My friend was to lazy to get out of bed to return my camera. So I had to like um tilt my screen and use photo booth. It was a horrible experience cos all the sauce was pooling toward my computer. Anyway, I got the ugly ass shot but I loved the dish so who cares.

I bought this tiny little rabbit from Coles for like $6 (Macro Meats bargain hello?), cut off its legs and confited them together with some thyme, garlic and tomatoes. Lifting each ingredient out as it cooked and reheating before I served. Then I dumped the bones into a pot and made a stew with some carrots and onions, tomato trimmings, and more thyme. So I fried that off and deglazed with some crappy pinot I had leftover. Then I added veg stock and the rabbit saddles and fillets, brought it to a boil and turned the heat off for like 30 minutes or so. I suck at prepping the rabbit, which is why it looks so ugly. I gotta buy more rabbits.

Then, I used my peeler to make carrot “fettucine”, blanched that off in the stock very briefly and piled it up below the confit leg, along which I put this quarter of tomato. If you notice, there’s 2 ribbons of carrot I left outside to house these weird grey things. They were the rabbit kidneys which I poached again very quickly in the confit oil. Nice and smooth but not quite melty enough. Then I piled the rabbit fillet and spooned some sauce over, garnished with some thyme, paprika, nutmeg and pine nuts. Oh I left out the nicely turned, extra long al dente carrot.

The dish was mostly inspired by my last trip to Asiette where I thought that their rabbit terrine with textures of carrot was highly amusing. So I actually wanted to do something similar. I didn’t make a good enough carrot puree, which I think the dish really needs to lighten it up. All in all though I liked the rustickyness of the stew. It was just a touch greasy (I could feel it on the lips) but the sauce was really good, brightened up with some balsamic vinegar and it had a really lovely floral accent from the thyme. Love the rabbit. It’s got this really faint sweetness which I think goes really good with the crunchy carrot. I can see why a terrine presents better. Even if the leg looked real nice, it still had the bone in and with the saddle and fillets. Maybe I could bone it all and make a log and slice it up later or something. That way you get nice circles and you can stuff shit in the middle for contrast.

Now I just need to get my goddamn camera back.

Oh I forgot dessert, Maggie Beer’s Burnt Fig, Caramel & Honeycomb with Toast.

OMFG, I just sliced open a Woodside McClaren that’s one day past its best before date and this happened.

So I went to the larder, pulled out two slices of bread to make some toast. Cos I am slurping all dat UP. I was surprised to find this in Coles, of all places. At 17 bucks, it wasn’t cheap either but I flipped it over and saw that it was right on the best before date, which meant it was ultra ripe. I squeezed the sides and ooh, soft like a booby. I knew it was gonna be golden. So I waited an extra day before plunging the knife, spilling its guts. Even before I did that, it was starting to fall apart as I opened the packaging. I slipped a bit and the whole little block contorted into some ovaloid shapey thing, like when you know tennis balls get hit. Luckily, I plopped it unceremoniously onto a waiting plate.

This baby is the shit. It’s like freakin’ ultra cream cheese. With some rind. The McClaren is supposed to be a Camembert style, made with cow’s milk. To me, its more of a Philadelphia style. On crack cocaine. Or something.

Delish. I highly recommend eating about 3 or 4 days prior to best before so you get some texture. Or if you like cheese dripping out of a hollow rind like custard, all smooth and shiny, you can do as I did.

So I was at the supermarket and they had these little cryovaced pieces of meat in packaging that was a different color than the usual. The labels on them said Macro Meats. The offerings weren’t beef or chicken but goat and venison.

Which flashbacked into this time when I devoured a spoonful of Woodside Goat’s Curd at work. Texturally, it was more akin to creme fraiche or a thick whipped cream. Flavor wise, it wasn’t densely muttony or strong. It had that as a bit of a kick in the aftertaste but the general feeling was a bright and fresh creaminess. So I figured that yes I must have goat meat with some goat’s curd. I settled on Meredith Dairy’s Goat’s Curd which is superb and kinda lemony.

I decided I’d go with some mushrooms, which are plentiful at the mo, sauteed them off before mixing it up with the curd. Then I seared off the goat fillet (there were 2 pieces), before making a stack with the curd + mushrooms in between. This went into the oven, as I sauteed the spinach off in some butter and rehydrated some cous cous with veg stock. The result was the curd melted and combined with the mushroom juices and gave the dry-ish meat some moisture. I also sliced off a small chunk of the raw fillet and it tasted like deeper, more involved lamb. It’s also hella chewier.

