of land from Tahbilk Vineyard. The setting is amazing, the rhubarb grows on a gum lined bank of the Goulburn River. Grass parrots potter in the green grassy rows between the rhubarb stems. Kingfishers duck and weave in and out of woody hollows.

Di lives in one of three workers cottage on the vineyard, and whilst she doesn't have any immediate family, the vineyard workers are her extended family.

When you drive in the dusty road to the vineyard you can see Di, head down bum up, quite literally. Picking and tending to her rhubarb is how she relaxes.
Working 7 days a week, making her own compost, weeding, taking care of her girls (the chooks)who take care of her rhubarb, is all in a weeks work.

On Saturday mornings she wakes at 3am to drive to Melbourne for the Farmer's Markets. It takes her two hours to get to the city down the Hume freeway.
By the time she has a cuppa back on the farm, Saturday has been 16 hours long.

Its hard work, but she is richly rewarded with "moments" on her farm. Today she watched two turtles baking in the sun at the river while she pumped water, and the migrating Kingfishers circled above her head.
She wouldn't have it any other way.
You can buy Di's rhubarb from any of the Melbourne Community Farmers Markets
www.mfm.com.au

4 months on...and no time to scratch!

2009-09-08T16:55:00.015+10:00

Frank, Food & Me has been up and running for about 4 months now, and has time flown!
In fact it has probably been that long since you last heard from me on this blog! I really had no idea how busy it was to run your own business, but feel a lot better of late, as I seem to have started to get my head around it all, and have some clarity to my thoughts!

So what has happened in those few months since you have had the last update?
HEAPS!

So I had to do the boring stuff, ie. a business course, to keep Frank, Food & Me going. The whole time I was sitting there writing a 35-page business plan, I was thinking, “I wanna be baking...but you have to do it for the farmers!”. Afterall if I stuff-up the business side of it all, there is no point in baking! I have to admit, the big smiles I get when I walk up to the farmer's stalls at the market reinforces that I am doing it for the right reasons. We have developed a really lovely relationship over the past four months, they know I’ll be there come rain wind or sunshine, to get increasingly larger orders of rhubarb, apples, pears, oranges, lemons, nuts and dried fruit, butter and eggs. People keep telling me to get it all delivered, but then I would miss half the fun. I make the markets part of my relaxation time.

LATELY....

Talking about support, I am pretty proud to say that you can now find Frank, Food & Me cakes in 7 locations across Melbourne, which is testament to the owners for committing to locally produced ingredients and ultimately more flavoursome treats for their customers.
I had two phone calls in one week, where both people (who are now customers) had to blow up a photo from this blog, of the brownie wrapper, to get my phone number, to call and talk to me about the possible supply of cakes. It was hilarious, and very ingenious and detective-like of them to track me down, but it also made me feel pretty grand knowing that the appeal of the cakes made people go to that length. Alriiight!!
So now we trek down to Malvern East, as well as the northern suburbs for delivery too. The new store is called Servery and Spoon. They have the most amazing range of beautifully presented cakes that they make in-house, really wholesome and fresh. So it is an honour that they are choosing to support us as well. It was good to talk to a café owner that respected what Frank, Food & Me stood for. It was reassuring to know that our values ring true with people, and that there are other people out there that want to make the commitment to knowing and supporting where your food comes from.

A little lesson...
Back in May I had a phone call, from a chain store that sells frozen yoghurts. This call was a bit funny in two respects, 1/ the person calling said that they had been referred to me by one of my competitors, and 2/ they were a franchise (which scared me a little). Both respects ended in a great learning curve for me because I realized 1/ that the other people who bake cakes in Melbourne are REALLY nice people, and were supporting me too (I don’t know why I thought they wouldn’t like me, I felt a bit scared treading on their turf, as I am not a mean competitive type). Turns out they thought that I would be better suited to what the frozen yoghurt company wanted to do, so I felt very honoured that they had thought of me first, out of all the other little bakers out there! The second thing was, I had a realisation, that even though some of the most famous franchises are equally as famous for homogenizing culture, you can’t be a generalist and paint them all with the same brush! There are some out there that aren’t! and Igloo Zoo is one of them. I am so pleased to be involved with them, as they consciously choose to support small scale producers (like me), who support small scale growers, (like Di and John and Cihan,) to get the best possible flavour, with conscious thought to how it gets to be that way.
I was so impressed with Igloo Zoo, they have stores in Melbourne, Sydney and Queensland, and do not compromise on their values. They source local suppliers making a local version of their yoghurt in each store, but with the same quality and similar flavour. So it only took a little research to be more well-informed and make the decision to take them on as a client. We have been working happily together for about 4 months now. You can taste FFM crumbles made from Di’s rhubarb, and John’s apples, as well as the chocolate polenta cake, chai tea and honey cakes (featuring Happy Fruits fabulous muscatels), and the most divine pears straight from John Howell’s farm poached in a vanilla bean syrup. So next time you are moseying around that area, check them out…their pomegranate yogurt with organic halva is a tastebud festivale too! www.igloozoo.com.au

Moving on from there, we have done a little event cake baking too!
I recently flew down to Tasmania to bake, having Frank, Food & Me cakes featured as centrepieces on the tables of a fabulous fundraising function at the Salamanca Arts Centre. www.salarts.org.au
In the Long Gallery, a truly beautiful wooden space, where back in the early days Huon Valley apples were canned, there were 20 tables arranged, each with their own individual spotlight shining straight on to the Frank, Food & Me cake centerpieces. I was so proud of them, they truly looked like a decadent Marie Antoinette style feast, all they needed was Marie herself to be entwined among them. There they balanced with poise and grace, on vintage crockery, tins, eggcups and beaters, triangles of brownie piercing through teacup handles and cones of cherries reflecting the warmth of the room.
Oh how fabulous they looked! Unfortunately the photos don’t really do them justice (photography hiccup!!) But nonetheless I was proud, and heaps of people had such wonderfully supportive things to say.

And last Friday we extended another little olive branch, and started supplying some creative studios with our cakes too. Our first shipment went express post to Sydney, for the office of Terroir Architecture to enjoy… www.terroir.com.au They were pretty stoked to receive them, from all accounts an unsual bout of fisty cuffs occurred to sort out who would collect the mail. It was nice to be the instigator behind a little Friday office “love-in”, as I don’t think we have enough of these! And wonderful for Frank, Food & Me to have the support of such a wide community!
So thanks team Terroir, we are loving your support.

You can have cakes for afternoon tea too if you like…Just send an email to kath@frankfoodandme.com…look forward to hearing from you.

I also joined the 21st century today…I have been resisting joining stalker book (aka, facebook), but Frank, Food & Me can! So now you can see what’s happening more regularly on Frank, Food & Me’s twitter and facebook pages. Arrrgghhhh – what have I done!?

Thank you for your patience in receiving this blog entry, watch this space for more soon, and feel free to comment, tell us about your business/ ventures. It is always nice to know that there are other people out there trying to:
1/ do what they love
2/ live sustainably
3/ support local food and design culture
4/ enjoy themselves!

Bye for now….

EVERYONE LOVES THEM!!!

2009-05-04T12:31:00.009+10:00

What an amazingly insane week it has been! I could never have imagined how successful our first week would be. Frank Food and Me now features in 4 cafes across Melbourne, and the feedback has been unbelievable. We delivered our first batch of cakes on Friday to three stores for their weekend trade. It was to be a testing ground for future purchases, and this is the feedback we received...

