ut si cafe gallery

2012-02-01T23:16:00.001+11:00

A few faves from 2011

2012-01-05T22:49:00.003+11:00

I loved our cafe last year.

I loved the ever changing menu and the garden it depended on

for produce delicious
though sometimes challenging.

And I loved Chef Reilly,
who completed her apprenticeship with us...
until she
moved to Sydney to work at bills,
leaving me with Chef Cabbage Head above,

whom only a mother could love.
...oh.

And Fi.

I loved Fi.

Who ran the front and made a thousand gingerbread persons in 2011.

Only this year, she too is leaving

...to work in Europe.

So I'm not feeling the love so much anymore (little sulk).

And even though last year you got really crabby when I couldn't sell you our bread because we got really busy and needed it for the cafe, I still loved baking with fire in our brick oven out the back.

Thank-you customers old & new, crabby & not...we've had a great year!

The Prof, the Chef and me.

Meet Barbara & Beverly...

2011-09-29T10:20:00.000+10:00

So far these beautiful gals & their sisters Brenda, Beryl, Bertha, Bronwyn, Bernadette & Betty Barnevelder, have cost me to purchase, house, feed & fence about $1200...which is around $150 each or almost 468.75 eggs per bird.
Get to it girls!

Nature's darling thou!

2011-08-25T18:22:00.002+10:00

Sunday, August 28 is World Kitchen Garden Day.

To celebrate this event we are establishing a proper composting area in our garden

We, as in me, (establishing with a shovel) & the Prof, (celebrating with an interpretive dance probably).

Sometimes when I think of the Prof & me out in the garden I see Eddie Albert & Eva Gabor in the 70's sitcom Green Acres...only with the gender roles reversed!

In complete gardening ignorance we started a vegie patch for the caf about 6 months before we opened

...which was clearly not enough notice for the plants!

However, as our third Spring approaches, despite a complete lack of horticultural savvy, we have a verdant backyard of garlic, onions, kale, chard & broad beans in neat little rows, and,

as a counterpoint to this orderliness, there exists vast expanses of self sown randomness where nettles, violets, borage & mustard leaf free range with abandon. Oh, & beetroot ...which appears in creative groupings because I had too many seeds to sow & got bored with neat!

On the walls...

2011-08-16T13:18:00.000+10:00

Young emerging artist Matthew Cottrell on our walls this month & through September.

We have just found another free range farmer...

2011-07-28T20:20:00.008+10:00

Well, actually, he found us...'followed' us on twitter yesterday in fact.

Two & a bit years ago when we opened ut si, things looked pretty grim on the menu front...seriously, we had no idea that sourcing meat for our cafe from animals that were ethically raised would be so difficult.

Since then we have established a wonderful relationship with Guy Robertson & Eliza Wood and their Wessex Saddlebacks from Mt Gnomon Farm, and, more recently, Brendan & Natalie Rockcliff from Skelbrookvale Farm, whose pasture raised beef we love.

Today Don Thomson of Black Ridge Farm, called in...at the end of a very busy service...and I was more than happy to leave the tea towel in Chef's capable if unwilling hands so we could chat.

Don & his wife Keryn run free range pigs, sheep & goats on their 217 acre family farm in Tasmania's north west (I can't wait to try Capretto o Agnello al forno from our wood fired oven) and, so concerned are they for the welfare of their animals, that when they built outdoor shelters for their pigs they actually spent a night sleeping in them to make sure they were comfortable!

We had another phone call from Gourmet Traveller magazine today also, asking our permission to re-print our Wessex Saddleback pulled pork pizza recipe for an up-coming annual edition & wanting to know who to attribute the recipe to...Chef, or the cafe in general. Well, if not for these amazing farmers there would be no such recipe...and, we would be running a vegetarian cafe.

Let them eat grass!

2011-06-27T20:10:00.001+10:00

The French have Appellation Contrôlée

We, however, have Papa!

Papa is currently taste testing our pasture raised beef stew, braised in

Real Tasmanian Apple Cider

with dumplings.

The beef hails from Brendon & Natalie Rockcliff's small family run farm, Skelbrookvale, near the northern Tasmanian village of Sassafras.
Their beef, lamb & pork all comes from animals who free range on pasture until the day they are harvested, (no feedlots, no sheds or stalls).

The cider is made by Ashley & Jane Huntington of the Two Metre Tall Company, a small farm based brewery in the Derwent Valley, using Sturmer apples (an old English cider variety).

And what does papa think of this coupling?
" Il est un mariage idéal!"

The proper way to eat a fig, in society...

2011-05-14T18:09:00.002+10:00

Is to split in four, holding it by the stump,
And open it, so that it is a glittering, rosy, moist, honied heavy-petalled four-petalled flower.

And then you throw away the skin
Which is just like a four-sepalled calyx,
After you have taken off the blossom with your lips.

But the vulgar way
Is just to put your mouth to the crack, and take out the flesh in one bite.

D.H.Lawrence

At last some of the figs on our trees ripen...however, demonstrating a lack of good breeding, we eat them immediately. The few that survive make it into this cake. But, I fear that by the time you read this, it too will have succumbed to our vulgar ways.

Fresh Fig + Fennel Cake

125g unsalted butter, room temperature

150g (3/4 cup) caster sugar

75g (3/4 cup) plain flour, sifted

2 teaspoons baking powder

3 free-range lightly beaten

1/4 cup fennel seeds bashed around a bit

100g (1/2 cup) almond meal

50g (1/3 cup) walnuts chopped into small pieces

8 fresh ripe figs halved

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Cream butter + sugar.

Sift together the flour + baking powder.

Fold flour + eggs alternately into creamed mixture.

Fold in almond meal/walnuts/fennel seeds.

Pour into prepared cake tin (one with a removable bottom) + place figs cut side up on top in an artistic fashion.

Bake for about 1 hour.

Leave to cool in tin.

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness...

2011-04-06T20:36:00.007+10:00

Where you see pumpkins we see soup with crispy Mt Gnomon bacon, risotto with Papa's roasted walnuts & our purple sage

and spice cake with vanilla bean frosting.

