Cooking for Engineers

Been meaning to mention this site, Cooking for Engineers for a while now. It's got some good classic recipes as well as some more experimental stuff this guy comes up or discovers. What turns up the geek factor is how he has these charts where he groups ingredients with different activities, well it's gotta be seen to be admired for it's engineering coolness .

Barossa Valley Estate

Our next stop was the Barossa Valley Estate winery which was about ten minutes along the road from Chateau Dorrien. Barossa Valley Estate was founded by a cooperative of grape growers in 1985. A few years ago Hardy's bought, if my cellar door recollection is right, half of the company.

With this cash injection, the current winery and cellar door were built. The winery grounds were rather expansive with sparkly modern facilities. On the outside the cellar door looked minimalistically modern with the local stone giving it an inviting touch. Woodern floors, a fireplace and an ultra-modern bar made the cellar door chic and cosy.

We started off by tasting the whites: the ubiquitous chardonnay, classic Barossa semillon and the stalwart Eden Valley riesling. As usual the chardonnay didn't do much for me although it was more refreshing and less cloyingly buttery than most. The semillon was a bit of a disappointment since I've associated Barossa semillon with a moresome lemon butter palette.

Unfortunately the riesling didn't sing out to me either. Finally, to round off the whites, there was a frontignac which had a balanced sweetness to it so I ended up buying a couple of bottles, be good with Asian food I dare say. There was also a rose, which like the frontignac seems to be a cellar door exclusive. This again had a balanced slight sweetness but with a bit more complexity and assertiveness in the mouth. Again I bought a couple of bottles and they should go well with any food.

Barossa Valley Estate also make a cellar door only sparkling red wine although I don't recall the varietal blend being specified. It was technically well made but it just lacked that refreshing apparent fruit sweetness that my favourite sparkling reds have. We tried some other reds but they just didn't make an impression upon me with the exception of the shiraz for which this place and every other Barossa winery and it's dog are renowned for.

The Epiphany shiraz we tried was classic Barossa shiraz with all flavours clear and present. I had to also try the more upmarket 2002 Ebenezer shiraz, of which I have a few bottles. It had all the flavours of the Epiphany and then some with the intensity turned up. However whereas the Epiphany was more approachable the Ebenezer was just that bit aloof to let you know it needed some time on its own. The lady at the cellar door confirmed my thought that it would reach another level of complexity and open up in another five years or so.

Although the whites were a bit of a disappointment they were well made, especially considering the attention the reds get. The shiraz certainly deserved it's fine reputation and the sweeter wines were a pleasant discovery. Whilst the cellar door could have done with a better view it is still a lovely place for intimate social gatherings.

Chateau Dorrien

Our first stop was at Chateau Dorrien, the first winery we encountered on the road to the Seppeltsfield winery. This road is packed with vineyards (well duh, it's the Barossa) and wineries. It was recommended by a lady my mate knew who said they did some nice sweet wines.

The grounds of the winery were rather quaint with big concrete vats shaped like castle turrets. I wasn't too sure about the palm trees dotted around the place. They seemed out of place, then again who knows how good they'd look on a dry and sunny day in the Barossa. Inside was cosy with lots of wooden planks and even a little shop with hippy paraphenalia.

This place is apparently reknowned for its mead but we tried the wines first. Their Verdelho was quite a pleasant drink with plenty of tropical fruit flavours but perhaps lacking that extra level of fruitiness that the best Verdelhos have. Their other table wines weren't too bad but did nothing for me.

I had to try the blackcurrant liqueur as I just can't get enough of blackcurrant flavours. This is actually a port style liqueur with blackcurrants added during fermentation. I was hoping for lots of blackcurrant flavour but when combined with the alcohol and grape flavours of the port just made for something resembling cough syrup unfortunately.

It seems that Chateau Dorrien is the only place in the Barossa to produce mead, the alcoholic beverage produced from fermented honey. The sweet honey mead was quite refreshing with that pleasant sweetness you can only get from honey. The alcohol was well balanced avoiding the bitter after taste of most beverages with fairly high levels of alcohol. I could understand why it was called the nectar of the gods and can't wait to try it chilled in the warmer months.

