G'day Mate!

Howdy everyone?

I'm back and I tremendously miss Australia, esp. Liverpool and Sydney where I stayed most of the time. I'm excited to share my traveling saga in Melbourne, Geelong, Brisbane, Ulladulla, Canberra, Kiama, Wollongong, Hornsby, Sanctuary Point, New Castle and Blue Mountains. I also visited all the suburbs in New South Wales. I got tons of pictures to share. It would take awhile. Probably one day at a time. Ciao!

Bún

November 4

Chandler Burr was just in Santa Fe, doing one of a series of scent dinners that he’s doing across the country, working with chefs who prepare meals to go with various perfumes and other aromas that he presents to guests. They seem to be going well. Next he’s off to Dallas and Mexico for some reason, but he was in town long enough for us to stop by Bún last Friday.
Bún is pronounced “boon” and is also the name for thin rice noodles. So it’s a little like naming a restaurant Phở (pronounced like the French word feu, or like fur if you don’t pronounce the ‘r’), which as you may know is a Vietnamese noodle soup and quite a common name for Vietnamese restaurants in the U.S. It’s the latest restaurant of Michael Bao Huynh, who also owns Bao 111 and is a partner with Drew Nieporent in Mai House.
I sampled a red wine I hadn’t tried, but mostly I drank crémant d'Alsace rosé while Chandler and I caught up and sniffed each other (I was wearing Boucheron Pour Homme, which I really like — it smells to me like grapefruit mixed with lavender — and he had a variety of scents sprayed on different parts of his forearm). We got surprisingly few stares.
Chandler’s fun to eat Southeast Asian food with because he doesn’t get creeped out by exotic things.
To wit:

What we ate:
King crab spring rolls with pork, water chestnut and nuoc cham (a sauce made with fish sauce — nuoc mam in Vietnamese — vinegar, sugar etc.)
Seven-spice duck hearts and tongue with basil, chile, lime and salt
wild boar blood sausages with pickled green papaya and spicy ginger sauce
braised guinea hen with ginger, home-style sticky rice and duck sausage
A roll of beef, bún, arugula, pineapple, herbs and cham sauce
Bún with shrimp, Berkshire pork belly, cucumber and herb salad
Phở with thin sliced steak, sweet breads and anise beef broth

Crispy duck necks

October 31

Trestle on Tenth has an appetizer of crispy duck necks. They’re served with garlic and anchovy aïoli. My friend Birdman (aka professor David Krauss) said they were the best duck necks he’d ever had. I’d never had duck necks before.
I am always about 15 minutes late when meeting Birdman for dinner, and sometimes I worry that it’s some sort of sub-conscious passive aggressive thing I do with him. So this evening I was early, and I sampled two cocktails, the Cloister Fizz (Albert Mann Crémant d'Alsace, house-made bitters and Armagnac), and the Kirby (Plymouth Gin, Cucumber, Cynar, Martini Bianco and orange bitters), while waiting for Birdman, who I’m happy to say was about 15 minutes late.
Birdman had a beer, and then with our dinner, at the suggestion of chef Ralf Kuettel, we had a bottle of 2005 Franco Noussan Torrette from Italy’s Valle d'Aosta.
What else we ate:
Crépinette of pork shoulder with sautéed spinach
Lamb saddle with mustard greens and cipollini
Chattham cod wrapped in bacon on Savoy cabbage with porcini
Gratnéed Pizotel (a type of Swiss dumpling) with caramelized onions and Gruère
Roasted heirloom beets

Cheese:
St. Maure de Touraine
Mil Ovejas
Sternenberger
Mascarplin

Balado Telor

Bahan - bahan :

• 8 butir telor
• 10 butir bawang merah
• 25 buah cabe keriting atau sesuai selera
• 8 siung bawang putih
• 4 buah asam kandis
• garam + gula secukupnya

Cooking directions :

1. Rebus telor, kupas kulitnya dan goreng hingga kecoklatan
2. haluskan cabe, bawang putih dan bawang merah, lalu tumis hingga harus dan masukkan asam kandis serta garam dan gula
3. Masukkan telor dan aduk2 hingga bumbu menyerap, bisa ditambahkan air sedikit
4. Sajikan

Pinakbet ala Juana

Before I left for Sydney, I opened my fridge and found one huge mexican chorizo. Instead of throwing it out, I decided to buy some vegetables and cook Pinakbet. The half Ilocana in me suddenly came out.

Although I did not buy all the vegetables required in a complete Pinakbet recipe, it sill turned out well. I discovered that a chorizo is a good substitute for Ilocano Bagnet.

The secret ingredient of a good Pinakbet is the Bagoong Isda. Pour into the casserole while simmering all the vegetables. And remember do not overcook.