australian rozie

This special event was held at one of my favourite Sydney restaurants, Danks Street Depot. Seven little Australians gathered to celebrate Dave’s birthday and enjoy food sources from within 10 miles of Waterloo. I thought it was not only a great concept, but a great example of sustainability and common sense! It really annoys me that supermarkets have garlic from China or Mexico and oranges from America. Really, I think it’s wrong to stick fresh produce on a plane and fly it to Australia. I am perfectly fine with not being able to buy a particular vegetable if it’s not in season.
Anyway, back to the meal – I was delighted to see Brasserie Bread, lemons sourced from someone’s backyard in Ryde, veges from a Chinese market garden in La Perouse and a rock cod caught off Botany Bay. Even some of the alcohol (beer) was produced locally. The meal wasn’t 100% within the 10 miles (eg. salt, flour, olive oil) but pretty much from within NSW, which was great. I particularly enjoyed the hand churned salted butter (yum), dessert – pavlova with lemon curd and honey sorbet (yes, honey locally made). We had a lot of fun with the rock cod which was wrapped in paperbark from a tree on Danks St!

Jared Ingersoll made a passionate and amusing speech. We really got our money’s worth because he was standing right in front of our table! I think he’s a really cool guy and he works really hard for what he believes in. A lady was filming a doco during the meal, I hope she didn’t film me eating. One of the organisers sat at our table (DSD loves the sharing food/tables with strangers concept), she helped to source all the local vendors for this special meal. Her mum’s chickens produced the eggs used on the night. We had a really great time at the 10 mile meal and at the end of the night walked down the road and went to bed

The 10 mile meal
Also known as the 16.09km meal, this multicourse dinner will illustrate the bountiful beauty of Sydney produce while also showcasing Sydney’s cultural diversity and its ability to feed itself – highlighting the growing interest in community gardens and growers markets.

10 MILE MEAL
Thursday October 7th 2010
Sourdough Bread
Brasserie Bread Sourdough with Pepe’s hand churned salted butter.
(Made in St. Peters from Picton cream)

A Medley of Spring Vegetables
Julienne daikon, grilled scallions and roasted beetroot.
(Freshly picked from Gordon Ha ‘s Chinese market gardens in La Perouse).

Frank’s Tomatoes
A tomato salad of Grosse Lisse, Baby Ox heart, Ox heart, Sweet Bites and assorted heirlooms with chapons and flat leaf parsley. (Tomatoes sourced by Frank Bonfante from Haberfield gardens).

Globe Artichokes
Artichokes steamed and served with a garlic, chilli and cream sauce. (Artichokes from Cornwallis and cream from Picton).

Squid Salad
Preserved squid salad with Daikon, Mint, Coriander, Choi Sum and shallots. Finished with a chilli, honey and lemon dressing. (Squid caught off Botany Bay, herbs and vegetables from Gordon Ha ‘s market garden in La Perouse; honey from George and Charis Schwartz in East Sydney, lemons picked in a backyard in Ryde).

Baked Fish
Whole Rock Cod baked in paperbark with lemon and chilli.
(Rock Cod caught off Botany Bay, Lemons from Ryde and Paperbark from Danks Street).

Green Veggies
Stir fried Bok Choi and Gai Lan (From Gordon Ha ‘s La Perouse Market Garden).

Dessert
Pavlova with lemon curd and cream. (Eggs from Sonia’s Happy Chooks in Homebush, Lemons from Ryde and cream from Picton).

Honey Sorbet
(Honey from George and Charis Schwartz)

Rock Cod caught off Botany Bay, Lemons from Ryde and Paperbark from Danks Street

Australian Rozie

Here are some tracks I played at Rob’s 40th birthday party. I was using Mark’s CD decks, not vinyl or scratch live (which I prefer). Had a few technical difficulties with MP3s on disc and I didn’t bring enough music. It seems that I now do only one DJ gig per year (I’m very exclusive ha ha), so book in for 2011 now .

Anyway – a fun time was had by all, great to catch with lots of old friends and drop some 80s glory. Mark played some nice house and disco tunes too.

In no particular order and not a complete list:
Come Back and Stay – Paul Young
Girls on Film – Duran Duran
Pull up to the Bumper – Grace Jones
Heaven is a Place on Earth – Belinda Carlisle
Mad World – Tears for Fears
Let’s Go Crazy – Prince
1999 – Prince
What have you done for me lately – Janet Jackson
Loose Fit – Happy Mondays
Blue Monday – New Order
Loaded – Primal Scream
Naughty Girl – Beyonce
SexyBack – Justin Timberlake
Bulletproof – La Roux
All Night Long (All Night) – Lionel Richie
Hung Up – Madonna
Music – Madonna
Vogue – Madonna
Holiday – Madonna
Dress You Up – Madonna
Cherish – Madonna
Suburbia – Pet Shop Boys
Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough – Michael Jackson
Somebody’s Watching Me – Rockwell (feat. Michael Jackson)
Got to be Real – Cheryl Lynn
I’m Coming Out – Diana Ross
Can’t get you out of my head – Kylie
Send Me an Angel – Real Life
and sorry I didn’t have any P!nk @#$%

Oh and Happy 40th Rob!

Congratulations to Patrick & Yvette on their wedding in San Fran. When I first met Patrick HAF, he was already a famous underground DJ in the Sydney rave scene of the early 90s. Dave even treasured a few of his mix tapes, until they disintegrated. By the late 90s we had become friends and I was no longer a dj groupie I was sad when he moved to the states, but was very happy that he met Yvette in San Fran and fell in lurve I’m really sorry that we couldn’t attend the celebrations, but I just had to see Rob Hood

We celebrated Honka Princess’ birthday at Sailors Thai at Ivy on Friday night. We had the $45 three course special menu which included a drink. The food was very nice, I walked on the wild side and sampled some spicy food, but I found it weird how the staff said that the dishes should be shared even though it was a set menu of which you had a choice of about 3 things. I chose a deep-fried prawn entree, duck for the main meal and black sticky rice dessert. Once again this month, I forgot my camera, so there’s not much documenting of this dinner. Maybe Honka Princess will upload some pics, but she hasn’t shared her photos from her European summer vacation from last year yet! The Ivy is really beautiful, I love the fit out, the furniture and design but I felt somewhat out of place there; not young, beautiful or rich enough perhaps. After traipsing around a couple of the jam-packed upstairs bars, we finally settled back on the street level at Ash St Cellar, where it was less crazy. On our way down the lift, I quipped that we should go back to Surry Hills where we belong They were playing some great music from 80s funk to Jay-Z at Ash Street Cellar. A staff member told me that that “the boss” chooses the music and there are many different music channels throughout the venue. Our group enjoyed some nice beverages such as port and mulled wine (yes, we’re getting old), while I had my regular make sure it’s soy hot chocolate

Josie in Ash St Cellar