Tag Archives: Black pepper

100—Random9 Art exhibition | Black Pepper | Oblivion | #bestblogs13

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On Friday evening Bron invited me to an art exhibition opening. The art was created by Randon9 which is a Canberra-based artists’ collective. 100 examines Canberra in a historical, political and cultural context. The exhibition is being held at the Belconnen Arts Centre at 118 Emu Bank.

It was an interesting exhibition. The BAC is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm. The Patron is Mr Jon Stanhope the former ACT Chief Minister. If you like art, it’s worth going to see and experience.

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Okay just a little rant here. One of the disappointing things about the BAC is the recent poor maintenance of its outside appearance. The yellow straw bundles each have a pavement embedded spot light shining up. Of the five or six bundles and lights only one works.

Yellow “straw” bundles at the Belconnen Arts Centre are street lights at night, although not now with only one working

This has been a deteriorating situation for nearly a year. They have evening exhibitions so I assume the managers are aware. Perhaps there is a conflict between the BAC and territory and municipal services (TAMS) It would be good if it could get fixed. Rant over :-)

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After taking a look at the art we walked around to Black Pepper for dinner. We hadn’t booked but given it was around 6.30 pm we figured we had a good chance to score a table. When we arrived the restaurant was pretty bare and we got a nice table in the corner by a window.

The day in Canberra had been very cold and windy. We’ve really changed from summer-autumn to autumn-winter. It wasn’t quite bone chilling but the wind chill was very unpleasant. Inside the restaurant was cosy and warm even though it didn’t start to fill with customers until after about 7 pm.

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The dinner menu is relatively new and looked pretty good. It can be downloaded from the Out in Canberra site.

For an entrée we chose to share the Panko crumbed brie cheese for $13. It consisted of Japanese crumbed and fried brie cheese with orange and fennel salad.

Brie cheese

#dinner panko crumbed fried Brie #yummy

This was delicious and sharing half each was more than sufficient

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For mains, Bron chose the Swiss potato roesti stack for $15.50. It was layered with Napoli sauce, Swiss cheese and grilled eggplant, served with broccolini and gazpacho vinaigrette. I didn’t capture an image of it.

I chose the Scotch fillet and horseradish for $26.50. The Scotch fillet was served with garlic mash, horseradish cream, red wine jus, greens and game chips.

Scotch fillet

#dinner Scotch fillet steak (rare) really #yummy

I like my meat rare. The beans were really squeaky on my teeth so I swapped them with Bron’s broccolini.

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The dinner menu was pretty good. I think Bron’s potato roesti was good value for money. My steak was nice but I’m not sure it was worth $26.50. It’s certainly better than what I’d get at a pub or bar but I would think between $18 and $22 is how I’d price it. The entrée was good but I’d probably be happier if it was priced at around $12.

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Afterwards we watched the ANZAC test match between the Australian Kangaroos and the New Zealand Kiwis. I was so happy to see military bands used to play the national anthems. One of my pet peeves (well it’s more than a peeve it’s a hatred) is the use of pop stars to sing our national anthem. More often than not (I kid you not) they mangle the anthem into their individual interpretation as part of their artistic expression. I can’t stand it. Not only is it painful on my ears, it’s disrespectful to our nation. Apart from a military band, my preference would be for a school choir to sing the national anthem. Channel Nine offers excellent coverage of Rugby League matches in Australia. Before the match a minute’s silence was observed for the death of Ross Livermore. Mr Livermore was the heart and soul of Queensland Rugby League (QRL) for 31 years. Queenslanders, especially lovers of the XXXX Maroons owe so much to Mr Livermore and what he did for Rugby League in Queensland and Australia. Needless to say it is very sad when such a great person dies. The Australian Kangaroos wore black arm bands in memory. It was shocking to hear louts in the crowd disrupt the silence with jeers and noises as a sign of disrespect. It’s a pity the ACT Police were not called in to remove the louts and cowards. Rest in peace Mr Ross Livermore. The game ended in an Australian victory.

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So this morning we needed breakfast. Out of convenience we ventured back to Black Pepper. I couldn’t help but notice a patron sitting near us.

My daughters tell me Crocs are a crime against fashion, I think mismatched socks do not help in the fashion stakes.

