Three Bags Full

56 Nicholson St
Abbotsford, 3067
www.threebagsfullcafe.com

There's something about Three Bags Full that is just cool. Damn cool.
I thought at first that the flocks of people that come through the doors were only there because there wasn't any other decent cafe around Abbotsford. Whilst this is true, there's something more to TBF that at first I couldn't put my finger on. Then as I looked around the room and started to put all the pieces together.
There's the antique Tolix Chairs. Not the replicas that all the other cafes are using, but the real deal.. There's the bare globes dangling from the ceiling. There's the bright yellow highlights around the room. The old warehouse walls are garnished with artwork; rubbings of ladies undergarments. The big factory style windows brighten the room. Flowers on the tables bring a touch of elegance to the old factory room.


A glance down at the other end of our communal table and we spied an ex-Masterchef contestant. Another look across to the constant flow of people coming through the door- early on a Monday morning and we spot local comedian Josh Thomas. It seems that even the local celebs think highly of this place.


I ordered the smashed peas, ricotta, tomato vinaigrette with poached egg on sourdough. What an awesome warm weather breakfast. Fresh peas on toast, with runny poached eggs on top. Very Cool!


The coffee is sensational. It was strong on the morning we visited, but it's not too bitter and not too milky. There's not many coffees around town that I actually really like, but these guys make my favourite so far!


The staff, some of which I recognise from the owners other cafe in Alphington - APTE.
Despite the popularity of the cafe early on a Monday, staff are friendly and efficient, even somewhat bubbly! A hard one to pull off on a Monday!

So, what is it about this place that makes it so cool? I think it's everything. They seem to have gotten all the little details 'just right.' From the food to the service, to the decor to the Hilltop Hoods being played on the speakers. Very cool. I can see why this place is always busy. If you have to wait for a table, trust me when I say it's worth the wait.

The Farm Cafe ( Collingwood Children's Farm )

18 St Heliers Street

Abbotsford VIC 3067
http://farmcafe.com.au/

Nestled amongst the trees, animals and alongside one of Melbourne's busiest bike trails (capital city trail) is The Farm Cafe - just next to the reception of Collingwood Children's Farm.
Looking out towards the chickens is this lovely little, mostly outdoor cafe. There's no table service, not much shelter if it's raining, but on a nice day, this awesome cafe is packed! Families stop off here before or after visiting the animals at the farm and bike riders stop off, for some breakky or lunch to fuel them on their travels.

The menu reads as you would expect a menu to read at the Children's farm. Lots of Free Range, organic, Bio-Dynamic, Sustainable ingredients make up the delicious dishes that are on offer here.

We visited on a Sunday morning about 9.30am and the place was already full of kids and their parents. Being outdoors though, the kids aren't too much of a drama as there's no walls for their yelling to bounce off.

You order at the counter and take a number. Usually that's not so cool, but here it works well.

Em orders the 'Goat's Toast'. Sourdough toast, beetroot relish, baby spinach & avocado
topped with marinated goats cheese $15 or with a poached egg $16.50. The beetroot relish was something out of the ordinary and pretty amazing. Goat's Cheese and eggs seem to just live in harmony together - well in my opinion anyway. Em also ordered bacon to go with her breakky, since it all sounded a little too healthy! She loved the breakky.


I ordered the Slow Cooked Beans, in a tomato & fennel seed sauce with marinated fetta & fresh herbs served with sourdough toast $10.50 with a poached egg $12. These beans were really good. Not quite as good as the first ones I had at Fenix, but they were up there. It was quite a big serve too, I couldn't even finish it.


So, if it's a nice day and you feel like a little venure down to The Farm Cafe, you'll be very happy with the food and you'll even be happier with the view. You wouldn't even know that you were about 4km to Melbourne's CBD.




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Coin Laundry

61 A Armadale StreetArmadale, 3143

"Do you have a dollar, do you have a dollar for me?" - sung Lisa Mitchell in her song Coin Laundry. Well Lisa, I'm sorry, but if you need to scab a dollar from one of the punters at the fairly new Coin Laundry Cafe in Armadale, then you're probably eating out in the wrong area.

