Chetting Coconuts

DO: Be wary of overhyped reviews of cafes, restaurants, markets and events in popular papers, websites and blogs.

The ability of these influential sources to dictate trends and ‘what’s hot’ has to be looked upon with some trepidation…Call a spade a spade. If it’s honest it’s honest.

Once the Olympic Trials are over (time pending) I would love to try and review 3 cafes/restaurants/events a week and try to keep things real. However I have no technical nouse on the computer nor do I know how to write and would love to have some helpers! If anyone is keen to help out shoot me an email.

A criteria in which I will review is under construction but it will be based around the regular Joe…No free feeds (free feeds accepted but positive review will not be based on whether I eat for free)

LIKE: Chet Faker – Listen to his Live recording of for RRR.

Such cruisey listening… A lovely mix of of genres which is described by Vice Magazine as electronic/experimental/post dubstep beats…He will be touring the country promoting his latest EP ‘Thinking in Textures’ in April, make sure you catch him when he is in your city.

EAT: Coconuts – The latest health phenom is bottled coconut juice/water. Beyond Coconut water is the best I have found in a bottle, but I prefer to go for the real thing!

Most major supermarkets stock whole young coconuts. All you have to do is crack it open with a machete then drink out the tasty juice. My favourite part however is the flesh…scrape it all out with a spoon and this little coconut not only quenches thirst but is quite a filling snack.

Im also a big fan of coconut oil…It has many uses, use it for; Cooking, moisturising, conditioning and tanning.

The health benefits of coconuts are well outlined here

SEE: If you haven’t seen it already, you should - #KONY2012 watch the video.

Jelly + Omelette Breakaway

DO: Jelly Beans - Go get yourself a pair. I wore these bad boys at the NSW State Swimming Champs and they were a hit. They have been getting some big press from the likes of Broadsheet, they are well and truly back!

A crowd favourite since before you were born, Jelly Sandals are back. Australian Owned and operated since 2011, Jelly Beans is dedicated to providing Australians with the shoes they know and love. Made from high quality PVC, these sandals will stand the test of time as a fashion statement, as well as durability.

LIKE:  A weekend getaway – Off the back of a crunching in the gym by my trainer Dieter Roylance I shot straight down the coast and kicked up my heels. With the weather spot on (34 degrees) I was able to have an afternoon nap then head out for a few waves in the early evening.

This weekend away was to help me kickstart my taper leading into Olympic Trials…With only 2 weeks to go things are starting to get pretty exciting!! The racing will be live every night on ONE HD and some highlights packages being shown on Ten – Racing starts March 15 and finishes March 22.

While I was down the Coast I went to The Peninsula Hot Springs, this place is awesome and I highly reccomend to anyone heading down that way. Open til 10pm everyday with dinner available there is no better place to relax and recharge. I suggest going on a week night as the fewer other punter in the pools with you the better. (some pics below)

EAT: Perfecting the Omelette – Over the last few weeks I have done just that! After years of passing off my attempts at omelettes and just turning them into a big scrambled mess, I have finally figured it out!

The keys for me have been;

1. Getting to know the Hot Plate – The size, the pans ability to hold heat and also the stickiness of it are all crucial in the omelette process. Trial and error.
2. Having enough lube on the Pan before the eggs go in – I have found cooking bacon in the pan or any other meat that leaves a good amount of grease is perfect. Butter or coconut oil are also other lubricants I have experimented with that work well.
3. The use of the lid – Once I pour the eggs in a let them set a little then give them a slight scramble so they are no longer sticking then turn the heat down. Once the heat is down quite low I then chuck on the lid to keep the heat in and cook the top part of the omelette a little. I also find this helps in the puffing of the omelette.
4. Going easy on the fillings – Too many and too heavy fillings can cause the omelette to rip when it comes time to fold. Less is more. My choice of fillings have been; Smoked salmon and fetta. Mushroom, basil and goats cheese.
5. When to fold and what to fold with – Once fillings have been added the next step is the fold. I like to wait until you can see the eggs start to turn in a little around the edge of the pan, this generally means that the egg mixture on the base is strong enough to fold without breaking apart. The key is using a thin yet wide folding device. This allows you to sneakily  and smoothly glide in under the egg with enough surface area to gently fold.

If making an omelette is all too much head to one of Luke Mangan’s restaurant and have his Crab Omelette w enoki mushrooms and miso mustard broth, its life changing.

SEE: A few videos-

The making of ‘The Greenhouse’ by Joost for the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival.

Lemonade Stand – Movie Extra Tropfest Winner

February Fail Compilation -  These videos always entertain.

March into the food LAB

DO – Melbourne – The guys at Gumbo Kitchen are inviting you to experience a night in New Orleans without leaving Melbourne…The Food Truck is setting up at The Melbourne Cemetery in Carlton from 5.30-10pm and will be pumping out tasty Po’Boys, and Gumbos. There will also be live entertainment provided by New Orleans funk band The Lowdown Street Orchestra.

Also on the food tip, Melbourne Food and Wine Festival kicks off on March 2 and runs for 3 weeks. So so many amazing food events to get your eat on at! Events are starting to sell out pretty quickly, so if you want to get along to one the many events I would get in sooner rather than later!