"People can't get enough of your cakes, they are so beautifully presented, and stay so moist and yummy that I have sold out of all of my weekend's supply just on Friday, we are going to have to do bigger orders starting this week", Ange.

"Well, they have all sold out already, let's get another batch of the same for Monday, people are loving them." Sam.

"We sold out of everything on Saturday, and I would love the same again for Monday, and I would be very interested in your savoury pies, when you get them up and going!" Judith.

So it seems we are in business. Absolutely exhausted, surrounded by stamped pieces of cake paper, driving all over Melbourne every five minutes to get ingredients cos we keep running out, and having constantly sticky fingers from so many cake mixes, but we are TOTALLY happy.

Thank you everyone for all your support and positive feedback. I received about 40 emails when we announced our cakes on the blog, and I just don't have time to write back to everyone for now, but I am sincerely appreciative of the support. It is extra important because selling cakes wholesale means you operate in a bubble a bit, relying on the retailers feedback, so it's great to hear from everyone.

I had a moment today when dropping off a delivery, where I saw a lady choosing a cake from my selection, with her child. Her comments as she worked her way through each type of cake were so uplifting and a rare moment of feedback direct from the horse's mouth.

We can't believe you guys want to buy what we just love cooking, it is wonderful.

Thank you everyone! Hope we can be serving in your neighbourhood cafe soon!

Frank, Food and Me Cakes are available at a growing number of cafes throughout Melbourne's CBD and south of the river.

The Official First Orders leave the kitchen!!

Frank, Food & Me Baking is up and baking

2009-04-29T09:17:00.009+10:00

I have been hitting the pavement of late with my cake samples.

At first we were a little scared, thinking if we actually went out there and tried to sell our cakes, pies and cookies to cafes, and they said they didn't like them, we would actually have to consider another career. We wouldn't have given up that easily obviously, but it is pretty scary putting you heart and soul out for judgment!

But there was no where to go, we couldn't keep testing recipes, baking cakes, and having no one buy them. We had to take it out of the theoretical world and into the real one...We had to sell these little tackers, so sell we did.

We are proud to say that Frank, Food & Me now has its first customers, and we are off and baking!

Now that we have all our branding, I thought it was time to share the vision, and show off some of our range! So here they are.

The Frank, Food & Me Sample Plate

Some tasters for the cafe folk

Rich Chocolate Brownie

Seasonal Fruit Crumble Pie

Poppy's Persian Shortbread

Lemon Cake with Seasonal Fruit (whatever is freshest and bestest from the farmers market goes into these lovelies!)

Morning Bircher Loaf: this one was created for a client that sells most of his cakes in the morning with coffees, something different from the muffins!

Me minis: these little beauts are for the chil'ens. Kids love icing in all its bright gooey glory, but no one loves a hyper kid,or the sugar low that follows, so these are an adaptation of the Lemon Cake with big juicy blueberries(when they are in season - something else otherwise) and an all-natural fruit icing.

Chai Tea and Honey Cake: a little creation of mine containing Calmer Sutra Chai Tea and Honey, great served warm with a dab of local honey.

Oatmeal Bali Biccies: These are heavy and wholesome, the recipe is from a health retreat I visited years ago in Bali, and a beautiful Balinese waiter took the time in perfect Indonesian English to write it on the back of a restaurant docket for me!

Citron Polenta: a homage to the woman I travelled to Paris to work for, Rose's Citron Polenta cake is UNREAL and is also gluten free.

A Chocolatey version of the Citron Polenta, adapted with some sheep's milk yoghurt to cut through some of the butter, and add a bit of sharpness - also gluten free.

Lemon Cake with Seasonal Fruit: at this time of the year rhubarb is great, so I grabbed some from Di at the market - best rhubarb in town, and tartness matches perfectly with an appley lemon base in this cake.

When you put yourself out there....

2009-03-25T10:43:00.015+11:00

Since you last heard from me, oh boy, a lot has happened.

We left Europe after a fabulous food discovery tour, all of which will be listed in subsequent blogs. I sucked the life out of every local food scene we stumbled across.

From Paris to Lyon, Lyon to Genova, Genova to Cinque Terra * the best food of my life*

to Florence,
Rome
and Catania (Sicily)
followed by Venice, Innsbruck, Munich, Prague, Hungary and Vienna, we finalized the feast of culture and life, in a small picturesque town of Hallstatt. This was a Christmas that I will never forget. Lovely produce, a traditional turkey, and all the trimmings in the land where Christmas began. Unbelievably relaxed, it even snowed exactly as we sat down for lunch! We completed the fairytale with tobogganing on Boxing Day.

BACK IN AUS!!

It was equally incredible to be back home in Aus. I felt that whilst I was overseas, there was so much to learn, but also, so much that didn’t necessarily apply to us. We are a young free country. We have so many unbelievably diverse cultures ruminating together in one grand soup pot that we could be forgiven for not keeping up with Europe. Europe was a fantastic learning ground for what I can see Australia will be in thousands of year’s time. I predict a confident country with a strict food identity, like France and Italy, Germany and even England.
But for right now, we are still experimenting, so I have decided that it is ok, and even quite fitting that here I am, in this country, experimenting with my cakes and baking, blazing the trail as I go, just like the rest of the country.

To be frank, right now, there is no place I would rather be. I have had moments of severe confusion. I have backed down from opportunities knocking at my door with fear of it all actually working out, just as I had planned!
This is half of the reason that you have heard from me less! I was busy sitting in the confusion…do I go back to TV, or do I stay here, where my dream of a baking business (the start of building a brand that my cafe will follow)is ACTUALLY working!

Ok you need some backstory! Anth and I arrived in Melbourne in early February. Within a week my girlfriend had found me a client for my baking, and whilst sourcing produce for the baking for that cafe, I also sourced myself another client.
Now I already have two clients, both hugely understanding that I am learning, but the proof is in the pudding, and proof they got! I rushed around with samples, and obviously impressed them…and now, here I sit with a real chance of getting off the ground with a little baking business.

Opportunities, people and ideas keep presenting themselves, even though I am still convincing myself that this is the right thing to do!

This blog is keeping me honest and accountable. Accountable to myself and my dream.

In my opinion, if anyone tries to tell you starting a business is going to be a hard road, and will it all be worth it...etc etc, then maybe you need to question a little and see how that fits with you, BUT what I have worked out is that the only person that often doesn’t let you succeed is just yourself.
Because, it kind of does start falling into place, people do accept you into their community, they want to teach you and guide you when they can see it REALLY IS your passion that is guiding you...so maybe it is meant to be. Right now I am putting my fear aside and going with the “meant to be” idea, knowing I have something to offer and honourable intentions to spread. For you, and the good of understanding, I will continue to be a pane of glass in this development process!

Right now, i need to go tend to my rhubarb that a possible 3rd client has given me to do something cakey and yummy with!!!

New Post on the way

2009-03-04T13:02:00.005+11:00

Anth and I have been settling into our new home in Melbourne, Aus.
Sorry for the lack of updates...its been a tough time, but now we have come up for air, I have time to share with you.
You will be so proud of what I have achieved since I have been home, so watch this space for an onslaught of blogs about my progress and transition into food glorious food!
in the mean time, here are a couple of photos from that lovely day with Meg in packaging town! We even had time for lovely little lunch together.

Japanese LOVE to package

2009-01-13T10:35:00.003+11:00

So that's why today, I am taking a trip with my wonderful Japanese 'surrogate' Mother, Megumi Yasuda, to "Paper town".

