Tannic Teeth

Totally engulfed by development, Conti Wines sits on Wanneroo Rd in Woodvale. Vineyards, farms and market gardens have succumbed to the relentless suburban sprawl, dissolving only but the fiercest of primary producers.  Conti Winery is a veteran amongst the younger upstarts of our state, starting in 1958 -still family owned and operated, and actually doing well for an independent producer. A wine from the very vines that were planted in 1958- Hermitage back then - now Shiraz, called ‘Mariginiup’ Shiraz is one of great pedigree, with a loyal following over the decades. It is with this in mind, that I respectfully disgorged and swill away a bit of vinous history.

Paul Conti ‘Mariginiup’ Shiraz [Swan Plains] 2004 (Cork)

‘Deep red in colour, this wine exhibits a fragrant aroma much like boiled candies and pastille. Floral notes lurk in the background with anisette. The as-you-would-expect rich plums and red berries form the foundation, layered with said floral notes. Succulent mouth feel of this wine, despite being dry, provide much of a sensory perception, red fruits and sweeter but not jammy textures unfurl. Tannins are softer than what I would expect from a Swan Coastal Plain dry grown Shiraz, with the subtle hints of oak give an overall impression on a wine that has been crafted with balance and poise in mind. It’s not voluptuous or chunky, but rather finished in an elegant finesse something that would compliment food and not detract from the overall sensory package.’

For those coffee drinkers out there, I hope you will attest to the difference real coffee makes when slurping away at your daily brew. Forget the instant freeze dried faux coffee that tastes more like road tar than divine cup of inspiration, freshly roasted and freshly ground beans is like colour vision to black and white.

But how does one acquire freshly roasted beans when all you see on the super market shelves are beans resembling finds out of a late Devonian archaeological dig?

Sniff out a local coffee roaster.

They are few and far between now-a-days but thanks to changing palates, discerning consumers and the influx of continental Europeans, we are witnessing a turnaround; with local coffee roasters popping up over the metro area.  

Tips for the daily grind for the Daily Grind

-Buy enough beans to last you about a week (less if you can buy at 2-3 day intervals)

-Grind at home if you can, or get it ground to your specification.  

-Be open and friendly to the staff, get to know the owner/ roaster (they may be able to do different blends for you) may be even a discount.

Have the small satisfaction every day that you are enjoying a real cup of coffee, if you can track down fair trade beans - good karma for you.

Always on the lookout for new up and coming Australian bands, I stumbled across Newcastle band Firekites on Triple J.

Straddling the genera of indie-pop-folk-jazz, Firekites has released their debut album ‘The Bowery’. It’s a mix of plucked acoustic strings, soft voices, immixed with strings and electronica. The lyrics are softly spoken invoking nostalgic emotions, teetering on borderline dream melodies of Love’s lost. There are catchy trundling bass beats with overlying instrumental richness soothes the jaded city-slicker soul.

It’s warm, earthly, nostaligic and deja vu inducing.

Listen to tracks via MySpace.com and decide for yourself

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=86283583

 

 

 Any given Sunday strolling the length and breadth of Northbridge, you will see queues of impatient diners hungrily awaiting their ticket to be called outside their favourite Dim Sum Tea House. From the ordered chaos that ensues inside many; as quickly as a table is vacated, it is cleared, wiped and reset with impressive military timing. No sooner are you seated, tea of your choice is brought brewing to the table, your gastronomic venture into the depths of Canton kitchens begins.  

 

Dim Sum aka Yum Cha is a style of dining many of us are now familiar with here in Australia. Dishes more often than not are brought round on trays or trolleys steaming like the fumes of a Turkish bath. The West’s equal would probably be Meze or Tapas. Smallish sized dishes served on the table, diners picking what they like into their own separate bowls. It’s a communal event. Cantonese conversation thickly spread in the air, utensils tinkering to progress being made by happy diners.  

  

Dishes include: Char Sui Bau, Har Gau, Sui Mai, Cheong fun, Gai Lan, Fung zao, Yau yu sou, Hai Zhu, Daan Tar

It’s definitely an asset dining with somebody fluent in Cantonese as communication lines are not always through. Even at the best of times, orders get mixed, wrong tea is brought, and multiple dishes appear. But all it serves as the experience of chaos of a tea house in full swing.

 

Not quite the forte for Shiraz, Margaret River excels in Cabernet and SSB blends. So it is with zeal that I peer over the rim for this prominent producer of iconic drops- Leeuwin Estate- and delve into still vivid red sea of the 2004 Shiraz. Enjoy the vinous dissection.