Sydney – March into Merivale has kicked off for another year with loads of amazing dining experiences at your finger tips… I’m a massive fan of the $33 meal deal at all Merivale Restaurants, its a great way to experience some of Sydneys best restaurants without the sometimes hefty bill…The events that most appeal to me are the ‘A whole-Fashioned Roasting’ @ Bistrode CBD and ‘Morning After The Night’ @ MsGs.

LIKE: LAB GALLERIE – A fashion label which is owned and designed by my mate Chris Cheng is worth checking out. His fabrics and cuts are amazing with his tees being the most comfortable I have ever worn…I first met Chris at his stall at the Paddington Markets in 2009 and have slowly seen his brand grow and evolve to what it is today. He is super passionate and hard working and deserves all the success that the brand will be.

EAT: Goat Ribs and slow cooked Beef Brisket with Greens and Bread.

A feast fit for 20 people is what 5 of my friends and I tried to tackle on the weekend…The meat which we enthusiastically bought from the Sandringham Farmers Market was a huge 4.5kg Wagyu Beef Brisket and 10 or so Goat Ribs…All cuts of meat that none of us were super familiar with, but thought they would be worth a crack.

The Brisket which had been marinated overnight with a whole range of spices and sauces was cooked in the pizza oven…When we bought the brisket the lady from LL Wagyu told us to cook it for about 6 hours at 100 degrees…but as the pizza oven didn’t have a temperature gauge we essentially were just going off what we thought 100 would ‘feel’ like…Unfortunately our feel was a little off and the meat wasn’t as soft and melt in the mouth as we were hoping!

The goat ribs which were marinated over night in an asian inspired marinade were cooked on the BBQ…This also didn’t go quite to plan as we found the goat ribs really lacking in meat and the meat that we could find was like chewing on a whole pack of Hubba Bubba…I look forward to the BBQ tutorial at the Bright n Sandy Food event on March 4 to fine tune the whole low and slow BBQ cooking method.

Lesson learnt. Stick with what you know and control the controllables. (temperature)

However, the quinoa,pea and fetta salad and bread w butter were a huge success! The weather was also cracking and the tunes provided by French DJ Olibusta were on point.

SEE: It would be rude not to post pictures from the weekends cook up.

The Famous Miss Dancer

DO: Speigel Season is back with The Famous Spiegeltent having kicked off for another year in both Melbourne and Sydney. There is a huge range of performers covering a range of styles in theatre, music and arts…There is sure to be something for everybody…. However the morning tea is a must as is checking the tent out when it finishes with shows for the day and turns into a funky bar.

LIKE: Bondi Beach – It had been 6 long months since I had dived into the water off the rocks at North Bondi Beach, and boy had I missed it! The smile coudn’t be wiped off my face as I stretched and relaxed on the grassy (Shannon) noll in my Engine bathers…. At some stage of my life I plan to live and work in Bondi, no car or shoes necessary.

I was up in Sydney for a few days competing in the NSW State Swimming Champs and had to get to Bondi as no trip to Sydney is complete without it.  When in Bondi the hardest decision to make is where to get your morning coffee and feed from…I went to Porch and Parlour for my caffeine fix and to Jeds Food Store for breakfast…

In the 6 months that I’ve been gone a lot has changed in Bondi, with the development of new hotels/apartments and cafes,bars and restaurants popping up all over the place! It’s hard to keep up.

If you get down to Bondi make sure you check out the Aquabumps Gallery, or if you would like a daily Bondi fix at home via email, sign up on the website or follow on Twitter/Facebook.

EAT: Another week and another cracking meat feast of a meal for me to share…Porteno an Argentinian restaurant  in Surrey Hills was where we ate. I dined with Celeb Masterchef Eamon Sullivan and an army Commando, so the ordering of mass amounts of food was left to the capable hands of Eamon and he didnt dissapont.

A fine combo of chorizo, lamb, pork and a few salads made up the feast, but it was the pork that was the stand out of the evening…The whole pigs are the feature of the restaurant with the pigs sprawled out on a steel cage slowly cooking over a coal fire in the centre of the kitchen.

Each morning two of each the suckling pigs and lambs are prepared in the a cross, set to cook over burning embers of ironbark wood until 6pm when the doors open for dinner.

Once cooked the pigs are precisely chopped up and served in a claypot. I loved the way the food was served raw in presentation allowing the meat to do the talking. The crackling and pork belly were sensational, with a splash of Chimichurri its about as good as it gets.

SEE: My horse – Hidden Dancer – Mid last year myself and a few friends bought into a Filly, Miss Dancer… and on the weekend a few of the boys went out to pay her a visit at the stable in Toowoomba…She is a good looking 2 year old and with some good track work being done our fingers are crossed that she will be out racing in the near future!

It’s Time For a Spit

First things first.Watch this video. Its awesome. I filmed it on the weekend with 2 mates (Julian Lucas and Jarred Osborne) for my sponsor Engine Swim. We are all wrapped with the end result!