This sweet honey mead forms the basis for the other mead we tried, the spicy mead. This was quickly but gently warmed before serving to coax all the flavours out. It smelt and tasted like a hot cross bun. Again it was a well balanced drink with the spices adding a subtle complexity to the richness of the mead. I later tried it with some apple pie but it didn't seem as balanced then, perhaps of the sugar and spice in the pie. However this still makes a great winter warmer, good for sore throats and congested chests.

The impression I got from Chateau Dorrien was that it was one of the lesser known establishments that make technically sound wines from good quality grapes. Whilst the majority of the wines didn't take my breath away they were definitely a cut above the majority of generic wines from the wine factories along the Murray river. The meads add another dimension to this winery and have set the benchmark for which other meads measure for me.

A little bit sideways

Got a mate who's currently studying overseas come back for a short visit. We thought it'd be a good idea to catch up by going wine tasting around the Barossa Valley. It actually wasn't too long, less than an hour, driving from the north-eastern end of town to Tanunda, the heart of the Barossa Valley.

The good thing about the Barossa apart from its proximity to Adelaide is that the wineries are mostly in clusters close to each other. These clusters are not that far from each other, often less than fifteen minutes drive from each other. The only problem is that it's not that hard to get lost and take a wrong turn only to end up on an unsealed road. Unfortunately I'm still to get my CRV so I couldn't test how it handled that in comfort.

We started off by visiting Chateau Dorrien, reknowned for being the only place that produces mead in the Barossa. From there we went to the winery of Barossa Valley Estate, which was only a quick drive along the same road. Continuing along the same road we visited the lovely Seppeltsfield winery.

Heading back to Tanunda, we stopped to get lunch somewhere along the main street of Tanunda. I had a craving for bratwurst but couldn't see it on the menu at the Tanunda Hotel which we thought was suprising given the town's proud German heritage. After a bit of a stroll we found the Wurst Haus.

This was a small shop selling smallgoods as well as simple but hearty meals. I finally got my bratwurst with beetroot, sauerkraut, potato salad and mustard. The bratwurst was rather nice and it made for a perfect winter meal. I also managed to buy two 40g bags of beef jerky which was good stuff, approaching the goodness of the jerky one of the blokes from work gets from his hometown butcher. Jerky, it'll make a man of you!

We then drove to the Penfolds winery which we had passed driving back from the Seppeltsfield winery to Tanunda. I got myself a nice and shiny Penfolds key ring. Looking back it was maybe a mistake to try the amazing fortifieds of Seppelt in the middle as by now our palettes were starting to get tired.

We managed to fit in another tasting, this time at St. Hallett's on the way back to Adelaide. Unfortunately the Charles Cimicky winery and the cheese store next to Chateau Yaldara were both closed. Overall it was a good day, perhaps not quite as picturesque as in the warmer months but still good to talk, try and buy. I'm sure it'll take many visits before I've covered the entire Barossa comprehensively, if ever which is a good thing.

Evil Chicken, Weak French

Here's a causal link between the evil flesh of the chicken and the weakness of the French. According to this perfumer, Jean Claude Ellena, Parisians smell of chicken because of all the chicken they eat. Now the French, of which Paris is their capital city, are also lousy at fighting wars. Logic would dictate then that eating the flesh of the foul fowl is a major contributor to the propensity of the French to be girlymen.

Signing away my soul

Car Wars: Episode VI

My brother-in-law said even with half the value the trade-in was still a reasonable price so I decided to make the deal. With that done all I had to do was choose the colour, at first I went with pearlescent cosmic grey which suited the car quite well and changed colour depending on viewing angle. However that colour would not be available until late September which was probably too long so I went with the safer option of metallic alabaster silver which was readily available.

With that all done I ended up getting financing through the dealer as the rate was lower than the bank's. I also packaged the insurance and loan protection as well as the rates seemed pretty standard across board, the loan protection would cover the loan repayments if I became too sick to work or unemployed which I thought was a smart idea. Now all I have to do is sit tight till I can smell that new car smell, which unfortunately won't be until early or mid next week. Still I think I got a good deal and I can't wait to go on a road trip in it.