The customers at Coin Laundry, don't appear to be hard up for a dollar. That's probably because their modelling careers have taken off. The same could be said for the staff that work here too. The 2 male baristas look like something off the cover of Men's Health Magazine. While one of the female waitresses could easily be Australia's next 'it' girl. You would think that it would be hard to relax in a place like this, without worrying if you had a hair out of place or left some latte froth on your top lip. However, that's not the case.

Coin Laundry is suprisingly relaxed and laid back. The staff, despite their insane good looks, are very friendly and professional too. The room is sun-filled with massive windows looking out onto the swanky Armadale terraces. I reckon I can barely afford breakfast here, let alone one of those houses. But again, that's not the case! Breakfast is reasonably priced, which is why I guess the well to do, penny pinching locals love this place so much.

The menu doesn't go out of it's way to be different though, with everything on there sounding tasty, but very middle of the road. Considering the amount of amazing cafes in Melbourne at the moment, I was suprised to see a cafe of this calibre serving your standard poached eggs with bacon and rocket on top.

I ordered the Grilled Champagne Ham with Fontina Cheese on thick cut Noisette Sourdough with Roasted Roma Tomato and Torn Basil ($11.50) plus I ordered a poached egg on top ($3).

The Noisette bread was excellent as is everything I've tried of their's (especially their Olive Bread!). The fontina cheese looked a bit odd, kind of spread on the bread, looking a little like cream cheese. The poached egg, was perfectly poached and the tomato was nicely roasted. However the skin was left on. No big deal, but it would be nicer if they went to the effort of removing the skin. It was pretty tasty, but it's one of those things that you sit there and look at and go "I could have just made this at home and not driven all the way to Armadale." Which is exactly what I said.


Em ordered the Scrambled eggs with Bacon, Smashed Acovado and Rocket ($unk). Again, your standard cafe fare. Em noted that it was decent, but the scrambled eggs didn't have much flavour to them. However, I must point out that since I introduced Em to Bill's Scrambled Eggs in Sydney, nothing has quite met their standard. The 'smashed' Avocado has some lemon through it and maybe a bit of olive oil, which gave it's slightly runnier consistancy.

Em has a theory, that the better looking the barista, the better the coffee. Coin Laundry was apparently keeping up with this theory. Coin Laundry's coffee according to Em was pretty darn good! Their tea menu was fairly disappointing however, with only your stock standard Earl Grey, English Breakfast, Chai and Green. I wish cafes would show as much interest in the teas that they sell, as the coffee that they sell.

Overall, I reckon Coin Laundry would be a top local choice if you lived nearby. The staff are friendly and efficient, the food is decent, but it's not somewhere that I personally would be racing across town to re-visit. I think there are much more interesting options that I will be visiting before heading back there.

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DIY - Proud Mary's Potato Hash, Egg, Bacon, Spinach and Bagna Cauda

I found this recipe in Jamie Oliver's most recent issue of his magazine. He paid a visit to Proud Mary and proclaimed that it served the best coffee he had ever tried - period!

I've eaten this breakfast many, many times at the very popular Proud Mary cafe in Collingwood. I particularly love their Bagna Cauda sauce, which they serve with the perfectly cooked eggs and crunchy, yet soft potato hash. The sauce isn't as salty as you might think. The anchovies just provide the perfect seasoning with a bit of that lovely anchovy fishyness. Boiling the 8 garlic cloves in milk, also somewhat tones down the garlic flavour.

The trick to this breakky is all about timing. You'll need to have about 4 or 5 pans on the go at the same time, so if you enjoy a bit of pressure before breakfast on a weekend, this is a fun one to have a go at! Pity I can't make coffee at home as good as the one Jamie had at Proud Mary!



Serves 4

*4 Desiree Potatoes, peeled and halves
*1/4 Bunch chives, finely chopped, plus extra to serve
*About 50g of Butter, melted, plus 30g extra for the spinach
*12 Rashers of Streaky Bacon
4 Handfuls of Baby Spinach
4 Eggs

Bagna Cauda
8 Garlic Cloves
150ml Milk
25g Anchovies in a little oil
50ml single cream
1 small sprig of rosemary

1 Boil the potatoes in salted water until almost cooked, then drain, steam dry and set aside to cool. Do not overcook - you'll be grating the potatoes and want to grate into strands, not collapse. When the potatoes are cold, frate on the thick side of a box grater, Place in a mixing bowl and combine with the chives, then season well. Shape the mixture into 4 patties.

