122 replies to this topic

[Shalmanese]

Hrmm... cucumbers are apparently absurdly expensive now. I'm thinking of switching to a vermecelli and roasted peanut salad with plenty of cilantro and mint. Don't know what to do about the sorbet.

[lexy]

I'm trying to have an "executive chef" model where I'm rarely in the kitchen and everything is delegated out. We'll see on the day how well that theory will work.

I think that's the way forward - reclining in another room, glass in hand, occasionally barking orders to the kitchen and doing random spot checks/taste tests

Drinks are tricky. For god's sake please do not serve rum & cokes - maybe it's just me, but it seems they're always the non beer or wine drink option. For during the day, what about having a bowl of sangria and then a sort of mix-your-own bar with a variety of juices and a few different kinds of mix-friendly spirits? Allows for a variety of tastes, and takes some of the pressure off of you.

[Shalmanese]

Shal, I read your shopping list.  What is 'speck'?  And if you keep track, I'd love to see a total at the end of this project.  Don't forget to have fun!!!

Sorry, I just saw this. Speck is a type of german bacon which is probably closer to lardo than bacon. It's smoked unlike most bacon in Australia so it actually tastes of something.

[Shalmanese]

I'm trying to have an "executive chef" model where I'm rarely in the kitchen and everything is delegated out. We'll see on the day how well that theory will work.

I think that's the way forward - reclining in another room, glass in hand, occasionally barking orders to the kitchen and doing random spot checks/taste tests

Drinks are tricky. For god's sake please do not serve rum & cokes - maybe it's just me, but it seems they're always the non beer or wine drink option. For during the day, what about having a bowl of sangria and then a sort of mix-your-own bar with a variety of juices and a few different kinds of mix-friendly spirits? Allows for a variety of tastes, and takes some of the pressure off of you.

Right, so that was the plan in the first place. A pitcher of sangria, pitcher of lemonade and all the other drinks, people make themselves. There will be coke there and rum there so I can't really stop anyone from making rum and cokes but it certainly wont be the only option.

I'm going to put in a seperate drinks table away from the main cooking area and heres what I'm thinking of having on it:

3/4 Bottle of Gin (already have)
Bottle of Vodka
Bottle of Rum
House White/Red
Beer
Pitcher of Lemonade
Pitcher of Sangria
Pitcher of Water
1/2 Bottle of Cointreu (already have)
Orange/Grapefruit/Cranberry/Pineapple/Apple juices
Coke/Sprite/Fanta/Diet Coke
Soda/Tonic water
Simple Syrup in a squeeze bottle
Whole Lemons
Whole Limes
Superfine sugar in a bowl with a spoon
A couple of bunches of mint
Ice with tongs
A mini chopping board
A paring knife
A Lemon juicer
A zester
A mini mortar & pestle
A few shot glasses
A couple of printed recipe sheets with basic cocktail recipes on them.

So my question is, with that stuff, what would be some good, relatively foolproof recipes that I can put down? A mojito, definately (using the mortar and pestle rather than a muddler). Vodka/Gin gimlets using fresh lime juice and sugar. Tom Collins. Sea breeze. Anything else?

Should I provide a cocktail shaker or would that just be asking for trouble?

I'm not much of a cocktail person so I'm flying blind here.

[Kim Shook]

Shal, as far as cocktails go, I would just provide the raw ingredients and let 'em rip. In any large group there is always a would-be bartender who loves to mix things up for everyone else - and besides most people know what they want to drink and how they like it made.

Don't forget Vermouth for the martini lovers (plus olives and cocktail onions) and perhaps one dark liquor - scotch, bourbon?? And maybe a nice sherry?

[lexy]

Shal, as far as cocktails go, I would just provide the raw ingredients and let 'em rip.  In any large group there is always a would-be bartender who loves to mix things up for everyone else - and besides most people know what they want to drink and how they like it made. 

