Ah, I think this will be a rather long series since you’d know by now my fondness of food (and food photography). Let’s start off with baked goods, and the wonders of scones.
Nothing better than a freshly baked batch of scones lashed with lightly whipped cream and jam. Fortunately it’s also one of the easiest and quickest baking you can ever do. Perhaps I will bake a batch this weekend?
By day, Takayama is a pretty and vibrant place.
Children feed the fish in the river.
And when they get hungry themselves, they line up for grilled mochi (with a soy glaze) on a stick. Mochi is rice pounded until it reaches a springy, dough consistency. Then it can be glazed and grilled…
Or it can be made into a sweet. We watch an expert sweet mochi maker ply his trade. By the time he finishes dicing the batch we knew we had to try some.
Takayama is a town in Gifu Prefecture, in the middle of the Japanese Alps. It’s claim to fame is its sake and its elaborate autumn and spring festivals. On my trip to Japan in 2006 I was lucky enough to visit during the autumn festival. The streets were filled with vendors of all kinds, but the food stalls were of the most interest to me!
This one is making red bean or custard filled little buns.
Charcoal grilled freshwater fish.
Traditional paper dolls.
But the main attraction at night were the giant floats that were hauled through the streets.
Later on we’ll be studying them close up in daylight.
I realise that I’ve not posted about food for a long time. Probably because I’ve not taken my camera to restaurants for a while. Well, I’ll try to get back in the act, starting with a Thai lunch.
We’d been to KB Thai in Woy Woy before and had a great meal, so we were keen to try it again. We started off with some prawn won tons that were nice and light with a hint of ginger.
Next was barbecued prawns, which were less successful. They were prawns on a stick really, and after deshelling and desticking, the resulting flesh wasn’t exactly worth the effort.
But I think this steak sandwich is the most attractive. A generous-sized fillet, cooked to perfection, with onion relish, rocket, tomato, on sourdough.
Now we’re getting into the more substantial meals. Their burger and chips look pretty good, although I can’t seem to spot the beetroot…
The rest of my buddies ordered lunch items, like a nice spinach and ricotta ravioli with tomato sauce.
A sunny Saturday: a perfect time to catch up with a few uni friends who’ve recently had bubs. We wandered around the corner from my friend’s flat in Pyrmont to a little cafe called Pyjamas. I had a particularly nice eggs benedict, which I haven’t had in quite awhile. The hollandaise was nice a creamy, and the sourdough a good texture – crust not too hard, the inside nice and soft. Very satisfying.
After that epic meal, it’s a wonder that we had room for dessert – but who doesn’t enjoy jelly and ice cream? This is a rather adult, decadent version of sake ice cream and plum wine jelly. Very different and refreshing.
This was a rather interesting dish – Angus beef fillet topped with egg. Tasted pretty good though.
Static and Silence 