The Age of Anticipation

Anticipation is a thing of beauty.
It has the power to make the weekend feel months away or stretch the excitement of an impending event out of proportion and into the weeks prior. Any retiree will lay testimony to the importance of having something to look forward to, something to pencil into the calendar, brag to the neighbours about and meticulously prepare for in the chance of unpredicted weather.
I use this reasoning to justify my next statement.
... I love aeroplane food.
That is to say that I loved the aeroplane food we had on our flights back to England. Now I should explain that I am judging it on consideration of past experiences with these high flying lunch boxes and with respect for the cooks who have to prepare 350+ meals to be taken 30000 ft into the air with sensitivity to allergies, cultural differences and costing. But lets be honest, the real reason I enjoyed my meal so much was the sheer anticipation of an activity outside the mundane 14 hours of small screens, limited leg room, crying babies and duty free shopping. Where the most exciting thing you experience after take off is when the kid next to you barfs into a bag and the elderly American lady with the headphones up too loud, releases a deafening roar with laughter having first experienced the hilarity of grown men dressing like women in Little Britain (true stories).

There's no denying it. When the first squeaks of that clunky food trolley echo through the cabin, sleeping masks are lowered, bodies stir, necks arch and little heads poke there way up the corridor all trying to pretend that this event isn’t the most exciting thing that has happened to them in the last 12 hours. Long haul travel is a bit like retirement isn’t it? New aches and pains, dressing for maximum comfort, a heightened level of impatience and general intolerance and the all important anticipation of an event involving food.
To all this the taste takes a back seat really. We could be served old porridge and we would still be excited.
Our meal was however not porridge but a tray of shiny individually packaged items including a bread roll, 'Thai' salad with coriander and chilli, fruit salad consisting entirely of melon, a tim-tam and a rice dish with some sort of satisfyingly sweet and sour sauce next to grey bok choy. All in all a satisfying way to kill an hour and fill that hole that has remained empty since you woke up at 3am, was too tired to eat and then too emotional about saying goodbye to even notice you were hungry.
The real culinary adventure is when you set foot in that new country you arrive in. Stay tuned.

x laura

The 'new' Ori menu

After being away for three years it is always good returning to a restaurant you have always known and loved in your home town. The place that feels like a second home. Where you know the staff, you know which seats catch the  morning sun and which table under the trees will guarantee a bird christening your new woolen jumper before you finish your coffee.

For myself and my family this has always been the Ori in Springwood. It has become a refuge for the housebound university student, the wind down for weary teachers and the meet and greet for everyone in between so it was the obvious choice for our farewell dinner last week.
Whilst being a quiet Tuesday night I couldn't help notice it seemed a little quieter than I remembered. The new bowling club down the road appears to have stripped this small business of many of its customers. This is perhaps more notably reflected in the significantly reduced menu. With one side of the A4 menu outlining the various no-alcoholic beverages available the other boasts a selection of pub meals largely disguised as modern Australian cuisine by the exuberant prices. With little available for vegetarians the meat and three veg format is a far cry from the interesting menu I remembered.

Although most of us did enjoy our meals and had a wonderful time it may have been due to the company and paired wine as opposed to the food. This is the beauty of food- the resulting enjoyment from stimulating conversation and time spent with friends can often erase the memory of a disappointing meal. The peppercorn sauce with my perfectly cooked veal was a highlight and the barramundi was fresh and well cooked but the prices for such simple food is inexcusable. It pains me to judge a place I feel so fondly for so harshly but it is confusing as to why the ori  has moved in such a simplified direction. Springwood has always lacked an exciting food scene but the once named best restaurant/cafe of the year was always a rose amongst the thorns. Has the competition from the newly refurbished Springwood Bowling Club really pushed this once popular establishment into the overpriced pub category? I'm sorry Ori, the "if you cant beat them join them" theory has not worked in this case. You will forever be my local retreat for coffee, wine and crepes but shape up the dinner menu or I fear you will lose the remaining dining customers you have and then where will the exhausted teachers go to revive?

x laura

- Stay tuned for my upcoming blogs on aeroplane food and the sights and tastes from our stop over in Hong Kong.

Senses of Sake

It was a case of seeing is believing this week when I heard that Australia has a Sake Brewery and of all places it is at the foot of the mountains in the cosmopolitan town of Penrith.Ben, Dave and I heading down today.

Through the stretches of deserted car yards and industrial factories, at the end of a col-de-sac, next to an abandoned lot and backing onto a stretch of plum and cherry trees sits the Sun Masamune sake brewery, Australia's only sake brewery.

We were welcomed into a small reception room by a kind Japanese man who turned out to be managing director of the company Allan Noble. With noted passion and experience he describes the sake making process from the growing of the rice in rural Australia to the prestigious final products which were proudly presented for us to sample.

The company has developed a highly sustainable and organic approach to sake making which includes a crop rotation system, saving the need for external fertilisers and an efficient use of all waste in the creation of by-products such as soaps, moisturisers and a yeast product, which is used as animal feed as the remaining alcohol stimulates eating.

And the taste...wonderful. I am by no means a sake expert but the aroma of the sweet alcohol as I raised the cup to my lips brought back memories.

I first tasted the rice wine when I was a 16 year old, sailor dress wearing, bright eyed Australian sized Japanese school student living in a small country town outside Kobe. The shock of tasting my first drop of hard spirits was pleasantly calmed by the intoxicating smell of Japanese incense, smokey tatami mats and the politely smiling faces of my host family and teachers reassuring me that its ok to serve alcohol to a minor....its tradition.

My second memory of sake is a small steaming warm flask of it in a little sushi restaurant with Ben on a snowy night in the Canadian mountains. It was freezing outside and blowing a gale of snow and ice but there we sat tucked in a little red cushion booth drinking this deliciously sweet warm liquid watching mother nature rip itself apart, enjoying a banquet of brightly coloured artistic delights. As we eventually packed on the coats and gloves and braved the raging bitter weather it was the sake that stayed with us like a warm ember in our chest all the way home. 

To conjure up such great memories the Sun Masamune sake was the real deal. Sold under the name Go Shu, Noble san says it is the great Australian rice that makes their sake so good, " [Australian rice] is not the best because of flavour but because of the great starchy quality it produces which is perfect for making sake" With $2.5 million turn over it is hard to argue with the technique and dedication of this company.

However with 90% of the sake being shipped to Japan, the presence of international players in the sake market has not been received well by Japanese sake breweries. Its ironic that the majority of such a sustainable and organic product is being flown overseas when we import most of it from Japan anyway. It seems the organic no waste attitude of the company is contradicted by the exporting air miles produced. 

So if your looking to buy sake in Australia in the near future look for the brand Go Shu and enjoy the sweet smooth pleasure of the sustainably home grown. Otherwise check out the factory at some point. There are loads of other interesting things I learnt there and if you call ahead you can arrange a full tour of the brewery complex.

Until next time 

Kampai!

xlaura