Where you see quinces we see paste on a raw milk cheese, crostata with toasted almonds & Jersey cream

and lamb tagine with chickpeas & a young Riojas.

And, where you see kale, we see

...kale!

Making our mark...

2011-03-15T18:16:00.003+11:00

Just before baking, pâtons have to be slashed with a knife or lame. This practise is full of uncertainty and trepidation because to achieve a good grigne, you must hold the blade 45º from vertical, and, applying even pressure, slash deeply from 3/4" to 1" in one direction only. The incisions let the carbon dioxide escape during baking following your scored marks instead of bursting the bread open unevenly. Well executed slashes ensure your bread looks gorgeous. And trust me, if you hand make bread for your cafe everyday and then bake in a wood fired oven there is already enough randomness going on!

So, for two years we have practised scarifying our loaves using various designs with abandon & now, finally, we've settled on our very own signature. The broad arrow...which is kind of appropriate given Tasmania's penal history, the fact that our church was constructed using convict labour and a recent discovery that, at last count, five of Chef's ancestors were subjected to forced migration.

Anyway, he reckons it's more Fleur de Lys than broad arrow.

Chef, your antecedents were miscreants not French royalty...suck it up!

The humble bramble...

2011-02-01T21:50:00.002+11:00

I spent every spare minute as a kid mucking about with friends in the river at the end of our street. About this time of the year the entire river bank was covered in blackberries which we threw by the fistful at each other until we were totally smothered in their purple juicyness. Even though, now as a grown-up, I have much more respect for food, our first crop of this humble bramble, (picked yesterday by youngest favourite daughter), was quickly & productively dispatched before it could come to any harm...just in case.

Blackberry, Rhubarb & Rosewater Babycakes

1 cup SR flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon rosewater
1 egg
1/2 cup yoghurt
3/4 cup fresh blackberries
1/2 cup rhubarb, chopped
Lemon zest

1. Preheat oven to 180c
2. Cream butter & sugar
3. Beat in rosewater, egg, and lemon zest. Mix until well combined.
4. At low speed, mix in the flour & yoghurt until just combined. Fold in blackberries & rhubarb.
5. Spoon into pretty paper cake thingys.
6. Bake 15-20 minutes

Of flesh and stone...

2010-12-21T21:17:00.002+11:00

Jan Riggall from Somercotes called in this morning to swap a box of cherries for 12 fruit mince tarts. In an effort to stop ourselves eating the lot straight out of the box we pickled them using an old Stephanie Alexander recipe...with a little modification.

Ingredients

700g sugar
850mL white wine vinegar
24 black peppercorns
12 cloves
6 bay leaves
1 clove garlic, unpeeled (optional)
1kg sweet or sour cherries, rinsed

(We used red wine vinegar, added 4 star anise, 2 cinnamon sticks & a tablespoon of fennel seeds & left out the garlic.)

Method

Dissolve sugar in vinegar in a large non-reactive saucepan over a gentle heat. 

Add all other ingredients except cherries and simmer for 10 minutes. 

Allow syrup to cool. 

Check cherries and discard any that are bruised or split. 

Trim stalks to 1cm and pack fruit into hot, sterilised preserving jars. 

Pour cold vinegar syrup over fruit and seal.

And now we are two...

2010-12-14T19:30:00.006+11:00

My chefs gladly go out into the garden to dig up potatoes so they can make gnocchi.
My kitchen hand frequently offers to feed my home-alone kids on weekends.
And my front of house, without complaint, will give up her day off to help out when our caf runneth over.

Thank-you amazing staff, for all your support, encouragement & especially for your hard work over the last two years

Oh, and Prof, I bring you tidings of great joy. We're still losing money...but not as fast as we were last year.
So, that's good isn't it!

Meet Cousin Itt...

2010-12-08T20:55:00.001+11:00

Itt lives just outside the back door and was one of a handful of fennel seedlings that Sav gave us from his mamma's garden. Saverio is the Italian guy who owns the pizza shop across the road...we love him.

He is so kind...always giving us stuff and letting our customers use his loo if we have a dinner party (because the public convenience opposite the caf is inconveniently locked in the evening, and, the sister of the publican who owns the hotel next door, is kinda frightening if she catches you sneaking in to use the bathroom there...we do not love her).

Anyway, Cousin Itt is large and hairy but not in a scary way (like the publican's sister) and produces the most amazing pollen.

I have been waiting patiently all through spring for Itt to flower because I love fennel pollen almost as much as I love Sav.

Today I found the first flower head ready to release its fragrant and sweet yellow sprinkles and I can't wait to shake it all over some Mt Gnomon slow cooked Wessex Saddleback pork or a piece of this lemon, rosemary & olive oil cake.

Rosalind Kirkcaldie @ut si cafe gallery

2010-12-08T10:44:00.001+11:00

Roz is a Tasmanian artist who, after achieving formal qualifications in graphic art, worked as an artist/designer for a number of years in film graphics.

She has now returned to her first love, painting.

Blinking Billy

Hobart

acrylic

92 x 61cms

$650

Fallow Field

North West Coast Tasmania

acrylic/oil pastel

60 x 120 cms

$650

Fading Light

East Coast Tasmania

acrylic/oil pastel

92 x 61cms

$650

Hamilton Earth

acrylic

61 x 92 cms

$650

Road's End

Tasmanian Peninsula

80 x 80 cms

acrylic

$650

Huon Vista

acrylic

80 x 80 cms

$650

Working in both watercolour & acrylic, her successful exhibitions include the Handmark Gallery (Salamanca Place), Meadowbank Winery, the Tasmanian Art Society gallery, the Launceston Country Club & the Circle Gallery in Brisbane.

The beauty of Tasmania remains a constant passion & provides the inspiration for most of her work.

Her paintings retain the bold graphic elements with which she has worked throughout her career.

Tasmania's distinctive light & the strength & solidity of its landscapes are frequently articulated in her vivid, structured canvases.
Rosalind's exhibition will continue through December to mid January 2011.