2 Get a pan of water on the boil, ready to poach your eggs. Place the potato cakes into a hot frying pan or grill plate. Flatted them down, spoon over a little melted butter and cook for 3 - 5 minutes, until crisp and golden underneath. Flip and shape into flat squares.

3 For the bagna cauda, simmer the garlic in 100ml of milk for about 5 minutes until soft, then remove with a slotted spoon, discarding the milk. Blend the anchovies, garlic, cream and 50ml of milk with a hand blender until smooth. Transfer to a pan then simmer the sauce with the rosemary until it thickens very slightly, keep warm.

4 Cook the bacon to your liking in another pan, wilt the spinach with the 30g butter and some black pepper. Poach your eggs.

5 To serve, place a potato hash on each plate. Top with a poached egg, then bacon and spinach. Drizzle generously with the hot bagna cauda.

Cumulus Inc, Breakfast

45 Flinders Ln, Melbourne Vic
(03) 9650 1445

Apparently everyone loves Cumulus Inc. I'd never been, so I thought I'd check it out for breakfast. The morning was one of Melbourne's coldest, windiest and wettest days we've had this year. For that reason, I thought we'd be a shoe in to get a table without a wait. Especially early on a Saturday morning.

At Cumulus Inc, it seemingly doesn't matter what the weather is like or what day it is. People will flock here, because it's meant to be 'that' good!
We waited about 20 minutes for a table, in the corner which is reserved for the waiting cattle. Cumulus is a big industrial room, with beautiful warehouse style windows looking out onto Flinders Lane.

We ordered the Ham and Cheese Toastie with relish and avocado ($14). I can't remember the fancy name of the cheese or the windswept location where the pig lived that the ham came from or which trendy bakery the bread came from. But as tasty as the toastie was, it was small. Not really what you'd expect for $14. You'd definitely need two to fill you up.

I'm sure the Lunches and Dinners here are better value, since the place is so popular. With so many breakfast places in Melbourne though, there's no room for places that don't provide value for money, because there are so many that do.

Fenix

Gary Mehigan, Masterchef's seemingly cuddly, father-like figure has two restaurants to his name. Initially there was Fenix, which he part owned with Molecular Gastronomy wizard - Raymond Capaldi. Then came The Boat-House in Maribyrnong. A very family orientated restaurant, down by the river. Unfortunately, Gary and Raymond decided to part ways, which left Fenix at a bit of a loss, since Capaldi was a crucial element of what Fenix was famous for. After Capaldi's departure, for a number of years Fenix only ran as a functions centre. But then this year on Masterchef, we saw Gary wearing his chef whites, with the Fenix logo on the chest. Did this mean the re-opening of Fenix as a restaurant? Indeed it did!

Fenix in it's original form was loved as a cafe, just as much as it was as a restaurant. Locals would head to Fenix on a Saturday and Sunday morning and sit outside by the yarra, amongst the trees and enjoy some english style brunch.
I decided to surprise Em with a visit to Fenix, as she was a big Gary Mehigan fan whilst Masterchef was on television. She had never been to Fenix before and she definately didn't know that it had been re-opened.
We arrived at 9.30am on a wintery Melbourne Saturday morning to discover the only place to park in the vicinity is the Fenix carpark, which is part of the Victoria Gardens complex. This costs $5 for the whole day. This wasn't ideal.
At the restaurant, all of the table were free, except one. I asked the Barista behind the counter if we could just sit anywhere. He asked if we had a reservation. "umm, no, do we need one?" considering almost every single table was free, I would hope not. Someone came out from a back room and seated us at a lovely table near the window. The table cloths are crisp and white, the napkins are a natural brown and the chairs are Hans Wegner Wishbone style. The waitress is friendly, yet, like our surroundings, very, very formal. Not what I'm used to at a Saturday morning breakfast. When one of the waiters came by to top up our water (I think he was the manager) he spotted a group of people turning up at the restaurant. The people had prams and a couple of dogs. The (possible) manager muttered to us "great, my two favourite things dogs and babies!" Ok, I get the humour - but not very professional - especially considering that now I'm sitting here typing exactly what he said.

