haresfur

They should all be fine. Taste them.

Mountain pepper crusted flatiron steak. Mountain pepper berry is an Australian native that doesn't taste particularly peppery to me. I coat the steak with ground berries, seal and sous vide at 58 for an hour 15 min. This one was chilled and sliced. No searing although I have done that and decided it took away from the flavour of the berries. I actually went a bit overboard on the coating this time because it was a touch gritty. Or maybe it wasn't ground as fine. Still was happy with the result.

Very little cooking but that's the point of a traditional Aussie cold Christmas lunch: Jarlsberg, aged Gouda, Port Salut 2 kinds of kalamata olives, Sicilian green olives, green olives in gin & rosemary garlic smoked mussels, tiger prawns, smoked salmon with capers tomatoes, cuke, salad mix, piquillo peppers, sun dried tomatoes, marinated artichoke hearts, roasted chili eggplant cocktail sauce with wasabi to adjust the heat loma, sous vide mountain pepper crusted flatiron steak, smoked ham More than enough for 2

Certainly no goose expert, but I did one a while ago (the dearly beloved must have been out of town). I sous vide - confited the legs then coated in dukka and browned - trying to replicate the ones from a local restaurant - Masons of Bendigo. The problem was that the legs fell apart so I'd do them for less time. I roasted the rest because I didn't want the skin to get soggy in the sous vide. Still wasn't crispy enough but I'm glad I just roasted it rather than sv. That is if you want the skin.

Relevant internet link Datsun pork roast

No specific dining recommendations but the green mussels are good. I would definitely look for a fish and chip shop to try the southern hemisphere fish. As far as driving goes, the really long one lane bridges with two way traffic were pretty wild. Oh, try to find some Pavlova

I seldom do anything except meat in the SV. I think most veg are done at a higher temperature, though. Next time, maybe do up some chicken breast to freeze for later use.

Someone who wants to eat the broccoli stems will be quite the catch when they reach the catching age

A simple martini variation, but I'm quite happy with it (and I have dry vermouth on hand that should be used up) Nightingale martini with pimento dram 1 1⁄2 oz Gin, Tanqueray 1⁄2 oz Dry vermouth, Noilly Prat 2 bsp Allspice Dram

anyone had any success controlling earwigs?

It's above ground but a couple of meters head won't drive much. The pump does self-prime. Smallish pump but now I can run a hand spray-nozzle. I haven't tried it on the micro-emitters yet. There's no way in heck I'd want to dig a hole to bury the tank in our clay & bedrock.

This topic reminds my of my time in Uni, when we staged the great winter broccoli rebellion. It was one of the few available winter veg my house could afford but we had had enough! Last week I did last-gasp sous-vide lamb shanks (post-sear, then coated in dukkah and quickly crisped again). My lamb lady said, the slow cuts will go into sausage for the summer.

Fitty-fitty. Here's to Nick and Nora.

I like blue cheese but it usually makes my mouth itch. Took a long time for me to realize that isn't normal and I must have an allergy.

I finally got a pump for it. I had been using it only for deep watering trees and a low-pressure bobble sprinkler that couldn't keep up with everything.

I only have one rain barrell. Here it is on its side before it was installed

Cut them in half and fry the everlovin' shit out of them in olive oil. Any leaves that fall off should end up black.

I thought I killed a fig tree off by over-watering but it is sprouting new leaves this spring. I have another in a pot that should go in the ground but it apparently grows huge so I want to figure out how to keep it root-bound and I don't have a good spot for it.

I do like Costco chooks, but feel a bit guilty about those big-breasted cage birds. I think the main thing is that they have the brining and the timing to a science. I don't buy rotisserie chicken here because they are expensive and not very well done. Where my partner used to live there was a Charcoal Chook shop that made wonderful smelling but pretty tough grilled chicken. For home, I've actually started going to smaller free-range birds for rotisserie over the barbie to try to get better taste.

Whisky Mac You could start with the Kindred Cocktails equal parts Ginger Wine and Scotch Whisky, but I usually add a lemon slice and hot water to taste. Green Chartreuse is a nice addition.

How to make good cocktails

Curry paste isn't that hard to make but I usually buy it. Even the major supermarkets herein Australia have several brands of the major varieties, Massaman, yellow, green, and red. You can also get pre-jarred simmer sauces, if you can't manage to mix paste with coconut milk.

To each his own

Campari seems to bridge categories well. I recently took the Negroni back to a highball by replacing the vermouth with bitter lemon.

2 oz Bombay Saphire 2 oz Campari 6 oz Bitter Lemon Soda Build over ice: turn on la Vuelta; watch cyclists and sip.