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Last week Karen Martini had a recipe for Spring Rabbit Broth in her usual section of the Sunday Life Magazine in The Age. Over time, I have on a weekly basis, collected all three of her recipes and added them to my pile of recipes in the kitchen cupboard. I am sure that I have well and truly enough recipes in there now to fill a cook book, so alas I will probably never purchase a Karen Martini cookbook, not for any distaste of her cooking, on the contrary, rather, I have plenty already.
Anyway, back to the bunny. So upon request, I took it upon myself to replicate the rabbit recipe, though I’d never cooked a cotton-tail before. I made a trip to the market to pick up my ingredients. The recipe called for a ‘farmed rabbit’. Take note on this, I didn’t initially, not realising the important difference between a farmed one and a wild, free bounding lapin. Farmed rabbit meat is much more tender, the wild, not so before soaking. I picked up the last rabbit I could find, a wild one, and went off to the cinema for a afternoon movie. As I approached the bustling cinema doors I realised I probably shouldn’t be leaving my poor wee bunny in the back of my car for so long, all alone, unrefrigerated.
I ran back, grabbed the gamey ferrit like animal, and kindly asked the cinema staff if I could put my ‘package’ in their fridge while I watched the movie. Two and a half hours later I emerged from the cinema and head to collect my goods. “What’s in here, a chicken?” one unassuming cinema staff asked as he passed me the cold carcass. “A bunny”, I replied sheepishly, grabbed my bag, and ran.
If you didn’t rip the recipe out of the paper last weekend, and want it, email me here
Another delicious taste of what comes every Wednesday from CC Bakes
This week The Blackmail debuts Wiz Quiz, a new section where The Wiz brings different humans top fives to the internet. Here The Wiz asked Sydney music machine Radge (who will be bringing heat to your eardrums this Thursday at The Blackmail party) to tell us about his top five New Jack Swing tunes…
5. Guy – Groove Me
Teddy riley definitely shaped a lot of this sound, starting out with Guy and peaking with Blackstreet. This song has it all, killer beat, smooth as hell vocals and an addictive vocal hook.
4. Rappin 4-tay – Playaz Club
Dude could clarify butter with his voice. While not totally a boy group vibe, this guy definite had those silky tones that made the champagne flow.
3. Groove Theory – Tell Me
This song came at the end of the T!T!T! Era and definitely were a product of the last 10 years, carrying the baton forward into the late 90s.
2. Al B-Sure – Night And Day
Such a smooth jam, dude puts in a weighty performance in this clip as well!
1. Shai – If I Ever Fall In love
One of the greatest r ‘n’b tracks ever made, the film clip is so classic but the acapella version really is the main jam.
This week we have an amazing clip for The Beatles track Taxman. Great animation with a great premise – you can dream all you like of Robin Hood-esque escape plans, but the Taxman will always get you in the end… thanks a million!!!
Tonight in Sydney is Chakra Khan – the most amazing party you haven’t been too yet – FREE at the Dug-Out Bar (under the Burdekin on Oxford St) from 9pm. Before hand, perhaps check out 28, a group show featuring 28 artists from 6.30pm at China Heights on Crown St and/ or Soft Glue by Charlie Sofo and Mary MacDougall at Black & Blue Gallery (302/267-271 Cleveland St Redfern) from 6pm. Good God also will be pumping out the back of La Campana in the CBD all weekend!
In Brisbane tonight, Nine Lives host Secrets & Shambles Through Briars & Brambles, an exhibition on photography and paintings by Luke Shirlaw and Elana Mullaly. Nine Lives Gallery, Upstairs, Mellinos Restaurant. 330 Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley.
Melbournians, tonight Arabian Prince from NWA blesses St Kilda’s The Espy for FREE and Saturday night sees Opulent’s monthly Favela Rock party at Miss Libertine in the city from 10pm. Enjoy!
Man-o-man, I love the extra hours of daylight, the little birds chirping from tree tops, baby animals, pollen, and early flowers in bloom, but Spring fashion sucks.
If I have to swallow one more vicious clash of ‘brights’, or vomitous collage of cacophonous prints my head will explode. Enough of the floaty florals and fragile femmes, bring me back the certainty and structure from days of Winter past! Alas, it was not all grim tidings from the shores of London and NYC – the architectural brassiere bodysuits at House of Holland (top left) deserve a round of applause, and Goldin’s structured sci-fi cone-cups kept the Gaultier / Givenchy / Ga-Ga dream alive. As the only big-name brand to show at London, Burberry presented a strong saleable range. But Proenza were the heroes of the week, with python-collared button-downs and dirty dip-dyed tresses (pictured center), the boys delivered a tight collection. Thank god!
I mean, of course it’s all matter of opinion, “eye-of-the-beholder” etc etc. but I know I’m not the only one missing Winter’s murky midnight shades. Dellal , Daul and Deyn all bucked Spring tradition this month, surrendering their signature bottle blonde locks and heading back to black. Hear hear!
Check back each Thursday for more on the fashion world from Billy Bride
This Friday September 25 sees star crossed lovers aligning, toilets flushing backwards, and Chakra Khan at the Dug-Out Bar, Sydney. It seems apparent that it’s time to move at the beat of life.