I ordered the Homemade Baked Beans, with smoked chorizo, farmhouse cheddar and baked free range egg ($16). I've eaten lots of baked beans around town and these by far were my standout favourites! Everything about them was perfect. The tomato sauce has a slight sweetness to it, which was perfect with the absolute best chorizo I have ever eaten. The chorizo was spicy and smokey. I tried to find out from the waitress where they source their chorizo, but she wasn't giving away any secrets. Served with the beans were two perfectly poached eggs and two pieces of toast. Pay attention now, because this matters later.

Em ordered the Eggs Flornetine. A simple breakfast, but she said it was some of the best eggs she's had in ages. Considering that we go out most weekends for breakfast, that's definately a compliment. The hollandaise sauce also appeared to be perfect and Em said that it didn't leave her tummy with that sickly feeling that Hollandaise sauce can sometimes give you.

So good was our breakfast at Fenix, that we recommended it to some good friends of ours. They were keen to try and we were keen to go back, so we went back the very next Sunday.
The next week, the atmosphere was the same - a little too highbrow for a Sunday morning if you ask me. It seems however, that not everything was the same in the kitchen at Fenix.

I again ordered those fantastic Baked Beans. Only this time it was like they spilt the sugar into the sauce. It was sweet, sickly sweet. It was almost so sweet that you could call it a dessert! Not cool. Also, it seems that despite the price remaining the same as last week ($16), this week, I only got one poached egg and one piece of toast! Now, forgive me if I'm wrong, but I do recall the judges on Masterchef rabbiting on about consistency in the kitchen.

One of our friends ordered the Fenix Breakfast (Grilled bacon, oven baked roma tomato, homemade hash brown, gourmet sausage choice of scrambled or poached eggs - $20). The sausage was cut open only to discover it was very undercooked on the inside. We had to send the sausage back to the kitchen to be cooked further.

The most shocking part of breakfast was yet to come. Em wasn't feeling too good, so she chose to only order toast with Jam, which wasn't on the menu. The kitchen was only too happy to accommodate. However, when it came time for us to pay the bill, we checked the cost of the 2 pieces of toast with jam. It came to $10! Yes, you heard correctly, $10!! I can buy 3 loaves of amazing Babka bread for that price.

So, the first week we visited we had one of the best breakfasts we've had in ages - perfectly executed. And then, the next week, the complete opposite. Undercooked, over sweetened and overpriced food! It's amazing how a bad experience can completely outweigh even the best of experiences - like the one we had the previous week. So much so, that I won't be hurrying back to Fenix again for breakfast any time soon. And given that dinners are not cheap either, I'll probably avoid those in fear of inconsistent food.

Oh, and if you don't want to pay $5, we discovered that you can park across victoria st in one of the office building car parks for free. They are closed on the weekend, so there's nobody around to get upset that you're parking in their spot.

Birdie Num Nums

745 Nicholson Street, Carlton North, Vic

Birdie Num Nums has been around for a while now, but I've never actually heard a great deal about it. Now I know why. BNNs is located in Carlton North, just across the road from the Empress Hotel. There's not too many cafe's around the area that I know of, so I expect this joint to be pumping! As you can tell by the photo above, it's definitely not the case. Very strange for an inner city cafe at 10am on a lovely Saturday morning.

The cafe itself, is beautiful. From what I understand it was an old butcher shop, converted into a cafe. There's still lots of old fittings in the room and it's quite a nice setup. I'd be happy with it if it was mine.

It's a pity that the food at BNNs isn't as appealing as the cafe itself. While the menu reads really well and the food sounds appetising, unfortunately, it just doesn't deliver and neither does the below average service.

The disappointment began when we all ordered coffees and they all arrived pretty much cold. I think they either forgot to heat the milk or they had just left them sitting too long before sending them over to our table. Either way, we sent them back and asked for hot coffees. Funnily enough, the coffees we got second time around were just as cold. Hopefully the food to come would be better. We waiting about 30 minutes from the time we ordered for our food to arrive.

