An afternoon at the Sth Melbourne Market

The view of the market while sipping a nice cool ale on a sunny afternoon before Christmas.

I'd raced (cycling) in the morning and arrived home just after noon and feeling (toooo much my time) guilty, I said to Sue, "let's pop into the South Melbourne Market and check out the Chef's Hat."

The Chef's Hat is one of her favourite kitchen shops. Her real favourite is Essential Ingredients near the Prahran Market (earlier blog).

The Chef's Hat has everything the serious cook could ever desire at the right prices.

I love South Melbourne and have written about it before. It reminds me of some of the French cities we have experienced such as St Remy de Provence. Sitting at the George Hotel having lunch and a nice cold beer on a sunny afternoon brings back memories. The world passes by with cars, cyclists, scooter riders and pedestrians mingling together and showing a patience and courtesy that is not always acknowleged further out in the suburbs.

Our first stop naturally was the Chef's Hat. This was the perfect place for finding Christmas presents for Sue.

She paticularly wanted a paella dish. Having seen the huge paella dishes at the provincial village markets in France, Sue wants to try this at home. We found what she wanted with much discussion on the best to buy from the choices available. Secretly she really wanted a Nespresso machine but being budget minded, really didn't want that much spent on her. The Chef's Hat had it on special. After much humming and harring (OK spell-check, I know this doesn't work for you), I twisted Sue's arm and bit the bullit. She is so excited with her Christmas presents.

After lunch and a cold ale at the George, we wandered off to the Market where we bought some veggies and some great mangoes and avocados. Even mid-afternoon, there were heaps of activity, especially from the store-holders trying to sell off the last of the produce at reduced prices. It was a delight to just let the atmosphere flow over the top of you and take in the interactions between people.

Mangoes and avocados at the end of the market day sell at realistic prices.

Across the street was a serious coffee place, and so we enjoyed an expresso before driving off home.

Sue can't wait for Christmas morning to use her new presents.

We have a small open house Christmas morning with family and friends popping in for the tradition Champagne and orange juice. Sue make's her own Pate which is very popular with the guests. Also on the table are ham slices, bread sticks and fresh fruit. I'm afraid we probably offer a little too much before our guests wander off to a fully over the top Christmas lunch.

We will be sitting down with about 18 family members tomorrow, but more about that in a day or two.

All the very best for Christmas to you all and have a healthy and safe 2010.

Oh No! Not another market Sue.

The Prahran Market - Est 1864


Feeling guilty as I was going to be be out most of Sunday, I said to Sue, “Why don’t we try another market on Saturday?”
We have a Saturday market in the inner suburb of Prahran. It’s about a few kms out of the City.
It was originally established in 1864 just after the gold rush era.
During the late 1960s I actually worked across the road from the market but being a teenage boy it had no attraction for me at the time. I did however enjoy Prahran as it had a sort of alternative grunge factor that lives on today.


From the Prahran Market website
Although land was sold throughout Prahran in 1840, it was not until the gold rush days of the 1850's that the community really began to grow, and in 1856, Prahran's first Council was elected. Prahran was famous for its small farms and market gardens, and at first goods were sold or bartered locally or carted into Melbourne.
What was needed was a central market place in the municipality of Prahran and this was organised by the Prahran Council in 1864.
The spot originally chosen was near the corner of Greville and Grattan Street, where the garden is now located.
Eventually the Grattan Street market became hopelessly overcrowded and a new spot had to be set aside. In 1881, the market was transferred to its present site on Commercial Road.

Sue's favourite shop at the Prahran market - Essential Ingredients

Anyway Sue said that she didn’t want to spend too much, yeah right!!!!
A new fry pan from Essential Ingredients was purchased. It is the most marvellous cook and chef’s shop. Essential Ingredients is Sue's very, very favorite place to be. A cook's heaven.

Marinated baby figs - one of Sue's many favorites.

We bought some marinated baby figs which are devine. They also have a foodie book shop which included a couple of new releases, one in particular from Stephanie Alexander. Her previous books have included a book she co-wrote with Maggie Beer about their Tuscan cooking travels and another about her time in the Dordogne.

Products by Maggie Beer.



Maggie had her own TV program called "the Cook and the Chef" which has just finished after four very successful seasons. Her products sell in this shop.

http://www.maggiebeer.com.au/ Check out her website
www.abc.net.au/tv/cookandchef Well worth a look with a few cooking videos from the show.
http://www.stephaniealexander.com.au/ and also Stephanie's

From the market Sue also purchased duck breasts, wild rabbit (again), quail, strawberries and mangoes.
Looking like a good week out of the kitchen for me.......

I love big chunky field mushrooms - as good as a big fat steak.