Oh, bring us some figgy pudding...

2010-11-27T21:01:00.000+11:00

ut si cafe growers' market ...coming soon

2010-11-05T19:23:00.010+11:00

ut si café gallery

Saturday Growers’ Market

Fortnightly from November 20,

8am to 12noon

vegies, herbs, seedlings, free range chicken & duck eggs, locally roasted coffee beans

wood fired brick oven sourdough bread, preserves, olive oils & honey

all locally grown, raised or made

If you live locally & grow your own vegetables, plants, raise your own chickens etc & would like to sell your excess produce, contact us by phone or email, facebook or twitter to reserve a market stall.

There is no charge for stallholders !

The cafe owner's dilemma

2010-10-28T19:48:00.002+11:00

I came across an 80's copy of Australian Gourmet Traveller recently & read that for $15 back then you could enjoy a 4 course French provincial feast at my parents' restaurant, The Leather Bottell Inn.
It wasn't the seemingly cheap cost to eat in a restaurant in 1986 that made me take stock but the realization that my parents were restaurateurs for more than 20 years. Not yet 2 years in & I am totally exhausted!

Perhaps I'm just too long in the tooth...Mama & Papa had retired at my age. And, my chef brother left the stoves before he hit 40 to became an industry consultant. In fact, I consulted with him before buying the church. He said stuff like "Don't do it sis!" (I did), "You're gonna lose a lot of money!", (I have) "You'll be sorry" (I am).

Or maybe my friend Steve of the RVL is right when, in his latest blog post, he says that we could be suffering from a media induced 'food fatigue'.

But probably I'm just my own worst enemy.
This week I returned from a 3 week 'holiday' to the U.S... where I visited every farmers' market, artisan bakery & cool cafe I possibly could.
I also read 4 books...3 of which were food related & the other about the Mennonites...with recipes!

an exhibition of Tasmanian landscape studies

2010-09-22T19:18:00.037+10:00

ut si café gallery invites you to the opening of
MOONDIAL
an exhibition of landscape studies by Jonathan Bowden

Friday, September 24, 6pm-8pm
86 Main Rd., Perth 63 981125

New and varied offerings...

2010-09-09T14:40:00.000+10:00

Oh, we've been busy...

deep blue Design Works @ut si cafe gallery

2010-08-26T19:00:00.004+10:00

More beautiful cutwork designs from local artist Tina Eacher.

Growing Real Food

2010-07-25T14:10:00.005+10:00

I don't own many cookbooks...a few, like an old & battered Larousse & much thumbed Cook's Companion, but not a lot.

And, I've never interviewed an apprentice chef for a job before.
However, as our recently purchased Real Food Companion by Matthew Evans lay on the workbench when the applicant walked in, Chef handed it to her & said,

Bake this.

(this being a Pear & Sour Cream Cake with Walnut Crumble)

We don't have any sour cream or pears so use yoghurt & a bit of rhubarb from the back garden. 'k?

The cake was beautiful.
So is the book.

Impressed with the efforts of our apprentice I set about making Matthew's duck confit in our wood fired oven.
When it was done the air hung so sticky and thick with the smell of my Meme's kitchen you could lick it.

Meme didn't own a cookbook. She was too busy doing the cooking to read about it.
And when she wasn't cooking she grew vegetables, raised chooks & engaged in quarrel with Pepe.

There is much in The Real Food Companion that invokes my childhood of growing up in a family that actually produced most of what we consumed.
This wasn't unusual in my village of course...most families had a backyard vegie patch in the 60's but as us kids only had to look after the goats, I certainly lacked any appreciation of the real effort required to grow food.

Man, has that changed!
The broad beans are up in our cafe garden, as is the purple garlic. Onion seedlings, new fruit trees & raspberry canes are all planted.
Next, a greenhouse to grow heirloom tomatoes from seed in & a chook shed...as soon as the Prof learns how to hammer a nail.

And the apprentice...well, she got the job (and bought some gumboots!)

Josh Foley - Contemporary artist

2010-05-20T20:02:00.000+10:00

This retrospective bears witness to
the breadth of styles & techniques Josh employed
as he developed his own artistic sense of self.

His exhibition will run @ ut si for May & June.

Le béret rouge...

2010-04-26T18:52:00.004+10:00

At ut si Cafe the Free Range Revolution was marked today
with the wearing of our own reformist head gear.
BECAUSE, we have free range bacon back on our menu...thank-you, thank-you, thank-you Guy and Eliza!

Ethics, Eating and Economics

2010-03-30T20:13:00.008+11:00

When we opened our caf 15 months ago we didn't realize how difficult it would be to source ethically produced meat.
As a result our menu was almost completely devoid of any animal derived protein.
Most of our customers didn't notice.
A couple did.
So, we introduced game meats from a local supplier.

A few months on & a distributor promised us a regular supply of free range pork from a Tasmanian farm near Scottsdale in the states north east.
Now the wording on this farm's attractive brochure states that the pigs are paddock raised & free to roam & that the farm was set up using traditional English free range farming methods.

The pork was delivered...it looked fab.
Chef slow cooked it for 22 hours in our wood fired brick oven
and I advertised the fact on our menu & a friend's blog.
Disaster.

Another blogging friend & a southern free range pig farmer both contacted me shortly after, with a warning to be careful about using the free range terminology on our menu as this farm supplies free range BRED pigs...
That is, pigs that are conceived outdoors but who,
once weaned from their mothers, are penned in sheds.
Nice sheds, as it turns out,
with nice fresh straw...but still sheds. AAAAAGH!

Back to a vego menu plus a bit of game meat.

One thing we did have on our breakfast menu was free range bacon.
The package it came in was clearly labeled FREE RANGE.
Not free range bred, or pasture raised, or free to roam...
Just FREE RANGE.

But, apparently, FREE RANGE it isn't.
Do we now have a breakfast menu without bacon?
...you betcha!

