Lake's Folly Spring Lunch 2009 - Hunter Valley

I had a real treat this weekend. I was invited to the Lake's Folly 2009 Spring lunch at Muse Restaurant in the Hunter Valley.Winemaker Rodney Kempe and his wife Sandra hosted a nine-course degustation perfectly complementing their wines.

As a late convert to the Lake's Folly wines I have a lot of catching up to do.

It was Australia's first boutique winery and only makes two wines - a Cabernet blend and a Chardonnay. Both varietals are award-winning and more remarkably are grown, vintaged and bottled entirely on the Lake's Folly Estate. We now have a dozen of their 2008 Chardonnay sitting in our cellar!

Muse Restaurant at the Hungerford Hill Wine Estate on Broke Rd, Pokolbin

a forest of glassware

Amuse Bouche: tuna sashmi on pickled seaweed

Petuna Ocean Trout and citrus three ways

Lake's Folly 1998 Chardonnay

Wild Atlantic Sea Scallopps, marchetti proscuitto, sweetcorn and saffron cream, basil oil

These scallops were plump and meaty - one of the many highlights

Lake's Folly 1992 Cabernets

Confit duck, roast garlic and spinach tortellini, parsnip espuma, brown butter and balsamic reduction

Slow-cooked Hunter Valley venison, celeriac and onion puree, Jerusalem Artichoke, chervil, sweet blackberry sauce

The venison sliced like butter

the celeriac and onion puree was delicately balanced

this was a refreshing palate cleanser

2001 Chateau Doisy Daene dessert wine

Hazelnut Panna Cotta, Sauterne and blueberry granita with star anise spun toffee

textures, textures, textures!

turkish delight petit four

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Muse Restaurant and cafe is run by two food talents -  Troy Rhoades-Brown in the kitchen and Megan Rhoades-Brown running the floor. These are two youngsters to watch!

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Edible Balcony Update - First Ripe Tomato

Well, the tomato plants went in on August the 26th and at last some fruit have that first blush of colour! The tiny toms are ripening quite quickly after that burst of heat on Melbourne Cup Day. The larger variety of Tub Toms obviously still have a way to go before they'll be ready to be picked.

Tom Thumb tomatoes on the left  and the larger Tub Toms on the right

My first tomatoes are just starting to colour up...

how good do they look? But will they pass the taste test?...

Impromptu Lunch at the Arun Thai Restaurant

Sometimes when you try to plan a lunch with friends it involves too many phone calls and diaries and juggling of baby sitters. I enjoy the spontaneity of an impromtu lunch when you do a quick ring round the neighbourhood to see who's available for lunch on that day with no planning. Yesterday we gathered four takers for such a lunch at the Arun Thai Restaurant. Over a bottle of 2007 Snake Creek Chardonnay we discussed the merits of the shutdown of Macleay Street in Potts Point on weekend nights to control the 'hoon' problem. Heavy-handed thought some - appropriate action thought others. Top me up thanks.....

Macleay St reflected in the window of the Arun Thai Restaurant

This serene carved statue greets you as you enter

The Arun Thai bar has an extraordinary wine cellar

Betel leaves with roasted coconut and shrimp sauce

a crunchy taste sensation

crispy wok-tossed calamari

rice salad

mix it together and serve

beautifully- weighted brass cutlery and gold-leaf plates

crispy Barossa chicken with tamarind sauce

pandanus leaf-flavoured sticky rice with fresh mango

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EQ Farmers Market - Fox Studios

If there was one place I could visit and never leave it would be a food market. Preferably a daily one piled high with produce, people and filled with excited chatter. Those who would rather shop in sterile, cold bunkers under garish fluorescent lights just haven't given farmers markets a chance. Nowadays even big cities are well-serviced by several weekly markets. My regular markets (while I'm waiting for my edible balcony to get going!) are the Entertainment Quarter Farmers Markets at Fox Studios (Wednesdays, Saturdays), the Kings Cross Markets every Saturday and the Good Living Pyrmont Markets the first Saturday of every month.Go on! Get out into the fresh air and go to your nearest farmers market. Go to a stall, grab a mango, squeeze it and deeply inhale its exotic scent. Don't worry no-one will think you're strange - they're all doing it too!

The EQ Farmers Markets are under cover

 This stall, as you enter, sells imported French pates and terrines and woven shopping baskets.Merci!

Their duck rillettes on a baguette crouton makes an elegant canape

Get advice direct from the farmers and growers

This is a new wonderful organic vegetable stall

organic broccolini

organic radishes

Portobello mushrooms as big as saucers

I buy all my Asian greens here

 how glossy are these eggplants?

wild garlic

those mangoes I was telling you about...

..where Carmen Miranda shops...

They're right.. these are really sweet.

free-range eggs from Nixon produce in Wilton

a free range pig is a tasty pig

smoked ham, bacon, sausages, pork racks and schnitzels

fresh pesto dips

pesto - my favourite condiment

Pastabilities does the best range of frozen pasta I've come across. Great quick meal when the cupboard is bare.

gluten-free cakes and muffins

this brownie is one of their best sellers

Pies and quiches baked fresh in the morning

...and don't get me started on their tarts..

hubba bubba! I tried one of these - chewy, chocolately and salty

bite-size delights from Cupcake Princess to have on the way home

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Edible Balcony - Melbourne Cup plantings

Am I the only person in Australian not thinking about the Melbourne Cup today? Possibly it's sourgrapes. I have to finish a presentation today and won't be going to any glamourous lunches ... won't even be part of an office sweep. Very un-Australian. Instead I will be watching my new tenants settle into their home. I've been reading that you get the best vegetables by growing them from seed rather than seedlings. Most of my plants are from seedlings so I thought I'd sow some seeds from a delicious Italian red pepper variety. I also potted some basil seedlings not seeds because I couldn't wait that long to pick fresh basil leaves!

Corno Rosso - Italian Red Peppers

I love this pepper chargrilled and served with a sharp fetta cheese

No sign of life yet

I like using these fibreglass containers because they're lightweight (unlike terracotta) and the dark colour really sets off the green foliage.

lots of basil .. but no Mr Fawlty

I've used the best nursery potting mix I could source and mixed in some organic mulch to give the basil plants more nutrients and thus better flavour.

You put basil in the ratatouille!

I love basil in homemade pesto, on bruschetta with fresh tomato and when I have a good bunch I'm going to trial a recipe I came across in delicious. magazine for a basil ice-cream.