Markets and Mead

It's been a while since I've been to the fresh food markets at Fyshwick. Things have changed - there is an additional space, called the Niche Markets, which features more boutique shops and food outlets. I took some photos of the various wares on offer. 

Not everything is open yet, but there promises to be a range of goods to purchase from furniture to clothing, and coffee and doughnuts. There's also a florist and a barber, and due to come is a cat cafe - that should be fun for cosy feline cuddles!

Beautiful prints at Flamingo + Sass

Amid the fabrics and glamour, there are also flowers and greenery at the rather gorgeous Urban Jungle florist.

Hunger pangs are also catered for with a range of eating options. I love the ramen noodles from Umami. The Korean-born chef, Den Han, has previously worked at Chairman and Yip and Tipsy Bull. While waiting for this stall to be open he had a pop-up noodle bar outside Plonk, which has been providing the perfect warming lunch over the cold winter months. 

The doughnuts from Krofne are also super-tasty baked to a Croatian recipe with flavours ranging from salted caramel and strawberry glaze to vanilla custard or rosehip jam. The nutella variety is a firm favourite.

Nutella Krofne Donuts

Ramen from Umami

The reason I was there in the first place was to work - although some might say that facilitating a tasting of the fabulous offerings from Four Pillars gin is not exactly a tough gig. The Spiced Negroni gin showcases spices such as Tasmanian pepperberry leaf, cinnamon, West African spice grains of paradise and Indonesian cubeb, along with fresh ginger. It is highly aromatic, rich, spicy and my pick of the bunch.

Four Pillars Gin line-up; not your usual suspects

And on my day off I walked up Mt Painter with Him Outdoors and we rewarded ourselves with breakfast at Little Oink, a cafe at the bottom of the mountain (it's really just a hill, but if the cartographers call it a mountain, so will I). 

From the top of Mt Painter

A Street Library found en route

French toast with added deliciousness

A perfect breakfast

It was a thrill to find this in the mail! Now I just need to attend the ceremony, take the pledge, and be a citizen. This pleases me. I struggle with the concept of being a citizen of two countries, a resident of another, a tax-payer in all three and a registered voter in none. That's going to change.

We have been invited to a Canamerica dinner by some new friends. Combining celebrations of both the USA and Canada's national days, all food is to have a North American theme. We are encouraged to take along a suitable dish, so I have cracked out the recipe books. Because one of these friends is an Oregonian, and we have recently had such a great time there, I thought I would honour the state.

Individual pear cobblers

The following day Him Outdoors wanted to suss out the local meadery - so we gathered some friends together and headed out to Win's Creek Meadery in Murrumbateman. We've driven past the old cottage many times and always thought it would make a great pub - the building is an old Traveller's Rest Inn, complete with corrugated iron roof and wooden verandah. It has a beautiful room with a large open fireplace but, unfortunately, the fire wasn't lit when we were there and it was freezing. We sampled a selection of meads and shared a couple of pizzas. 

The locale doubles as Bindaree Bee Supplies and features a gift shop displaying beeswax candles, home-made ceramics, stained-glass ornaments, soft furnishings, and (naturally) honey.

A sort of mead flow-chart

Him Outdoors, Dr Kay and Patience Itself

We did enjoy the food and drinks, but the place was so cold that we all kept our coats on and were not inclined to linger over the produce. Instead we pushed on to Eden Road, where we tasted some fine wines, bought some more and took them home to carry on the afternoon in comfort and style. 

Wine-tasting crew

Death and Red Wine

We have had pantry moths. They get into the flour, and the herbs and spices, and the nuts, and all sorts of other things. They are very difficult to eradicate. To remove them all involves setting traps; throwing out all contaminated foodstuffs; freezing containers; removing everything from the pantry and wiping down all surfaces. It's really time-consuming and annoying. I asked Him Outdoors to do it while I was a t work. He wrote himself a reminder, which he stuck to the pantry door.

And clearly he achieved his mission, because when I returned from work, I was greeted by this reassuring sticker on the pantry door.

So we celebrated in the time-honoured tradition of pantry-month extermination with a glass of red drunk from 'tipsy wine glasses'.