I choose to eat meat from free range farms because I believe it to be the most ethically produced meat.
I'm happy to pay more for it because I know the labour costs are higher & the pigs take longer to grow (24 weeks compared with 15).
Also, I want to support Tasmanian small producers of high quality products who behave ethically.

I should get what I pay for.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), has been given the power by the federal government to fine businesses & corporations for misleading consumers.
Despite this, they have been unable to act on several complaints & a submission brought before them by the Free Range Egg & Poultry Association & the Free Range Pig Farmers Association concerning mislabeling because the terms free range & free range bred have no legal definition.

I understand that animals that are free range bred suffer less than those factory farmed.
And, I understand the difference between free range & free range bred.
But, according to the ACCC, most consumers don't.

So consumers, let's clear up the confusion.
Click & learn!

As always, (well, actually, almost NEVER) the final word on this belongs to the Prof

The argument is often made that we need to keep some commodity, like coal or oil or food, cheap because it helps the poor.
Although this argument is often well intentioned it results in artificially low petrol prices (with undesirable environmental consequences) or the unethical treatment of animals (which usually subsidizes the rich more than the poor anyway.)

People are poor because of the sort of inequalities in wealth we have in societies like ours. This is unjustifiable on any reasonable ethical standard.
What needs to happen, of course, is a change in the way in which wealth is distributed.

To give those people who are currently being unfairly treated cheap food or petrol is not only patronizing, but also another means of using their condition to benefit special interests, and, a weak substitute for the changes that need to be made.

Dear John,

2010-03-07T18:32:00.006+11:00

I'm terribly sorry I had to do this through a letter, this is not easy for me at all, honestly.

What I have to say is going to hurt and I wish I could think of a less painful way to tell you. But I can't. So, I'm going to come straight out with it.

I set fire to the oven door...again!

I understand if you no longer want to see me. You'd be much better off spending your energy with clients who appreciate and respect your great work.

My only hope is that one day you'll find it in your heart to forgive, and, maybe build me another one...again.

Love,
Colette

Meet the Prof...

2010-03-02T23:11:00.001+11:00

Name one thing you miss about being a kid:
I will answer when I stop.

What made you laugh the hardest in your entire life?
Heller’s book, Catch 22

What are you working on now?
A paper on nuclear energy.

What is the speed of dark?
Don't know. It only moves when no one is looking.

Worst subject in school: mathematics

Favourite books: Das Kapital, Alice in Wonderland, Moby Dick, The General Theory of Games and Economic Behaviour.

Did you know that someone listed your book on eBay?
LOL

Your friends describe you as: useless

Your relatives describe you as: absent

Favourite food: fish

Favourite food besides fish food: pork

Fantasy dinner guests: Marx, Einstein, Hannibal

What's your favourite thing about the opposite sex?
That they are the opposite sex.

Best advice you ever heard: Better to seek forgiveness than ask permission
Um, sorry I sold your book.

Any tattoos or piercings? Yes and yes.

Favourite movies: Dr Strangelove, The Princess Bride

Favourite music: Dirty Old Town (Pogues) Waltzing Matilda (Tom Waits), Carmina Burana

Why is it better to have round manhole covers than square ones?
Because a round cover can’t ever fall through the hole.
I knew that!

Favourite city: Boston

Where are you currently living?
In an art gallery in Fremantle.

Why do banks charge a fee on “insufficient funds” when they already know there is not enough money in your account?
Because Capitalism is based on screwing the poor.

As I am clearly a victim of Capitalism will you pay the fee?
No.

So, you want to be a chef because...

2010-02-21T19:57:00.010+11:00

you get to play with knives

and fire

and brooms.

And, you get to be creative and imaginative

especially for your 12 year old sister's birthday party.

But mostly you want to be a chef because
it teaches you how to remain calm under pressure.

Source & Supply

2010-01-21T22:33:00.003+11:00

Over the last 12 months we've grown
pumpkins, corn, rocket, strawberries,
tomatoes, artichokes, potatoes, fennel, herbs,
radishes, beetroot, spinach, figs, onions, garlic
and rhubarb...lots of rhubarb,
and, more herbs.

Mama & Papa also supply us with raspberries, lemons,
rattes, currants, quinces, walnuts and more rhubarb.
We give the surplus away to our regular customers
(especially those fond of rhubarb.)

But what I really love is when our local suppliers ask us
how we use their product.

That they care about what we do to their no spray Bramley's

or rare breed free range pork
means that they'll be supplying us for awhile yet.

Haiti

2010-01-14T17:55:00.002+11:00

Today & for rest of the month our amazing staff at ut si have decided to donate all their tips to the Haiti Appeal through the Yéle Haiti foundation.
By close this afternoon our tip cup overfloweth.
Thank-you generous customers & most caring staff.
Click and Pledge

What's it all about, ut si?

2010-01-08T22:05:00.001+11:00

The end of our first year of business
and, despite the typos in our Financial Report,
me and the chook are still here.
Me, because no-one else is stupide enough to get up at dawn,
every day, & bake the bloody bread
and chook, because the Prof is too soft to off her.
He'd dug a hole & everything
which, as it turns out,
was a strange accident of fortune
as this large & empty grave provided a fire break
when the compost heap caught alight last week.
So, chook lived another day...
& so did our neighbour's fence, family & shed full of trucks.

And, what have I learned this year?

a) That there is a direct correlation between the position of a decimal point in our Profit (Loss) Statement & the timing of the Prof's retirement.

b) That shoveling coals from a wood fired oven onto a compost heap will increase your carbon footprint.

c) That a 30 metre hose was an entirely appropriate Christmas gift to receive after all, thank-you Prof.

DavidLake@ut si

2009-12-12T17:29:00.005+11:00

Now on exhibition @ut si,
Launceston Landscapes by Longford artist
(and owner of the cutest car in the world)
David Lake.

Pilgrims, pork & provedores...

2009-11-26T18:17:00.009+11:00

Bake bread,
(& feed it to chook.)
Place pork belly with star anise/cinnamon/fennel, in wood oven,
(& burn hand on hot hearth.)

Collect visiting son#1 & squish him & Chef into little French car,
(because Prof won't let me buy this one.)

