Tête en bas

For me, “helping on the market” means “gosh, we’ll have to wake up early!” But we’re far from a french market. As long as everyone is ready to leave at 8:30, everything is fine.

“The bloc”. I don’t know where the name come from. It’s where Steve and Trish leave. They have a small hydroponic garden, and they make there own soap and natural product. That’s also where they renovate caravan, where people live. Paul has been living here for more or less two years, and is clearly part of the family. I just see the other from time to time. The bloc is a little piece of paradise, quiet, peaceful, where you just want to relax. They don’t seem to work much. Mainly on markets and during special event.

Today, we’re going to the market. They have two booths. On one, Trish sells soap and other products. On the other, Steve sells “twirled potatoes”. He reckons that it’s mainly for cash. They started the potatoes a few weeks ago, and it’s working great. You take a potato, put it on a stick, cut it, fry it for 5 minutes, add some spice and sauce, and sell it for $5. Yes, that’s quite a nice plus value to be able to sell one potato for $5. Yes, that’s really good. I really enjoy the taste, but it’s a bit too expensive for me. Not a real problem: with my tshirt, I have them for free. I help doing the different job, learning the technic. Doing some industrial spying too. Importing the idea to Canada or France? Interesting idea. What other strange idea will I have? I don’t know! Sara and Hripsime are working on the soap booth. They both prefer the smell of natural product to the greasy smelly oil. I can’t understand that!

The market finished around 3PM. Paul take us to a very well hidden cave, south of Alice Springs. Hidden, but really nice. And not a limestone cave. Definitely different from what I’m used to visit. I’m wondering how they’ve been made. No one know.

We all gather an other time, for a pizza evening around the campfire. I end up with my didgeridoo at some time. And my flute. And also with my fire staff. Because Paul knows photography well, and also because they saw me practice almost every day, but always with no fire…

An other amazing night, with amazing people. As I meet so often. As they are every where. As usual, I’m feeling well. And happy. I’m relax. As usual.

I’m totally aware that spending the night at Standley Chasm means a very very slow start the next day. Very very slow. And that’s perfect for me. Hripsimé, Sara and Ray start with a yoga session, while I’m staying in the warmth of the swag. I know they’ll need me soon after that, but I don’t need to be too much awake. Ray asked Hripsimé if she can give him a quick massage lesson. Because of that, my day started with one hour and a half of four hands massages. Hard not to be relax and slow all day after that!

Finally, we say bye to Ray for the third time. We’re not going to be back here. Not for a long time I guess! Back to Alice Springs, I drop the girls downtown before going back to the bloc, to see my caravan again, and talk with everyone. I just realize that I want to cook for everyone tonight, to thank them for hosting me. For the welcoming. For the kinds. For everything. And of course, there’s no problem for us to stay two more nights. I drive back to town, to pick up Hripsimé and Sara, and buy some food. There’s a great pizza oven. Steel one, but heated with wood fire. This oven inspire me. A lot. As those cheese does. When was my last tartiflette? Long long time ago I guess! Well, it’s going to be with Tasmanian Camember. Better than nothing I guess.

Back to the bloc, every one’s chatting altogether. I tell Steve that I really want to give a hand for something before we leave, as I almost did not do anything. “We’ll you still be here sunday?” “hum, yes” “then you can help us at the market?” “with pleasure”! And that’s how the three of us get enrolled to give a hand at the market, the day after tomorrow. I like the idea. I’m happy.

Tartiflette is not as good as I was hoping. Tasmanian camembert is not as good as the one from Normandy. And even less than reblochon. Anyway, still did the job. It’s good. And it’s an other nice evening by the fire.

Jaab is from Netherland, but has been living in Australia for ten years or so. Louise is australian. They met a little bit more than one year ago. Since, they sold there houses and most of the things they owned, in order to buy “The Spiring of Curiosity”. An old bus, transformed to a 5 stars house, where they now live full time, traveling -as slowly as possible- across Australia. Travelers, couchsurfers. The Spirit of Curiosity is big enough to allow them to host other travelers they meet on the road. I’ve seen there profile while they were in Coober Pedy. they were the only other couchsurfer while I was there. I didn’t contact them immediately, and when I looked for there profile again, they were already gone. A few weeks later, they were in Alice Springs. Hripsime contact them before flying to the red center, as I was not in the best condition to host her myself. That allows her to enjoy an amazing welcome in a bus more than comfy. Well, I do have to confess that I enjoy the comfort of the bus too. Jaab and Louise are just lovely. We spent a lot of amazing moment talking -most of the time while having food, and some wine. Travelers in the soul, with lot of anecdotes to share. If we talked about Europe, North America and Australia, we also talked about artificial intelligence, politics, economy, and so much more.

And finally, “the Spiring of Curiosity” had to go back on the road, heading north. We are going west. For a small loop, in the West Macdonnel Ranges. We’ll be coming back in Alice in a few days, and then heading to Uluru. Before going north too.

As usual, saying “good bye” was not really easy. But even if they have a long advance on us, they travel slower than we do. So we do have an appointment. Some where. Some time. Here. Or there. Or maybe somewhere else.

As the photographic workshop last saturday went really well, I decided to organize an other one tonight. It was my way of saying “bye” to Melbourne. The theme for this evening was “light painting and fire photography”. As I didn’t have any fire artist close enough, I ended up being at the same time teacher, photograph, and model. That was a nice evening, with a nice group of couchsurfer. And yes, definitely a good way to say “bye” to Melbourne.

Even better, as I decide to eat some inspiring food after that. Yes, that’s exactly what it is. Fries, gravy and cheese. And the menu definitely says “Poutine”. Soon, Quebec will conquer the world!

I like it a lot when I’m staying at a place where the people are happy to let me cook. It’s a nice opportunity to experiment, and try new random recipe, improvised from what I can find in the fridge.

I’m really happy with the result of this one. Chicken drumsticks in a white wine and nuts (peanut, cashew, almond) sauce. Served with tomatoes “à la provençale” and Quinoa. And I just discovered that the hazel nut taste you have in Quinoa just fits very well with the nuts sauce. I’ll definitely have to look at that from closer!

Fry some garlic with some ginger, in olive oil and butter. Add grounded almonds and onions. Then, add some maple sirup, to help the onions to caramelize, and some peanut butter. As I didn’t have enough peanut butter, I just add some cashew butter to. Complete with some white wine, add the chicken, salt, paprika and cumin seed. Cover with a lead. Wait. Eat.

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?

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!