As a resident of the Gorging Lodge, albeit an absent one, I felt obliged to contribute a share of my gastronomical adventures in exotic places. Let me begin with a short story about breadmaking.
Despite a different sky above, bread-making in Australia is more or less the same as anywhere else. However, two facts are worth relating. First, the supply of fresh yeast is scarce. In fact, so scarce that I have not yet managed to find a monger in Melbourne willing to trade an ounce for any amount of Australian dollars. For that reason, all my breads have been the product of dried yeast, which anyone passionate about their bread knows well to be of lesser merit.
Secondly, my oven is a charming artefact of the early twentieth century. Regrettably, although abundant in aesthetics, our piece of machinery falls short functionally. Yes, not only are its controls foul to master, it also lacks all means of thermometrics. Indeed, my first few baking attempts resembled my tragic efforts to get the better of certain fretless string instruments. However, once I had procured a remarkable little gizmo of oven thermometery, those obstacles became none of consequence whatsoever.
The result, a classic garlic bread ...
The wonderful wee gadget that brought it all about, an oven thermometer ...
A good friend of the Lodge, Paula, had long been committed to visiting us as a guest cook. I for one was really excited, since I knew Paula to be an excellent cook from parties that she has held. Her style is usually mainly Italian; but this time she had decided to do a Scottish menu, since - well, since she's Scottish and we never get to eat this kind of stuff. So, we were treated to cauliflower and blue cheese soup, haggis stuffed chicken breast with pancetta and "rumple dithymps" (basically mashed potatoes and white cabbage), and kranachan for dessert. It was a great meal! The Lodgers ended up drinking whiskey and talking philosophy until 6 am - my own state is documented here.