And it's always fun just to mess around with ingredients and make stuff up - especially once you've already had a few

[miladyinsanity]

You're a guy? I thought you were a girl too! At least I wasn't the only one.

Do you want a girlfriend? I'll even do dishes to get a boyfriend who cooks like you do. I'm drooling over the menu. Oh and I bake too.

[makanmakan]

Wow! Happy birthday and good luck! I am anxiously awaiting pictures of that burger. Lord help me.

[maureen b]

For my first cocktail party with about 50 guests, I provided a full bar so that people could mix up their favorite drinks, but I came to the realization that most of my friends were so used to beer and wine at parties that they had no idea what to do when faced with so many choices. In parties that have followed, I simplified things by providing two or three different cocktails in pitchers. But that is for a large cocktail party. What you have going is another story all together and I think wine/beer/sangria/interesting soft drinks would be more than enough in the way of libations for this marathon event. Got to keep your crew on their feet. My recommendation is to enjoy your well deserved cocktails after this incredible meal (and before the orgasmic burgers). Happy Birthday!

[Shalmanese]

I've created an eG album for this here. I may or may not put pictures up there which I don't include in my posts, I'm not sure yet.

So I thought I would give you guys a look at some of the shopping around my local area. As a bit of a change from all you yanks whining about how hot everything is and how precious you all are, sitting inside, wilting from the heat, this is what it looks like on my porch today:



First stop was Fratelli Fresh but it didn't open until 10 so I went across the road to Dank Street Depot, a Sydney institution of sorts which I also had been meaning to check out. I had the Poached Eggs with Bacon Hash and Toast:





I was reading their cookbook which had just been released and I thought it was a bit hypocritical that the chef was advocating only buying perfectly ripe, flavourful tomatos in season and right there on my plate was what was clearly an flavourless, out of season hot house tomato but I guess consumer expectation trumps culinary purity in this case. Still, the hash was wonderfully flavourful and the eggs were deliciously runny. Fortified with breakfast, onto Fratelli Fresh:



I'd never actually been here before but a friend twigged me to it and I'd been meaning to check it out. It apparently supplies many of the restaurants in Sydney. The produce there that was in season was pretty good and not too grossly overpriced for the quality. The produce out of season was insipid and horrendously expensive but I guess they have to get some credit for having a ridiculously wide range of produce for winter, even though I disagree with that policy. I'm going to do another big shop at Paddys market on Friday so I didn't get any produce. There was a nice range but not much that I couldn't get from other places cheaper so I didn't buy much. Just some Italian canned tomatos which I'd never seen anywhere else in Sydney and some dried herbs which I needed anyway.

Next, was onto the Farmers market at Fox Studio:



This is the mushroom lady:



Wild Mushrooms are something Australia seems to do horribly badly and this is the only place I found with a decent range. I snagged some enoki, swiss brown and champagne mushrooms and I'll get some shitake and swiss brown on friday to fill out the range.

This is the citrus guy:



Lemons, 5 for $1, Limes 8 for $1. Incredibly good and really damn cheap. I picked up 25 lemons and 16 limes for just $7.

This is my cheese pusher... uh... monger.



I got some aged pecorino, some truffled pecorino for the risotto, some fontina for the burgers, some really good butter and some buffalo mozarella for the pizzas. It wasn't cheap but damn this stuff is good.

This is my Wagyu guy:



I got the brisket and the mince from him. He also had these insanely marbled blade steaks:



That is just ridiculously over the top. Luckily, I had a list so I resisted temptation and walked away with just what I came for.

Sadly, I forgot to take a photo of the bread guy but heres a photo of him from the internet:



He's grown a beard now which is kind of disconcerting. Anyway, I got a huge sack of bread flour, some starter and 2 baguettes from him.

Finally, I decided to show you around my neighbourhood shops as I picked a few things up. Apologies for the blurry photos, the light wasn't too good.