Haggling

Car Wars: Episode V

Whilst the Corolla might have served our family well for the last 6 years it's definitely on it's last legs without further work being done. There's a fair few rust specks dotted around the car, it's starting to smoke and drip fluid, creaks are starting to get noticeable and I just got sick of being tailgated by cars when giving it all it's got when entering lanes. The salesman asked me what I wanted and I gave the high end of the non-fantasy price.

With that in mind he then asked what extras I wanted, I asked for the obligatory mats, towbar, reversing sensors, side steps and six stacker. He did the usual discussion with the manager and came back saying he could give me the price for the car but I wouldn't get any extras. After a few flanking proposals he was quite adamant that any extras would have to be taken out of the price of the car.

He then explained that the side steps were purely for cosmetics purposes, dubious at that, that they served no protective function at all. The stacker could always be gotten later and from another source for less as they could be easily installed. With that in mind we finally agreed to halving the value of the trade-in and putting in the mats, reversing sensors and towbar.

To be continued...

Dust Me Selector

Car Wars: Episode IV

After looking in and around the CRV and test driving it was growing on me quickly and I was really impressed. The test drive showed me that the CRV had handling and responsiveness about as good as a sedan. As it was about the same length and width as a sedan it was fairly good at maneuvering and felt fairly stable as the centre-of-gravity was fairly low.

Being rather pleased with it overall I was ready to do a deal, of course not making it too obvious that I was set on it. First though I had to decide which model to get, I had a choice of three: base, Extra and Sport. I settled on the CR-V Extra as that had 16" alloy wheels and side airbags for the front seat for $1,600 more which was a bit cheaper than adding all that to the base model with the bonus of the Extra brand.

The Sport had a sunroof, colour coded bumpers, fog lamps and six stacker CD player with MP3 capability.However I didn't really want the sunroof and lamps and the colour coded bumpers would get scratched too easily off the road and with my careless parking. Furthermore the stacker could always be substituted for a better unit later on. Having made up my mind on what model to get the next phase was hammering out a price for the trade in.

To be continued...

CRV Test Drive

Car Wars: Episode III

So we did the obvious thing and took it for a test drive, my little nephew didn't have too much trouble getting in by himself. The hand brake and gear selection took a bit of getting used to but once I got used to them I appreciated them being put on the dash board to save space for the arm rests and fold-away bottle holders. It felt a bit weird at first sitting up so high when I'm fairly low in the Corolla but after a while it was all good.

With my brother-in-law in the middle rear seat the rear view mirror was pretty much blocked but visibility was still good with the use of the big side mirrors. It didn't handle like a big, ungainly four wheel drive, feeling more like a Camry. The engine was quite responsiveness, about the same responsiveness as my brother-in-law's Nissan Pulsar with gear changes being rather smooth, it was good to be able to blend in with traffic with all 118kW of power as opposed to the puny 83kW of the Corolla.

The brakes took a bit of getting used to as they were significantly more responsive than the Corolla but that's no suprise. Cornering wasn't too bad and wasn't making the fact the centre-of-gravity was higher up than usual too obvious, a fair bit better than the Corolla and not too bad for a big car especially considering the anecdotes about the cornering abilities of Mitsubishi Lancers. Suspension wasn't significantly better than that of the good ol' Corolla but not a suprise given the type of vehicle.

To be continued...

Inside the CRV

Car Wars: Episode II

After that I was more open-minded with regards to the CRV, especially after finding out that the petrol Civics wouldn't be available for at least a couple of months. This was probably too long for the old faithful Toyota Corolla. There were plenty of CRVs available for very attractive prices being near the end of the current generation. Since I can't resist a sale I did the next logical thing and had at the CRV, inside and outside.

The interior was very roomy with a flat floor and space to seat at least four adults comfortably, if not five, with access to the rear from the front seats. The interior was also versatile with the rear seats able to be folded right up against the front seats to give almost 1000 litres of space. There were plenty of storage compartments with a sealed one for wet clothes as well as attachment points for baby seats (for when hell freezes over), a sturdy fold-out picnic table and a power outlet at the rear.

