Archive for the ‘[Australia – Melbourne]’ Category
Back to the roots: le Gratin Dauphinois
One of the things I love in Australia, is that most ingredients are of great quality. The first time I taste the double fresh cream from Gippsland, I was just amazed by such a soft taste and texture. So when I saw that Megan had bought some Gippsland cream, I was really exited. And when she asked me if I could cook diner, I already knew what I was going to cook. Temperature is dropping here. Winter is coming. There’s nothing better than a good old Gratin Dauphinois (sliced potatoes slowly cooked in cream) to help feel better when it has been raining all day. Yes, sometime it’s nice to be able to share an old traditional receipt… well… maybe not really traditional anymore, as I love cooking sausages on top (so the fat melting from the sausages just add some extra flavor to the potates), and adding some cheese to. Well… just because I love cheese?
Quinoas galette and mixed vegetables
The cooker has been watching me for to long. It was time for me to finally try it. Megan just came back this afternoon with some fresh vegetables. That was exactly what I needed.
Galettes are really easy to make, with only quinoa, onions, yogurt and eggs. Just added some spice to that, hided some fresh biologic vegetables under. Really interesting result!
I’ll be away for a couple of day. In Australia, eastern is the occasion to go to Confest. An alternative festival, that some would compare to a Rainbow Gathering, other to Burning Man (on a very smaller scale). Will be able to told you more about that on my way back, next monday.
Wish lots of chocolate to all of you!
Yann Tiersen and the bouncing souvenirs
The very first time I heard Yann Tiersen, it was when I was staying with friends, in Paris. I was discovering the city as a tourist for the first time. A few years later, Amelie Poulin was in every theater, and everybody was in love with its music by Yann Tiersen. A few years later, again, I was listening, fascinated and touched, my friend Danielle playing “Comptine d’un autre été” on her piano, in her Portland’ shed. And finally, I was lucky enough to see him live, at “Festival de l’îlophone on Ouessant Island” last automn. His style has changed, evolved a lot, becoming more and more electronic. I loved it. So two days ago, while I was visiting Drew and Tammy, when I heard that Drew was not able anymore to go to the show Yann Tiersen was giving tonight in Melbourne Recital Center, I was more than happy to take its ticket. That’s one of the reason I love traveling. Because souvenirs mix with other souvenirs, bringing me from one place to another around the world. Remembering and living again… While Yann Tiersen was playing, I was at the same time in a music temple and in an old village hall, on a lost island, somewhere in Brittany.
Music temple? Really?
Not only the place just look gorgeous, with this very neat wood finish, but the sound quality is just awesome. A few time, I was just totally and completely immersed into the music. Surprising myself once, trying to “see” the sound around me.
Yann Tiersen’s music has evolved, with more synthetic sounds than before. But I have to confess that I like it even more!
And I even decide to be a real fan!
Megan and Tao’s kitchen
I’m definitely in love with eucalyptus wood. The vein is just amazing, with this dark elegant feeling. As eucalyptus is quite common in Australia, so is its use. The first thing I saw when I first arrived in Megan and Tao’s house was this beautiful eucalyptus floor, covering half of the house, including the kitchen. So warm and so elegant at the same time!
The other floors are made in plain concrete, only oiled. A dark grey, used also for the kitchen counter, that fits perfectly with the wood. Raw solid and cold concrete contrasting with the warm softness of wood. Even if most of the materials used are quite dark, the white shiny walls give lots of light to the place. I haven’t tried the oven yet, but I won’t be able to wait much longer!
Where are my hours going?
For the first 30 years of my life, I’ve been staying in the north hemisphere. Traveling a lot, but always on the same side of the world. And then, I’ve decided to try being upside down. Everybody knows that downunder, the water turns anti clockwise when you’re emptying your sink. So many people says that, that I haven’t even watch the water leaving my sink yet… I take that for true, I suppose. Or maybe I’m not passionate by sink holes.
I’ve kept saying that the hardest things when traveling/moving to a foreign country are not the big cultural clash. No, the hardest things are all those little details you’re so much use to. I was quite surprisee in Sydney, when I saw that apartment owners were advertising places with windows facing north, which was, for me, a nonsense. Until I realize that yes, in the south hemisphere, the sun still goes from west to east, but heading north instead of south. I knew that when a few weeks later I made my first time lapse of a sunset. I was watching it, feeling that something was wrong. One more time, it took me a while before I understand what was going on. I mean… when you watch a sunset, you’re expecting the sun to move slowly to its right. I checked the video again. The sun was obviously moving to the left. There was no mirror, no reflexion. I didn’t flip my video. That’s the way the sun goes here. Well… it makes sense. If you want to go from west to east via north, you have to go left. I suppose my brain might understand that one day…
Same for the seasons. When it’s winter in the north, it’s summer in the south. I didn’t have a winter this year. Interesting experience. But then, last night, it was the night when we change time by one hour. I knew the date since a few weeks now. I noticed that there was not 10 hours time difference between France and Australia anymore, but only 9 remaining. I lived the same experience when I was in Montreal. For a few weeks, there was one more/less hour difference. Knowing that we were changing time last night, I was expecting that everything was going back to normal. I wake up at 9:30 this morning. So it was 10:30. But when I opened my computer, it told me it was 8:30. My computer having a bug? Making a mistake? I checked quickly online. No, my computer was right. The hour change didn’t go the way I was expecting it. Something was wrong. I checked the time in France. Only 8 hours difference remaining. The south hemisphere didn’t move. Neither did the north one. But now, they suddenly seems to be two hours closer.
Where have those two hours gone? Did they just disappear? That sounds really strange, I know. And then, I though about this imaginary line, somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. A line where you don’t lose one hour, but a whole day. If you fly from Melbourne to Vancouver, you’re going to live your day twice. If you fly the opposite way, you lose a day.
