So I think I’ve established just how much I love garlic – from my miso caramelised garlic bread, to making my own black garlic at home, I will endlessly try to find more excuses to have more garlic in my life.
I also really love mayo. The answer? Black garlic aioli.
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Part of what I love about fancy schmancy cameras and lenses, is the ability to shoot at wide apertures. It adds an extra dimension to my photos, and it allows me to do so much more than I could have with just a point and shoot.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that!
But aperture, like any other tool, can be heavily misused, and trust me, I’ve made those mistakes along the way. So after writing about how to start shooting in manual, I thought it might be a good idea to share a little bit more about what I learnt about Aperture, so that maybe it could help you in your photography journey too!
Burgers to me have always naturally been classed as “beer food”. You know, sport on tv, greasy burger, hot chips, cold beer? But the burgers ain’t greasy at Chur Burger, and well, the beer ain’t beer either.
No, the alcohol in this case comes courtesy of Mudhouse Wines, and Chef Warren has created four new burgers at Chur Burger to pair with the wines, in a limited edition menu, only available for the next month.
Slow Roasted Lamb Shoulder Burger, with sweet potato, pickled beetroot, and minted slaw
I was very lucky to try all four burgers in a slider size with all of the available wines – goat’s curd burger with a pinot gris, saffron prawn burger with a sauvignon blanc, and a slow roasted lamb burger, and a crispy pork belly burger, both paired with a pinot noir.
I know, hard life, right? š
Crispy Pork Belly Burger, with cherry gastrique, baby gem and fennel mayo
My experience with wines has been pretty limited, but the pinot gris with the goat’s curd burger was nice. And this is where you imagine me holding up the “ok” symbol and having a very impressed look on my face. Very nice. The 2014 Pinot Gris had a very clean finish, and cleansed the palette between bites very nicely. It held up very well to the burger, and we all know that Warren does good burgers.
The pork and lamb burger was similarly delicious, though not quite as delicious as the goat’s curd, but the prawn, for me, didn’t quite work as a burger. Each component was delicious, but the filling to bun ratio didn’t quite work with each bite.
Still. Super delicious stuff from two kiwis who really know what they’re doing. And only $20 in Sydney CBD!! A steal any way you choose to look at it. Two thumbs up.
Growing up, I was just 15 minutes from a famous late night eating district in Singapore – Jalan Kayu. It was basically a whole restaurant strip worth of roti pratas – flat breads that are chewy, crispy and flaky all at once, in the most delicious way. The Malaysians call it roti canai, and Mamak has a long standing repuation of making some of the fluffiest ones in Sydney!
Sambal Sotong
Part of the deliciousness to roti is the variety things to have it with. This time we ordered Sambal Sotong, because seafood and chilli are probably the two biggest loves in my life.
Well, non-human loves.
Roti Canai
The Roti Canai was fluffy and crispy, and the Sambal Sotong satisfied my craving…even if the serving was quite a bit on the small side. In fact, the considering cost to food standard ratio, the lack of value for money is only made up for with the fact that there wasn’t a queue on the night we went.
I normally wouldn’t drop by Mamak because there are other delicious options in Chinatown, but when you have a craving, well, what else can you do?
What’s even better than eating out with a bunch of fellw foodies? Eating out with a bunch of fellow foodies at an event organized by a mammoth food company like Zomato.
Although, to call them a food company is provably a bit misleading. Just a bit.
Zomato basically deals with restaurant listings, and they’ve recently taken over Urbanspoon. In a friendly way. Friendly. Uh huh.
No but seriously. Zomato is live in 22 countries, and in an effort to foster the community of foodies, they organized the very first #zomatomeetup at the restaurant on everyone’s to-eat list: Cho Cho San.
The bossam menu (for groups of four or more) is simple: tender beef shortrib and steamed prawns, to be had with a battery of condiments, pickles, lettuce leaves, and white fluffy baos. Then a miso corn soup to round up the savouries, and their famous matcha soft serve to finish.
Tender Beef Short Ribs
The beef ribs, like a prized bull at a fair, was the first thing to go. Juicy, tender and gelatinous where it should have been, it held more than its own against the riot of flavours provided by the fresh herbs, sauces and pickles. And I couldn’t help but mop up all the rich jus left at the bottom of the platter with a milky white bao. Embarassing? Maybe. But it was SO worth it.
Steamed Prawns
The prawns were steamed to succulent perfection, but for the first time in my life, I have to admit that the shellfish was completely outshone by the beef. And I have a devoted love affair with shellfish, so you know how much it took for me to say that.
And with the soft white buns – I like big buns and I cannot lie – that beef made for an amazing gua bao. It nearly rivals Belly Bao for me, save for the quality of the actual buns itself. But we are veering away from Bossam territory here, in the way that a street racer goes for a joyride: at a dangerous speed but just loving that journey.
And then, all too soon, it was time for dessert.
Matcha Soft Serve
Mind you, I may not have wanted to move on because I just wanted more beef in my belly, but this matcha soft serve was solid. Heavy on the matcha flavour (like it should be) and they fill it all the way into the bottom of the cone! such a simple thing, but it made all the difference. Smooth, silky, and well, good soft serve.
But dat beef, tho’.
