You're viewing the classic version of The Blackmail which was in use from July 2009 until August 2011. The latest version of The Blackmail is now here.
The Cheeky Freak this week is Leonardo DiCaprio’s new film Inception. Believe the hype!!!
This weekend there’s some festival on in Queensland. If you made it, great. If you didn’t, go for dinner at a nice restaurant, at least you’re guaranteed to remember most of it.
Some birthday suits curated by a few Kingpins coupled with intergalactic hoodies, animal prints, taffeta, bondage and some fabulous catsuits is pretty much a must see any day of the week. Get up and check it out if you’re in the ‘hood.
There are two things that I do very much enjoy. One is a good food blog with great, easy home-cooking recipes. The other is potatoes, in pretty much any form.
So I bring to you a couple of things I love.
The Smitten Kitchen blog – self proclaimed “fearless cooking from a tiny kitchen in New York City”. Smitten Kitchen is very cleverly put together by Deb Perelman, a writer, cook, photographer and occasional dish washer. She is at once master of the pen, the kitchen and also her camera, and documents her own home cooking rigorously, making it very accessible for those far and wide.
So to present this fantastic blog, I feature one of her many great recipes – Blue cheese and red potato tart. This is a simple and humble tart. You can make the pastry yourself, or buy some. To make, place pastry around the tart tin.
Fill with:
6 small red potatoes cooked and sliced (leave skins on)
1 cup of cream
1 egg yolk
3/4 cup of blue cheese
1 tablespoon of chopped herbs (a mix of thyme and rosemary)
Arrange potatoes, overlapping slightly. Sprinkle blue cheese. Whisk cream and egg yolk then pour over tart shell. Sprinkle with herbs and salt and bake until golden brown for an hour.
They’ve only been back for one jam packed night but they’re turing it on down at Goodgod, this time it’s an impromptu Tuesday night jam with Canyons, Toni Toni Lee and some special international guests. We’re pretty sure we know, do you?
This week’s Cheeky Freak is guitar hero Slash seen here in the amazing clip for the ever amazing Guns N’ Roses song November Rain. Look out for Slash stealing the show out the font of the white church in the desert and later on a top the grand piano. I just finished reading his biography… a well recommended read! Click for another epic clip.
Friday night in Sydney see Violent Soho play The Annandale with Scul Hazzards, Butcher Birds and Little Lovers. 17 Parramatta Rd, Annandale. 8pm. $15+bf. Saturday night check out Halfway Crooks from 10pm at Phoenix Bar, 34 Oxford St, Darlinghurst, $10. Alternatively head to the city for the return of Goodgod with Lady Chann and Killa Queenz from 9pm, tickets $20. All weekend head to the Big Fashion Sale featuring all your favourites… more info here.
Everyone’s favorite club Goodgod is back this Saturday night! As the crew themselves put it: “The original GOODGOD dancehall is back with a night of bashment vibes: dancehall, hip-hop and UK funky!” Awesome.
Lady Chann and Killa Queenz supported by Ro Sham Bo’s Jimmy Sing and Moriarty. Also featuring Judgement, Bad Ezzy, MC Shantan Wantan Ichiban.
Saturday July 24, 9pm-5am
$20 on the door. Goodgod Small Club
55 Liverpool St, Sydney
Tomorrow night Trent Whitehead presents The Thinnest Of Betweens, an exhibition of new work at Monster Children Gallery, Sydney. Chegg it out!
The Thinnest Of Betweens
Opening Thursday July 22 from 6pm
Exhibition runs July 23 through August 7 Monster Children Gallery
20 Burton Street, Darlinghurst
The Big Fashion Sale is back. Sydney’s got all the luck with this one with labels such as Ellery, Arnsdorf, Fernando Frissoni, Rittenhouse, Shakuhachi, Nathan Smith and Karla Spetic all basically giving their wares away. It’s like a rug sale minus the rugs. Incredible!
Big Fashion Sale
BJB Studios – 259 Riley St, Surry Hills
Thursday July 22 through to Sunday July 25, 10am-6pm each day
*Word on the street is if you go visit the site and sign up you can beat the crowds and get first shot at whatever you fancy.
Duck always seem like somewhat of a treat. Whether it be confit, Peking or L’orange, it is a most succulent and deliciously rich meat, great for a roast, but really not as tricky to prepare as one might think.
This duck recipe calls for a whole duck, an orange stuck into it’s loins, some baby carrots, celery, onions and juniper berries (the same ones you make gin out of). You can get junipers dried or fresh, and if they are dried you will need to rehydrate them. Do this by soaking them liquid for 6 hours (we used Gran Marnier for its orange flavour).
The trick to attain the crispy skin is to soak the duck in brine overnight. This gives it the gold brown crispy texture as pictured below. For brine use 2 whole oranges, parsley, pepper corns, enough water to cover the duck and lots of salt.
After the duck has been soaked overnight, pat dry, heat the oven to high heat and place duck atop carrots, celery, onions and junipers. The duck is a very fatty bird you see, and all the juice with run down into the veggies to make them duck fat veggies. In fact, there will be so much fat in the baking dish you will need/want to drain the dish of the fat (you can use the duck fat later for other things such as chips or on top of pates). The duck with take a few hours too cook so in the meantime prepare your sides. Serve with creamy mashed potato and silverbeet with garlic.
Note: This recipe was adapted from Bridgette Hafner’s piece Duck and cover from July’s Gourmet Traveller.