Tokyo has so many little sub-pockets, many of which are dedicated to a specific thing, like fabric, chef supplies, plastic food!, but today, we are going to take a look at packaging. My hope is to find some great prototypes for packaging my cakes for market...build a bit of value-adding into the product. But the only problem is, I kinda don't like too much packaging because of the environmental ramifications. So today my mission is to find something that fits into my philosophy, as well as presents well...so it will need to be minimal.

I will post some photos later, but just wanted to let you know that I am excited!

I also had an inspired idea lying awake in bed last night, as to my trademark for my cakes...you know, the thing I would be known for. This bed here at Yasuda Inn (2 train stops from Shinjuku, so very convenient if anyone needs a place to rest their heads while in Tokyo)... this bed's doona must be full of clouds instead of feathers, as I always seem to come up with great ideas when I am lying in it!

Watch this space for some photos of my adventure with my favourite Japanese mother.

Ps. you don't know all my amazing stories about Megumi, or much about our time in Tokyo, as this blog started when I started at Rose Bakery in Paris. Just know that we spent 7 months living in Tokyo before we moved to Paris. It was actually for my husband's experience to work with a great architect, but (as always, when you have no expectations) I got SO much out of living here. We decided that we wanted to visit on the way home to Aus, for some much needed Ramen, and Megumi, so here you find me...coming up with ideas that seem to bring together everything about my experience in France, with a little injection of Japan! Nice!

Lantana: a yummy pocket of Aus in London

2009-01-09T17:39:00.015+11:00

A few days ago I had the pleasure of investigating a new little cafe in London's Fitzrovia area (closest underground stop is Goodge St).

In one of my many busy little days working at Rose Bakery, (yes, finally I will reveal to you that that is where I have been for the last 7 months), I met two vivacious and lovely fellow Australians, one the future proprietor, and her enthusiastic chef. They were full of anxious excitement. In their Paris food research itinerary, they were getting some final ideas from the Bakery, for their biggest venture yet, a little café in London, with the mantra of exceptionally good coffee.

I met them as they balanced there on the edge of freefall. I remembered vividly the look in Shelagh Ryan, the proprietor’s eyes as she talked to me over her meal at the Bakery. It was a look of exhilaration, but a definite “am I gonna pull this off” kinda look. I took particular notice, because I knew that fast forward a few years, and I will be there where she was, on the same edge.

I promised I would go and visit them when I was in London next. So I did.

Shelagh, the proprietor, looked at me with a hint of recognition in her eyes as I walked into the café (which was a little hard to find, but kind of appealing for the same reason). It was nice to be remembered, and I know most people like to feel that way, an instant “I’m part of the club” feel.

Lantana is one of those cafes that it would be hard to feel intimidated by when you walk in, despite of the raised platform upon which you enter (which begs “everyone look at me”.) The central counter and cool little take –away waiting area is wooden, which adds softness to the white cement walls. As does the very cool mural on the back wall, done by Melbourne artist and designer. The mural continues on to the take away coffee cups and tableware.

It was bloody freezing outside, and one of the waiters was the poor soul that was stationed on the exterior of the shop window, serving soups and sangers to the “too busy to sit and eat” Londoners. A great idea to get the hoards in. Lantana is really in a great little area, and there is plenty of foot traffic from what I noticed.

Something I really liked while I was shopping and roving through Italy was that many of the streets had music playing, just for the enjoyment of the shoppers. I reckon because Lantana is one of those cafes that make you feel like YOU discovered it, maybe they could use the same principle, and play a little of their laid back tracks to the passing crowds, and attract a bit more attention in a very subtle way. But the place was full when we were eating there, so I could be convinced that they don’t need the extra attention!

So anyway, you probably want to know what the food was like right…well in a Rose Bakery/ Ottolenghi-esque way, the counter was covered in colourful fresh baked goods and salads. I liked the way the platters were displayed on different levels, something I think Rose Bakery could have done a little better.

The coffee machine sits like a proud peacock on the counter, and commands attention, but so it darn well should, as the Monmouth coffee coming out of it is liquid gold, especially in London (MY GOD there is BAD coffee in London). I know I am not telling you anything you don’t already know about coffee standards in London, but EVERY day I was there, I was stunned at the averageness of the average in coffee and food. Incredibly mediocre across the board, and I can’t understand why Londoner’s don’t demand better. I just cannot understand it.

So back to Lantana. I decided to order some of the colourful salads on the counter, because I wanted to see if the chef had managed to match the yumminess of the salads at the Bakery. And I am pleased to report, that she did! It is really hard to get a good salad, and Lantana has got it right. From what I have learnt, it is hard to season a salad right, and hard to match produce that is in season, with other produce that’s ion season, to get the right look, colour, texture and of course flavour…the reason it’s so hard, is because there is nothing good about an over-dressed and over-done salad. The raw-er (is that a word?) the better. Masking the wonderful flavours of the vegetable doesn’t make for a good salad, I don’t think!

My sister is a gluten-intolerant, generally irritating person to eat-out with (but I love her cotton-socks), so she chose the risotto. She said it was packed with flavour and a good serving size…not too over the top. I don’t know how to make a good risotto yet, so I can’t really comment too professionally, but Caroline taught me that it’s super important to cook the onions for a longer-than-you-think time, and to keep them nice and clear in colour, which requires a low heat for a longer time. She said risottos should be lovely and creamy, not the remotest bit gluggy…and that’s exactly what we got at Lantana…creamy and flavourful, with really great tasty mushrooms.

Anth had the BELT, the apparent long lost cousin of BLT (according to Lantana’s menu!)
He said it was ok. He doesn’t particularly like hard crusty bread, but that is just a personal preference. In his words, it was just a BLT…he is right, they are not normally that memorable at the best of times! Maybe it just wasn’t what he felt like…

Lantana is a really beautiful and relaxed space, but as with most places, it’s the people that make it, and I can tell you that everyone at Lantana is great… professional, efficient and HAPPY! So if you need a fix of good coffee and a smile in your sometimes dreary London life go and check them out. I guarantee you the coffee is fantastic. So take a step out of your comfort zone of Starbucks or Costa, or any of the other crappy coffee chains that expats come to rely on just because you can rely on what you’re gonna get (what a sad and miserable reason to give multi-national, culture homogenising chains your money that could be better spent in a fantastic little café with an owner who is putting herself out there and her dream into action!!!)

On the whole I felt a bit like a proud mum going into Lantana. Even though I had only met the lovely ladies for ten minutes in Paris, I was SO unbelievably proud of them. This is something that most people would only dream of doing… taking your dream, the thing you most want to do in the whole world, and putting it into action. It sounds obvious, that if you want to do something then just do it, but then again, it could fail…and then what…you don’t even have the dream! So I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face when I saw that Shelagh was busy, happy (if not still a little tentative – cos when do you really know that it’s a success?!) and the pace was full. YAY for Shelagh!

Can I add here too, that it’s very easy for someone who is gathering, preparing, researching and hasn’t yet put her dream on the line, to sit here and chat about other people’s efforts!! Just remember that when you read this type of stuff ok?!

Lantana
13 Charlotte Place, (not STREET – that’s where I went wrong for a few minutes)
London W1T1SN, United Kingdom

Closest tube stop: Goodge street.