Fantastic variety from the team, and very well executed, even if the more gluttonous of us walked away searching for more food. Or should I say waddled? Otherwise a fantastic lunch, and of course, awesome company. Would really like to see what their regular menu is like, although I don’t know how I’d walk in and want anything else but that beef.
Dat beef.
You know when a restaurant catches your eye while you’re walking, and you look at it and think, “oh I should try that sometime”, only to never make it back? Well that happens to me A LOT, especially in a suburb like Surry Hills. Hip, trendy cafes on every corner, options galore, and enough variety to leave the most dedicated gluttons entertained for months.
Well one such restaurant came back up again, while I was taking a long, late night stroll with Sam: Rush Hotdogs and Burgers sits on the corner of Elizabeth and Albion, and after months of “maybe I’ll make it next time”, we finally made it.
El Cabrones (Wagyu Beef Burger, Lettuce, Tomatoes, Bacon, Guacamole, Onion, Chipotle, JalapeƱo
Now you can’t go to a burger joint without actually ordering a burger, so we got the El Cabrones with a side of chips, and chicken wings.
Chicken Wings
The El Cabrones – wagyu beef patty, guacamole, lettuce, tomatoes, bacon, chipotle, jalapeno – was a bit like a really precocious child: it held so much promise, but was unfortunately a bit of a non-event. A beef patty so overcooked it was like cardboard, totally tanked the careful work that went into creating a riot of flavours that were nicely balanced. And if I wanted to be disappointed, I’d just go step on a weighing scale.
The Chicken Wings, though, thankfully salvaged the whole experience. Well seasoned on the outside, hot and juicy on the inside, and totally tastes of chicken that has been brined. And anyone who takes the effort to brine their chicken is okay in my books.
Maybe the hotdogs will be better.
I have an intense, if somewhat stinky, love affair with garlic. Fresh, roasted, braised, steamed…I will take it any way I can get it.
Even if it somewhat, uh, impedes romantic overtures.
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I’m hooked. I’m completely hooked.
Let me just start by saying that I don’t usually like dramas very much. They’re heavy, and gets under your skin, and makes me cry and mess up my makeup way more often that it should. But for some reason, maybe because I’m pulled in by seeing Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham) as yet another single mom to teenage kids, I decided to put NBC’s Parenthood on my list.
I love barbecue in all its forms. American, Brazillian, Chinese…and that’s just the beginning of the alphabet! But I hate actually being outside, so the solution? Tabletop barbecue – like the Korean varieties with the amazing array of side dishes- where the food comes to you.
Now there IS just one very fundamental flaw in an otherwise delicious plan: at the end of dinner, you smell like you’ve been barbecued, yourself. All that delicious smoke lingers and clings, and gets every where. It’s worse than glitter.
Enter the Japanese solution (and there’s ALWAYS a Japanese solution): smokeless charcoal.
Sumi in Japanese, refers to all charcoal, and binchotan is a white charcoal that is sold as “smokeless”. Which, is not entirely accurate, since the fat dripping off the pieces of meat still create flareups and smoke, but by itself, the light grey pieces of glowing charcoal really doesn’t seem to emit any visible trails of smoke that lovers of tabletop barbecue, like myself, are so used to seeing. So magical!
So then, what does Suminoya mean? Well, quite literally translated: barbecue house.
Barbecue Selection
Of course, we can’t be in a barbecue house without food to barbecue, and Suminoya is very conveniently offering set options that allow you to choose 2 or 3 options for lunch, with rice, miso soup, and a side salad. We chose the duck, prawn, beef ribs and skirt steak, for two people.
But wait, you might be wondering why there was a magical fourth option. Well, as part of the Washoku Lovers membership programme – did I ever mention that I’ve got loyalty cards coming out of my ears? – you get an extra option thrown in for your lunch order, for the same price! And like anyone else, I love me some freebies.
Anyhoo, the meat was deliciously tender and very lightly seasoned, which was quite surprising considering skirt steak and beef ribs aren’t known for being tender cuts of meat. There was a certain delicateness about it all, and I’m not sure how I feel about it all. The food, though cooked over charcoal, was only lightly smoky, which kind of defeats the purpose of barbecue, to an extent. The smoke really is what separates this dining option from well, having my meal cooked for me in a pan by the cook, and the lack of a more butt-kicking smoke flavour makes me wonder whether there is really more effort than reward.
Mind you, it’s still a very nice Japanese barbecue. Just a little light on the smoke scale.
Mixed Sashimi (Entree)
We also ordered the sashimi entree, because uh, I love fish. No two ways around it. The fish was fresh and well handled – what you’d expect from a decent plate of sashimi.
This little barbecue house – hidden down Hoskings Place – actually packs quite a crowd, and all my concerns about smoke aside, still allowed me to walk out with a heavy coat without smelling like a barbecue myself, and for that, I am grateful.
Now I hear that they also do an all-you-can-eat…
Washoku Lovers is a free membership programme that gives you perks to many Japanese restaurants in Sydney! We also have visited other restaurants participating in the Washoku Lovers programme, like Izakaya Yebisu! To find out more about the programme and sign up, visit www.washokulovers.com.
Sometimes, photography can get so cluttered with techniques and illusions that it can be very hard to know where to start if you wanna improve! So I thought it might be nice have a little practice session: to just focus on one tool that photographers use, and how it can completely change the way you take photos!
This time, it’s all about saturation.
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