she bringeth good tidings to Brisbane

Not only is the Messiah being played on at least 22 sets of speakers around Brisbane, and to be sung/played in extremely fine concert at St John's Cathedral on Ann St at 7:30pm this coming Saturday the 29th of June, *ahem* but..

Thanks to a friend of a friend, I've discovered Sol Breads in Toowong. An organic sourdough place. This is real bread! In Melbourne I always wished we had a bakery near us that made decent bread. There were a couple of chains, and that was it. To get better stuff, I didn't know of anywhere closer than.. well, I guess I could have gone to the deli. I like Phillippa's.

Anyway, Sol is more expensive than your average supermarket bread, but also highly superior. I paid $6.50 for a very decent fruit loaf, which is cheaper than at the Bean Scene (quite a different sort of bread), my choice source of fruit bread, which probably merits a post of its own, and I'll take some photos.

Sol is also a cafe (yay), with sandwiches and cakes and such. Coffee, of course. All looks good. And did I mention, it's tiny. Like an overgrown cupboard. Made me feel very cool going in there, though also means you can't escape the notice of the shopkeepers, and I thus felt compelled to buy something. It's probably a clever design in that way.
I have no regrets.

8/23-29 High St, Toowong
http://ishop.solbreads.com.au/

the Word

I've been doing a subject at uni about the development of the English language - the history and the spread of it.

Apart from admiration for the language, and horror at its ability to dominate/kill other languages - and it's not survival of the fittest language, by the way, but survival of the culture with the most force in any place who says 'Now I am King of your country' and sticks by it long enough -

Actually I'm writing out of appreciation for fine things English, which undeniably exist.

Handel's Messiah, namely.
Fittingly with the history of English, Handel was German. But he sort of became English. Very representative.

GREAT.
(was the company of the preachers, great was the company of the preachers, of the preachers.)

I here express my fervent admiration for other things British:

Toast and marmalade
Tea (English/Irish Breakfast, Earl Grey)
Tea (the event, as in afternoon tea, Devonshire tea..)
Scones!! With jam and cream. Ohhhhh.
Teacake
Crumpets, with butter and honey
Porridge

A willingness to try Vegemite and keep eating it. No other culture would do that.

And, of course, Harry Potter. And Shakespeare, and Keats, but this isn't meant to be an exhaustive list.

And the culture that among many things, good and bad, is responsible for this.

pondering

I'm reading this book at the moment. Because I love his writing.It has reminded me of a conviction I had already - not to eat meat if ever in America, because it's not safe, if for nothing else. And because it's not real meat.
I'm not an angry vegan, and decidedly not an activist. I am undecided on many things, however.
Generally, it seems like humans are omnivores.
I am sure that in Australia most people eat more meat than we need.

I don't know what farming constitutes these days, though. In Australia.
I do know that every time I read about vegetarianism, farming etc., I remember seeing my Grandad and two of my uncles, all sheep farmers, race to kill and gut three sheep. And I know what kind of lives those animals got, and for me it would have been a bit boring, but for a sheep it might have been all right. They just ate all day.
I've ridden my bike through a few areas of Victoria and seen cows all over the place. And smelt them, when I couldn't see them. Moo.
But when we drive past Hazeldene's chicken farm in NW Victoria, I never see any birds. Hm.

For me, the issue is excess versus balance. In consuming, in waste. In exercise and thinking about food, being fat or skinny. In expecting to eat meat and eggs three meals a day. Or never, and why. In information overload. Do we need milk, or do we not? Who do I believe?

Added: Some writing from Choice. I found this pretty good.
'Organic'
Chicken farming in Australia
'Free range'

And particularly this one, for those who really want eggs and are prepared to pay a bit more and buy a few less.

Home made.

When I grow up, if there is a world by then, I am having chooks.
Not giving birth to chooks.
But if I live in Australia, or somewhere people have yards, if yards exist by then, I want a couple of chookens.

Just had the most amazing egg for breakfast, from my aunt & uncle's chooks on their farm in country Victoria.
I don't even eat eggs for breakfast.
I'd forgotten how to eat a soft boiled egg, and cracked it on the edge of the plate. Then I remembered you can scoop it out with a spoon, like we used to have eggy-in-an-egg-cup.

The egg broke open and the yolk ran all over the toast, and I was standing there dumb. The white was so white! and so fine..
there was mustard on the toast, but I couldn't see it anymore.
A little bit of fetta, salt and pepper.

This must be why people order eggs.
Think I'll keep this experience for home.

settling slowly, and bananacakesuccess

We don't have these trees in Melbourne.

Having changed location this year, it's taking a little while to get settled in. Moving creates different kinds of crises, and incurs cake-making.

And I have finally DONE IT, made a banana cake that really pleased me. (It's not really the first time, but as I haven't followed an exact recipe for banana cake in a while..)

Banana cake as it should be:
Because an anonymous flatmate (I don't know who) felt the love to cover it.