Frank, food & me: The Buying of the Borough Market Feast

2008-12-12T01:01:00.000+11:00

Frank, food & me: The Buying of the Borough Market Feasthttp://www.boroughmarket.org.uk/

from the edge of a cliff

2008-12-09T03:12:00.018+11:00

This is written from the edge of a cliff face. A village clinging to the rocks willing them not to lose grip. Taormina is a most picturesque town in the North eastern corner of Sicily, just before the port of Messina that connects Sicily to the toe of the Italy’s boot.

Winter in these small seaside resort towns can be one of two things…hardy and empty streets where you can hear the coastal winter rain drops fall solidly, (like the Cinque Terre) or if you take yourself a little closer to the equator, it is still the pumping heart that beats softer and less desperately than summer. Taormina may just be unbearable in Summer, but we will leave that discovery for a definite return trip in the future, right now…its perfect.

The view from our room stretches so far you can see the ocean curving around the globe.

When we awake in the morning, Mt. Etna’s snow covered folds catch the sun like a hologram. It sits strong against the blue backdrop.

Small breaths of smoke push into the sky from the villages stretched below along the coastline, but they can never quite reach us up here in our camere with its own private terrace.

The wonderfully charismatic elderly Italian woman, Elena has had this former family home since the late 60s, and pushes through her marginal English to make us feel like we were at our own Grandmothers. But she never makes us feel we are a pain, which we feel need to respect by getting home at a reasonable hour every night (but that is certainly not an expectation of hers).

Although its now raining out side, the fact that we can watch it dancing on our own terracotta terrace, and from such a grand height, makes it much more bearable than when it rained in Rome.

There, we pushed through one afternoon of sogginess to see the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, and Piazza Navona, before eating in a great little pizzeria “Bafetto’s”. I spent the evening asking questions of the apprentice pizza makers (they were over 50, but Bafetto the old boy owner will only ever let them feel like apprentices, I am sure).
In the end they must have been a little enchanted with all my interest in the making of a mere pizza, and we had a photo together! Unfortunately I still think my unexpectedly good pizza from a very local neighbourhood area of Torino, when visiting with dad, was still better than this one, but we enjoyed the pizza and question time, nonetheless!

I could write all day about the grandeur and scale of incredibleness of the Colosseum. I don’t think ‘incredibleness’ is a word, as the spell checker doesn’t recognize it, but the Colosseum is worthy of inventing words. No word in the English language can give you an understanding of seeing the beginnings of our civilization, you just have to see it for yourself.

We LOVED Rome, but we are still not quite sure why…there is something so significant about the place that Paris never offered. A strength, or something. Indescribable.

Florence provided me with a beautiful pair of Italian leather boots at a jealousy provoking 50 euros! A bargain that sparked a scent trail for Anth to search for his own pair, which thankfully we found in Taormina yesterday. For anyone that knows Anth and his attention to perfection –it was a long and at times painful, quest of second-guessing and guilt over the prices.

Today I am feeling a little homesick. I feel over indulged in all the culture that has so richly painted a tapestry of where Australian culture originates. I feel over indulged in food, wine, and choice…and I even feel a little apprehensive, that being so close to the end…I don’t know…I just want to hug my mum at the airport again and give her back the hankie she gave me 15 months ago, covered in her tears and mine.

So far the 15 months of travel has posed more questions than it has answered, for both of us, I think. So it’s nice to know our learning in this life will continue even though it feels like a chapter is drawing it’s final pages for us.

I look forward to the next chapter, getting back on the bike, eating a steak from the Cascades, and in a more long term sense - watching how Australia comes to terms with its image problem. We have such a rich stock, centuries of culture from other cultures…we just have to work out how to harness and make it move in the right direction for our country – I think…what do you?

I know you like photos- so here are a few!

2008-11-11T03:43:00.014+11:00

I think the Rotary spit roasts at the Bream Creek Show could learn a thing or two about a pig on a spit from this little Italian fella - big pig, small man! YUMMMMMY meat! Thanks piglet! you were really yummy!

A Bosnian cheese that is poured curds and whey - the whole lot, into a calf stomach and smoked...a few months later they cut it open and there you have it!

this is a 700kg cheese at the Slow Food Salone del Gusto!

Dad pretty proud of his spread, - or the scotch...I think its the scotch actually!

Had a great arvo with dad, we had no plans, and just roamed...amazing how many places that I had been wanting to visit that we just stumbled across without a map...naturally Pierre Herme was one of them - oh the macaroons are good...in my opinion, better than Laduree's (where I took Joey for her birthday)

Dad sucking in his guts in front of the Tour Eiffel!

Typical dinner chez moi!
My first ever attempt at Beef Bourgignon - oh come on - I had to try it if i live in Paris!

Mondays with Caroline

2008-11-11T03:11:00.003+11:00

Oh how I love them!
She is the only reason I keep going in to the Bakery on my days off unpaid.
Today I made chicken burgers...they are DELICIOUS even if i do say so myself!...the trick was good chicken breast and lots of moisture. You can keep moisture in the burgers by putting some bread in the milk, that has been soaked in milk...good little trick!.
I fried off a bunch of finely chopped onions, leeks and garlic, seasoned and caramelised it just a little. Then mix this through with the minced chicken breasts, a bit of citrus peel, lots of coriander and parsley, cheddar cheese (not too much) a few chopped chillies, and the bread and yoghurt if you need the moisture. Mix it all together and cook a test patty and adjust the seasoning if necessary. We decided they needed a little more kick so we added some paprika and a few pasted up anchovies.
YUM!
Incidentally I got the most fantastic anchovies straight from Sicily, at the Terra Madre convention. I will have to give these little gems away when I leave, as i am sure I can't send them home opened, but I intend to find more in Sicily and post them home...they are to DIE for...even if you don't like anchovies, these ones are incredible...the saltiness and fishiness in perfect perfection!

So we made a rich tomato sauce to go with the burgers. (Give the burgers some colour in the pan but finish them off in the oven).
The sauce was again loads of onion cooked down, added garlic, and lots of tomatoes...but at this time of year in the northern hemisphere they aren't awesome and sweet like summer, so I needed to add some tomato paste and a can of tinned rich tomatoes for the flavour. I then popped in some red wine vinegar and sugar and salt and pepper, a few chillies chopped and some water. Then just let it reduce down for as long as possible, so that the water content reduces by about a 1/3.
Then at the end blend the sauce and add a bit of cream as it’s blending.

I can't wait for dinner tonight, a chicken burger with rich tomato sauce and fresh traditional baguette, from the best bakery in the 18th arrondissement!

So there you have it - the kick i get out of Monday's with Caroline. The chatting about the seasonings, the little discoveries - like I now know that vinegar in such as sauce like the above, won't curdle the cream!...each week is just something little, but special...and I love her for sharing her knowledge so patiently with me.

Caroline is opening her own restaurant in Normandy next year, so if you go to France, ask me for her details so I can send you in her direction!

Bon!

Slow Food and Terra Madre

2008-11-05T07:55:00.000+11:00

From the 23rd to 26th October, I experienced one of the most moving events of my life, the Salone del Gusto - a celebration of Slow Food and the Terra Madre (Mother earth) organisation. http://www.terramadre.info/ and http://www.slowfood.com/

It was an event that will shape my future, and solidify the structure that I have chosen to experience this lifetime through!

It was a 5 day conference, of which Dad and I experienced 2 of the days. A meeting of people from across the earth, who ultimately, care about the earth and its food communities. They use that term, "food communities", because it is a term that goes a long way to describe not just the produce, but the culture, people, lives, and livelihoods that it takes to get that food to your table.

