Taking over the kitchen

I love it when guests take over the kitchen.  I really do.  I love the sharing and talking, the tasting and the excitement of eating something new when people come in the kitchen and cook.

On the weekend there was plenty of that.  Foraged mussels steamed with garlic from the garden, just-caught fish, steamed and stirred through just-picked garlic scape soup.  Slow roasted juicy pork ribs from a friend's pig and fresh new pink eyes fried crispy in a pan, washed down with cider from down the road and gin from across the peninsula. Food we had grown, caught, foraged ourselves, or knew who did, was prepared, shared and eaten.  It doesn't get any better than that. I love that.  

There was also a dog named Henry, I think I loved him the most.

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9 comments cooking, friends, good things, holidays, Kitchen, markets, real food, tasmania

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Eating the problem

Having worked in events on and off since 1994, you would think by now I'd have figured out how to avoid the sleepless nights and the relentless butterflies I feel.

But, no, I'm still a wreck, and lie awake at night tossing and turning as I worry about the minutia and the butterflies flutter stronger than ever.  But I do feel incredibly excited at the same time, which makes any negative side effects seem a trifle.

Tomorrow sees the opening of MoMa. The second season of the Mona Market and by golly it's going to fab.  Since October I've been working with an incredibly talented team to create a market that is like no other.  Delicious food unique to MoMa, beautiful things created by talented people and naturally, cheerleaders. Tomorrow's market will have it all.

But the biggest highlight of all for me is this guy, coming to tell people about wild rabbits, which fits perfectly within the market's theme of "eat the problem." I am super excited about that.

The market kicks off at 11am and finished at 4pm. Rohan's demo will be at 12.15 and he'll be signing books too.

Oh and there are teepees, beautiful teepees, like the one pictured above.  And tacos, real tacos, made by hand using masa harina.  I'm excited about those too.  And I'm hoping after a taco those butterflies settle right down. Or two.

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11 comments good things, love, markets, tasmania

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Sydney food mission

Today I failed blogging 101 by going out on a Sydney food adventure without my camera.  Sigh.  And what loveliness there was to photograph.   We'll have to make do with snaps from my phone.  

Nevertheless, we were up early to get to the Eveleigh Farmers Markets by 8:30 to beat the rush.  First stop, croque madames at Bird Cow Fish.  Divine.  After demolishing those it was off to Kylie Kwong's stall to eat pancakes filled with omelette and crunchy vegetables and a side of steamed pork buns.  Another sigh. So tasty.  

Coffee, bread, butter and purslane purchases later, we finished with a fruity freshpop - salty watermelon for me and rose and raspberry for the peeps.  So good.

Then we made tracks to The Grounds, along with a good proportion of the Sydney population.  Oh my. That place was busy.  And I can see why.  Utterly gorgeous grounds and gardens served with amazing coffee.  An irresistible combination it seems.

We hit the highway home with our bellies full of deliciousness, and even considered for a moment moving back to Sydney...then we got stuck in traffic and came to our senses.  

So, that's my Sydney food mission accomplished.  I loved every mouthful. 

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10 comments markets

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Minnie Mouse and beekeeping

I know most of posts seem to revolve around the market lately but it is such a huge part of my life right now, it's hard to think about anything else.

Last Saturday, we unveiled the Minnie Mouse Gangster Feathered Serpent Diamond Grill tent installation.  Where NY artist Daphane Park transformed the stalls into the most amazing Quetzalcoatl inspired creature.  It looks so amazing and festive, and was a creation that pulled in the talents of so many local welders, die castors, powder coaters, ceramists and crafts people to complete.  It really is quite magical.

Over in the corner, my role has been to curate the workshops that we are running each week.  So far we have covered "how to" topics like sourdough starters, portioning a rabbit, cool climate wines and edible weeds.  This week we have traditional bread shaping, pasta making and next week I am super excited to have a backyard biodiesel workshop.  Can you imagine making your own petrol? I'm keen to get my scything mates to do a workshop too, just not sure what they could cut...there's not a blade of grass out of place on the MONA grounds.

Last week, Yves the lovely bee keeper spoke in his gorgeous French accent about backyard beekeeping.   I learnt that if I raise my hives a foot off the ground, the bees will start working around two hours earlier.  With a workforce of 50 000, that's 700 000 extra work hours a week.  That's a lot of honey!

I still have a few more workshop slots to fill.  So do you have any ideas?  What would like to see and learn about in a 30 minute workshop? 

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5 comments big, celebrations, making, markets, something fun, tasmania

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Here and now

The not so smalls went back to school this week, brown as berries with sun bleached hair. Now I find myself child free for 5 days of the week!   And while I do miss them during the day, I think they were well and truly ready to go back, see their friends and get on with the important job of learning.

With all this "free time" on my hands I had hoped to resume regular posting this week, but those intentions have been thrown out the window as I've been busy catching up on chores. My first mission is to give my house some lovin', which has been sorely neglected over the summer and to turn my attention to the wild and overgrown garden.  But more likely, I'll be heading to my favourite spots for some blackberry picking. A quiet country lane and a few buckets and I'm as happy as can be, no hardship at all, just need to watch for snakes.