Maybe the choice of ingredients doesn’t make a lot of sense culturally. Still, it tasted gud. Everything went superbly together. The spinach bright and green against the cous cous, which is something I’m really growing to love. What with the 5 minute cooking time and all that. Still the clincher was the curd. I was licking the plate.

I have this travelpass in Sydney which basically lets me travel anywhere I want within a week. I use and abuse it by travelling in multifarious ways to and from work. One place I pass by occasionally when I take a particular bus and get off at a particular stop is called Crow’s Nest, a suburb well known for having some decent grub.

Within that place was Macro Wholefoods Market which basically only sold organic produce. I thought I’d traipse around for a bit and ended up buying some stuff. First, the good.

The Ecor Group hails from Italy and they make a variety of biscuits and pastas and stuff. What caught my eye is their brilliant packaging, which is good simple graphic design, clean modern and tasty looking. Check out their website and you’ll see more of what I mean.

Then there was this slab of fudgy brownie from Phillipa’s, which is local, well Melbournian but you get the point. Its ingredients included Callebaut, which allowed for the moniker Belgian Chocolate Brownie, because Cadbury just doesn’t make up for the 12 bucks I forked over. It was pricey but pretty good. Crumbly, moist and choco-loco. Despite the fact its packed in plastic and off a shelf. Tyler Brule thinks her bread is hot if that means anything to anyone.

Now the bad.

I’m still not convinced my organic orange allowed to blemish naturally by the use of less/no insecticides is actually a good thing. For one, the acceptance of crop pests does zilch, flavorwise at least. At worst, you get larvae nesting in the skin. Dude, wash your fruitz and maybe half the poisonous insecticides is gone. But mainly, I’m not that willing to part with more money for what may not be better. This is grotesque generalization of course. I’m sure there are brilliant organic producers who make the best stuff around but I’m also sure there’s producers out there who make stuff just as good or better and don’t brand themselves under some trendy catchall term that healthnuts go bonkers for. Pro organics will claim the stuff tastes better and its healthier and the animals that were slaughtered lived a good life. And it may do but it also uses more land, yields less and costs more. Also, stop kidding yourselves over the plight of chickens in overcrowded farm videos on youtube. Fact is, humans eat meat. Stop being hypocritical and accept it. If you chose veganism/vegetarianism after watching dem chicken videos, I ask if you wondered about the plight of those plants you’re mowing down and the animals it once supported. Balance is key. Stupid fads do sweet f-all. I’m totally ok with farms that rear black-hooved pigs that only eat acorns freerange that become lovely slabs of ham because they taste good. I really don’t need them to label themselves as a form of marketing.

Also, in case you missed the bit about the price. Here it is again. I can’t afford organic produce and I’m whinging about it. So there. I must mention though, that I found some produce at Macro to be only marginally more expensive than big supermarket chains. Yet, all the good stuff, was always really really pricey, like Duchy Originals for instance. Then again, I suppose you have to pay more for quality. You just have to scrounge around more for good deals.

If you ever wanted rose tinted glasses for your tongue, try some miracle berries. These babies turn bitter or sour stuff into the sweetest shit ever. Apparently, there are no other side effects. It just makes some food you’d normally not eat so much of taste a whole lot better. Which is bad if you ate a box of lemons cos that much citric acid ain’t that good for you. The berries contain the protein miraculin, which alters the way your tastebuds think. You can also get this in a pill form. Do not try with beer is what I was told. Other good suggestions involve honeydew and oral sex although results may vary.

Mmm mmm mussels… Saw some Kinkawooka Mussels on sale at my fishmonger and decided to go for it and boy was it worth it. Also had a La Trappe Quadrupel but I’m only just swigging it now after devouring my meal, slurping it down to the last drop of wine+lemon+onion+musseljus.

The mussels were good and sweet and the great thing is they come pre packed and for the most part, cleaned up. Kinkawooka is a company from South Australia that grows their own mussels as well as other shellfish. Mussel season is supposed to be from September till the end of June so I’m guessing I got the best of the last batch. I cleaned up my mussels extra and put them into a small pot with some wine, water, lemon juice and finely diced onion before covering it and bringing it to the boil. In my haste, I left out some bonito which I was gonna use to work some extra flavor in and ideally I would have used a nice shallot instead of the onion and some saffron too. Leaving those things out turned out quite unimportant. The mussels already packed a good amount of flavor and my sauce was beefed up with some parmesan anyway so much so that I didn’t add a speck of salt.

Then there’s the La Trappe. This baby is strong. I was told it packed 10% alcohol and I picked it up when I saw it on the top shelf as I was picking out the cheapest Riesling for my pasta. What intrigued me was this clay bottle, that cost more than double the single bottle, which I got for $5.80. The guy at the counter also told me the clay one tasted better. Still, I was reserving it until I’d tasted this stuff first and its been a while since I had a good beer.