2012 is supposed to be a 366 days. Could be nice to fly to Vancouver in a few weeks, to try to understand where that extra day come from. And then having a 367 days in 2012!
The curry day
In Montreal, when you have friends who help you when you’re moving, you usually thank them by offering pizza and beer… A few days ago, I offered my help to Jesse and Riz, when I learnt that they were moving. I like helping people moving; don’t really know why. But even if I hadn’t liked it, I would have helped them any way. After all, Jesse hosted us for 5 days in december, kept some of our bags for one month and a half, and invited us to his wedding. So giving him a few hours of my time was the least I could do. It was really nice to see them again, after the wedding. And it was even nicer when Riz told me that she had cooked a fish curry, and that I was definitely more than welcome to have some. I mean. I like beer and pizza. But… how to say that… when you have a friend from Bengladesh, who is definitely a good cook, you definitely forget about the pizza !
As the fish was really bony, I decided to follow them in the bengladeshi tradition of eating with your hand (only the right one; Bengladesh is a muslim country). And it definitely makes sense. It is more easier to remove the bone from the fish with fingers that with a fork and a spoon. Or a knife. Seems that fish curry is a very traditional meal from Bengladesh. It was definitely a really good one, with this perfect balance of ingredients and tastes that is so common in indian food, upgraded by a slight spicing. Just something that I forgot: usually, you don’t have french beans in this kind of food. I realized a little bit too late that the long green vegetable was not bean, but green chili.
I would have been really happy with only one amazing curry… but Iris was in Melbourne for the week-end, and staying with Ned and Rosie. And planning to cook diner for them. I was, of course, invited. Iris loves indian food. She’s been experimenting with curry for a little while now, and her prawn curry was really good to.
Served with an interesting New Zealander white wine, we discovered in january. I haven’t find any really interesting australian wine yet. They are a little bit to strong. Not that they are bad. Just they are missing something, trying to impose themself, instead of waiting for you to discover all the subtlety of their aroma. The “counting sheep”, from Hawkes Bay area in New Zealand, is a soft white wine with a light sweet taste that just fits perfectly with the prawns.
Victoria’s Market
Sydney little hidden treasure is its botanical garden. In Melbourne, the not hidden treasure is definitely the Victoria’s Market. Of course, the botanical garden here is amazing to. And we can’t really compare a market and a botanical garden (even if there is a few links between both, that’s true). But having a market like that, not to far, is always a real pleasure.
Why? Imagine Jean Talon’s market, in Montreal. With more people, more choice, but same low price. Add to it an inside market, like Atwater, with lots of meat, fish, cheese… add some french market feeling, a somewhat from Chinatown, and lots of touristic stuff. The result is just perfect. One of those places where you want to go just for the pleasure of walking, looking, smelling, touching, checking… discovering fruits you didn’t even know they could exist. And just because of those fruits, you think that it could be a good reason to stay in Melbourne for a while…
Eureka, Southern Cross and Ballarat… when everything connects
When you’re discovering a new place, you grab information slowly. Picking up a word somewhere, a name somewhere else. They all stay quietly hidden in your brain, until something happen. It might be an other word, it might be something you see, or something you read… and then, you hear this little “click” that means that everything has finally find its place.
The very first building I spot in Melbourne was the Eureka tower. By far the highest building in the Skyline, but also -according to me- the most interesting… and the most beautiful of all them. I’ve pictured it from every angle, just to enjoy the way it interacts with other building, continuously changing its appearance.
Then, you have Southern Cross Station. An other interesting building, specially for the shape of its undulating roof. At the end of the train lines from Adelaide and Sydney, it’s one of the major station in Melbourne transport network.
You can complete all that with Ballarat, the 3rd inner city by size in Australia (after Canberra and Toowoomba).
I got the missing link when Ned ask me if I’ve ever heard about “James Scobie”. The answer was, obviously, “no”.
The Eureka Stockade, or Eureka Rebellion, was organized in 1854, by gold miners in Eureka Lead, a suburb of Ballarat. The first sparkle was the murder of James Scobie… The Rebellion grew quickly as miners get organized. It ended in a fight with the victoria’s army and police on the 3rd of december, resulting in the deaths of more than 30 peoples (which, by the way, is the most significant conflict in Victoria’s history; Australian colonization was really quiet… as long as you were not aboriginal). Miner were protesting against the expense of the Miner’s Licence and government taxation. Public offered mass support to the “rebels” who were captured and placed on trial in Melbourne, resulting in the very first while mall suffrage for elections for the lower house in the Victorian parliament. Some says that the Eureka Rebellion is the birth of democracy in Australia, while other says it was just a political revolt.
While resentment was rising amongst the miner, they elected a leader, burned there miner’s Licence, and adopt a new flag. The Eureka flag; A blue flag, bearing the Southern Cross. Very similar to the Australian one, but protestor removed the british union jack. In 1893, Banjo Paterson (an australian poet) wrote:
“The English flag may flutter and wave,
where the world wide oceans toss,
but the flag the Australian dies to save,
is the flag of the Southern Cross.”
Banjo Paterson also wrote “Waltzing Matilda”, a widely known bush ballad, often referred as “the unofficial national anthem of Australia”.
A few days ago, I red about this poem, and learnt that “Matilda” was the name of the blanket used by swagman (australian hobo). And that was the reason I decided to taste the Alpha Ale, from the Matilda Brewery, at the Lui Bar, on the 55th floor. Facing… the Eureka tower!
A few days ago, again, I was looking at the clouds reflexion, in a tower. Its name? The Souther Cross tower, of course.