Today I'll be printing labels, making more jam with those luscious fat and juicy late summer peaches, and getting ready for the market tomorrow.

Despite my lack of updates in this space, I am a very prolific Instagram (@hugoandelsa) user, and seem to be more there than here.  Is it just me I wonder, but is the Iphone killing blogging?

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7 comments handmade, making, markets, Shoot me now, tasmania

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Market and moving slowly

A busy week in the kitchen in preparation for last weekend's Mothers Market.   I love that market.  It was one of the first of its kind in Hobart, and while not a regular one anymore, when it is on, it's fantastic.   We ran the cafe again.  A chance to cook delicious food, both sweet and savoury, in the gorgeous vintage kitchen.   We used crockery from the stunning china cabinet, filled with vintage treasures of tea cups, cut glass bowls and Alfred crockery.  I could easily move into the hall if I was allowed, and happily cook all day.  I wish I wasn't so busy and had taken more snaps.

On Friday night we made curries and old school chicken sandwiches washed down with pink champagne.  Next morning for breakfast we made rhubarb and granola with greek yoghurt, herb and cheddar muffins, baked on site so they were lovely and warm and smoked salmon and creamy scrambled egg ciabattas.  For lunch the ciabatta continued, baked by Jay at Pigeon Hole, with soppressa or ham crammed with salad, and a quinoa and broad bean salad loaded with mint and feta.  No pictures but all gobbled up pronto.

Today, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with how busy things are, and as ever, Amanda's words of wisdom remind me to "move as slowly as I can, as mindfully as can be."   I still read her blog every morning, five years on, and get so much inspiration from her.  I feel better already.

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10 comments markets

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weekending

A gorgeous lazy weekend ::
Cooked ::  a big pot of strawberry jam
Ate :: doorstops smothered with the still warm jam
Played  :: with dogs on the lawn
Bought :: rhubarb, baguette and beautiful araucana eggs from Huonville and Cygnet markets

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5 comments family, good things, handmade, markets, yum

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Absurd

What if there was an eccentric millionaire who owned an art gallery....

who had a vision for a farmers market...but

it had to be like no other...

More like an art installation...

a marriage between art and food...

combining interesting and contrasting elements of a market...

Absurd.

What if you were asked to be involved...

in an insanely challenging role with impossible deadlines... 

Crazy. Preposterous. Folly.  

Would you?

Would you take on the pressure, the stress and the sleepless nights?

Would you? 

Hell yes! Bring it on!

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17 comments huge, markets, tasmania, um

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So long and thanks for all the cupcakes

After going through close to a thousand kilos of flour and sugar in the past four years, it's time to pack up the mixer and say good bye to our little cupcake business.   It's been such fun baking cakes, meeting so many lovely people and hearing wonderful feedback from our customers. But well, there's so many exciting things happening in our world that we had to cut something.  And the weekly cake stall was it.

So what are we doing you may ask?  Well, we are super excited to be working on a new book with Matthew, Ross and Nick, we're still doing cakes by request, we're catering for events using delicious, sustainable and local ingredients, we're writing about food, styling for food photo shoots, and well, there is one project that we are so over the moon about that I have to pinch myself to check that I'm awake and that it's real.  But you'll have to wait to hear more about that.

As they say, you have to close one door before another one opens and well, this week that proverb certainly rings true.  Hooray for cupcakes!  Those dear little treats have been so much fun.

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13 comments markets, me, tasmania

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Goodbye, hello

After 18 months of Sundays, we've finished up our stall at the Farmers Market.  It has been a great market to be involved in and we've made some lovely friends, but it's time to move on.

Remember we did a day at Salamanca recently?  Well, as it turns out, Ross and Matthew don't need their stall anymore, as they now have a gorgeous little food store in Salamanca open every day.   At the same time, our application for a spot at Salamanca was approved so it all worked rather nicely.  For the next month or so, we'll be there every Saturday, and during the summer we will take turns with some other Bruny Island producers.  So we will get a few weekends off.  Hooray!

And while we are a little sad to say goodbye to the Farmers Market, I have no regrets that it was the right decision when I told Elsa that I would be home on Sundays.  The look on her face as she realised that we could have every Sunday together told me instantly that it's the right move.  It made me realise how kids go along with things, even though they may not like it, and that perhaps me working every weekend was having more of an impact on them than I thought.

So, we'll be at Salamanca Markets every Saturday for a while, out the front of Fresh Fruit Market and next to Harvest Feast, sharing with Bruny Island Cheese and Anne's delicious tracklement stall.

However, sharing a stall with Bruny Island Cheese is going to be a huge test of my will power.  Check out this gorgeous new cheese, Pressings, ahem, I did have one or two little tastes of that one....

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7 comments family, markets, tasmania

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For one night only...

and a day, the Mothers Market is back and we are thrilled to be there again. And not just for the free bubbly either.  Although that is part of the attraction of this fun and stylish event.