I ordered the Baked Beans with Chorizo ($?). These arrived at my table almost stone cold. Considering we were about 4 meters from the kitchen, the food should be piping hot! The actually baked beans were really, really tasty and sweet and my poached egg on top was only slightly overcooked. It's a shame they just couldn't get it out to me hot.


As good as my breakfast was, despite the fact that it was cold - the other 3 people I was with weren't so lucky. Firstly, everybody's poached eggs were solidly cooked to the point where they were powdery. Everybody's food was luke-warm. Everybody's toast was either burnt or had patches of charcoal on it.

The eggs on the Eggs Royale ($14) were cooked solidly.



The eggs in the Egyptian eggs ($15) were also seriously overcooked.


The eggs in the big breakfast ($16) were, guess what? You got it, overcooked!
Also, the roast tomato in the big breakfast, I doubt was even roasted. Roast tomato should be soft and broken down and cooked until it's sweet. These were panfried roast tomatoes. Lazy.
And even more unforgivable than cold meals or overcooked eggs, was the fact that they were serving store bought hash browns! Do people still do that these days? How hard is it to grate some potatoes and make your own?


We called one of the waitresses over to complain about the eggs and the fact that they were overcooked. Her response was "oh....." and then walked off into the kitchen. When she came back, she asked "would you like anything else?"
Was she serious?? You couldn't get eggs right, you couldn't get coffee right, you couldn't get tomatoes or hash browns right and now you want us to order something else? Get real.

Birdie Num Nums is not somewhere I'd be heading back to in a hurry. It's a shame really, because the place has the potential to have people lining up to get in there on the weekends. This could be the perfect local hangout for Carlton North people, but instead, I'm sure they'd rather head up to Brunswick or into Fitzroy North, just down the road for some hot coffee and perfectly cooked eggs.

Breakfast Gnocchi

After our amazing Quail with Gnocchi dinner the night before, we had enough Gnocchi left to make another meal. So, I decided to use the leftover Gnocchi for breakfast.
This one is simple, simple simple. Just think of Gnocchi for breakfast like a little fluffy Italian Hash Brown.

I simply roasted some vine ripened tomatoes until they were soft.
Fried up some free range bacon and then the Gnocchi in the same pan.
Poach an egg to pop on top of it all and plate it up! Too easy!

Duchess Of Spotswood

87 Hudsons Rd, Spotswood Ph 03 9391 6016
Twitter: @duchesscafe

Finally, the Western Suburbs has a cafe worth crossing the Westgate for! Duchess of Spotswood has been opened for a few months now in the main drag of Spotswood, on Hudson Rd. There's not too many other places along there worth visiting, other than Mies for their great coffee, which is just next door to the Duchess. The two actually opened at very much the same time, which I'm sure was a bit of a shock to the owners of both Mies and Duchess.
This was the third time that we'd visited the Duchess. The first time that we visited, they had just opened and didn't have a full time chef or full menu as yet. The next time we visited, the chef had only just begun and they were just getting into the swing of things. Lots of potential to be seen!
So, this weekend was our 3rd visit to the Duchess and it was our best visit yet!

The first time we visited, the lovely, lovely owner was chatting to us about them getting the place together and where they sourced their equipment and furnishings. The communal table at the front of the room is actually from an old Dance Hall in Yarraville. A story that makes the beautiful recycled wood table, that much more special. She also told us a story about driving all the way out to Daylesford way to pick up their amazing butcher's block, which sits in the middle of the room as their newpaper table. Duchess, is beautifully fitted out with lots of vintage pieces and some new ones that fit in perfectly with the old ones. I absolutely LOVE their yellow oven in the kitchen!

Something I love about Duchess is that they really dig seasonal ingredients and their menu really reflects that. For instance, the special of the day was fresh, foraged mushrooms from Mt Macedon. Knowing that these little beauties have only come into season not too long ago, I was keen to give these a go - fingers crossed that whoever picked them, didn't accidentally throw in a few 'magic' mushrooms for a laugh. Lucky for me they hadn't. All they had picked was damn fine, super tasty, fresh mushies. The mushies came served with bacon, a poached egg, delicious toast and an amazing little cheesy white sauce, which I think was semolina? ($15) Unfortunately, I didn't pay attention to the name of the sauce, but it was great to spread on the toast and then top with the mushies, bacon and egg! I highly recommend getting down there to check out this breakky, while it's on the specials list!