So far the interior had impressed me and the rugged exterior was beginning to grow on me, especially the dark cladding around the front and back in the base and Extra models given my past bumper scrapes. Length and width were about the same as a Toyota Camry and fuel efficiency wasn't too bad at 10L/100km. The main question outstanding was how well it handled.

To be continued...

Civic Reception

Car Wars: Episode I

Armed with that letter, and feeling a bit like a pirate with a letter of marque, I went car shopping. Admittedly I use the term car shopping in a very loose sense as I had my heart set on getting a Honda and a Civic or Civic Hybrid in particular. The latest Civics have an ultra-modern dash and sleek styling with the Honda pedigree and engineering expertise.

The hybrid was a nice idea in theory although the financial savings derived from it's high fuel efficiency were marginal. However when you consider that the Hybrid had most of the features found in the top-end Civic Sport for the same price the asking price wasn't too unreasonable. So with all that in mind, I headed off to the nearest Honda dealer Saturday morning intending to get a Civic Hybrid or perhaps a Civic VTi-L.

The stars were aligned as such that the Honda Once-a-Year sale was on that Saturday as well although the Civics would not be on sale as they were a new release and had very limited availability. Still up to then I had my heart set on getting a Civic but then my sister and her husband pointed out the CR-V. This was on sale with no extra on-road costs and as a bonus for the sale had the warranty and road-side assistance extended to 5 years.

I wasn't too enthused on the idea at first, thinking it'd be too bulky and a fuel guzzler. However I started to sway when the salesman showed me the Hybrid. It didn't look too swish up close and the boot space was significantly less than I had imagined. The salesman himself wasn't too enthused about it and admitted that they had sold only a few dozen of them.

To be continued...

Money, Money, Money

A long time ago, in a financial institution far, far away...

Considering my credit card is like my swimming back stroke, I put a lot of energy in but I get nowhere, I had to get finance to get a car. First I approached the GE Money Genie, just to test the waters seeing as they claim to be rather accomodating. Instead I get a rather dismissive phone call from their local guy(or is that monkey jerk?), claiming that I had lied and that my recruitment firm said I don't work for them.

I tried explaining to him the subtleties of my working arrangement but he was pretty adamant that I had a business. He told me I hadn't worked long enough and that I show him a profit and loss statement for the financial year just passed. Of course I don't have a business, but he was quite dismissive and not helpful at all. No soup for him!

Anyway according to the bloke who did my taxes today these guys are rather dodgy, their interest rates are pretty high and they are really harsh on late repayments. The guys at work suggested I try my bank (which bank?) as they'd have a better understanding of my history and all that. So I applied online, got a follow-up from the lady from the local branch and was given a letter of approval-in-principal.

To be continued...

I've Got A Car

Well not quite, I should get it early next week and please forgive my reference to a song by that artist if you know him and that song (pity us both). Been thinking about getting a car for almost a year, been looking at them for a few months and then in just one day it was all done! It's been quite a saga, first off with finance and then a big chunk of Saturday at the dealer. Anyway I'm like a kid, although I'm already a manchild so I'm sorta a kid already, waiting for Santa to deliver his shiny new toy!

Our story begins...

New It Girl

Triple J has been featuring the debut album of this london lass called Lily Allen. She seems to be the next It girl in music, with her popularity spreading through her MySpace site and now with her music about to be flogged on radio. On her MySpace site she has the musical description of pop/indie/ska which I'd generally agree with although Triple J have mentioned reggae a fair bit and I'd have to agree to that tag.

I can see why she'd be the next It girl of the music industry as her music has all the right elements: catchy tunes, cheeky lyrics and unique voice. She's an attractive lass with actual curves, not another emaciated strip of meat from the pop star production line. She seems to exude cheeky fun and well articulated in her strong, apparently honest, opinions.