Visit Launceston's newest provedore,
(& ooh aah at their cutsie cupcakes)
but purchase a Hershey bar instead,
(because it's Thanksgiving Day.)
Try to drink v bad coffee from cafe opposite Launceston's newest provedore,
(because it cost $4!)

Visit fave Italian provedore,
(& be tempted by Signor Rossilli's proscuitto & Ligurian olives.)

Return to ut si to unload little French car,
(of offspring, antipasti & Hershey wrappers)
& try to drink v excellent coffee,
(but discuss Sophoclean characters with son#1 instead.)

Remove pork from oven,
(salivate)
mix dough for tomorrow's bread,
(by hand)
clean down entire kitchen,
(& be thankful for this, my day off!)

deepblue Designworks@ut si

2009-11-22T19:40:00.008+11:00

Now showing at ut si,
the beautiful Tasmanian timber veneer
cutwork Xmas tree designs
of Tina Eacher.

Our Professor-errant returns tomorrow

2009-10-31T17:24:00.006+11:00

And all is in readiness.
His favourite seat, ('tween Faema & fermenting dough).
His favourite caffè, (doppio ristretto latte).

But this time, he doesn't have to ask his favourite question,
("What is there to eat?")

Temperature's risin'

2009-10-20T19:32:00.005+11:00

There are several methods of judging the heat of your brick oven...

This is not one of them.

il Duomo

2009-10-08T18:01:00.005+11:00

Theirs...

Ours!

In springtime, love is carried on the breeze.

2009-10-05T18:25:00.006+11:00

(And it's time for another BAS statement.)
Watch out for flying passion
(And frayed tempers,)
or kisses whizzing by your head.
(Along with three months worth of coffee stained invoices, illegible cheque butts & unopened bank statements.)

with apologies to ~Emma Racine deFleur...who was never harassed by the ATO for slack record keeping I'll bet!

Orange Blossom Shortbread Kisses with tea, Earl Grey, hot.

Public inconveniences

2009-09-22T17:11:00.005+10:00

The public conveniences are across the road...just behind the shop...the shop with the ATM...the same shop that sells the local newspaper.
No, we are not building a toilet block out the back...because...there is one across the road...just behind the shop with the ATM where you can purchase the local newspaper.
Mind the chook on your way out.

Good Bread Is Back

2009-09-17T21:30:00.013+10:00

I've read Professor Steven Kaplan's fine scholarly tome.
And so, dedicating the last 12 months to making bread of the French tradition by sourcing good raw ingredients, employing a lengthy pointage & using a gentle hand, have produced a daily bread of colourful thin & crunchy crust with a pearly, elastic crumb of irregularly shaped alveoli.

Avant de manger, one must, according to the Prof, wait for bread to cool completely so that an exchange of volatile compounds between crumb & crust can take place. These compounds are the moleculer bearers of stimulation for our gustatory & olfactory impressions.

However, like Mae West, I generally avoid temptation unless I can't resist it.

Groundbreaking

2009-09-15T19:38:00.004+10:00

A ceremonial breaking of the ground to formally begin a construction project was held at ut si today.
Such ceremonies are often attended by dignitaries such as politicians, members of an imperial family and the famously recognized.
Ours was attended by chook.

alicebrickhill@utsi

2009-09-07T19:39:00.000+10:00

Exhibition opening Sunday, September 13, 6-8pm

Whisk(e)y Tang(el)o Foxtrot

2009-09-01T18:20:00.010+10:00

Who'd have thought that our card carrying egalitarian Prof would have anything in common with the ruling classes.

Well, I'm afraid he does.

He shares the love of a particular single malt with Prince Charles no less.

So, to relieve the burden of guilt that such a shared sympathy surely occasions in the Prof, I used his 30 year LAPHROAIG in our tangelo marmalade at ut si.

And, I say, its frightfully good on chocolate toast .

The road is long...

2009-08-30T11:19:00.004+10:00

with many a winding turn.

the Restoration

2009-08-19T20:42:00.005+10:00

Leadeth me to Flinders Lane & let me eat...

Then guideth me back to the isLand of Righteousness
& let me partake of Steve's sourdough
& some hard goat's cheese by the river of Huon...

so that I may thread my way through the by-ways
of obscurity & obstacles
& come up with some new menu ideas
for Spring cometh
& I am so totally over lamb pot pie!

LauraCrick@utsi

2009-08-05T19:04:00.009+10:00

Midwinter, vin chaud & a bonfire...

2009-06-22T19:32:00.005+10:00

Whilst there were no Druids present, there was much philosophizing over what constitutes a fine Glühwein...and, why you don't dowse a pile of sticks with petrol.

Six months on...

2009-05-25T18:48:00.002+10:00

And I have learned...
I can live on coffee.
I can live without a social life.
The dishwasher is my new best friend.

The resurrection of the Caramel Slice...

2009-04-12T19:35:00.009+10:00

When ut si first opened this choc caramel slice appeared in the display fridge with annoying regularity...until I yelled ENOUGH!

But it sells, cried the back of house.
It's wicked, cried the front.

It did & it was & I caved for Easter.
And so, for a VERY short time, it makes another appearance...tarted up with a bit of gold leaf...thanks be to the gals at cocobean who, recognizing the look of the desperate & obsessive, GAVE me 2 sheets of this beautiful stuff after closing hours late Thursday night .

The day's at the morn...

2009-04-09T20:18:00.011+10:00

Straight to the Faema

Then with cheese I forgot to put away last night

Spread on some just baked bread

And devoured leaning against the still warm oven
I stare at the mis en place...en place.

And adore that silent space in a kitchen before service.
Its stillness.
Its order.

And then...

In walks Fluffy Ears!

Me & the Prof both have birthdays in March.

2009-03-12T20:49:00.004+11:00

I share mine with Michelangelo and Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
He shares his with Queen Latifah and the guy who narrated Rocky & Bullwinkle.
For his birthday I gave him a slab of jamon

(for he loves swine)

and asked him to take me to a Vietnamese restaurant for mine.

