misgabi

As someone who lives in "rural Australia": - read Wagga Wagga, I am curious to know if anyone else lives in the land of the lost or just me. I am curious, for those of us who are not in sydney or melbourne fabulousenss then what do we do for excellent produce etc. We here in never never rely on Vi''s meats etc to survive. Any other sugestions??

Scary - saw it today in Myers but was being virtuous and "only" buying Christmas pressies. Did at least flip through and drool Gorgeous. Added to list for sales.

I remeber this topic from a while ago (and my husband still talks about the experiment!!). click Buttery, garlicy, potatoey YUM It was also the post that made me go and buy madeline pans (yay now savoury and sweet)

Gorgeous blog. Love the pic of (eatwell -I hope!!!) that had the butternut pumpkin (squash in the good old US of A). My most favourite veg - do you grow it??? use it?? Just curious

As one who used to live in Canberra, I dread about Ali Baba - had my first at their original shop in Woden and never looked back. It could take on anything offered in Australia and win hands down. I don't even attempt kebabs etc outside of Canberra and wait (with building anticipation) for any visit to Canberra to enjoy. Highly recommended (do they still do take-away tubs of babba ganoush (sp?) - that we used to get and slather on each bite of the shish tawook???)

Our family have "fritter batters" which is leftover lamb roast, onion and corn in batter and fried. My husband also loves our version of onion bahjies (sp?) with sliced onion, chick pea flower, and lots of cumin - yum

We were in Brisbane for a couple of days in September. Had dinner at Pier Nine which did not disappoint (as per usual) and then the next night went to Cha Cha Char (just across the way) as the boy loves it there. Had a great meal with a perfectly prepared eye fillet and gorgeous asparagus. I also had these foie gras stuffed dates that were amazing (I think they were on the menu with the duck but got some by themselves as I wanted to taste them but didn't feel like duck). We also had a really good lunch at the Carindale Hotel click, which used to be our local when we lived there. The boy loves the steak (shock ) and the beer battered chips with aioli. I like the asparagus in preserved lemon butter and always find something good on the menu. The woodfired pizzas are quite good too and we tried the duck one last time - rather nice. Not in town obviously, but still good.

I subscribe to it, and as stated above it does fill a niche that Gourmet Traveller doesn't do it for me anymore. I look forward to it arriving and do cook from it.

As an Australian that uses it all the time I cannot recommend highly enough butternut squash (to you americans, we call it pumpkin!!). If you roast it it is fabulous but equally so boiled in water with many onions and a splash of orange juice. We eat this pumpkin soup all year but mainly in winter. You can add spices (curry or cummin) or just eat plain or made really gorgeous by an addition of cream. Love the pumpkin

As an Australian who don't really celebrate Thanksgiving I feel a bit shy offering advice. Then I decided, what with the turkey and all it is rather like our Christmas. Personally, I am always looking for "strays" I adore inviting people who have nowhere else to go. I think you workmates may surprise you - don't be embarassed, you are not asking for an invite and just mentioning you situation may surprise you. Apart from that I spent a Christmas alone (see above for our similarity in Australia to your Thanksgiving!!!), and cooked a turkey for myself and ate ALL the best bits!!

I make one with layers of butternut squash (butternut pumpkin to us aussies) mashed and some cashew nuts crushed and mixed in (though will try sage next time). The second layer is fresh ricotta with slow roasted tomatoes (cut into quarters and drizzled with olive oil and really tiny diced garlic and cooked really slowly in the oven 150 degrees until they collapse on themselves. I store these in jars with olive oil - unbelievable) that are cut finely and scattered over the top. The third layer is a really light bechemel with mushrooms. These three layers are then repeated. I then (hand head in shame ) use my cheats top layer of a large tub of sour cream mixed with grated cheese. This is splattered on top the last pasta layer Jackson Pollock style (thing kindergarten splatter paintint) with a can of "gourmet" tomato soup (we have a great one here with "bush tucker" flavours). Cook at 180 until bubbly. Hope this helps

Others have covered the term "barbie etc" so probably don't need to go over that again. At home we have a webber (that uses coals) and a gas BBQ that has both grill and a flat plate (husbands pride and joy and quite huge has 6 or 8 burners I think). We cook on that all summer as it makes hubbie participate in the cooking and keeps the heat out of my kitchen and outside. I use both the BBQ and the Webber at Christmas cooking the turkeys in the webber and doing pork and beef on the rottiserie of the BBQ - again all heat outside where it belongs and makes the boys help between dips in the spa on the deck. We also BBQ in the depths of winter as the deck is covered and hey, It's not me out there!! but hubby says the steak is not the same cooked inside and if he is willing to cook outside who am I to argue!! Have done whole fish, seafood, pretty much anything on the BBQ and not a single charcoal outside raw inside sausage in site. It also comes in handy when lots of people over for brunch for cooking up the bacon etc and I do the garlic mushrooms in the wok burner on the side!!