Fashion Fail

Crocs and non matching socks #FashionFail 😃

There’s a hole in the right heel too :-)

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I didn’t want a huge breakfast but I did want something that would keep me going all day.

Poached eggs and a side of hollandaise sauce

#breakfast Poached eggs with a side of Hollandaise Ping @mitchsquires #breakfastforwoojm

The Black Pepper hollandaise is to die for

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This afternoon after a trip to Costco (optometry appointment for me) we went to see Oblivion IMDB and Google+. We’d seen the shorts for this movie while watching Top Gun at the Darling Harbour IMAX theatre over Easter.

I won’t be a spoiler for this movie suffice to say I enjoyed it. I’m a fan of a lot of science fiction, especially simple action genre science fiction. I’m a huge Star Trek fan and am eagerly awaiting the new Star Trek movie. I know Tom Cruise cops a lot of flack as an actor. I haven’t watched all his movies and probably won’t. I really enjoyed Top Gun, I enjoyed the Mission Impossible franchise and recently on a flight to the USA I watched Jack Reacher and enjoyed it. A Few Good Men and Taps are also favourites. I know there was a lot of controversy about Tom Cruise in the starring role for Jack Reacher. I understand Jack Reacher is portrayed as a giant of a man which Tom Cruise isn’t. Without having read the books, I can’t really criticise. I did enjoy the movie.

I would recommend Oblivion to anyone who likes science fiction that doesn’t require a lot of thought. There were a couple of question marks for me in terms of inconsistency but not enough to put me off. We also saw this movie at Hoyts Belconnen in their Xtremescreen cinema. The experience was really very good. Watching an action movie in the Xtremescreen cinema is very worthwhile.

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Tonight Bron is cooking up a storm, I’ll blog about that tomorrow. If you want a sneak peek though, follow me on Instagram | Facebook | Twitter for a glimpse of what she is cooking tonight.

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One last thing, I’m thinking of a rating system for restaurants based on two non-food criteria. If I remember I will offer a dunny rating and a napkin rating. I believe a good rest room (toilet or dunny) should be specific for gender (preferably not unisex), have urinals set at adult height and not just pædiatric height, pedestals with out swinging doors (for emergency situations), have paper towel (cloth for the really posh ones) and/or a Dyson air blade or XLERATOR™ air dryer. I’ll elaborate on this in future posts. For Black Pepper it gets a four out of five dunny score. For napkins I prefer cloth napkins over paper. My ranking would be fail | pass| excellent. My napkin ranking for Black Pepper is fail.

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Black Pepper on Urbanspoon

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Belconnen Arts Centre http://www.belconnenartscentre.com.au/
Google maps http://goo.gl/maps/dxrLf


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Black Pepper http://www.outincanberra.com.au/blackpepper
Google maps http://goo.gl/maps/2uxsW
The marker is in the wrong position. I’ve moved it and Google is reviewing my suggested move. If they agree the marker will show the correct placement in the future.


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Costco http://www.costco.com.au/index.shtml
Google maps http://goo.gl/maps/NtGyt


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My weekend in food was good

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This weekend I completed my income taxation return and caught up on some work. I also spent some time with Bron and managed to enjoy some delicious meals. If you follow me on instagram you can see how I ate this weekend as well as some of my other activities.

Thai salmon cakes

Bron’s fish cakes were really nice.

Sticky date pudding with homemade custard and butterscotch sauce

Bron makes the best sticky date pudding. Her homemade custard and butterscotch sauce are to die for.

Spring in Canberra

The deciduous trees are blooming and my allergic rhinitis is getting worse. I must be snoring like a train because every morning I wake up with a sore throat like razor blades are cutting it.

Lake Ginninderra

Before breakfast I went for a walk and captured some images. We had breakfast at Black Pepper which is on the corner on the left of the image.


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Dead carp

Fishing is popular in Canberra waterways. The lakes are full of carp. They are a pest and regarded as feral. If a carp is caught it is not allowed to be thrown back into the water. From what I’ve seen people go fishing, catch carp and then leave them anywhere they choose.

Green eggs and ham

Bron chose green eggs and ham. The scrambled eggs have avocado in them.