Word coming over the waves is telling you to close your eyes and open your mind to a New World Order of Love. Traversing your inner sanctum and outer representation is Chakra Khan, a night of jams, proximity and Unforgettable Memories.
Senses are not common, they are precious. Essensualising all five of them on the night will be STEELE BONUS, DJ DREAMTIME, MAGIC HAPPENS, DOUBLE BOING, DJ GOOGLE MAPS and BARRY REEF. Leave your life behind and fall into yourself in the year 2000 and unforgettable memories.
There is potential for things to get out of hand, go over the top or remain unexplained – we can’t make any promises, only Unforgettable Memories. This life event exists only on the night, and in Blackmail. As such, there is no social networking parallel at work here. For a sensation comprised of a series of smaller (tessellating) sensations, attend Chakra Khan, a night of unforgettable posters and unforgettable memories.
In addition to these mysterious words, the humans of the Khan have blessed us with an XXX-clusiv mix, a teaser if you will of what will be Friday…
CHAKRA-KHAN
Friday September 25
Dug-Out Bar (under the Burdekin on Oxford St) from 9
Enter from the Liverpool St entrance and don’t pay anything on the door!
I realised that I don’t make enough sweet delicious sugary baked goods, and more to the point, I don’t post much about decadent treats. It’s about time, and who better to confer with than my mum. So, I thought I do some good old fashion PR for her. She makes cakes and slices you see, delicious ones, and sells them, in slabs. It’s a small sideline venture for her called Le Bloc, her clientele are local cafes and food shops.
Susie Donald (my mum) is a food stylist currently based in Melbourne. Trained as a chef, Susie has worked as a food consultant between Australia and Asia, and has also worked on a number of cookbooks during this time. I put together a flyer to accompany Le Bloc’s samples. Click here to view it.
Following on from our Shaun Micallef spotlight the other week, we have here the ever amazing Eric Bana as the ever amazing Poida. I saw Judd Apatow’sFunny People in the cinema last week which stars Bana, and I was excited to later find that Apatow decided to cast Bana after seeing his old comedy sketches from Full Frontal as characters like Poida and Ray Martin amongst others. Click here to see more Bana in action.
For the people of Sydney, Good God Small Club is alive and kicking out the back of La Campana tonight with Siberian Nights from 10 till late and Saturday night, same time same place Ain’t Gonna Feel Like You When The Sun Goes Down… Extended Anthemix is bringing the heat with 100% soul-enriching emotive jams from a new breed of Sydney DJ’s. People of Melbourne, tonight’s got it right with Germ themed Bamboo Musik at The Mercat, city. Expect crazy costumes and sounds from Dr. DJ Dick Cheese MD., Germ Warfare, Richard Cooties & Bum Creek DJ’s. 10pm till late!
News flash! Just-in! Important information to follow! Readers take note, the next time you feel like popping down to the grocery store for the odd carton of milk, or late-night tub of Caramel Neapolitan, think twice before leaving the house in your slippers, jammies and drippy toothpaste encrusted sloppy-joe. As I have just discovered, going to the supermarket is the latest craze – everyone is doing it!
With all the buzz surrounding point-and-shoot photography, it wasn’t long before our every-man photographers turned our everyday goings on into everybody’s business, and the supermarket is our budding photographic genius’ landscape de jour. Maybe it’s the child within that draws us toward the lunar lighting, roller-rink tiling, and kaleidoscopic playground of the confectionary aisle. Or perhaps as adults we can’t resist the sweet trill of the registers, and the succulent air of dollars being spent. Whatever calls you there, beware! Brush those teeth, run a comb through that hair, and have your worldliest and most gallant accouterments hanging by the door. For in all likelihood you are about to be snapped and papped to within an inch of your life.
Forget Gucci’s bohemian wilderness and the slick brow-less bedsheets of Givenchy A/W09 – this season it’s all about cling wrap, coupons and clean-up in aisle three.
Check back each Thursday for more on the fashion world from Billy Bride
Because, it seems, I am on somewhat of a Japanese bent at the moment, I constructed a salad to accompany one of the other posts I have recently made. These being, Okonomiyaki and Kewpie mayonnaise.
This is a simple salad of course, you can see – just carrot and Chinese cabbage really. The key, however, is in the flavoursome dressing (which is taken from a cucumber and soba noodle salad from this month’s Gourmet Traveller). Here is the recipe:
Ponzu and sesame dressing
60ml (1/4 cup) tamari soy sauce
3 tsp. each mirin & rice wine vinegar
3 tsp. bonito flakes
1 tbsp lemon juice, or to taste
3 tsp. sesame oil
3 tsp. tahini, or to taste
For ponzu and sesame dressing combine tamari, mirin, vinegar and bonito in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer, remove from heat and set aside to cool(5-10 mins). Strain through a fine sieve (discard solids), stir through remaining ingredients, set aside.
Black and white sesame seeds also make this dish look exceptionally fantastic.
Another delicious taste of what comes every Wednesday from CC Bakes
The crew at Zip Zip are a brave lot. Even in the face of a pending law suit from the building block giants Lego they stood firm and stuck to their guns. Post the litigation threats and Lego now want to do business with them, this time on the same side of the table. Which isn’t surprising because putting a USB flash drive inside a block of Lego is so simple that you’d rather work with the people that thought of it than publicise the fact that you didn’t.