He said sure. As long as he can order pig.

I said I'm sure they have pigs in Hanoi.

We had a customer in today who asked if we had something with meat in it...

2009-02-19T19:22:00.003+11:00

Oh my God.
Didn't realize.
We don't.
Well, there is free range bacon on the breakfast menu.
And, a couple of weeks ago, we did have some smoked trout with micro-salad & a soy-sesame drizzle.
Oh, hang on, there's a bit of proscuitto atop the mushroom & spinach bruschetta.

Anyway, Chef & Me had a good hard look at the menu after service today & decided we kind of like it the way it is.

The customer? Well, he had the pear, walnut & rocket salad with honey/wasabi dressing.

And then, when he went to pay with his visa card, I had to tell him that we don't actually have a credit card machine thingy either...can't afford the bank charges...sorry!

Preview the ink & charcoal nudes

2009-02-15T18:59:00.002+11:00

of Lucy de Vere.

At ut si from this week.

Meet our stylish dish pigs & other regulars.

2009-01-30T21:42:00.017+11:00

There's Nick who brings his own mug because we don't do mugs.
There's Michael who has cappuccino, toast & vegemite...even though we don't do vegemite.

And then there's David,(baritone, on the right).

He always orders runny poached eggs,

with all the sides, including hollandaise...minus the eggs!

In fact David was such a regular regular that he had to join opera nutter, (soprano, on the left) at the sink. Unfortunately for us, David is off to the VCA soon. We will all miss him terribly.

If you happen upon this duo at ut si, ask them to knock out a tune for you. You can't miss 'em in their pinstriped jackets, fab shirts & unsuitable footwear.
They make opera so cool.

Rhubarb, Rhubarb...

2009-01-08T20:12:00.012+11:00

Our vegetable garden, whilst not even close to this chef's garden, is nonetheless a bountiful hubbub of activity at the moment. We love it but Josh (apprentice chef extraordinaire) loves it more. Several times a day he disappears out the back door with an empty colander & returns with it brimful of spinach or beetroot or rocket...which usually means I have to change the menu on the mirror...again! Today, just as I finish making yet another alteration, Marie-Jose walks in the back door with un panier de la rhubarbe. Josh collapses with rapture. I collapse into a Windex induced coma.

Rhubarb Cinnamon Shortcake with very delicious Rhubarb/Strawberry sauce

Cream 4oz butter with 1 1/2 cups brown sugar...add 2 eggs, beat well.
Add 1 cup soured milk, 2 1/4 cups flour, teaspoon salt, teaspoon bicarb...mix well.
Add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract & 1 1/2 cups raw rhubarb finely chopped.
Pour into lined cake tin.
Sprinkle teaspoon cinnamon & 1/2 cup brown sugar over top.
Bake 180, 45 mins.
Stew 2 cups chopped rhubarb with 1/2 cup sugar. Add punnet strawberries, simmer 5 minutes...Push through strainer. Serve on side or pour over cake.

They came, they ate, they left...

2008-12-26T18:53:00.009+11:00

and although every ounce of my body is aching at a molecular level and my brain is stuck on shuffle...

I care not...for someone ordered my lettuce and mint soup today...and ate it all up!

Lettuce & Mint Soup

Remove bag of expensive lettuce from fridge...open & discover it has frozen...kick fridge.
Sweat onion & garlic in a little olive oil...add expensive & now soggy lettuce.
Sweat some more.
Add veg or chicken stock. Add chopped up potato. Season with abandon.
Simmer for 30 minutes.
Blitz until silky.
Add lots of shredded fresh mint. Serve with dollop of cream. Top with a good bleu cheese crust.
Ignore chef's cruel taunts & add to menu.

An invitation...

2008-12-04T20:00:00.007+11:00

Memorativa
the beautiful hand printed textiles of
Joanna Eva Pinkiewicz
@ ut si.

The dread realization of an impending deadline?

2008-11-30T09:14:00.007+11:00

So, the first booking arrives on our (non-heritage) stainless steel threshold in exactly 10 days, 2 hours & 27 minutes....

Our stunning tables, (made with timber from an old bridge with the bolt holes filled with Myrtle) are not yet in situ...but then neither is the menu...CHEF!

Prof on a Hot Tin Roof...

2008-11-18T17:49:00.001+11:00

Inspiring!

So Near and Yet So Far

2008-11-13T18:50:00.003+11:00

is a song written by Cole Porter, for the 1941 film You'll Never Get Rich...

just as well you have little regard for accumulating wealth Prof.

Please, Prof, I want some more.

2008-10-31T14:58:00.020+11:00

Dear Prof,
Lucy & Smed have stripped the flaky paint from the fancy timber bits on the gabled roof of our church.
Huon pine!
Looks & smells totally divine.

However, the Heritage Council want us to repaint.

Yes, I know, our coffer lacks the content necessary for any further purchase but they are the law & must be obeyed, OR ELSE!

So, you choose...directly to debtors' prison, or, debtors' prison via a protracted court case?

What say you?

Yours in Poverty,

It's a sign...

2008-10-25T07:44:00.012+11:00

but is it a prediction of the future?

For we have bookings next month!

My guess is air-conditioning won't be a problem.

For six days thou shalt labour...

2008-10-22T19:11:00.010+11:00

and on the seventh...

labour some more!

the Basic Mix...

2008-10-01T15:38:00.005+10:00

50 kgs cement
25 kgs sand
25 kgs gravel
Many bags of money.

Mix dry ingredients.
Slowly add water.
Watch your money disappear.

I can almost smell the coffee...

2008-09-25T15:06:00.008+10:00

because Lucy & James are framing up the counters.

Room temperature...

2008-08-29T21:22:00.014+10:00

The Prof once gave me a sharpening stone for my birthday...and for Christmas, he paid for my cat to be euthanised!
I mean, he could've just thwacked Tiddles with the blunt Wüsthof & bought me a bunch of flowers, non?