Poached eggs, Kransky and hollandaise sauce

I ate poached eggs, Kransky sausage, mushrooms and hollandaise sauce.

Pan seared salmon served with a tower of potato mash, wilted spinach, pine nuts, peas and corn along with asparagus and broccolini. The mash potato was made with blue cheese.

Tonight I cooked a light meal of salmon. Click on it if you want a larger resolution view.

Oh and if you’re interested, next weekend I want to see the Melbourne Storm defeat the Canterbury Bulldogs. I also want to see the Sydney Swans defeat the Hawthorn Hawks.

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I’m a Spike convert | Shout out to the Salmon Fishing Queen

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In Late May Barb from Life in the Foothills blogged that she spiked a chicken. I wrote a comment that I’d not heard of Spike and I’d have to go looking for it. Very kindly Barb sent me a bottle from the US to Australia. The website describes Spike as 39 different herbs, spices and vegetables all lovingly blended with just the right amount of salt! The original version contains salt crystals (earth and sea), nutritional yeast, hydrolysed soy protein (NO ADDED MSG), mellow toasted onion, onion powder, orange powder, soy granules, celery leaf powder, celery root powder, garlic powder, dill, kelp, Indian curry, horseradish, ripe white pepper, orange and lemon peel, summer savoury, mustard flour, sweet green and red bell peppers, parsley flakes, tarragon, rose hips, safflower, mushroom powder, parsley powder, spinach powder, tomato powder, sweet paprika, celery seed ground, cayenne pepper, plus a delightful herbal bouquet of the best oregano, sweet basil, marjoram, rosemary and thyme.

I’m very grateful to Barb for sending me this bottle (Nikon D90)

On Sunday afternoon I prepared a slow cooked pork belly dish for lunches this week at work. I Spiked it.

This was my lunch container today at work (iPhone) Also on Instagram http://instagram.com/p/Mj8YQYxNLh/

On Sunday evening I prepared pumpkin soup. I Spiked it.

I love pumpkin soup. (Nikon D90)

This evening I roasted a Chicken Maryland. I Spiked it.

This is the way Barb explained to use Spike. Rub in oil then rub in Spike. (Nikon D90)

This is the way Barb explained to use Spike. Rub in oil then rub in Spike. (Nikon D90)

Again, thanks Barb. I have more chicken this week and Spike will be used.

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Scotch fillet steak with onion, sweet potato, peas and corn

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On returning yesterday I did a little grocery shopping and bought a couple of steaks for tonight and tomorrow night. I’ll often do this, make the same dish twice and see how I can make the second night better. Sometimes I’m so impatient on the second night I just cook the meat :-)

Tonight I shaved some sweet potato put it into a shallow tray with some grated cheese and softened in an oven. I caramelised the onion and at the end added some frozen peas and corn. The steak touched a hot pan for a minute and then was turned and the heat turned off.

Fillet steak (Nikon D90)

 

Fillet steak (Nikon D90)

Yes, I know there was some butter leaching through the bottom. I cook with butter.

 

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Maestral Mediterranean and Seafood restaurant in Weston

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Yesterday was a slow kind of day. We started with brunch at Black Pepper in Belconnen. This is a local café that does a good breakfast and brunch on weekends. It is very popular amongst locals and especially cyclists and walkers who exercise around Lake Ginninderra.

Bron asked for Eggs Benedict on Turkish bread and I asked for the Black Pepper big breakfast with Turkish bead. Black Pepper Menu July 2012

When our meals arrived, the Eggs Benedict were sitting on a muffin. Rather than waste time and send the dish back, I shared my Turkish bread.

Beautiful eggs Benedict

The plates were cold and the bacon was also cold. The eggs were slightly over cooked. The yolks were still soft but they weren’t really runny like we like them. Otherwise, the Eggs Benedict and Black Pepper Breakfast were very nice. As you can see I also asked for a bowl of hollandaise sauce to go with my breakfast. Along with our coffees, it was a good start to the day.

The day got better with a visit to Costco. I wanted to see the optometrist, although I didn’t realise I needed an appointment. I’ll be returning next Saturday. To compensate my disappointment we went to look at the meat section. There is a whole cold section dedicated to Australian produced Wagyu beef.