Tonight we ate the duck breast.
How was it cooked Sue?
Pan fried slowly to get a very crispy skin, then finished in the oven served nice and pink, with a blood orange sauce made with red wine vinegar, chicken stock and a little sugar, pommes anna and a salad.
I needed to think about something other than the fact that our youngest (21) moved out today, and I’m feeling sad. Happy for his new adventure, but sad ‘cos I’ll miss him. So…I cooked.

It was probably good therapy for Sue as Sunday I was out most of the day racing on the Velodrome.

Wild rabbit, duck breast and quail went into the back pack for next week's dinners.

Fennel, beetroot and leak.



Tonight I've come home to a lovely meal but a sad wife with her youngest just flying the coop. But like a homing pigeon, I'm sure it won't be long before he returns.

That reminds me that I need to change the door locks next weekend.

A weekend in Melbourne.
As a sub-title, the blog could be called “Four Seasons in One Day” after the Crowded House song. Although Crowded House’s Neil Finn and his brother Tim were born in New Zealand, we tend to claim them as our own, as we do with all successful NZ artists. In most cases they don’t get famous until they cross the Ditch (Tasman Sea) to the great OZ so I guess we have some right to part ownership.
This is the first full weekend since we returned home from France and its been just that, four seasons, in this case over 2 days.
Saturday I awoke to showers so no ride this morning. I promised Sue I would join her at the market if it was wet. We actually need rain in this state of Victoria as our dams are currently at only 26% capacity.
Our market is approx 20 minutes down the road in the suburb of Dandenong. We have several other markets such as the major Queen Vic which has great produce and is very well priced. There are also markets at South Melbourne and Prahran. These markets tend to appeal to the locals who don’t mind being overchargedThey also have great produce but at premium prices. The Dandenong market is for the working class and very multi-cultural in its buyers and traders, and of course well priced.
I’ll let Sue give you some price comparisons and the variations in the produce available compared to the markets of France.
Sue : A bit hard to do price comparisons, euro vs. Aus dollar etc.. Makes my head hurt.
I’ll give you an idea of our prices, bearing in mind that 1 euro = approx $2AUS
OK
Eye fillet steak - $19kg, scotch fillet steak in the piece - $16kg
Baby fennel 3 for $2, pork fillets $12k
Mandarins $1.30kg, 2kg red onions $2.20 Rockling fish $19kg
Rockling is a great tasting, firm textured fish which can be cooked pretty much any way See pic
This market also has great Asian greens, and I bought some great looking snake beans, as pictured, which
will do very nicely in a stir fry later in the week.
The market itself is a nightmare at the moment as it is being rebuilt and a lot of traders have given up until the build is over, also parking and walkways have been disrupted. I find it disappointing that it is being yuppified, but Leon says,” You can’t make a quiche without buttering the bread.” Not quite sure what he means, but sometimes it’s best to just smile and nod.
The market is a permanent, undercover presence which is open 3 days a week and also sells clothes, computer supplies, souvenirs, watches….basically all the things you find at French markets.
When our boys were young and ate the average output of a small country by themselves each day, I used to shop at the market each week as the prices are much less than from butchers or supermarkets, but now one lives out of home and the other has settled down a bit, I probably only go about once a month, mostly to stock up on meat and fish, as the quality is fabulous and the prices great.


Feeling like I needed a bit of kulcha, I went to the local CD/LP store while Sue was buying the meat. It has a great selection of pre-loved music and I picked up the Roger’s and Hammerstein’s the King and I featuring Julie Andrews and Ben Kingsley. At $8 (about 4 Euro), I couldn’t go wrong.
On the way home, Sue was needing a little sea air. We live on the Bayside of Melbourne and the bay is like a great big area of green, only blue. Its great in summer but in winter it takes on a different personality. People use it all year round and now in June, fishermen all rugged up sit on the pier waiting for a bite, people walk their dogs and a continuous stream of cyclists push the pedals up and down beach road regardless of weather. Over a weekend this cyclist’s mecca would see over 5000 riders testing their limits against fellow cyclists. At one time, many of the Aussie cyclists in this year’s Tour de France would have
joined the lads in a ride down Beach Road.

Saturday night was dinner with friends at a restaurant in Brighton - our friends organised this before we left for our four weeks in France and was great to catch up again. Two of the couples have visited France previously and Clive, my friend is on a Tour de France bikie’s tour in July and was interested in our
experiences last month.
I was able to get a few kms in Sunday morning as the showers and cold wind had given way to sunshine and a windless day. The bay was like a millpond. In summer it would be a playground of yachts, power boats and bathers.
After a lunch of leftover a Greek chicken casserole, it was off to the local nursery and Bunnings, the humungous hardware warehouse. It’s time to get all those handyman jobs done around the house I’m told.
Maybe when we get the house in order we can start the house-swapping thing with other people around the world.
It maybe of interest that Melbourne will have a Salvadore Dali exhibition at the Victorian Art Gallery with works from both the US and Spanish galleries. After seeing the Dali works in Montmartre I may take the opportunity to view this exhibition at Melbourne - our home.