Do like a good saucepan however, and, as Tasmanian Hotel & Club Supplies has the best matériel de cuisine on the island, Chef & I went shopping to purchase all the serious stuff for the caf that we haven't been able to beg, steal or eBay.
Hmmm, did we really need the Infrared Thermometer Gun with Laser Beam Sighting? Yes, according to Chef, as apparently every leaf of cavolo nero has to have its temperature taken & recorded as it enters the kitchen...

So, to celebrate the end of my tether, I went to Stillwater for lunch with the girls & devoured the duck despite being completely ignorant of its thermodynamic parameter!

Sounds like Elvis to me...

2008-08-12T22:48:00.018+10:00

It has been said that nothing after Picasso is original.
There was a discussion this week on the ClubTroppo blog about the truth or not behind musicians who perform the original compositions of other artists, in other words, covers.

I do know that covers are a great source of material for your cafe-pod-mixing sound stylist.
A smash hit from the 'olden days' (the 70's according to Chef), sung by the latest whiny, white fe/male, keeps all the punters happy

...the latte sipping GenX sitting at the counter with the Fin Review recognizes the tune

...and, the Ys & Zs flipping through Nylon on the sofa with their hazelnut flavoured (euuuuw!) macchiatos, identify with the artist.

(By the way, if you think Nylon is a synthetic polymer you are clearly not part of this demographic so quietly remove yourself from their couch, return to the counter where you belong &
politely inform the nice barista that you ordered the wrong coffee!)

I have to say that Amy here does a very fine To Know Him Is To Love Him
& how cool am I, (well, at least in my kids' eyes) knowing all the lyrics. (Just don't tell'em it's a cover or mine's blown!)

Pink Martini...

2008-08-09T10:16:00.021+10:00

It's all eerie & still back at the church. The rénovateurs have taken off to warmer climes whilst we wait for the local council to process our development application.
We now have to provide them with engineer's plans for a set of steps out off the kitchen door & drainage plans for the small (four car) gravel car park.
The 'budget' too has left the building. (To be honest, it deserted awhile back...to be completely honest, I don't think it ever entered!)

So, with nothing to do but worry, the opera nutter & I went to hang out in a CD store. He zoned out immediately in the classics section under W for Wagner & I went to look for something to soothe the savage beast banging in my head created by the thought of imminent bankruptcy...and found the fabulous Pink Martini...a 12 piece retro lounge band based in the U.S.
Formed in 1994 in Portland, Oregon, by Harvard graduate & classically trained pianist Thomas M. Lauderdale to play at political fundraisers for progressive causes such as civil rights, affordable housing, clean water & public broadcasting, their music is a vibrant & exotic mess of nu jazz & Latin rhythms sung in a variety of languages. Lead singer/songwriter, China Forbes, (even her name is COOL!) is gorgeous & her sultry, lullaby voice in Tea for Two on the HEY EUGENE! album would soften rocks in any language.

And I left, chanting;
'All shall be well; and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.'

One Fine Day...

2008-07-27T17:41:00.016+10:00

Well, it will be when we finish the painting.

The floor was sanded & oiled whilst I was away...

and because the old oak boards were cross-cut the grain looks amazing.

A whiter shade of pale...

2008-06-26T17:29:00.009+10:00

How do you choose a colour scheme for a new caf in an old church when presented with an infinite array of stunning hues from Apple Crunch to Wasabi With Pickle? (Because, "...although my eyes were open they might have just as well've been closed.")

You call Joanna, an artist/decorator who, with partner Tim, has a little decorating business in Launceston called Perfecto Interiors.

Their knowledge and passion for their product is inspirational (and would've had me turning "...cartwheels 'cross the floor" had the floor been up to it!)

Can't wait for Chef to see it.

I just know what he's going to say.

"The ceiling is grey!"
"It's Sable actually."
"The walls are white."
"Haloumi."
"They're blotchy."
"They're meant to be...it's lime wash."
"They look like they're growing bacteria."
"THWAT!" (Sound of Chef being hit over the head with large wet paint brush)

The Chef's ladder...

2008-06-21T13:46:00.014+10:00

Chef de Cuisine
This is the apex, the chef whose initials are etched into the silver flatware, and embroidered onto the washroom towels...the chef with the vision, who conceives the dishes, imbues the whole restaurant with his/her personality, appears on television & has a book deal.
And, sometimes, the Chef de Cuisine even cooks!

Executive Chef
This is a nebulous title, as only the biggest, most famous Chefs de Cuisine follow themselves with Executive Chefs. Executive Chefs run the whole kitchen when the boss isn't around. They hire and fire, determine costs, revamp the menu, take care of all administrative tasks, interact with the dining room managers, and generally oversee the well-being of the restaurant.

Sous-Chef
Next wrung under Executive Chef...this chef is always in the kitchen. He/she comes up with the daily specials, takes inventory, watches over the staff and expedites. Generally the Sous-Chef is the liaison between customers in the dining room and the Station Chefs (see Chef de Partie). He/she makes sure that the food gets to the wait staff in a timely fashion & that everyone sitting at a particular table is served simultaneously. This job is all about coordination and timing. There are two kinds of Sous-Chefs; those who move on to open their own restaurants and those who will remain as they are, preferring the rhythmic rigors of the kitchen to the bright lights of chef celebrity-dom.

Pâtissier
The Pastry Chef is like the Sous-Chef, but reigns over the pastry section, which is usually tucked far away from the heat & pace of the main kitchen. The pastry section has always been assigned less status than the main kitchen -- possibly because pastry was a traditionally female province.

Chef de Partie
Also known as Line Cooks or Station Chefs the Chef de Partie actually cooks your food. They are divided up either by cooking technique (saute, grill, etc.), or by type of food (fish, meat, etc.). When the Sous-Chef shouts out an order (they always shout), the Line Cooks jump to prepare it. Most cooks work up through the line (working every position), before being promoted to Sous-Chef.

Chef de Garde Manger
The person in the garde manger section -- also known as the cold station -- plates all the dishes that do not require heat, such as salads, terrines, and sometimes desserts, if there is no assigned pastry person on the line.