 

DO: Get along to The St Kilda Festival this coming week (February 4-12) With the highlight of the festival being Festival Sunday (12th). This year sees the event grow bigger and better than ever before with a huge range of activities to get involved in…Comedy, poetry, visual art, theatre, outdoor cinemas, beach sports, forums and loads and loads of music. 

LIKE: I do lots and lots of reading of different food blogs on the net, and seem to waste hours upon hours clicking from link to link on Urbanspoon….I love reviews, recipes, nutritional tips and researching where and what my next meal is going to be be, but the blog that I use as benchmark for all food blogs is He Needs Food.

The blog “showcases the ramblings of a hungry Sydney urbanite that loves his cheap eats, fine dining and anything else between. This camera weilding dumpling crazed ex chef also visits markets, provides recipes and travels abroad, snapping the foodie action for all to see”

Johns (Mr He Needs Food) ability to photograph even the most bland dumpling or piece of chicken and trasform it into a mouth watering piece of work has me drooling on my keyboard on a daily basis…..Check it out and be ready to get your drool on too.

EAT: I’m not too sure whats going on with me at the moment, but I’m being exposed to some of the most amazing food of all time…This week I annihilated an absolute monster of a spit roast.

The spit went down at a very good friend of mines 40th birthday party…He hired a spit, got a whole heap of the best meat the butcher could find, teased everyone at the party by placing the spit in the centre of the party, then proceeded to slowly cook it for 5 excruciatingly long hours.

But once it hit my lips, the wait was worth it. Some of the most melt in the mouth meat I have ever eaten.   We had both lamb and pork which was accompanied by some pretty rock solid salads (pumpkin, pine nut, spinach, avo and asparagus was the winner here) but they played second fiddle to the meatfest that was going down.

If you want a meatfest at home minus the hassle, these guys at Senor BBQ will come around to your place, set up and get their cook on.

SEE: #febphotoaday has seen me posting pics on my Instagram about a range of subjects..Follow me at alauterstein to check them out.

It would be rude not to post a few pics of the spit and the party from the weekend just gone….Also watch this video!

Summer Fish Trucks

DO: Get involved in some Outdoor Cinema action in your city. Such a nice way to spend a balmy summers night…

LIKE: For me hot weather calls for some cruisy summer tunes…Or if your in Queensland wishing for the rain to stop and the sun to come out, here is some music for you too…I stumbled across a mix series put together by Sydney DJ Johnny POW!!. He has posted this mix; This is what I would play in my Beach Bar #2. The mix as Johnny describes is a collection of laid back disco and soul with a splash of house for good measure…He has also called upon some fellow DJ friends to put together a mix of tunes which represents Beach Bar music to them…I have had them all on heavy rotation. Sit back and enjoy.

EAT: A whole fish –  Big, thick white chunks of meat from a whole fish is about as good as food gets…In the last week I have had fish for dinner 4 times and loved every second of it. Barramundi, Snapper, Red Emperor and Ocean Trout. No knife and fork needed, its about getting involved caveman style.

Claypots in St Kilda was the spot in which I shared a very special a 1.2kg Red Emperor. As soon as the big sucker landed on the table it was a no holds barred affair! The fish was perfectly cooked with a healthy amount of ginger, lemongrass and chilli stuffing the fish full. (Pictures down the bottom of post)                                                                                   The Snappers I ate were freshly caught and gutted by a mate and we cooked it up in his pizza oven. Bit of Lemon and salt, let the fish do the talking…

This video reminds me of the whole Elephant fish I ate in Cambodia, Luke Nguyen cooking it up. Cant wait for series 3 of his show as Luke eats his way around Vietnam.

SEE: With the Sydney City Council just approving the application of 10 new mobile food trucks (article here) lets have a look at some of the cooler food trucks worldwide! Im lucky in Melbourne to have a few of the best, especially this burger served out of truck!

2012, the year of the Water Dragon…and London!

So, its been a while since my last post and I haven’t actually decided to blog about anything of significance, but was  just wanting to write something to help get the ball rolling for some more consistent content for the year of The Water Dragon…

Things I do, like, eat and see is what this blog was designed for me to talk about…So lets start with that…

DO: Come along to The Great Australia Day Swim. Brighton Baths, Australia day – Winning Combo. I will be there with the Engine Swim Team and will be playing some tunes out of the DJ booth in the Engine Van. The weather is looking the goods, so come along for a swim, a perve and a good time.

LIKE: Im liking this mix; Bagraiders January 2012 Mixtape…..Its what I’m listening to as I type…. It may provide stimulation to do something you havent done for a while…. Good cruisy summer tunes.

EAT: I had an epic meal on the weekend at Cumulus Inc. Highlight was the lamb shoulder. Get involved in it. Anything big, meaty and slow cooked is the business. Here’s a recipe for Andrew McConnels (Cumulus, Cutler and Co, Golden Fields) Lamb w Cumin. If you decide to cook this thing of beauty up, please let me know and I will be there!

SEE: If you have Instagram…Follow me alauterstein and see what I see daily..Here is what I’ve been ‘seeing’ lately.