It remains to be seen whether she's another rebel-without-a-cause fresh out of the indie pop workshop. For now her songs have hooked into my head and there's something about her looks which just keep you intrigued. I'll have to turn in my membership of the bloke's club and buy her album which should be available just now or very soon, if only to play them repetitively enough to get out of my head. Definitely one to listen to AND watch.

Now where do I hide all this?

Having gotten all that wine home with much paranoia I had to store them in the cellar which meant I had to finish assembling my 72 bottle Bordex wine rack. For anyone as uncoordinated as this manchild it would be safer, faster, easier and nicer to stick with the pre-assembled racks. In addition to the pre-assembled 42 bottle Bordex rack I got, I now have regular space for 114 bottles, disturbingly that isn't too far off from being filled with wine.

The good thing about the Bordex wine racks is that they can be joined together to add capacity as you need it and to make the use of odd shaped areas. As long term storage for wine they are both practical and elegant. In addition to being a blessing for the uncoordinated the pre-assembled racks also seem to be of better build. Then again that could just be because my clumsy hands haven't bashed them around.

Wine racks are fine for long term storage of, all together now, a-week's-worth-of-take-home-pay of Bin 707s if you got a cellar that keeps a lid on dampness and temperature. However for the majority of the proletariat what they class as cellar space is dank and prone to harmful fluctuations in temperature. There's an Aussie company that manufatures wine cabinets that recreate cellar conditions and are far cheaper than building a cellar or buying/renting a house with one.

The company builds wine cabinets to suit tough Australian conditions. Prices are kept down due to the lack of fancy trimmings as these cabinets are meant for long term storage of wine,, not displaying trinkets. The cabinets use Peltier coolers which don't use any moving parts except for a small fan. The reviews seem to be positive and definitely one to consider when I eventually don't have access to a cellar so I can sleep at night with all that wine resting peacefully.

Oops!

Went to a wine auction today and got a bit, okay that's an understatement, carried away at the start with the bidding. One of the lots at the start consisted of six bottles of the 1996 Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon. I was bidding away thinking that my bid was for all six bottles, it turned out to be the price for each bottle!

What I thought was a bargain was an average price for Penfold's flag ship cab sav. Not to mind, I can probably sell them at a wine auction for a better price. Even if I lose money I guess I deserve a stupidity/rashness fine.

All's well that end's well though, in addition to my-week's-worth-of-take-home pay in Bin 707s I also managed to pick up the following at very reasonable prices:

- 3 x 1979 Wynns Coonawarra Estate Hermitage
- 1 x 1947 Seppelt Para Liqueur
- 12 x 2000 Mitchell The Growers Grenache
- 12 x 2003 Petaluma Hanlin Hill Riesling

The Hermitage, which should nowdays be called shiraz, and the Para I got for sentimental reasons with 1979 being an *self-aggrandising* oustanding vintage. The Mitchell grenache looks so lovely in my wine rack in all it's foil splendour, more on the wine rack later, and was way below it's retail price. On the subject of bargains, the Hanlin Hill riesling was less than half the suggested Langton's price.

But wait, there's more! I also bought a bottle of 1995 Grand Finale Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix Tawny Port, sorry just be Tawny or something thanks to new wine naming laws. This came in a lovely wooden box, albeit particle board veneer, with a perspex cover. As the name suggests and from a guess, it was meant to commemorate the last Grand Prix in Adelaide or the first one in Melbourne. Damn Victorians!

All That Zazz

A week or so ago apcmag had an article on bargains for geeks. One of the sites it mentioned was Zazz. Zazz is one of those bulk buy web sites where they get a whole load of a product and sell it at a discount. What sets Zazz apart is that they do all this on a daily basis, selling a different product every day.

Having bought more than my fair share of useless consumer geek stuff I had to check it out. Unfortunately I had just missed out on a bargain priced laptop but they did have something for a wino like me. Although I have more wine racks than sense I still had to get some of these funky hammock like racks.

So far I've been impressed by the service from the good folks at Zazz. Somehow I had put something silly down for the number of racks I wanted to buy. That didn't faze the folks at Zazz, a bloke from there rang me up to clarify things and that was that.