Commis Chef
A Commis Chef is an apprentice that works under a Chef de Partie in order to learn the station's responsibilities and operation. They are Chefs who have recently completed formal Culinary training or are still undergoing training.
The training period for a Chef is generally four years. Thus a Commis would have 4 levels: 1st year Commis, 2nd year Commis, and so on. The rate of pay is usually in accordance with their training status. Once the Chef has completed the fourth year in training, they would usually move up to Demi-Chef de Partie or Chef de Partie.

Mother of the Chef
A long suffering, poorly paid, delusional martyr.

Back at the church...

2008-06-19T18:23:00.010+10:00

It's unbelievable what a money pit the work actually is...does anyone ever renovate within their means?

Prof says fear not.
He can always get a paper round!

2008-06-18T08:18:00.012+10:00

Every morning before work I make coffee and bake something for the crew at the church. This morning it was chocolat noir, walnut and spice muffins.

Prof is dead jealous...even from a great distance...because, when he is here, I don't...so we have to eat out...somewhere really, really nice...like Fee & Me!

...where chef happens to be currently situated, and,

where you can eat these cute little Huon Valley Honeybrown Mushroom caps with Seymour Gold potato stalks filled with mushroom ragout in a thyme infused cream sauce...
très délicieux!

Only last time we were there, we forgot to tip...Sorry!

If music be the food of life...

2008-06-14T19:12:00.009+10:00

then our caf's in dire straits...(sorry!)

Chef nicked my ipod and down/up (whatever!) loaded a playlist best enjoyed at a safe distance with a mind of industrial strength broadness. (Would you like earplugs with your latte madam?)

Nothing illustrates the 'G' gap between le parent et l'enfant better than le choice of la music and thus it has been since Bach was a boy I guess.

Still, we both love, love, love Amy Winehouse...comprendre?!

A well educated workforce...

2008-06-09T20:02:00.004+10:00

The Prof flew in from Beijing (or was it Boston) to check on progress & meet our team of rénovateurs; James, Shep, Tim and Lucy.

He left mumbling about the sad state of Australia's university system and wondering just how qualified you need to be to paint a ceiling as we have more university degrees on the job than the Los Alamos Project...TRUE!

Email from Jonna...

2008-06-04T08:35:00.008+10:00

Colette,
Interestingly ut si may be "as if" in Latin, but how about this;
gamut (GAM-uht) noun = The complete range of something.
[From Medieval Latin, contraction of gamma ut, from gamma (third letter of the Greekalphabet), used to represent the lowest tone + ut, from the names of the notes ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si (ut and si later changed to do and ti).
Gamma + ut contracted to gamut and the meaning expanded to denote all notes.
The names ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si are derived from the initial syllables of a Latin hymn.]
I love the idea of the whole range of something and the connection with the music...
the sound of Chef’s ut or doh voice as you work through issues replied to by the more treble si or ti voice, actually together rather discordant but commonly resolving to harmony. (Play middle C with the B above and resolve to octave)
And the whole range means you cook more and more expanding forever your gam-ut.
And quietly, Fuel and Religieuse were well avoided names. First confusing, second not easy for Aussies to get their lazy tongues around
Go ut si! You must put the ut si story on the back of menu - so people have something to read while they wait hours for the culinary masterpiece (meton = food) from the kitchen (culina).
Love Jonna

O, be some other name!

2008-05-30T18:21:00.010+10:00

How did we come up with the name
ut si for our caf? Well, we argued...lots!
Chef wanted FUEL.
I said RELIGIEUSE.
And the Prof? He declared that if we couldn't agree, then he would name it ALEX'S EATS...to which Chef and I screamed in unison, "As if!"
And so it was named...in Latin.
A rare moment of accord between mother and son.
(Only I still think RELIGIEUSE is better... and it is the name of an actual French choux pastry confection...Chef says he was framed...and the Prof? He's gone back to doing what he does best...mucking around on a whiteboard with those funny little Greek thingys.)

Fiat lux...

2008-05-29T18:44:00.005+10:00

We can now see the little red brick Post Office across the road, (c1885 and just one of many buildings of historical and architectural significance in the village).
The horrid textured window glass has been replaced with clear glass 6mm thick to block out the noise of passing log trucks. You know that wall mounted, gas fired salamander with the infrared burners you wanted me to buy for your kitchen, chef... it's now a Sunbeam toaster which I shall personally nail sideways to the wall for you!

Cooking school...

2008-05-28T18:27:00.006+10:00

Chef is always disparaging of my culinary efforts so I enrolled in a one day cooking school with French Patissier Laetitia Bremaud.

Laetitia is in charge of all patisserie at Chimmys and the Convent bakeries in Melbourne and she is tres fabuleux!

I returned home with kilos of nougat and panforte...
and a promise from Laetitia to come visit us in Tasmania next year.
Maybe, she'll conduct a cours de cuisine at ut si!

Chef says the ceiling is sick...

2008-05-19T19:48:00.001+10:00

I think he means stunning.

I'm
more
concerned
about
workplace
health
and
safety
issues
however.

The sky has fallen in...

2008-05-17T19:44:00.003+10:00

With chef on his hands and knees punching hand-made nails into 170yr old oak boards and constructeurs extraordinaire James and Shep erecting scaffold...all was right with the world this a.m.

And 8 hours later....

Tres amusant guys...the Heritage Office man cometh Monday and we still have no ceiling!

The War Against Bugs...

2008-05-15T16:20:00.007+10:00

Let the renovation begin...
and, with two applications of 'herbal' pesticide,
sans borers (we hope!)

Church for sale...

2008-05-15T14:02:00.006+10:00

And this is it...built in 1838 with a porch added probably around 1880 when both the Church of England and the Baptists in the village were attempting to recruit parishioners with ambitious building projects.
The masonry fence unfortunately replaces an original picket.

ut si cafe

2008-05-14T20:59:00.003+10:00

We settled today...the prof, the chef and me are now the very nervous and totally naive owners of a little Methodist church in spare Georgian style in the northern Tasmanian village of Perth.