Em ordered the 'simple' breakky, which consisted of Heirloom tomatoes, which due to our extended run of warm weather are still available. The tomatoes are served with goats cheese and a poached egg if you choose. These tomatoes were absolutely delightful. Full of flavour, brilliant colour and perfectly matched with the goats cheese. Such a good way to start the day.

I'm sure you're going to hear lots more about Duchess soon, especially as more and more people realise that they have an amazing cafe right in the backyard. But even if it's not in your backyard, it's definitely worth a trip across the bridge.

The Hardware Societe

120 Hardware Lane, Melbourne, 03 9078 5992

I go out for breakfast most weekends, sometimes even twice. Living in Fitzroy, I'm lucky enough to be surrounded by amazing places to have breakfast. Yet, somehow, other than eating a McMuffin at McChucks, I've never actually ventured into the city on the weekend for a proper breakfast.


My first venture into the world of CBD breakfasts was last weekend at The Hardware Societe. I'd heard about this place simply from the constant chatter about it from fellow Twitter peeps. The guys from Hardware Societe are also Twitterers themselves.

The Hardware Societe sits amongst many other restaurants on the famous Hardware Lane strip that like to talk the talk, but cannot walk the walk. Refreshingly, The Hardware Societe can not only walk the walk, but they tap dance all over the faces of those other 'wannabe' restaurants along Hardware Lane!


The cafe is decked out with lots of Yellow, which I'm a huge fan of. If you saw my bedroom, you'd see what I mean! I'm very jealous of their bright yellow bare bulb lights. Despite being a little overused these days, the replica Eames chairs they have chosen are always a safe bet for looks and comfort.


Now, I'm not a coffee drinker, so I was very excited to see my favourite tea in prime position on the tea menu - French Earl Grey. Not enough cafes put interesting teas on their menu, so it's great to see here! Also, they use Tea Cosies on their tea pots! Em' will go to a cafe JUST because they use Tea Cosies. Very cool.


A quick look at the breakfast menu and you know that The Hardware Societe isn't your standard Bacon and poached eggs breakfast place. The menu is interesting, seasonal, different, which makes it very, very difficult to make a decision as to what to order.

What caught both my eye and Em's were our childhood favourite - Boiled eggs with Soldiers. Whilst you might find eggs with soldiers on many a cafe menu, none that I've ever seen have been served like this!


Each of the three toasts served with the boiled eggs have their own delicious little topping.
First was White Asparagus with Blue Cheese. Awesome! Everybody knows egg goes perfectly with asparagus and the Blue cheese was the perfect little seasoning to go with it.
Second was Salmon Tartare with little baby capers.
Third from memory was Roasted Tomato with crispy Pancetta. The tomato was deliciously sweet and the Pancetta perfectly salty. Wow.


Eating this baby is a bit of a challenge - well for me anyway. I wasn't exactly sure where to even start with this one. I went with taking the top off the perfectly soft boiled eggs with my knife and scooping out the insides of the eggs and adding them to the tops of the little toasted soldiers.
A little messy, but lots and lots of fun! It bought back lots of childhood memories of eggs and soldiers. At least this time most of it ended up in my mouth and not thrown across the table at my little sister when I was a kid!


This is by far the most interesting, imaginative and fun breakfast I've had in ages. I'm looking forward to heading into the city on weekends for many more breakfasts at The Hardware Societe. Hopefully I can get down there at lunchtime during the work week also, because reading their tweets, the lunches sound absolutely amazing! How many lunch places in the city have snails as a special? If you haven't been to The Hardware Societe, you should definately check it out - it's a refreshing change to all of the warehouse-esque cafes of Fitzroy and Collingwood, etc.

Cookbook Challenge, Week 5 - Hellenic Republic's Homemade Yoghurt and Berries

This weeks challenge was Greek. So, when looking to a cookbook for Greek recipes - who else do you turn to other than the one, the only, masterchef - George Calombaris?
I thought about making things like Souvlaki, Pan Fried Halloumi, Spanikopita, but I decided to go with something a little different, a little homely and something I've been wanted to attempt for years. More than anything, I just wanted to see if this would actually work!