Leeuwin Estate “Art Series” Shiraz [Margaret River] 2004 (Cork)

‘2004 for Margs was a slow ripening season ending in a crescendo of more-or-less perfect weather. The deep red intensity of the wine, shows hints of youthful purple, slowly fading into the background. This wine needs decanting being very herbal and restrained otherwise; Sage and cool timbery oak present on the whiffs from the glass. Unfurling further, sweet plums and black fruits all present for the roll call, timbery oak still nearby the first row. Layers of floral notes come through towards the end, violets and petal ( yes I know it sounds wanky), all in all this with is sweet and floral . Palate is generous and well rounded; full bodied mid palate , seemingly well balanced, tannins have softened- pleasantly velvety. The flavour and intensity carries well through to the end of minimum commotion ending in an 80% dark chocolate bitter finish.’  

Ever wonder why the world ended up the way it is?

More precisely, why humanity unfolded the way it did.

Why did Europe for so long dominate ‘New Worlds’ making the natives subservient, imposing their way of live among millions? Why did some continents develop sophisticated technologies whilst others remained hunter-gatherers?

Guns, Germs and Steel by Jarred Diamond (Vintage –Random House Publishing), offers an extraordinary view into the 13,000 years of humanity. Following disciplines of evolution, history, biology, ecology and linguistics this book falls under popular science, though is not too out of reach for the average ‘non-science’ reader.

A highly recommended read for those wanting to better understand many historical events from Darwinian-omnipotent view; From the many issues still plaguing Africa and developing nations, right down to the misinterpretation then maltreatment of our own Indigenous Australians. This is an excellent book to lift the veil on some of history’s most difficult questions.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For quite some time now wine has held a monopoly on ‘degustation’ events, careful tasting of precisely crafted foods with equally crafted wines. One may ask where does beer fit into this equation?

Enter James Squire

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cleverly orchestrated over the entire nation, James Squire has put together a ‘exceptional food with first-class beer’ event. The deal is, Chefs are given 5 different beers namely: Amber Ale, Pilsener, Golden Ale, IPA (Indian Pale Ale) and Porter. Each Chef willing to put their hand up to create a diverse course of meals to match the beers will be judged upon by ‘mystery judges’ under the guise of normal customers at each Chef’s restaurant. Today was just an example of what can be done at Origins restaurant (Sherton Hotel- Perth).

Below are the reviews of the food and beer ‘matches’

 

Golden Ale matched with; Pancetta wrapped banana prawn with picked apple sauce.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pancetta carrying the fat and flavour of this dish perfectly complimented the prawn flavour and texture. It may have been too much by it self being overtly salty, however the pickled apple sauce with a certain spicy character (cinnamon, clove?) and tartness completely ‘brought back to ground’ the intenseness of the prawn. Golden Ale matched probably the least best amongst the line-up, however light tropical character and nuttyness on the finish was a pleasant contrast.

 

Pilsener matched with; Salt and Pepper squid with lime wasabi mayonnaise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Presented in cute little Chinese take-away boxes, this was distinct Asian themed dish. Not only the influence of lime wedges, but also the use of rice flour, Sichuan pepper and wasabi, I thought it was a bit too much for the poor little slivers of squid to handle. Saltiness was the dominant player in this scene, so much so you could get that funny sensation on your tongue desiccating. Lime was needed, and did fit in well cutting back the saltiness; however the saviour was the Pilsener, refreshing, tart and carrying bitterness needed to combat the salt. It was an intense ride.

Amber Ale matched with; Lamb Backstrap on chrisp potato and shallot puree.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fragrant lamb perfectly cooked medium in a natural jus was instant hit with the Amber Ale. In many ways more simplistic of the line up, there was a potato wafer (akin to a potato crisp) affixed with a dollop of alliaceous (garlicky) puree. Contrasted well with the meaty lamb really coming through towards the end, the garlic/onion characters really rising to the forefront. The Amber Ale carried a certain breadyness not dissimilar to wholemeal bread, which in a strange way gave an impression of a fuller tasting lamb sandwich. Primal.

 IPA matched with; Peking Duck with cucumber noodles and nam jim.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another Asian contender in the line-up, it’s hot and spicy, with sour notes too. The duck sat atop a beansprout salad with chilli, shallots and cucumber and under nam jim. This was a spicy little sucker, hot garlic and onion with chilli and fish sauce. Being packed between the two I feel as though the flavour of duck was dragged back too far with the nam jim dominating the palate. Not that that was a bad thing because the IPA with its aromatic hops and feisty bitter finish ‘rounds off’ the dish into complete unity.  By far my personal preference, perhaps for the interplay of flavours, between the IPA and Duck. Spirited.