Would like to add a vote for an Amish restaurant, something we absolutely do not have here in Australia. OT - love the coffee table, what sort of wood is that? Blog on!

I noticed in your picture of the goodies from igourmet that you had received the Maggie Beer Verjuice too. Do you get many Australian products from there? If they have the Maggie Beer Quince Paste it goes amazingly well with the Roaring 40's

Susan, great blog am enjoying it greatly. Is the Roaring 40's from King Island? If so that is one of my favourite blue's and I had no idea it had made it all the way to the US. I love the fact that the blogs now all have such great photos. Way back in the depths of time when I did mine there was nary a photo to be seen. Maybe I'll have to volunteer again soon and try taking some photos that look half as good as yours.

Jaymes, I know the soup recipe in this is hot but the salad sounds delicious and I make something very similar to the zucchini slice which is really nice cold. Zucchini Recipes have never tried any of these but some look great soup recipes and I will be soon!! Hope this helps.

My mother used to send us off to school with date and walnut sandwiches (surprisingly good!! ). Another favourite of hers was grated carrot and cheese - had to be exactly equal amounts of each -my brother got raisins in his carrot and cheese but I hated that so had it without. She tried apple and walnut there for a while but the apple went too black and we refused to eat it. In winter we were allowed to take a cup-a-soup (chicken noodle) and dip our vegemite sandwiches in it. These days I love potato salad or coleslaw with ham sandwiches - but only on that day's bread - I cannot understand how people eat bread the next day (or, horrors, after that )

My husband loves his onions beyond any other vegetable: Roasted - just tossed into the pan with the potatoes. OR buy the really small onions and peel and roast by themselves with EVOO and balsamic vinegar. Sausages, Mash and Brown Onion Gravy Or straight from the cupboard and eaten like an apple with a sprinkle of sea salt if I tell him that's gross he makes a raw onion sandwich with 2cm thick onion slices and extra salt He also greatly enjoyed the onion confit I tried after the huge discussion here - and it gave us another use for the slow cooker.

I must also put my hand up for way more time spent on the internet at work ...... however, this is more than made up for by the stress relief I gain from reading the forums. I have laughed out loud, frantically searched other sites for answers to questions, cried at some of the beautifully worded posts as people share such personal insights. I love reading the food blogs and curse the fact that, being on the other side of the world, alot of the action going on is whilst I am asleep and I seem to be playing "catch up". I have tried so many of the ideas put forward and am now the proud wife of a man who will actually eat cauliflower (roasted of course ) and goes into raptures over onion confit. Coming from a rural town in Australia I find answers to lots of food questions I have even without asking - there seems to be a thread to cover just about everything. Although I don't post much I read with avid delight posts by people I think of as friends without ever having spoken to them. Thank you egullet - for the unique gift of simply being so that such like minded, open minded and in some cases genuinely funny people can exchange ideas

We had the most amazing meal here when we were in Perth two years ago and I would dearly love to go back!! The Loose Box Loose Box Website I can't remember many other places we tried as it was a while ago now but The Loose Box stays in my memory (and the business card in my wallet ) as outstanding.

Excellent blog Annna. Your pictures are really beautiful and even the "not plated" dishes beat mine hands down. Would you mind sharing what is in the cauliflower casserole? It looked delicious.

There is this thread on the Australian Forum which might be of some interest.

We have been to Ardeche Restaurant (cnr City Walk and Ainslie Avenue) a few times recently. It is really tiny but does modern "french" influence type food. Hard to describe but consistently good - the duck was amazing, as too the smoked trout salad. All six of us who ate there last time could not fault it. I think it does breakfast too but have not been.

Gorgeous blog Jackal, I think the webcam would be excellent but being on the other side of the world will probably be asleep whilst it is on so can you post picture as well please? That bread looks so good, I can't wait to see the finished product (all the products in fact). And I add to the comments on what a lovely garden you have. Puts mine to shame.

Maybe it's an Australian thing (from BBQ's) but nearly everyone we knows follows the "10 second rule". If you pick it up off the ground before 10 seconds is up you can throw it back on the barbie!! Of course being a BBQ everyone is usually outside watching the cooking and knows it has happened. I will usually pick things up off the floor (as long as it is clean of course) and just carry on - it's not as if its landed in anything disgusting and my house is usually clean!! I personally would have done similar to maggiethecat's suggestion - I would have wiped the bird over, rebasted the bird and thrown it back in the oven for a few minute then re-rest.