The Mothers Market is where all this cupcake business started, two years ago. Wow!  Can you believe it? We're looking forward to being there to catch up with all those gorgeous stalls and eat Mondo Mama's delicious food.

We'll have our usual flavours and specials like rhubarb and rose, pan forte brownie and our chocolate hazelnut macarons, which are looking rather good now don't you think? All that practice has paid off.

A big weekend for us, baking for three days of markets plus one hundred mini cupcakes ordered for a cocktail party thrown in too.  Yikes! I guess this means the silly season has officially started. I'm definitely going to need that glass of bubbly. Maybe even two.

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4 comments hooray, markets

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Sunday's spring bounty

Despite yesterday's downpour, it was a wonderful day at the market. Aside from loving what I do there, baking and selling cakes, a big part of the attraction is bringing home fantastic produce every week.  Now that the growing season is getting into full swing, yesterday my shopping basket was positively groaning with fresh spring produce.

It was the last day for the apple man, he's run out til the first early croppers appear in late February.  But he's swiftly replaced by a grower selling the most delicious strawberries imaginable, their fragrance wafted over to our stall until they sold out.  Other spring produce included tiny broad beans, rosy rhubarb stalks, artichokes and little sweet golden turnips that children were eating like apples. 

My family reckon I'm a bit strange, coming home and immediately photographing artichokes in the  soft afternoon light.  But I couldn't help it, they're irresistible.  Not only to look at but to eat.  The question was, do I leave them on the counter to look beautiful all week, or eat them while they're still super fresh?  Naturally greed won the day and I cut them in half, rubbed them with lemon juice, tossed with olive oil and roasted for about ten minutes. Messy to eat but finger licking good.

Sunday night is our one weekend family meal together, a feast usually made up of bounty from the market.

Then it's bathtime for the kids before settling down to watch Jr Masterchef.  I cried last night.  I'm going for Jack and Hugo and Elsa are going for Isabella.  Jack comes to our stall and buys cakes.  I asked him if our chocolate cake was as good as Donna Hay's.  He said "Better!"  Such a lovely young man.  And that's another reason why I love the markets.

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4 comments markets, seasons, tasmania

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New cakes

We've been experimenting in the kitchen today. New cakes, new biscuits and new treats.

For our new spring menu for tomorrow's market.

It's fresh and fruity and a little bit salty.

NY Times Salted Chocolate Chip Biscuit

Apple lumberjack cakes

Lemon cupcakes filled with sticky blackberries

Mini blueberry huckle buckles

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6 comments cupcake, markets, seasons, yum

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Ten times more

According to Michael Pollan, farmers’ market shoppers have ten times more conversations than those at the supermarket.

I can vouch for that. The Farm Gate Market is one big talk fest. And I love it. We're five weeks in now and things are going well. Getting better at the bump in and and out. Figuring out the quantities. What sells, what doesn't. We've got a new blog. And working on a new website.

But what I love the most is the atmosphere. And the talking. People start arriving by foot with their prams or their dogs or both at around 8.30am. They fill their baskets with greens and apples and sourdough loaves then maybe some gammon or goat sausages or sheep milk manchego. Or honey, tea leaves, coffee beans, jam, garlic, fresh herbs or sprouts, there is so much to chose from! Then some dash home but most linger. Standing in the aisles or sitting at the tables having a coffee and a chin wag.

I get in my fair share of talking to customers and other stall holders. The stallholders have such wonderful tales. Sometimes funny. Sometimes touching. Like the apple grower who says this market will save his orchard from the bulldozer.

Yes, I can see all the conversations happening around me. And I'm so happy to be there. It's like a mini-culinary holiday, every Sunday. With the added bonus that knowing where your food comes from, and the people who produce it, is healthy for you and your community.

And that is something to talk about.

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7 comments markets, tasmania

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Market report

Amy and Jo

Cardamom spiced chocolate filled with quince topped with a cream cheese vanilla bean frosting and cognac soaked raisin from Coco Chocolate.

Chocolate and hazelnut flourless cupcake with chocolate ganache in front of salted caramel pear with a hazelnut crumble topping.

Early Sunday morning the air was warm and still with the sky a glorious wash of pink. Arriving at the market at 7.30, I was grateful for the stillness so a pair of novices could wrangle a marquee for the first time without too much trouble. Even still, the wisecracking gourmet farmer yelled quips from across the aisle. The finished stall looked gorgeous, needing only a few minor tweaks, next week will be perfect.

As soon as the bell rang at 9am, our first customer said "I'll take $50 worth please" Wow! We sold out by 11.30. Not a bad effort. The response from the shoppers and stall holders alike was so positive. We're two very happy bakers. From crusty old farmers selling potatoes off the back of a truck, crusty sourdough, to a slick goats cheese stall, Tasmanian Farm Gate is a true produce driven market with a fantastic range.

When I first moved to Tasmania, I didn't know exactly what direction my career would take, but I knew I wanted to do something with food and perhaps sell it at a Farmers Market. It's only taken 5 years but I'm finally doing it. And that feels great.

Thank you so much for your kind words of support and encouragement. You are super nice!

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12 comments cupcake, markets

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