Porter matched with; Margaret River Venison skewers with chocolate oil.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A rich dark porter matched with a rich gamey meat. Delish! Venison being one of my favourite meats, really did ‘come to life’ with the combination of Spinach Spätzle, Chinese Wood-ear mushrooms and apple, drenched in dark chocolate oil. It’s strange mixture when one thinks of it separately, but the rubbery texture of Spätzle and the rehydrated earthy mushrooms and rich dark chocolate marries finely with the earthy wild gamey characters of Venison. The Porter was finely matched in my opinion, carrying though the characters of the dish, changing, forming their own on a ‘Porter Palate’. There is earth, game, sweet chocolate and apple immixed with creamy maltyness of the Porter. Wintery.

 

 

 

The Friday 9^th May was a beautifully misting morning sans the haze that blew in from a bushfire from Ellenbrook. Everything was covered with a lovely shroud of dew. I couldn’t resist walking on my way into Subiaco for few macro shots. It’s the simple (and free- yes I believe this is in the true essence- free) things in life we miss rushing off to work that can really make your day, as this did.

 

 Enjoy.

 

If you would like the file for desktop wall paper let me know and I’ll e-mail it to you.

 

For the last 3 nights I have wandered the streets Perth with Jerrem in search of good points to ‘plug in’  to the power grid, of course for free power, but like all things in this world, it aint free. We could not avoid glances from suspicious eyes as I trotted round the city with a camera bag attached; complete with tripod sticking out, and Jerrem wheeling a trundling tool box of projections paraphernalia. (Mind you an intimidating glance from a scary man holding what looked like a Hasselblad H series!?! Why would anyone want to mug a thug clutching a $30,000+ camera I have no idea).

 

We were in search of the improbable if not impossible. A 240V power point, unalarmed, free into- the-grid-and-decent-adjacent-building-to-project-onto site. By decent I mean, generally white in colour, no windows and a greater than 2meters and less than 10 stories height, as you know if you live in Perth you would know , our options are rather limited.  Also working with the current lens that I do have (Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0 L-series IS USM) it’s not the best for night shots though the Image Stabilization does help a fraction when you have the ISO bumped way up- sans tripod. We found many sites and fewer power points that always happened to be flanked either side with inappropriate canvas space.

All in all though we found 2 sites both in Northbridge, both 5min walk from each other. The first one lies on the vacant lot next to Mustang Bar. This location belies the ‘stumbling into’ nature of street projection, for passersby anyway that we are trying initiate. People perhaps are uninquisitive enough to walk 30meters into a vacant quasi-construction site into a group of shadowed youths brandishing laser pointers and Wii remotes. But I remain hopeful- for those that will be constructive to our cause.

  

The other is a cracker of a site protected by a 2m colour bond fence complete with dissuading bougainvillea thickets. The plot of land actually forms what appears to be the car park for community newspapers; nice little plot very spacious and topped off with big brother-esque camera. A perfect canvas towers to the west, windowless in a terracotta if-not-mistaken peachy tone. Nonetheless perfect for our needs and after a night of trawling the streets, and a comming down with a sore throat that I wanted the world to know about, it was ended at newely refurbished cafe-come-lounge Greens’s and Co. in Leederville for some soothing icecream and tea.

Check out Jerrem’s link for upcoming locations, events.

 

The humble pig. It’s one of those creatures that we have farmed since domestication circa 5000-7000 years ago. Having a reputation for gluttony, the swine in many aspects mirror humans in greed, omnivorousness and internal physiology. Pig heart valves and skin tissue are used in modern medicine in replacing human parts during shortage or incompatibility. It’s not surprising as a pigs heart is roughly the same size and pulmonary capacity.

Pig meat (pork) is taboo in some cultures, considered ‘unclean’, possibly because many parasites and diseases are easily transferable to humans, especially via undercooked / undercured meat.

Which brings me to Chorizo. The quintessential Iberian cured sausage with distinctive taste. Often smoked, with chilli it’s one of those pork products that vegetarians relapse on time and time again. Fast becoming a staple on ‘tasting plates’ of many a cafe; it’s more often than not, overtly salty, oily and lacking any distinctive flavour (much like cheap fried polony-like taste). However be fortunate enough to get a quality one and your tastebuds will dance in celestial delight.

That, and bacon have been the villains in my brief vegetarian sojourn.

You can enjoy it raw, or fried, in soup or my favourite, pan fried and then ‘flame grilled’ over a naked gas flame. It makes the house smell heavenly of burnt pig fat eerily similar Hungry Jack’s but I tell you, the smell would get anybody out of bed or vegetarianism. Plus it looks cool with the exploding oil that gets burnt.