The Salone is a celebration of these food communities, and the chance for people within these communities to come together and share food, ideas, and make contacts in the same situation as them across the earth, regardless of their income levels.

I have come to realise that perhaps its mostly our generation Y, specifically individuals born from 1977 to 1995, that don't have a lot of idea of where our food comes from. I have read recently, that some kids (and i struggle to believe that it got this bad), think its disgusting that carrots could have dirt on them, apparently not knowing that carrots are a root vegetable grown in the earth.

How did we come to be so far detached from food and the seasonality of food, some us I am sure don't know that fish and meats, and even eggs have a season...

Am I right, that it is mostly our generation?

I know we are a small and not very random sample of the population (many would say we ARE random!!) AND I know that my dad doesn't know everything (he thinks he does) there was definitely one or two questions like this that I had, and he was the catalyst for the answers I found in our days together in Torino, Italy!

As we strolled around exhibition halls of food stalls from what felt like every community in the world, and I regarded the tradition of food and the average age of the stall holders, something I did realise is that there is going to be a huge sadness as libraries full of knowledge go to the grave untapped,over the next 40-50 years.

That sadness befell me between the stalls of spit roasted pig and cured pork products from Italy...Tears welled in both dad and my eyes when it dawned on me as a nearly 30 year old, if i don't start asking dad and mum, and the grandparents I have left, about their traditions in food, and some "how to" questions, then the buck stops with me.

If I don't learn how my family cooks a camping one pot roast, or how my dad would build a smokehouse or a wood fired oven, then my kids will never know either.

I know that of late it has become fashionable in Australia to be a sea-changer or a tree-changer, and I heartily welcome this decentralisation as a sign that the future might not be so grim. In fact without any facts and figures to support this blog entry, sometimes I can't tell if i am warped by how it is here in Europe.
One way or the other - you know...I will no longer take for granted the fresh catch of flathead from the dinghy out the front of mum's house now!

So as I watched the whole world of communities become one, under one roof in Torino, I started asking Dad questions...How do i make a woodfired pizza oven, how do I build a smokehouse, how do I make a hangi?
I now am the proud owner of the Martin method of building such things. I don't really care that it's maybe not the way dad's dad's dad would have done it, but I tell you, it's the closest I am ever gonna get, and that's really important for me to have it to pass on to my children!

It's at this point I could go on about native Australians and why we didn't take more time to learn from some people who already know Australia quite literally like the back of their hand, instead of annihilating their culture, but I will spare you...and let you use your imagination!

I will just say that I felt inspired and sad at the Salone.
Inspired by moments like this one.
I was sitting in what ended up being my favourite seminar of the weekend, "the importance of Bees". There we were all sitting with our headsets on. There is no amplification in the seminar spaces, as there are so many seminars within a small area. The moderator of the lecture, Francesco Panella from Italy was speaking Italian, and we listed in one of the 8 languages it was translated into. Francesco finished his speech and opened the floor up to the many apiarists and bee enthusiasts in the room. There were 10 people that put their hand up and spoke, each one of the from a different country, places such as Kenya, India, Mexico, Peru, Paris, the States, London, the list goes one...a really equal spread of 1st and 3rd world residents. But the moment that got me was this...when a man stood and spoke in Hindi, he explained his despair as he watched over the years the depletion of bees in his valley, and that impact the use of pesticides has had on the bee population. When he finished, he turned back to stand against the wall of the room, where a man from Afghanistan was standing too. He had been listening, as the Indian man's words were translated from Hindi to Italian to whichever of the 8 Slow Food languages the Afghani chose to understand. As the Indian man turned back, the Afghani man patted him knowingly on the shoulder, and looked at him with a shared sympathy for his situation. I was again moved to tears. How small the world really is. We share the same problems, and despair over the same environmental sadness's world over. And the plight of one little bee brought these men together.

And the thing that made me sad...that among all these traditionally dressed cultural contributors from countries all over the world, there was no traditionally dressed Australians sharing Australia.

Maybe the Salone in 2 years time will be different?

See you there!

kath x

My farewell gift

2008-10-15T06:42:00.008+11:00

Finally the moment I had been waiting for at the bakery has come...and with all the responsibility, trust and belief in my abilities...I turned around and resigned!

The Bakery over the past few months has been everything I was hoping for and more. It is the culmination of those few first awkward months where I didn’t know much French and couldn’t find anything in the place or work out any of the systems…(I later came to the conclusion that there were none…that explained a lot!)

It has been 7 months now, and Anth is exhausted…but along with his ridiculously long weeks, and our “sneak the time in” breakfasts together, he too has had an experience he will never forget. He said to me at 2am, after arriving home from a 17 hour day at work “this is the biggest, most high-profile, most amazing project I have ever worked on., and it will be the last I do for someone else!”…I am so utterly proud of what he can achieve even when he is just here to support me!
Needless to say we are now looking forward to some travel (notice I don’t say Holiday!) throughout Europe to get a taster of the next possible adventure.

This time we have had OS has certainly confirmed to us that travel is a priority in our life, if not intrinsic to who we are. Our children will be bilingual for sure, as this is the only thing we have found to have held us both back.

I must admit though, Anthony understands a lot of French for someone who knows hello and how are you?, and I was quite impressed by my own efforts today buying a box to post mum’s birthday present home in – it is amazing how much you can understand and communicate, even when you can’t conjugate words to save yourself!

Today, at the bakery I despatched an order for around 100 people for Ralph Lauren, without the help of JC…yep that’s right I am the right hand woman of JC. Does that make me the right hand-once removed from God? Or Mary Magdalene?!!
(No Jesus-Christ doesn’t work with me, just Jean-Charles).
This might not sound overly impressive, but sending that order out the door – of Ralph Lauren no less, was a moment for me when I realised that all the career experience I have had in my life, can, and has tied itself into a perfect little bow in an area I am so passionate about.

I feel so lucky that I have come here with a dream of getting into the food industry, and not just done that, but I am walking out with a box of tangible passion and practical knowledge, even tied up with a bow!

So how did I get here? Well, firstly I stopped sitting in our lovely little window and staring at Paris…

and I threw myself into it!

I copped all the shit that the other wait staff gave me because I was “too enthusiastic!”…

And then I did a few things, namely…

“Mondays with Caroline”

Joined the American Library (that’s not me)

Registered for the Salone del Gusto, Slow Food & Terra Madre (a food Convention of sorts)…

Had a wonderful and enlightening chat with Rose

Got a day in the pastry kitchen

In subsequent blogs I am going to tell you a little more about each one of these things, but for now, I need only tell you that this melange of ideas, actions, talks and listens, has been the ingredients for what I now know will become a lifestyle, not just a passion or a fad…I really am looking forward to the rest of my life more than ever now, as I feel I have found my framework through which I can experience it.

London, an eye opener!

2008-09-10T18:34:00.000+10:00

I seem to always start these entries with “it’s been so long since I have updated this”! I feel like I have left you hanging, not sneaking you the naughty taste of the cookies, after you have spent all afternoon bathing in scent of their baking.

Well the truth is, I have been eating all the cookies without you!
No, really, I have!
Cookies in London, Iceland and Paris!

But now it’s time to share. Today it’s London!

So as you know, I went to London, to ease the pain of being apart from Anthony whilst he was in Nice working. In fact, this unexpected, “something to do” week, ended up being a very liberating and purposeful time spent browsing the offers of a city that is struggling with it’s food image.
I have noticed, since I last stepped foot in London (in ’99), that things have indeed improved significantly on the food front. Prior to going there this time, I had been spoon-fed a range of ideals, opinions and suggestions from all the English buddies I work alongside at the Bakery. They proudly suggested their favourite tea-totalling spots, and creative hangouts.

