We’ve had a busy week!
On Tuesday, Mum and I discovered the Viet Hoa Fish Market in Flemington (now Homebush West). Everything was gloriously fresh – there were live abalone, mud crabs, spanner crabs, lobsters, mussels, pippis, barramundi and trout, as well as a wide selection of bright eyed, clean smelling fish.
I came home with three flatheads (which they kindly filleted for me) and two salmon heads. The salmon went into the freezer and the bones and skin from the flatheads were turned into stock…
That night, we coated the fillets in sourdough breadcrumbs and deep-fried them. They were served with oven baked potatoes, homemade avocado oil mayo, sourdough bread baked that morning, and a 1997 McGuigan’s Hunter Valley semillon.
Big Boy and Small Man are thoroughly enjoying the old wines from our cellar, and this was one of those perfect moments shared with the people I love most in the world…
. . . . .
The following day, I stopped by Southern Cross Supplies to pick up some nuts and noticed this damaged bag of bakers flour on the clearance pallet. At $10 for 25kg, it was impossible to pass up the bargain. There was a slight tear on the top, but the flour was fresh (expiry date of 2017) and I was happy to save it from being thrown out…
The Perfection Bakers Flour is actually Allied Mills’ higher protein blend. It produced a pair of magnificent loaves…
. . . . .
On Thursday, Pete and I caught the ferry from Drummoyne Wharf to Cockatoo Island to visit the Biennale of Sydney’s Embassy of the Real. If you’re in the Inner West, don’t make the mistake we’ve always made of catching the ferry from Circular Quay to the island. At Drummoyne, there’s lots of free street parking, and the trip takes less than five minutes (thanks for the tip, Diana!)…
Even when there’s nothing on, Cockatoo Island is always a wonderful place to visit…
Starting life as a penal colony in the 1800s, the island was home to the longest running Australian shipyard from 1857 to 1991. Remnants of its nautical history are everywhere…
There are twenty-one Biennale exhibits at Cockatoo Island. Here are three that we loved…
Willing to be Vulnerable (2015 – 2016) by Korean artist Lee Bul is spectacular and glorious and humungous, filling the entire 1640m² industrial space with carnival themed pieces. I’m sure the artist had a deeper message to convey with her work, but I just found the whole installation joyous and immersive. Being able to see this one artwork made the trip to Cockatoo Island worthwhile…
A photo taken from under the huge mylar blimp. It’s hard to convey the scale of this installation!
. . . . .
Nowhere and Everywhere at the Same Time, No. 2. (2013) by choreographer William Forsythe is a large room filled with swinging pendulums. The plumb bobs on the end of long wires move to a predetermined pattern that repeats in a forty minute cycle. The spectator is invited to move through the pendulums without touching them – thereby “dancing” to a routine “choreographed” by Forsythe. Here is my Pete as art…
. . . . .
Six Women (2013 – 2016) by English artist Bharti Kher is a series of life-sized sculptures cast from real women in the artist’s New Delhi studio…
. . . . .
On the way home from Cockatoo Island, we met up with our friends Juan and Olivia of Time Flies Designs to see their new rings. They’re seriously cool – Juan is 3D printing the bands from mixed materials, combining plastics with metals and cement…
I felt privileged to be able to sit with the designers in a coffee shop and discuss their art! They had just one ring with a band made from cast raw aluminium. It slipped onto my finger like silk and stayed there. If you’re interested, visit Times Flies Designs at Paddington Markets on Saturdays, and please say hi for me…
. . . . .
Finally, at 5am on Friday morning, I crawled out of bed early to chat with Nick of Country Meats Direct who was dropping off our latest delivery. We were delighted with the Ajani pasture raised pork we bought from them last month, so we placed another order for May. A full half pig is a lot of meat!
The Ajani Pork is delicious, and a bit leaner than other pork, which I find oddly comforting. I’d expect an animal who gets to run around outside all day to have less fat. It’s been a dream to cook with – here’s our favourite oven-baked meal of loin chops with potatoes and pears (it’s an old Jamie Oliver recipe)…
Lovely Nick of Country Meats Direct and I had a great chat about sourdough bread. I gave him some starter and a bit of my bargain bakers flour, and he insisted on giving me an extra bag of sausages! So I passed some of the bangers to our English friend Will, who cooked them up for dinner last night, then complained when he had to share with his kids.
We turned six sausages into dinner, combined with pasta, garlic and broccoli raab from the garden…
. . . . .
It’s truly been a great week! Wishing you all a happy, fun-filled weekend! ♥
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 