Tonight I just opened the package with the 8 wine racks, enough to store 24 bottles, I ended up ordering for around $35. They came with a bottle thermometer, which is simply a plastic strip thermometer stuck around a semi-cylindrical piece of metal which you just wrap around a bottle of wine. Yes I know, I should make more use of my digital camera and post some pictures, perhaps when I get around to posting about my trip to America last year...

Anyway whilst the thermometer was more of a gimmick than anything, the wine racks look pleasant enough. However I'm yet to assemble the racks, so I can't say too much for their sturdiness but I probably wouldn't want to stack them too much more than two up. So far so good in terms of Zazz service.

Tonight I ordered a couple of USB sound cards, should be give crisper sound and better amplification than the built-in sound on most laptops. Whilst the things I've seen on Zazz for sale so far are cheap, there haven't been any really useful bargains although I guess Zazz never really promised lots of really hot stuff often. Having said that though I'm sure it's only a matter of time before a nice laptop or card pops up again.

Harvest of India

After watching new Pirates of the Carribean movie we were pretty hungry and had an impromptu farewell dinner at Harvest of India on O'Connell Street. Harvest of India is one of the smaller restaurants on O'Connell Street with cosy yet elegant modern decor. The menu seemed to be better priced than most upmarket Indian restaurants.

As it was pretty late by the time we started we decided to go straight for the mains. We ordered the prawn vindaloo, lamb saag and vegetable curry. We also ordered some raita, kuchumber (cucumber) salad, pickles and naan bread.

The prawn vindaloo was rather disappointing with not enough tang and spice to it, without the chilli kick to it the sauce was interesting rather than tantalising. Restaurants' insistence on serving prawns with the shell still intact on their tails is rather frustrating in my book and not worth whatever aesthetic value it brings. If I'm paying to dine in comfort at a restaurant, why should I have to peel the shell off the tail still and make more of a mess than whatever tidy apearance the shells on makes.

Still the prawn vindaloo was a pleasant dish and probably a good introduction to the delights of a good vindaloo. Less could be said of the lamb saag, lamb in a sauce with pureed spinach, which was inoffensive with a slight hint of spices. I would say that perhaps my preference for spicy food ruined my appreciation of the dish but a any dish with pureed spinach should have that moresome feeling and taste of spinach. The vegetable curry was also inoffensive and obviously forgettable.

Whilst the pickles were too salty and rather bland in every other respect. The raita was quite nice with a good blend of yoghurt, garlic, cucumbers and mint. Kuchumber salad is simply another way of saying garden salad with a subtly spiced vinagriette. The naans were rather nice, the garlic naan having a satisfying taste of garlic and the keema naan quite a revelation.

The spiced minced lamb throughout the bread gave it a nice subtle savoury flavour. I could have done without the excess grease on both naans but the keema's contrasting texture of dough and mince was worth the clogged arteries. Faced with the choice of two Indian beers I choose the less trodden Cobra beer. It was a refreshing lager which seemed to have a bit more crispness to it than the more famous Kingfisher beer.

Whilst it was a bit cheaper than Beyond India or Tandoori Oven I'd say the quality of the dishes is well worth the money. My dining philosophy has always been that it's better to have something you enjoy less often than to have something don't enjoy more often. After all spending $10 on something bland is $10 too much.

Overall the food at Harvest of India was, here it comes again, inoffensive with some highlights such as the keema naan. The staff and surroundings were nice although I'm not sure how they would have coped during busier times as opposed to the end of the night. However I can see how it can appeal to those less familiar with Indian cuisine with it's swish decor and well cooked but rather bland, for me anyway, food.

Belated happy new financial year

Well after almost a year without any updates and continuously telling myself I'll update my blog I've started in earnest. I'll try and fill in stuff in the 12 months that I should note down for future reference and posterity. As I mentioned many moons ago this blog is an extension of my memory.

Continuing on with my general theme from before there'll be reviews of anything that takes my fancy, musings on articles in the media and just notes on things that take my interest. Oh and how could I not forget recipes that I've found or concocted. So with the new financial year comes a fresh start for this neglected blog!