Religiously I missioned my way around them all. Ottolenghi, Hummingbird Bakery, Acorn House, Wholefood Supermarket, Flatwhite, Chegworth Valley Farm Shop, and there are still a few I will get to next visit.
It was true, some of them were amazing takes on how to present the sustainable living model of using organic produce, but on the whole I felt sad. I don’t know if what I expected was a little warped (maybe I am spoilt in Tasmania!).

In France, the idea of organic has never really taken off, and England (as compared with France) is leading the way in that battle for sure, so I was excited to re-immerse myself in easy access sustainable products.

But after a week there, with all these labels singing ‘organic, sustainable’, in chain whole food supermarkets, it made me reassess the whole idea of why I choose organic produce (besides the obvious health and environmental benefits).

Why? Why do I, and others, feel so compelled to jump on the organic bandwagon as it passes? Just like everything else, it is a fad, and it will pass.

On the contrary, I realize, that this is one fad that is necessary now, and has got a happy, healthy ending for everyone in the world, and the more that jump on board, the better we will all be.

But how did we get here…? How did food become a marketable fashion, and why doesn’t France (of all the fashionable countries in the world) feel obliged to make a big deal of it like everyone else is?

Well, if my feeling of London was anything to go by, I am happy France is exactly where it’s at regarding their attitude to food. The English food scene, to me, felt like I am sure it would in a number of other big westernized cities around the world. I felt a bit like I was pulling a big doona up over my body, keeping me safe and comfortable on top, whilst underneath, I was lying on a cardboard box on the street. Kind of a false sense of security, that allows complacency in the end.

This complacency is a supreme trust that the multinational companies (who are making a fortune from the latest fads) are telling us the truth about the food we are eating. It is this complacency that has led us to diabolical situation we are in with industrial agriculture, the exact reason we are all thinking we should now eat organically grown. My question for you is, can we afford to be complacent anymore? Wasn’t it only 36 years ago (not even a human life time) we were being told DDT (a crop pesticide that was linked with asthma, diabetes and various types of cancer) was safe?

Don’t get me wrong there are many people and companies out there, who really are trying to do the right thing, and the good ones are the ones that educate you at the same time.

In London I found a few amazing restaurants and cafes, highlighting seasonal, and not just organic, but local food too. One restaurant I found serves nothing that isn’t farmed within the limits of the M25, the large freeway that encircles the city.

In it’s entirety though, every high street looked the same, chain stores, fashion or food, lining both sides of the street. In some ways I had been craving this lick of home, where I could understand everything and it was familiar, but a recent bout of clarity made me question whether I am actually understanding everything afterall!

If organics and sustainable agriculture becomes a chain, a product that we can package and label and create something familiar from, no matter where in the world you find it, then we might just have missed the point!

This is where, upon my return to France, it all fell into perspective for me.

Call me slow, ignorant, or just not seeing the positives due to a bout of familiarity homesickness, but I really hadn’t seen it before.

Paris, and from my (to date) limited travel in France, really has something special in the way of culture, and understanding of food and what it represents.

I know, I can hear you say – “of course” that’s what it’s famous for. Well, yes, but when I got here, with all my grandiose dreams of Parisian life, and the food etc etc. It was indeed amazing, but not as amazing as I really believed it would be (they eat a lot of hot chips and steak here – hardly culinary brilliance!). But I had been over criticizing this place.

I think, for a while there, I was actually convinced that Paris (and that’s the only place in France I can talk about with conviction) wasn’t much more of a foodie location than say, Melbourne. I mean I know Australia is only the young cousin of Europe, but I thought we had done a pretty good job of catching up.
Now I have realized, and this is the revelation you’ve been waiting for, is that culture matters more in food than any of the labels we, in the western world, can stick on an over packaged item.

If you travel all over the world, and the organic produce (packaged or not) looks the same from one place to the next, you have to start to question why?
Culture isn’t that transportable actually. An engrained belief or learning is hard to teach without looking like your preaching (hence all the religious battles in the world). So even though Australia seems to have caught up, maybe we shouldn’t have been focusing on catching up, but just creating our own local food culture.

This is where my analogy of the comfy doona on the cardboard box comes in.

After all these years of food abuse in industrial agriculture, where we have been wringing the life out of something like corn, until it resembles nothing like a corn cob, we have made organics fashionable, and people are starting to support such produce.

As an aside, did you know that dextrose and high-fructose syrup– that random word you see on the ingredients list of all manner of processed foods – is actually some form of corn, which arguably acts as pure fat in your body upon consumption!

I am happy that we are all starting to get it, and support organics, because every time you choose that over processed piece of meat from the meat case, you are only confirming that the marketing department of the industrial agriculture company is doing a good job.

I have often wondered why they don’t put a picture on the label of the real cow that is in the plastic wrapper before you, instead of happy cow standing in the sun in the paddock? I guess the 3-foot of shit it’s standing in doesn’t look that appetizing when you are about to chow down on the steak. It goes to show though, they too aren’t proud of what their doing!

Why is it though, that the majority of us didn’t get it, until the marketing departments told us to. Of course there were the crusading few that started the demand, and the big, money making, enterprises saw that there was a buck in it, but why isn’t eating well something we want to do naturally, like the French?

The French have all manner of pastries and temptations that they could be wrapping their mouths around every lunchtime, but they don’t. Mega-mart type stores are a relatively new invention over here. I can also honestly say, that I could count on one hand the number of people I see drinking soft drinks as a beverage of choice, sparkling water is the go for most.

So if we continue this phase of labeling something sustainable, organic and that means healthy and good for the earth, without actually LEARNING the truth for ourselves, how are we ever going to break the cycle of just believing what we are told?

Choosing healthy options, and treating treats as just that, is a lesson that is engrained in you in France, according to Mirelle Guilliano, the author of “Why French Women Don’t Get Fat”. I work with a few women in their 50s and 60s, who are living proof of that school of thought. Their resistance to treats, although they are working in a bakery surrounded by buttery goodness, is remarkable and something I can say I am not gifted at. Yet I grew up with all the fresh produce one could want, in an environment conducive to exercise and healthy living, so how did I miss out on the sweets “shut-off valve”?

Well maybe it’s about hands-on learning? Being responsible for your food choices, knowing your farmer and where a carrot comes from, and that they shouldn’t all look the same!

Give a kid a choice in the battle for a healthy body, and, be honest, what would you have chosen as a kid – crudités of carrot with home-made hummus, or a Uncle Toby’s muesli bar?

Me, I would have gone for the muesli bar, because it’s muesli, healthy and sweeter than the carrot. Until I was old enough to find out for myself, I had no idea that these well-marketed bars of health, were in fact, full of sugar, and marginally better for you than a Tim Tam. I don’t even know if my mum knew, but that is fine, because the TV tells us they are good for us, and we believed them. It’s hard not to catch on to something being rammed down your throat at a precisely selected TV time slot or on a convenient banner space right outside school. That was how WE (as a general city dwelling population in Australia) learnt about food.

I can’t say unquestionably that city dwelling French children learn more about their food sources and consequently better habits, than Australian kids, but from what I have read of Guiliano, and from discussions with other not-fat French women, culture prevents them from listening too hard to the marketing campaigns!