Bakery no 1 - Vina Bakeries, This one isn't actually very good, I never buy my bread here:



Bakery no 2 - Bakers Delight, This is part of a chain and does halfway decent bread but not spectacular, I go here when I can't be bothered getting some sourdough at the farmers market.



Butcher no 1 - semi-snooty butchers. They have quite good meat at decent prices and they're willing to do anything you want. I bought some speck here, slicked thick, some italian sausage and ground up 1kg/2lbs of beef ribs to supplement the wagyu mince.



Butcher no 2 - Asian butcher. Has a lot of the cuts you wouldn't normally find in a western butcher. I don't normally go here as I get most of my asian meats in Chinatown but today, I got my duck breasts here and, in retrospect, I realised I paid way too much for them. I could have got 3 ducks for cheaper than what I paid for 6 duck breasts but I wasn't thinking clearly at the time. Oh well.



Butcher no 3 - snooty organic butcher. I never shop here, the prices are too high for my blood.



The chicken shop - only sells chicken and other poultry related products. This seems to be a uniquely Australian thing. They're present in almost every shopping centre but I don't really know how they can support themselves given that every butcher also sells chicken stuff. Still, they have 6 chicken carcasses for $1.50 so they're great for stocks.



Deli - Oddly, theres only 1 deli here. There was another one a few years back but they shut down due to lack of business. The wait at this one is usually insane so I never bother coming here.



Fishmonger 1 & supermarket 1 - This is the higher end fishmonger in the area. Again, prices are cheaper in Chinatown so I usually get my seafood there. In the background is the smaller of the 2 supermarkets. IMHO, it has a poorer range so I practically never go there.



Fishmonger 2 - They do a nice fish & chips but the raw fish never seems really vibrantly fresh.



Greengrocer 1 - This is a great greengrocer. The range is huge, the quality is great and the prices are quite reasonable. Their specials, however, are outstanding in value. If anybody remembers my last cooking binge over Christmas, this is where I got the entire crate of plums for $5 and went plum crazy (no pun intended).



Greengrocer 2 - This place used to be rather dingy but they're refurbished it and it's actually quite nice now. Not as big a range as the other place but they have some nice specials.Their eggs are always reliably cheap so I usually stop by and pick up a few things here as well.



Finally, my main supermarket - I usually just stop in to pick up some butter, yogurt, milk and canned goods. I've made the observation that anybody judging me from my shopping cart would think I have a horrendous diet because they don't see what I've bought at all those other places.



Keep in mind, these are all within about 200 meters /200 yards walking distance from each other. Man, I'm going to miss that when I move :(.

Anyway, apart from that, theres another asian butcher down the road a bit and another baker. About 5 minutes drive away is another even snootier butcher which I don't think I'll get a chance to visit before I go.

edit: Oh yeah, theres also an ethnic grocer here and another ethnic grocer about 5 minutes drive away.

So thats my neighbourhood.

Edited by Shalmanese, 25 July 2006 - 09:31 PM.

[Daniel]

I love the eggs that most countries outside of the US have.. Look at what a perfectly rich orange those yolks are.. What we do to our chickens here, g-d help them.. Look at that perfect piece of bacon on the bottom right.. That hash is gorgeous.

Run back and get that steak.. I dont think I have seen anything that pretty in some time.. Wow!

Edited by Daniel, 25 July 2006 - 09:56 PM.

[Shalmanese]