Costco's Wagyu cabinet

I will blog soon about cooking Wagyu beef.

The Maestral Mediterranean and Seafood restaurant is on 13 Trenerry Street in Weston. The menu is a combination of Croatian, seafood and beef. The surf and turf/reef and beef options look amazing.

We started with baby fried calamari and then went onto a Maestral seafood platter.

Baby fried calamari

The calamari was perfectly fried. It was juicy and tender.

The Maestral seafood platter. The soft shell crab was the highlight.

The platter had a combination of oysters (natural and oysters Maestral [see menu]), scampi, prawns, fish, soft shell crab and fried potatoes.

Me smiling because I love seafood platters

I would definitely go back and try other dishes on the menu. It’s a very popular restaurant. We saw a number of familiar faces and friends there last night.

After the Maestral we thought we’d enjoy dessert at Max Brenner in Belconnen. I chose the waffle with strawberries and vanilla ice cream.

Max Brenner waffle with strawberries and vanilla ice cream

And so finished a pretty good day.

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Another one of those days, using a distraction to help me cope

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It’s been a long couple of days at work with a few issues taking all my attention. They were sufficiently different to make focus and concentration difficult. To help me focus better, I used a technique that I learnt many years ago. Whenever I felt a bit stressed I thought of something I wanted to do and built up a picture to appreciate. I knew I had a piece of steak in the refrigerator. By the end of the day I had a meal composed and cooked in my head. The problem was I had little time. I left the office at a reasonable time however, my bag was full of work and my e-mail inbox replete with unread messages. On top of that I had a week’s worth of ironing I had to do tonight.

The best time saver in the kitchen is the pressure cooker. I’ve blogged about my pressure cooking before when I made jook (congee) and pork belly.

In my mind this morning I started with a piece of steak that I diced. In the pressure cooker I put some roughly cut onion, ginger, potato and the steak. I also added a little red curry paste and water. I cooked this for 30 minutes. In a wok I sauteed onions and ginger in olive oil. When the onion had softened I added some diced tomatoes and then the rest of the red curry paste I had. While that was simmering I added peas, beans and carrots. When the meat was finished I added it to the wok and combined everything through. I added some coconut milk and while that was coming to a simmer I prepared some noodles. I added a little lime juice and coriander as I served the curry on the bed of noodles.

These thoughts kept me sane today. The meal turned out well and I’ve now finished the ironing and completed a good portion of my homework.

My dinner tonight was a red beef curry

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My first time cooking salt and pepper chicken

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This meal was delicious. I think I may have used a little too much pepper but that’s not a bad thing.

I took 160 g (219 calories) of chicken thigh and cut it into bite sized pieces. I also diced a couple of cocktail potatoes 125 g (225 calories). I put a teaspoon of coarsely ground pepper, a teaspoon of finely ground white pepper, a teaspoon of cooking salt and a good shake of plain flour into a plastic bag. After lightly oiling the chicken and potatoes I shook them in the bag to coat the pieces with salt, pepper and flour. I put the chicken and potato onto a baking tray and put into a moderate to high oven for 20 minutes. I served with peas and carrots.

Salt and pepper chicken

Pea and ham soup

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This afternoon I made pea and ham soup from Stephanie Alexander‘s book. It tasted fine but was a little salty. The recipe calls for 3 litres of water. I could only get about 2.5 litres into my pot. It didn’t add any salt so I assume all the salt came from the ham hock. I didn’t make the sippets, I’ve had enough fat today.

Pea and ham soup [Stephanie Alexander]

Ingredients

2 cups of split peas
1 large onion that has been diced
2 carrots that have been peeled and diced
1 small ham hock
3 litres of cold water
3 cloves of garlic that have been peeled
1 bay leaf
1 generous sprig of thyme
freshly ground black pepper

Method

Place all the ingredients into a large pot and bring slowly to the simmering point. Set the lid of the pot slightly ajar and simmer for 90 minutes until the peas are quite tender. Remove the hock. Pull the meat from the hock and dice the meat. Discard the skin. PurŽe the soup with a food processor. Adjust the seasoning. Add the diced meat.

Reheat and serve with sippets—small cubes of bread fried crisp in olive oil.
The complete book of ingredients and recipes for the Australian kitchen.