The mega marts are creeping in, but oh so slowly. Their sugary promotions are tempting but the French are doing a fabulous job of resisting them. Yes there is McDonalds and Starbucks, but they aren’t EVERYWHERE you look. Even the billboard advertising in the metro system is mostly for art exhibitions and fashion, than emblazoned with Coca Cola and the like.

So, it’s great to go and buy some organic produce from your local whole foods store or organic market, but I urge you, to not just do it because you were told to in a marketing campaign. Take it on to learn about the people that got your food to your table. Question the storeowner as to why the organic meat is a little more expensive than the non-organic stuff. Why is better to try a different grain than the stock standard wheat for your cake or bread? Why buy local milk?

Don’t feel overwhelmed, just start to question a few of the marketing campaigns that made you choose that packet mix (full of dextrose!) and pre-packed meat with a faceless farmer. You might even start to enjoy the process of getting to know Farmer Joe! Let alone work out why your child has an attention and hyperactivity problem!

In the meantime, bon appétit!

Kath

The Borough Market outing and consequent feast!

2008-09-10T17:57:00.002+10:00

we started at 9am, and it finished at 12am. A feast of fresh local produce, and a Croatian Brodet (fish stew) for the troops!

The Buying of the Borough Market Feast

2008-09-10T17:56:00.003+10:00

The Cooking of the Borough Market Feast

2008-09-10T17:56:00.002+10:00

The cooking

Local spots from the gals at work

2008-09-10T17:55:00.001+10:00

Monmouth Coffee House

The Hummingbird Bakery - famous for its cupcakes

2008-09-10T17:54:00.001+10:00

The Hummingbird Bakery

Ottolenghi - Notting Hill

2008-09-10T17:49:00.002+10:00

Ottolenghi, Notting Hill.
I particularly like how the barista can interact with the customers through his own little window and the customers are all dining as a family (doesn't suit everyone though!)
The display of food is something I really like, as it is creating visual interest through different levels, and colour.

more Ottolenghi

2008-09-10T17:48:00.001+10:00

more ottolenghi!

Fooding in London

2008-08-11T23:01:00.003+10:00

Been a while between posts, i know. But I really only can write when inspired.
Of late we have been in organisation mode, gearing up for a trip to Iceland.
I know - i can hear everyone saying, why would you go to Iceland when the whole of Europe is on your doorstep. Well - cos you wouldn't go there, that's why. Why not! Something to talk about - looks incredible, and now we are REALLY excited to go there.
But Anth has been sent to Nice for work (poor Anth -tough break huh>!)
So we have had to postpone the sojourn to the icey continent for a week. So i the meantime I am off to London on a research adventure.
I have all the advice of the Bakery's pommy pastry chefs, waitstaff and of course, the Bakery's namesake leading lady herself hot tips...and I am off.
In 7 days I intend to eat, drink and be generally over indulged to discover what it is that makes a place feel homely. No matter where you hail form in the world, I wanna know how you feel at home. So I plan to check out all the places that are apparently on the same wavelength as me:
1/ The Acorn house
2/ Providores
3/ Wholefoods
4/ Ottolhengi
5/ Borough Street Markets
6/ Leila's Shop (particularly looking forward to this one! - looks VERY me on the internet).
7/ Food Hall
8/ Petersham Nurseries
9/ Flat White
10/ The Anchor and Hope

Check in as the week passes for my reviews and discoveries, and how I think this will inspire my own pending food venture...
Stay tuned...

Laduree; morning tea fit for Marie Antoinette (not a real Queen!)

2008-07-17T07:56:00.002+10:00

Oh, and I must tell you, I went on another café espionage journey on Saturday, with my sister and her boyfriend…Anth and I took them to Laduree for Jo’s birthday.
Oh it was so Frenchy, and fabulous. I felt like Marie Antoinette with all her extravagant sweets and goodness.
Imagine gold gilded walls and cornices, walls adorned with antique mirrors smuggled straight from some overlooked and underused chateau, that featured somewhere in the complex French history of monarchy’s and republics. Burgundy carpet, that sucked the noise of the anticipating crowd in the macaroon queue in the small store adjoined. We felt well proper in our summer frocks, afternoon tea-ing it up!
We all ordered eggs to start with, with some fabulous tea and coffee (didn’t catch the name of the tea, but I have had better so I didn’t bother!). The eggs took longer than necessary so the LOVELY waiter gave us 4 macaroons (their specialty) free.
The eggs were crap. The scrambled eggs were superbly crap. It really is amazing how easy it is for everyone to do really shit scrambled eggs – but it is like anything in life, patience makes the effort worthwhile. I wish they had learnt that at Laduree, because even though we waited a long time for the eggs, they weren’t taking the time to cook them, for sure!
But the pastries were great. I don’t know if it is unFrench to heat pastries, but they would have tasted better, in my opinion, heated…especially the pain au pistache et chocolat, and the pain au chocolat. But the viennoise abricot et pistache was amazing. It was so good but not too sweet as it was balanced by the slight tartness of the apricots. Overall it was a great place to visit, but apparently Pierre Hermes’s macaroons are better. So the next guest gets to come there with me!

inspiration

2008-07-17T07:49:00.001+10:00

homely yearnings

2008-07-17T07:34:00.002+10:00

(these kids made me miss home and all the little cousins!)

Funny how until you have a friend like you do at home (you know the ones, that you can whinge and whine to, tell them your deepest darkest secrets without judgment – that kind of thing)…well until you have one like that in a new place, you don’t feel like you’re at home.
Why is it, when you set off on a voyage across the otherside of the world, to discover the differences and the sweetness of something completely foreign, all you do is search out the things that make you feel like you are at home. I wonder if there is a foreign tolerance meter in our brain. Where everything is uber cool for the first 2 months, until the novelty wears off, and the bits that used to be exciting are just the things that you bitch and moan about but without the person that reminds you of home to bitch and moan to! So all in all everyone at home, if you think its WAY cooler over here than it is there, you might stop and think that all we are trying to do is recreate something of what we had there….
HHMMMM that sounds shit even to me! In fact I don’t even like admitting that aloud!
Truth be know, and I am going to defend myself now! I actually love many things about living over here. For example today, when I was swimming in the local very short pool, with my head fair up someone else’s backside, because everyone crams into the pool in the few hours a day when the lazy French deicide it is an appropriate non meal time to open a pool?! (still wondering how they choose these times myself!)
Anyways, I was in the pool, and I was in the lane they call “nager rapide”. You don’t have to understand French to work out that means FAST swimmers. An aside: another cultural difference I have uncovered (in a city that has been difficult to discover the cultural differences compared to Tokyo and Australia), the cultural difference being that fast swimmers in France are the learners in Australia…thanks to the many beaches we have access to I think.
That’s something I do feel good about; I might not be a size 10 stuffing 3 rounds of pancakes down my throat like some women can here, but I can certainly swim faster than them!
So I was in the fast lane, and this guy says to me, (as he panted at one end of the lane, clearly having a break, and I made a move to cut in front of him)…
"les gens rapides doivent attendent les gens lents”, naturally I said “I don’t understand!”, and he said in English “the fast people have to wait for the slow people”…now this is the moment that someone, who is constantly stuck and divided by a language barrier, come into their own…I responded, with a little more nonchalance than is usual for me as I had had a hard day at work “why, that doesn’t make any sense, if I am faster, I should go before you, why would I wait for you, and swim with my head up your bum…” It is moments like these when you know that they can't understand a word you said, as you said it fast, with a purposefully thick accent. Promptly I swam off ahead of him, while he still panted at the end of the pool, going nowhere, trying to work out what the “bleep” I just said!
I might be going round giving Aussies a bad name of arrogance, but I am living in the land of it, so it was probably just a usual response here!