I've uploaded an updated shopping list here

Duck Breasts	6	Butcher	Meat/Seafood	$37.50
Italian Sausage	250 gm	Butcher	Meat/Seafood	$3.00
Mince	1 kg	Butcher	Meat/Seafood	$9.00
Speck	1 piece	Butcher	Meat/Seafood	$10.00
Oregano	1 pack	Coles	Dried Spices	$2.50
Fontina	400gm	Fox	Dairy/Eggs	$110.00
Il Moro Cheese	1 block	Fox	Dairy/Eggs	$0.00
Le Escuer Butter	1 pack	Fox	Dairy/Eggs	$0.00
Mozzarella	3 balls	Fox	Dairy/Eggs	$0.00
Bread Flour	25 kg	Fox	Flour	$30.00
Lemons	25	Fox	Fruit	$5.00
Limes	20	Fox	Fruit	$2.00
Wagyu Brisket	1.8kg	Fox	Meat/Seafood	$18.00
Wagyu Mince	1kg	Fox	Meat/Seafood	$19.00
Baguettes	2	Fox	Other	$10.00
Wild Mushrooms	1kg	Fox	Vegetable	$13.50
Total    $269.50

Total spending so far is $269.50. It looks like I should cruise in pretty comfortably under the budget of $1000. Truffles and chocolate will be about $130 and $50 respectively, bringing the total to $500 or so. The rest of the meat should be less than $100. Seafood is another $100 and the rest is just vegtables and other cheap stuff.

Total man hours spent: about 10 hours planning this thing + 3 hours shopping today.

[Abra]

Ok, I've come to the conclusion that when you're living in Seattle, you're probably going to want to shop at Whole Foods. It's expensive, but I think it's going to come close to the quality and variety you're used to, but under one roof. Not that you won't shop other places for specialty items, but save your pennies, cuz I'm pretty sure you're going to become a Whole Foods junkie.

[Ling]

Just out of curiousity, how are you paying for all this food? Friends chipping in? Rich parents? Are you a drug dealer? Or maybe you're just incredibly generous.

[Pan]

Super pictorial of shopping locations in your neighborhood! When are you moving?

[Shalmanese]

Ok, I've come to the conclusion that when you're living in Seattle, you're probably going to want to shop at Whole Foods.  It's expensive, but I think it's going to come close to the quality and variety you're used to, but under one roof.  Not that you won't shop other places for specialty items, but save your pennies, cuz I'm pretty sure you're going to become a Whole Foods junkie.

I doubt it. I really, really, don't like stores that prey on ignorant yuppies with inflated prices and I try my best to avoid shopping at places like that unless absolutely neccesary. Dinner parties are different because they're special but for my everyday, I try and avoid those places. Friday's shop will show me at my cheapskate best.

Just out of curiousity, how are you paying for all this food? Friends chipping in? Rich parents? Are you a drug dealer? Or maybe you're just incredibly generous. 

Parents are paying for it as a sendoff present.

Super pictorial of shopping locations in your neighborhood! When are you moving?

I leave Sydney on August 22nd. Arrive in Seattle on Sept 4th.

[Abra]

I'm not too sure about the "ignorant yuppies" part. I have the impression that a lot of people there are a) UW students, b) UW grad students, c) UW faculty, d) people like me.

[Chufi]

Shalmanese, I love how this thread is turning into a kind of memoir about where you live right now, it's like a farewell present to yourself. I can't wait to see how the dinner is going to turn out!

The chicken shop - only sells chicken and other poultry related products. This seems to be a uniquely Australian thing. They're present in almost every shopping centre but I don't really know how they can support themselves given that every butcher also sells chicken stuff. Still, they have 6 chicken carcasses for $1.50 so they're great for stocks.

Not uniquely Australian, we have them in the Netherlands too (they are called poelier, which is funny, because there's no Dutch word referring to poultry that even sounds like that) although they are unfortunately slowly dying out.

[Shalmanese]

Our car just got stolen... from in front of our house. On hold with the police right now. More details to follow.

[Shalmanese]

Grr... ok. So the story is someone apparently managed to climb up onto the 2nd floor balcony from the 1st floor balcony, accessed the only unlocked door in the house which was the balcony door of my mothers room. They rifled through the room, took a bag, a digital video camera and the keys plus probably some other stuff we don't know about yet.

We were all downstairs at the time and mum heard the car start up. She got up stairs to see someone drive off in it. Grr...

