The Social Kitchen at Queen Victoria Market

I know what I want for Christmas.

No, that doesn’t mean that I think Christmas is all about presents. It just means I KNOW it’s a tiny, little bit about that. I so enjoy buying a present for someone that totally and completely excites them. And who am I to stand there, arms crossed, looking all grinch-y and say that getting a present for myself is silly? This is Australia’s silly season after all.

Now that I’ve completely justified it to myself – I’d like to ask for another cooking class at The Social Kitchen, please. And thank you.

This past Saturday was my first.

Parking at Queen Victoria Market is easy at 9:30am and finding your way to the all-black, pop up cooking school is even easier – head towards the corner of Peel and Victoria Street and you’ll spot it. Make your way through the sliding glass doors and you’ll be greeted with a smile, a name tag and a request for a coffee order.

The first thing you’ll notice is that the room is beautiful. Straight out of the set of a cooking show, except better because there are no cameras, lights, or audiences crowding the room. It’s just you, your new friends (“I swear I’m not looking at you boobs, I’m just trying to read your name tag”), the fresh food from Queen Victoria Market, the kick-ass Fisher and Paykel appliances and your chef.

Half the fun of the class is the chef. The Social Kitchen offers a full range of classes and a full range of chefs to choose from. We’re not talking any old chefs, we’re talking the heads of the most delicious restaurants in Melbourne. Our chef was Keith Jackson. He is a hands on, do it to taste, do-what-you-want-as-long-as-it-tastes-good type of chef and I absolutely loved it. Keith danced from cooking station to cooking station making sure we were heading in the right direction with our recipes. He didn’t even get angry when I burnt the meringues courtesy of the white wine I couldn’t stop consuming. It was about 10:30am.

What I loved most is that we didn’t just have fun trying to follow recipes, we learned valuable things. For example:

• The correct way to chop onions (I went home and tried it that very night and did not cry one tear. Jack was very impressed.)
• Simply chopping a garlic will not do a thing, you must smash it to pieces and then do what you will with it.
• MSG is not all bad, it’s the fake MSG that gets you because, okay, there is MSG is parmesan cheese, and tomato sauce, and anchovies.
• We cannot taste salt past a certain level in the air.
• Scones are actually the perfect meal.
• I desperately need a new kitchen with all Fisher and Paykel appliances.

I’m sorry I’m bombarding you with information, but I just had SO MUCH FUN that I needed to share. In the end we made strawberry bruschettas, pan seared Duck in shiraz with garlic spinach and raspberries, and a deconstructed smashed pavlova. YUM!

I wish there was some sort of monthly membership to The Social Kitchen. It would be such a better gift to give myself than only one class. Oh well, I just really hope I like it.

Pan seared Duck, Shiraz and Raspberries recipe after the jump!

If You’re Not Dutch, You’re Not Much

A friend once kept telling me, if you’re not Dutch you’re not much. Luckily, I will be some what Dutch come December. Or I guess I’ll be Australian. No, wait. I’ll probably still just be a Venezuelan American who’s married to a Dutch Australian. I’m not sure how it all works, but the thing I do know is that I have come down with a Dutch bug.

You remember how during the world cup I wanted Holland to win (only after the US was out of course)? I’ve been riding my bike as transport every chance I get (very dutch). I’ve been dreaming up living in Amsterdam one day. AND I’ve been going nuts every time I see a poffertjes truck.

Poffertjes are good because they’ve mastered the art of simplicity, don’t you think? This meal dates back to the 1700’s. It was said that a poor, hard working farmer was experimenting with recipe development as a hobby but the only ingredients he had to work with were buckwheat flour, water and yeast. Now a days, it’s a much more developed meal and modern necessities, such as milk, eggs, butter, and syrup, have been added.

I haven’t had a chance to make them for myself as I’m missing the all important poffertjespan, but I’m crossing my fingers I get one as a wedding present. My Little Expat Kitchen’s recipe is the recipe I have my eye on. It looks to be more complicated than it should be but, then again, I’m taking my entry into Dutch-ism very seriously.

For now though I’ll just keep stalking the Tram Stop at the Queen Victoria Market.

The Mercat Cross Hotel, Fancy Hanks BBQ, Doughboys Doughnuts

What a rude, selfish girl I was last week, I mentioned Fancy Hanks BBQ and Doughboys Doughnuts without any sort of explanation. You must have been writing me hate mail all week. They probably went into my junk mail; I’ll check later.

I’ve mentioned Fancy Hanks once before when it took my heart in it’s hands and broke it after being sold out on one fine Summer’s day at Princess Park Bowls. The thing about Fancy Hanks BBQ is that there are reminders of it’s whereabouts all over the city. Always a poster here, a poster there, a write up on broadsheet and oh, look Fancy Hanks and Doughboys Doughnuts are both living at the Mercat Cross Hotel at the moment!

It took us a while to plan a day to go to the Mercat Cross Hotel, but about 3 weeks from the The Age Half Marathon we decided we would celebrate finishing the race there. We invited friends so we couldn’t back out no matter how hurt or tired we were. (We also invited them because we really like them, but that’s beside the point.)

Knowing I was going to try Fancy Hanks BBQ is what got me through the finish line. I would have kept running from the Arts Center to Queen Victoria Market if I had to. Lucky I didn’t because 1) I ended up with something not as serious as a stress fracture and 2) a shower was really necessary. We arrived a bit late because, apparently, a tiny nap was also a necessity. It was close to 2pm (they close at 3) and some treasures were already sold out. The menu is small, but you order your meat by weight at the bar and are able to mix and match as your heart desires.

We had the low ‘n’ slow Angus beef brisket, the 16 hour pulled pork, Texan big ol’ beef ribs, the mix of salad and the mac and cheese. The food is perfection! I would suggest to get the same thing as us, but I promise you can’t go wrong.

They served food for four on one single large red tray: Communal eating at it’s best. It was hard to show restraint and not go after everyone else’s food but I knew dessert was coming in the form of Doughboys Doughnuts. Callebaut Belgian strawberry iced doughnut, peanut butter and jam doughnut, the Charlie Brown chocolate Doughnut, and that’s just to name the favorites.

Okay. You got me. The real reason I picked going on this day was so you wouldn’t judge me by how much I ate. Oh, common! I had just run a half marathon for goodness sake!

Fancy Hanks BBQ & Doughboys Doughnuts at The Mercat Cross Hotel
456 Queen Street Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Open Wed – Sun 12pm – 3pm & 6pm – 9pm