So, after my 60 laps of the tiny pool, I ventured on my next excursion of the day…meeting a complete French stranger for wine…. as you do.
A few weeks back, a lovely woman came into the bakery. Turns out she is Turkish, but was raised in Paris. After I fumbled in my terrible French to serve her, with a big order of food that she had for a Vogue photography shoot (she is the assistant photographer), she asked me if I was studying the language (I guess it was a polite way of her telling me that she knew I wasn’t!). We exchanged numbers, and tonight, finally, we met for a language exchange. I always find these difficult, for many reasons:
1/ I can never speak as well in Frecnh as they can in English
2/ we aren’t forced to study another language at school, and therefore the little bit of study I have done is relatively shit, which brings me back to problem number one, plus being embarrassed that Australians are such ocean bound islanders that really don’t think much about the rest of the world!!
So I always speak about 10 minutes of French to the remaining 2 hours in English!
Great for her, crap for me…but I got a bonus today that I didn’t expect…. we were totally on the same wavelength, have a similar career/ studies at Uni / family and star sign…AND we both can talk the leg off a chair…many of you wont believe this, but I have actually found my match! She talked for 2.5 hours to my 40 mins I reckon, and it was great. I realized, I actually don’t have any problems (except for not having a French bank account and therefore a bunch of cheques but no money), and it was SOOOOO nice to listen to her problems, which she really let me in on. Like I said, I found a little bit of home I was really missing…relating with someone…like really relating. She was naturally apologetic that she had told me all this stuff about her family, but it was so nice to be a part of something, and to help someone. I felt normal again and flew over the big hill home, with a little smile on my face, which grew larger when the girl from our local beer place waved to me with a bog laugh. I was part of a community…a French community! HAHAAA I could leave now, and my mission would be accomplished.
NICE.

So on the cooking front. It’s going ok. I am learning a lot more about people and personality management than anything else. Not really cooking…except at home. Made a cute banana bread the other day, and laid an entire banana straight down the middle, which makes it super cute to cut. Great idea I thought, and that’s a keeper for the café. Especially when I told the pastry chef about it, and she thought it was a great idea too (wouldn’t be surprised if that one turns up in the bakery!)

I did get told by the main kitchen chef the other day, that maybe I would get to go in on Mondays, (the prep day when the bakery is closed), and I would be in charge of making one thing – like curry sauce or something, and she would guide me through it, from the beginning to end. IO would be in charge of creating that, for 1-2 hours and then I could still have the rest of my day off, but I get to learn from her at the same time.

I am also noticing that I am picking up really handy little things everyday. Like when the counter looks great, and when it looks average. It is all about colour, and the look of the vegetables. For example, today we had 8 salads, as usual, but among them, there was a rice salad, cabbage waldorf, cous cous, and pasta salad. The others were roast and fresh vegetable with life and colour. But you can probably see what I thought the problem there was…1/ there was too many carbohydrates, and 2/ the presentation of these grainy salads can sometimes look drab and lackluster…and the cabbage waldorf tastes great, but looks like shit, soggy and limp. I am not saying I know a better salad, just that I noticed it was this type of thing that makes a counter look average instead of amazing. I think there also needs to be more discussion between the pastry kitchen and the main kitchen, to see what colours and flavours are coming out between the two as well. As the days where the counter really sings, are the days when the pastry kitchen chooses fruits of synchronizing colour to the vegetables in the salads.

Everyday, I pick up a little hint here or there about pastry handling (my favourite pastime – making pastry). I learnt a recipe for a grated pastry base that comes out looking a bit rustic, and can be spread with anything like cream cheese, or the like.
The pastry chef also explained how when you are using the food processor to develop the dough, don’t over work it, so that there are still nice big lumps of butter in the mixture, for our famous tartes. But the pieces of butter shouldn’t be like chunk, still thick, but more like wafers, so thin. This makes the wonderful texture of our pastry in the tartes, that doesn’t feel like a mountain of pastry sitting in your guts, but tastes like it!

making our own fun

2008-07-17T06:36:00.000+10:00

four burner magic

2008-07-17T06:34:00.001+10:00

2 chefs hovering over the four burner convection stove doing 150 covers on a weekend...nothing short of a miracle!

2008-07-13T19:44:00.001+10:00

The Bakery: an unassuming exterior, half an hour before the absolute madness of Saturday brunch begins.

the unannounced unofficial assistant manager (or as the staff see it: waitress on a power trip!)

2008-07-03T06:33:00.000+10:00

I am in the hilarious but proud position at The Bakery, of being "assistant manager"... I put this in " " because I think really all it means is that I am the one that takes the blame when things aren't right...then I try to delegate to make things right...which is often met with resistance from the staff because there is only so much one human being can do...and given that we turn the 36 seat restaurant over 3 times a day on the weekend, and rotate between 3 kitchens with four dockets for each order.... our limitations are stretched at the best of times...so then I try and do it all myself! Which is funny too, cos that is actually the WORST thing I could do, as it only causes more dramas; like forgetting orders...then we are back to square one! but I still love it....because this is why I am here...to learn. How is the quality kept so high in such a busy place, how do the cooks cope with 20 orders of eggs on a four burner electric stove... and how do you remain calm and loving to a customer when you know they have waited in line for 30 minutes to get a table, waited to order for 15 minutes once they are at the table, and then have to break them the news that all the fantastic salads we serve have sold out by 2pm, cos the place is so unbelievably popular!

the start is a grand place to start

2008-07-01T06:48:00.000+10:00

I have given in to peer pressure and I am publishing some of my musings on food, world travel, cultural funnies, and documenting my very personal, but purposeful career change into food.

For years I have worked in TV, radio and marketing in the arts. Different programs/jobs gave me varying degrees of satisfaction, but like many food passionados out there, the one thing that I hold dear, and look forward to everyday, was cooking dinner with a glass of wine in my hand and some chilled out music in the background. If work was sucky that day, then dinner would be extra special!
Cooking eases me, soothes me, and I have to admit, I really LOVE people's expressions when they eat, especially if i cooked it! HAA! So something you will learn about me quickly is I am honest! I like it when people like my food! - there I said it!

So my husband and I have lived all around Australia, and now Paris (via Tokyo for 7 months). One thing, no matter where we stopped in our van around Australia, or villages of Japan or France, one thing I find myself seeking out every time, is the food...markets, restaurants, cafes, cooking schools, wholesale stores...I frequent these places like a normal tourist would a museum.

I also like to write...details...i love them.
When I get home I plan to make a great big "Carnet de Voyage" with all the little scraps, tickets, food packaging, photos... and if i could... the 'smells' of the places we visited.
THEN...with all that inspiration in one place, I will strip back the unnecessary stuff, to find the essence of a foodstore that will be my first tangible foray into the food industry...first of my own -that is!

So right now...you meet me in Paris...I kept a lot of writing from Tokyo, which, as this blog develops, you might be privy too...but this blog is primarily to document my discovery of my new life...the one where I say to people, "I am in the food industry" rather than, "i worked in TV then Arts, but I really love food and one day I want to blah blah blah"...right now you are watching me...like a little worker bee, gathering the pollen that I need to make one great big pot of sweet hunny when I get back home...
I hope you enjoy the journey...