Get Fortified!

I have instigated Thursday Night Sessions at work - we try some products and discuss them, hopefully imparting some information as well as bonhomie. I present the beer ones and other staff do the wines. We share the spirits. It is very cold in the shop, hence the hats and jackets, but I think the sherries, ports, marsalas and madeiras did a fine job of fortifying everyone. 

Bye Bye to the Bay

Driving back to The Bay area, we found a well-positioned brewery at which to enjoy a spot of lunch. The folk at Cedar Crest Brewing in Red Bluff were lovely, really helpful and enjoyed chatting about beer and football - what more could you want? They didn't have food but they gave us a takeaway menu for the Mexican place next-door and the food was delivered to our table. It was delicious and went very well with the Manton Hopper IPA - hoppy with citrus and pine but a solid malt backbone tempers the aggression often present in many West Coast IPAs.

Cedar Crest brewing Manton Hopper IPA

The brewery is curiously party of a shop selling fancy snacks and local art. It's got a sort of folksy, country, home-on-the-range vibe which manages to feel more homey than horror. 

The main pilgrimage of the day, however, was to The Rare Barrel in Berkeley. We timed it just right so that the doors opened as we walked up. Him Outdoors has been dreaming about this place, and he wasn't disappointed. The beers are exquisite and we loved every one. It was too hard to pick a favourite, so we were happy just to enjoy them all. 

The Rare Barrel

The menu

The beers

Mister Tea - The aroma has me salivating; the taste has me satisfied, and then some. Funky and tartastic. 4.75/5

Roads Diverge - More subtle than previous; the oak-aged saison displays the soft sourness of apricots, peaches and pears. 4.75/5

The Upside Down Under - Well, we had to, didn't we? Golden sour beer aged in oak barrels with dragon fruit and kiwis. Fruity and sour. 4.5/5

Blurred PsM - Who knew sour grapes tasted so good?! Intense flavours of cherries, plums, cinnamon and nutmeg. 4.75/5

Bourbon Barrel-Aged Ensorcelled (2018) - Wow! That is a massive beer! Dark sour beer aged in bourbons n barrels with tart cherries. Tart raspberries and chocolate. 4.75/5

Seditious Ways - Dark sour beer aged in oak barrels with tart cherries - rich deep fruit flavours and a huge hit of dark chocolate beneath the cherries. 4.5/5

Les Bouquet - Smells sensational like a herbal tissane or a bath bomb but, unlike those, it tastes amazing too! 4.75/5

Tiki Party - Sour edge to tropical hop flavours - mango; papaya; pineapple - like a particularly zingy fruit sorbet. 4.5/5

Driving back to Our Gracious Host and Hostess, we crossed the Oakland Bay Bridge. I do like bridges, as I may have mentioned before. I love the blend of art and engineering into something which is both useful and beautiful. William Morris would approve. As do I.

Oakland Bay Bridge

Our wonderful friends had delayed their Fourth of July party for the weekend, when we had returned and could celebrate their national day with them and a group of friends they had also invited. It was lovely to chat  and get to know them a little. 

Of course the spectre of politics shook its gory locks and I heard that people are still proud to be American, although it pains them that this is getting harder to admit as they are aware that the rest of the world sees their country as one dominated by Trump. Many of them refuse to allow him and his divisive politics rob them of their pride in their country. I admire this perspective and wish more fol from my own nation(s) could adopt it.

Our Gracious Host at the Fourth of July barbecue

See, people do eat vegetables in America!

I was very emotional to say farewell to my wonderful friend. It has been a magnificent trip and I look forward to the next one! Her father gave me this photo of us on her tenth birthday. Across the miles and the years, some things stay the same. In the immortal words of The Spice Girls' Wannabe, 'Make it last forever; friendship never ends'.

Our Gracious Hostess and me on her 10th birthday

And now

On the plane on the way home, I read the newspapers and corrected their errors. Of course, I was mainly interested in the football. It is (to misquote Karl Marx) the opium of the people.

 

And just because it makes me happy, here is a picture of the lads making it through to the semi-final in the most unlikely manner on penalties.