My recipe this week is from Georgie's book - Greek Cooking from the Hellenic Heart. It's Homemade Yoghurt with Berries. Now, despite the title, this yoghurt isn't actually homemade from scratch. You actually have to purchase a tub of natural yoghurt with live cultures.
You basically mix milk with the tub of yoghurt and overnight the cultures change the milk into yoghurt.


The yoghurt doesn't set as thick as the original yoghurt, it's slightly runnier, but it really does turn into yoghurt! It tastes pretty delicious! I used organic milk to make this, which hopefully created a better final result.
I topped the yoghurt with summer fruits and berries with yoghurt and chopped pistachios. If I had my own cafe, a version of this would definately be on the summer menu!

Recipe - Serves 4
Ingredients:

800ml Full Cream Milk
1 Tablespoon Honey
Pinch Salt
1 Cup of Plain Greek style yoghurt with live cultures
Mixed Berries
Extra Honey

1. Bring Milk to the boil, simmer for 2 minutes and then leave to cool to blood temp (37c)
2. Whisk in honey, salt and yoghurt, then strain into sterilised glass jars and cover with cling film and leave to sit at room temperature for 12 hours.
3. Serve with mixed berries of your choice and drizzle with honey.

Cookbook Challenge, Week 4, Stephanie Alexander's Baked Beans from The Cook's Companion

I'm a bit of a homemade Baked Beans fan, in case you couldn't already tell. I think this is about my fifth baked beans post!
Recently, I've eaten some bloody amazing baked beans out and about. The two most memorable were at The Little Ox in Brighton and at the Wye River General Store. Ever since then, I've wanted to attempt to recreate some beans as good as I'd had there. I knew that was going to take some slow cooking and patience. It turns out that Stephanie Alexander's Book, The Cook's Companion calls for both of those. I'd heard good things about her baked beans recipe, so I thought I'd give it a go.


The beans turned out sensationally. I think the two things that really help this dish along are making sure that you use the best bacon you can find. I honestly believe that free range bacon tastes bettter. If you don't believe me, give it a go - you'll smell the difference when you're cooking it. The other thing is to use REAL Maple Syrup. However, if you can't get a hold of real maple syrup or just don't want to spend the money on a bottle, you could really just use honey, golden syrup or treacle. All will produce a slightly different final result, but just experiment, I say. Just be warned that you need to be patient when making these beans. Best to make them the day before you want to eat them, then slowly reheat them in the morning for breakfast.
Here I've attempted to copy the Little Ox's poached egg on top. Give it a go, it's delicious to have the runny yolk mix in with the tomato sauce. Wow!



375g dried Borlotti or Red Kidney beans - soaked
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion - diced
3 cloves garlic - chopped
2 carrots - diced
2 rashers thick, streaky bacon - cut into 1cm wide strips
2 red peppers - cut into 2cm squares
1 green pepper - cut into 2cm squares
1 400g can peeled tomatoes - don't drain
1 bay leaf
1 sprig thyme
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon crushed coriander seeds
salt
freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons maple syrup, treacle, golden syrup or honey

----------------------

Preheat oven to 160 degreesC.
Rinse soaked beans, then put into saucepan & cover with cold water.
Bring to a boil, then strain & rinse with cold water.
Heat oil in a large enameled cast-iron casserole & saute onion, garlic, carrot & bacon. After 5 minutes, when onion has softened & bacon is sizzling, add red & green peppers.
Puree tomatoes & juice in a food processor & add to casserole with beans (I just used passata here) & remaining ingredients, except maple syrup.
Mix well. Add sufficient cold water to cover beans by 4 cm.
Transfer casserole, tightly sealed, into oven & bake for at least 4 hours.
Stir well after 2 hours, checking that it is still reasonably sloppy ( if too dry, add a little water & reduce oven temp).
After 4 hours, stir in maple syrup, extra salt & plenty of freshly ground pepper.
The beans should now be in a rich sauce. If too thick, add a little water; if too runny & the beans are tender, increase oven temp & continue to cook.

Be careful not to allow the bottom of the beans to burn, especially when you're reheating them.