We've spoken to the insurance people, we're getting a rental car tomorrow morning but everything's been pushed back about 3 hours. Hopefully, that wont affect much.

[Jake]

Crap, that sucks! Glad to hear you're all okay though, being in the house at the time this happened.

[racheld]

I'm glad you had time to unload all those groceries before the thievery---keep us posted.

This is a great picture-tour of all the places to shop, and in such easy walking distance, as well. So, DO you? Walk, that is. I assume you drive to the location, but then do you hustle back to the car with bags? Push or pull a little cart? Interesting trip, that.

And about all the snooty butchers---are they really snobbish in that they ignore customers, pretend you're not there, or jostle each other to the front to accept your lowly custom and tribute?

Or is that just your way of referring to them as very upscale, the way my family refers to several stores in our area---we call them Gucci Groceries. They always have truffles and Kobe and glorious cheese selections. DD shops there sometimes, because she makes all the bread for one, but we don't make it a habit when we have so many other nice stores to choose from, with all but the most esoteric ingredients for a MUCH better price.

[little ms foodie]

OMG, that is so sad and scary! I can't believe you were all at home. so glad no one was hurt!

[Shalmanese]

I'm glad you had time to unload all those groceries before the thievery---keep us posted.

This is a great picture-tour of all the places to shop, and in such easy walking distance, as well.  So, DO you?  Walk, that is.  I assume you drive to the location, but then do you hustle back to the car with bags?  Push or pull a little cart?  Interesting trip, that.

And about all the snooty butchers---are they really snobbish in that they ignore customers, pretend you're not there, or jostle each other to the front to accept your lowly custom and tribute?

Or is that just your way of referring to them as very upscale, the way my family refers to several stores in our area---we call them Gucci Groceries.  They always have truffles and Kobe and glorious cheese selections.  DD shops there sometimes, because she makes all the bread for one, but we don't make it a habit when we have so many other nice stores to choose from, with all but the most esoteric ingredients for a MUCH better price.

I drive to the location and then usually hit the greengrocer, then the butcher, return to the car with the goods, then pop into the other green grocer and finally the supermarket.

The semi-snooty butcher is actually really nice and friendly and is willing to chat with you about what your about to make. The asian butcher is fairly standoffish and I've never been to the organic one. The very snooty butcher I didn't show really IS snooty and you feel like you should be paying them money just to stand in the store.

Thanks for all your support guys.

T -24 hours and my damn starter isn't coming back to life in this cold weather so we'll see how that works out. Don't know if I'll have much time to post before tomorrow.

[Shalmanese]

The final menu:



Amazingly, still very much similar to the original menu.

[Pan]

The menu looks great!

I hope they catch the damned thief.

[Kim Shook]

So sorry about the trouble - and glad none of you got in the middle of it! Good luck and enjoy everything. The menu looks incredible!!! Can't wait to hear the breakdown and see the photos!

[Shalmanese]

Ergh, finished prep at 1am. We got about 80% of the stuff I wanted to do done but it included all the big stuff. The chocolate cake was the main hurdle. It looks like ass but it should taste delicious. I'm sure my second time at making a birthday cake will be more successful.

Sweet sleep now. For 6 hours. See you on the flip side.

edit: My feet & back are killing me. who would have thought making over 500 plates could be so hard? Much respect to those of you who do this every day.

Edited by Shalmanese, 28 July 2006 - 08:11 AM.

[beandork]

Good luck with the car, cooking, and the move. I find everytime I move overseas it's usually preceeded by disaster or strife of some sort, so hopefully this is yours out of the way.

....waiting anxiously for the photos....only 10 hours of le grande bouffe left now eh?....

[Shalmanese]

Holy crap. I've been up 24 hours now, I've had 21 standard drinks over the course of the day so I'm extremely drunk. We only ended up making about 18 courses. The spirit was willing but the stomach was weak. Pictures up once I sleep this off an recuperate.

I've eaten more good food in one day than anyone has a right to eat in 1 year.