After one day, this is how it should look:
This is how I know it wasn't just me. It is good. This is the word of the Melbourne flat.

While I didn't have the book in front of me, I did use a recipe that comes from a book. I'm sure the lady who put it in there won't mind me sharing.

BANANA CAKE from the Boort Fiesta Cook Book
3 overripe bananas, mashed
60g butter
1 cup sugar (this is too sweet for me, I use 2/3 cup)
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 egg
1/2 tsp bi-carb soda, dissolved in 2 tbsp milk
1 1/2 tsp baking powder (ish)
1 1/2 cups flour
handful of sultanas and walnuts

Cream butter, sugar and vanilla. Add egg, beat til smooth.
Add everything else. Make sure it's all mixed together, without beating the life out of it.
Bake at 180 C for about 50 minutes, depending on your oven and the tin you're using.
At home (yes, it's a Mum recipe) we use a biggish loaf tin. Here I used the only tin I have, which is in fact not mine or even a resident in my flat, but is a borrowed tin. It's round. It was a HUGE SUCCESS.
I didn't have walnuts, but this meant I got to use up some cashews/pepitas/sunflower seeds that weren't going to get eaten. Toasted them in the preheating oven and chucked them in at the end. Yum!

culinary prototypes

Continuing with the nostalgic theme and eating a Golden Delicious, which used to be my favourite kind of apple, it became clear that "apple" now first evokes the image of a Pink Lady - a miniscule of a second before just meaning any apple, which to me is a Jonathan, Granny Smith, Akane, Gala, Fuji, Golden Delicious, or (hopefully not) Red Delicious... all those fruits that are sweet with varying bite/sourness, crunch, colour outside on a thin skin, whiteish flesh.

Of course, then there is cooked apple, which for me means Granny Smith, and which is green when it's cooked. (It's an appropriate name if you consider that for many, Granny Smiths are purely for cooking, and have that wonderful grandmotherliness of apple crumble, apple cake/slice, apple sponge, etc. or just stewed apple. Mmm.)

Further in this linguistic vein, did you know that 'apple' just used to mean fruit? And then at some stage.. I think it was due to the Norman conquest and the French introduction of the word 'fruit' (not sure what happened with 'pomme') that then the meaning of 'apple' narrowed to refer only to that particular fruit we now know as the apple.

Apples go with cream. It's approaching that season.

Food Love

Apparently I am a nostalgic person. I love being nostalgic, and also happen to have a good memory for food.

I was just eating half a banana muffin (wholemeal and homemade, of course) practicing restraint, after an unrestrained few days that were really quite excessive. I ate two teaspoons of ice cream with the muffin and it was delicious, which brought me to thinking nostalgically.

The ice cream I bought when I wanted my college apartment to feel like home: Bulla Vanilla, 4 litres. It should last a while, depending who comes over.
We always used to buy the same ice cream, Peters Original and it was the Best. Then they 'improved' the recipe, so now it's Original with New Improved Recipe. Hm. New Improved recipe tastes and feels like marshmallow, sweet, gooey and empty. I seem to recall my dad reading out that the first two ingredients were sugar and water, then milk, or something like that.
So now we always buy Bulla ice cream. It's not for any amazing culinary sophistication. It just tastes like ice cream.

Lamingtons. Grandma makes them. Also in this category:
Sponge cakes, sponge kisses, jelly cakes, fruit cake (Christmas, weddings, and big birthdays), sultana cake, apricot jam, pav.

Apple cake/slice from Nanna, and cassata
Corned beef, sigh. I've never liked it much.

Marmalade!! I love marmalade.
Nanna always has marmalade on toast for breakfast, with a cup of tea, and I always think of her when I have it. I also can't help thinking of Mum, who makes THE grapefruit marmalade of the world.

Speaking of citrus, the whole-orange syrup cake from Women's Weekly Cakes and Slices cookbook has high sentimental value for me. The two boys I love most in the world have both made it on separate occasions: my brother, who made it first, and a non-family member, who has made it enough times in quick succession to make up for not having made it first.

Yo-yo biscuits and ANZACs always make me think of Mum.
As do cheese and chutney hot sandwiches. Made traditionally at our house with Colby and Rosella fruit chutney (known originally as cheese and children's chutney).
Also, I always think of Mum when I make a pavlova. We always hide a little layer of banana under the cream, and strawberries normally go on top.

And, not with any necessarily personal association...
Vegemite (derr). Is not vegemite on toast such an Aussie comfort food?
I have had fantastic palmiers with Vegemite and parmesan, too. Don't knock it until you try it. And in fact, I'm pretty sure these will always remind me of the friend who has made them twice recently.

Patty cakes. Vanilla. Choc chips optional. The best are made by my sister. They are what a cupcake should be.

I could go on for a long time. Potato flan... lemon slice... Blue Castello... you know.

:)