Chocolate and Raspberry Muffin Recipe - Bourke Street Bakery Book

Admittedly, most of the time I suck at baking. But when I suck at something, I'm always determined to better myself. That is where the Bourke Street Bakery book comes in. All the times I've been to Sydney, I'd never heard of BSB until the book was released and all of my Sydney based 'tweeps' were raving about the book. So, I made my way down to the books shop and checked out the book. Turns out it's the exact Baking cook book I've been looking for, for years!
The book is loaded with great recipes on how to make PROPER bread from scratch, with detailed instructions on how to make your own white and rye starters. This is artisan baking at it's best. So many times I've tried to make bread and it has never ever, not once, turned out well. I've never been happy with a single loaf. So, at the moment I'm day 4 (out of 4 weeks) of making my own bread starter. But that's another post for later.
Along with all the amazing breads in this book, there are also lots of great pastries and cakes to make. Since I had a kilo of delicious Yarra Valley Raspberries in my Freezer, I thought it would be great to try out this recipe. Who doesn't like Raspberries and Chocolate! The recipe is really easy and the only tip you need is to just be careful not to overmix the batter. Overmixing can make the finished product toughen up and become chewy. Not what you want.
These muffins turned out perfectly. So, it looks like I'm on the way to being a star baker!!

Dark Chocolate and Raspberry Muffins
Makes 12

• 400g (2 2/3 cups) plain flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 300g caster sugar
• 310g unsalted butter
• 480ml buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 225g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
• 225g raspberries, fresh or frozen
• 55g raw sugar
• Icing sugar, for dusting


1. Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F). Lightly grease a 12-hole muffin tin and line with paper cases.
2. Sift the flour and baking paper into a bowl and add the sugar, mixing well to combine.
3. Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat, then remove from the heat and stir in the buttermilk. Using a whisk stir in the eggs to combine. Pour over the dry ingredients and whisk to combine. Use a large spoon to gently fold through the chocolate and raspberries.
4. Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin tins. Sprinkle the tops with raw sugar. Reduce the oven temperature to 180°C (350°F) and bake for 20-25 minutes. It may be necessary to drop the temperature about 10 minutes before the end of baking time if the muffins are starting to brown on top.
5. To test if the muffins are done, push the top gently to feel that it is firm. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tins for 10 minutes before eating. Dust with icing sugar to serve.

Red Shed Cafe

Medhurst Rd, Gruyere, www.redshedcafe.com.au

Just like in inner city Melbourne, where if you get off the beaten track, you'll find some of the coolest and best cafes and restaurant's in the back streets and laneways, the Yarra Valley is no different. Get out of the main towns and off the main roads and you'll find some amazing little places, which are still kept reasonably secret. One of those places that I have heard whispers about was Red Shed Cafe, which is located the beautiful Medhurst winery in Gruyere, 10 minutes from Coldstream.

The cafe was started by two beautiful young ladies, -(well according to their photos on their website) best friends, Maggie and Frances. Frances' family actually own the winery, where the cafe is based.


The cafe isn't a 'shed' and the only Red Shed that we saw, was a little one along the driveway, on the way in. The cafe is almost completely glass on one side, which takes advantage of the amazing views across the paddocks in front of the building. On a nice day, you can sit out on the deck and eat your lunch on the colourful tolix stools and beach style chairs. On the day we visited, it was a beautiful day in Melbourne, but unfortunately, the weather was less than perfect in the Yarra Valley. We pulled up a stool at the bar against the window and watched the rain pour down.

The cafe has that slightly industrial feel with the Tolix stools and chairs, big long communal tables, wooden panelling, which comfortably suits the beautiful winery environment.



Since the weather was very ordinary, it was definately Hot Chocolate time! Big colourful mugs, rich, sweet chocolate taste, just the way I like it.


The menu is mostly sandwiches and very basic cooked lunches. We went with the Smoked Yarra Valley Trout Sandwich, with Dill, Radish Tomato and Rocket ($14.50), which was simply delicious. It was very, very rich, however and we did struggle to finish the whole thing - especially after our equally rich Hot Choccies. I have to admit that this is the most expensive sandwich I've ever eaten and as good as it was, I'm not sure it was worth the $14.50.


Red Shed apparently does amazing breakfasts also. Something I'll definately love to go back and try, especially on a beautiful spring morning - when it's not raining!