When I was in Melbourne last week I paid a visit to the Queen Vic Markets. It was foodie heaven. My poor friend was forced to wait patiently while I stopped at every single stall and gawped at the produce on display. I’m surprised he didn’t sneak off and find other things to do, rather than be associated with a complete nutter. There was SO much produce, all exceedingly fresh and, well, drool-worthy. If you’ve ever crunched into an apple straight from the tree or stained your lips (and let’s be honest, half your face) red from sitting in the boughs of a mulberry tree and shoving berry after berry in your mouth, you’ll understand my (slightly strange) infatuation with fresh fruit and veg. The asparagus in particular caught my eye. There was none of that awful, woody stuff that goes tough, stringy and bitter when cooked. These were crisp, green new season shoots. I needed to get me some of them, and soon. Obviously I wasn’t going to stash them in my bag and fly them back to Sydney (though the thought did flit through my mind), instead I was able to get my hands on a bunch at the local farmers market the following Sunday. Continue reading
I do hope that you have a penchant for bread. Why? Well you can expect a whole lotta bread-related recipes to come your way in the following weeks. I have just started working at a local gourmet sandwich bar/café (and before you ask, no, it’s not Subway). Whilst this particular enterprise does a commendable job of minimising it’s food waste there is almost always bread left over at the end of the day. In the beginning it was like Christmas come early – trudging home reeking of putrid dishwashing water didn’t feel quite so bad when armed with bags of soft, pillowy café-style bread. But when that occurs after every shift we begin to hit a slight glitch – our household barely goes through a loaf of bread a week. So slowly but surely our very small freezer has begun to fill with white, multigrain, whole-wheat and rye specimens, all shoved in higgeldy-piggeldy. By Saturday night it had reached a crisis point – now each time one opens the freezer door they are in severe danger of being knocked out by a falling loaf of bread. I almost felt obliged to put up a sign saying “warning bread overhead” but the decided it was probably better to keep the lame rhymes to myself. 
Taste Without Waste 