First impressions were its quite rich, syrupy and quite marvellously strong. It was also really foamy and I lost a bit after just one swig as it bubbled furiously. Flavor is kinda sweet and malty, chocalatey. Quite enjoyable and I’m really wondering what the clay does for it, if anything.

I then leave you with the title for this post, derived from a song by Muscles because I’m corny like that.

Looking to buy cheap food in Sydney? Look no further than Sydney Markets of course. Located near Homebush bay, the Flemington markets are where many restaurants go to buy their shit because its good and its cheap. The only drawback is you have to buy in bulk. Its a pretty huge space as expected of a wholesale fruit and veg market separated into several sections.

There’s the Grower’s Market, shown above, which is a place where you can find anybody and everybody who has got produce for sale. The quality and prices vary pretty greatly. Although I’m pretty sure some of the sellers were quoting with bullshit prices. Then there’s the Produce Market, where its all agents where it used to be that the quality of stuff was be better but also slightly more expensive. That’s apparently not the case nowadays, as the Grower’s Market stuff I saw was pretty good as well. There’s also the banana market, where you can buy bananas obviously. Its kept separate because bananas actually ripen everything else it comes close to. The flower market rounds out the rest of the place and I guess is a good place to pick up fresh flowers for any establishment. Apparently, 90-95% of the produce on sale comes from Australia so you’re most likely buying local.

The market opens officially according to the website at from 6am but in reality, people come in from 2am. The place is also open for tours where you get to view the markets and listen to a guide whispering information as you traipse around the place, trying your best not to get in the way.

Its a tough ask as well, with loads of giant trucks and forklifts all over and people tugging trolleys filled with boxes of stuff. You pretty much have to look out for danger as much as you’re looking out for some good food.

The markets also start closing pretty early. I went at about 6ish and by 8, most places were closing. The Grower’s Market looked pretty devoid of life by 9.

Just to compare prices, you can basically buy a box of Golden Delicious apples for $30 a box, which has 60 apples in it. The fresh fruit market nearest to me sells the same stuff for about $5.99 a kilo, which gets me say 5 or 6 fruit. Its like half the price basically. A bunch of basil goes for $1.60 at the markets compared to 2 or 3 something at the supermart. If you have a massive party, this is defo the place to go to pick really good stuff. There’s a pretty great selection, with some agents offering some produce you’d be hard pressed to find elsewhere. If you did, you’d probably pay rape prices for it as well. At the very least, it’s worth a trip just for the sights and smells.

Sunday morning was spent grocery shopping. Interestingly, I had the opportunity to go through 3 different types of markets. The first one was an organic farmer’s weekend market. Second one was a typical grocery and the third, an asian one. The last two in Chatswood, an Asian centric Sydney suburb. The first one was interesting enough. We got there kinda late though, at 12. Yea, that’s still morning for me.

So anyway, some of the shops had closed and we wanted some apples which were all gone. We did get some free range eggs though. There was a wide variety of stuff available, from a good selection of vegetables to some meat vendors. One guy had some pretty nice smoked fish, another had a good selection of mushrooms. Then there were a couple of palm readers and an organic health advisor (whatever that means). There was a definite hippie/environmentalist vibe there. A car had stickers taking the mickey out of John Howard, some lady was all decked out in hippie gear and I heard the words green and environment pretty often. One stall sold everything made outta hemp. Smells were lovely as well. One dude was grilling up sausages and onions, there was a turkish bread stall and a Jap okonomiyaki stall (huh?). All that to some guy playing on his guitar and a multitude of different breeds barking at each other.

Some stalls were just weird though. As in not mystic hippie weird but just out of place weird. Like the fake Von Dutch windbreaker stall or the cheapo made in China sunnies or the awnings guy, possibly promoting to his neighbours more than anything else.

The contrast with the hypermarkets was bleedingly obvious though. Seemingly sanitised environs with convenience as the key word. There were organic products but the retailers were far removed from the customers. The concern was to make as much money as possible, regardless of anything else. I don’t find anything wrong with that in and of itself though but you do appreciate the organic farmers who grow their own produce. They do it because its good and afterall, without small growers, there wouldn’t be any individuality and we’d all get perfect shrink wrapped apples all the time.

So whilst the organic markets had its little tinge of opportunism and mass market retail, you have to appreciate how they at least care about what they’re selling and the people they’re selling it to.

The pretty neon green fractal starfish above is really a vegetable. It’s a variety of broccoli called a Romanesco and as the name alludes, comes from Italy.