FUNGI

Fungi are relatively well-evolved living things that are neither plants nor animals, and they include a diverse group of organisms, such as yeasts, moulds, and mushrooms. They are heterotrophic, meaning they obtain nutrients by absorbing them from their environment. Fungi play a crucial role in ecosystems by decomposing organic matter and forming symbiotic relationships with plants and animals.

It's mushroom time in Melbourne, and although many people collect wild mushrooms to eat, as they are delicious, it is important to distinguish them from toxic toadstools and poisonous mushrooms, because ingesting those may cause serious illness or death...

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

YARRA VALLEY

The Yarra Valley is less than hour’s drive to the northeast of the Melbourne CBD and is the place where Victorian wine-growing started in the mid-19th century. As one goes past the outer suburbs of Melbourne, one encounters rolling hills densely planted with vines, beautiful verdant valleys and distant blue mountain range backdrops. There are lush pastures, beautiful forests and rivers with villages surrounded by bushland like Marysville, Healesville, Yarra Glen and Warburton.

There are many vineyards to visit, ranging from the small family concerns that produce boutique wine ranges in small quantities, to the larger concerns that have many hectares of vines and produce wine by the megalitre each season. There are hundred-year-old vineyards and wineries as well as the new arrivals that have just planted out their vines. One may sample the wines, tour some of the winemaking facilities, and there is no dearth of places to linger over a meal as one discovers the regional fresh produce, well-prepared food that is matched to the local wines in the vineyard restaurants. One may also choose to stay a night or two in a chic boutique B&B, a self-contained cottage, a winery retreat or even a five-star luxury hotel/resort.

We visited the Domaine Chandon Winery close to Yarra Glen.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

DINNER OUT

Sunday dinner at our local pub, "The Old England" Hotel in Heidelberg. A lovely evening in civilised, quiet surroundings with tasty food.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

ALIMENTARY DELIGHTS

At Alimentari Delicatessen and Goods Store at 304 Smith Street Collingwood VIC 3066. It's a delightful place to eat, drink, and shop for various goodies, meet friends and enjoy the terrific atmosphere. Very good, very Melbourne...

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

MUSHROOM TIME

Always nice to go and pick mushrooms in Autumn, but you have to know what you are doing... A tiny mistake can prove fatal!

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

HARVEST

Early autumn comes laden with its bounty. It is indeed a season of "mellow fruitfulness, close bosom-friend of the maturing sun..." The figs have ripened until they are luscious and honey sweet. Quinces are fragrant and tart, begging to be made into delicious quince paste, the grapes beckon the vintner, but even to the teetotaller provide a sweet delight with their ripe juiciness. Citrus begins to blush and apples crisp and red give the taste buds a treat. Pumpkin, chestnuts and winter cherries vie for attention, but the winter cherries - with their brash overcoats on - win hands down...

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,

and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

URBAN TOMATOES

Although I live in a big city, I'm lucky enough to have a back garden in which there is not a smidgeon of lawn. Instead there are garden beds with flowers, herbs, seasonal vegetables, a couple of ponds and bird baths and a few trees. There are many birds visiting, the odd possum, the occasional flying fox and numerous butterflies, spiders, bees and other insects. This year, our tomatoes grew well and these three beauties proved to be perfect in looks, taste and flavour. How wonderful to enjoy a garden and its produce, its flowers and fruits and also know that it is a haven for wildlife and a carbon sink...

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

FIRST SUMMER PRODUCE

Our garden is mainly a flower garden, but seasonally we plant a few vegetables here and there, and of course there are plentiful culinary herbs amongst the rose bushes and seasonal flowers. Despite the changeable weather this year, we managed to harvest the first produce a couple of days ago: 'Blackjack' zucchini and 'Purple King' climbing beans.

We usually have these first harvested vegies boiled, together with sliced boiled potatoes, and also boiled wild greens known as Amaranthus blitum var. silvestre. The last mentioned grow wild in the garden (but also in wastelands) and only the tender young shoots are gathered. This light, but filling, dish is served with a simple olive oil vinaigrette and with a slice or two of crusty bread (read more here).

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

AUTUMN'S BOUNTY

Autumn comes laden with its bounty. It is indeed a season of "mellow fruitfulness, close bosom-friend of the maturing sun..." The figs have ripened until they are luscious and honey sweet. Quinces are fragrant and tart, begging to be made into delicious quince paste, the grapes beckon the vintner, but even to the teetotaller provide a sweet delight with their ripe juiciness. Citrus begins to blush and apples crisp and red give taste buds a treat. Pumpkin, chestnuts and winter cherries vie for attention, but the winter cherries - with their brash overcoats on - win hands down...

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

POMEGRANATE

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the My Corner of the World meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

AT BRUNETTI'S

Brunetti, the Italian restaurant, café and pasticceria, is a famous Melbourne institution on Lygon Street, Carlton. It is large, yet cosy; noisy and busy, yet intimate; crowded, yet efficient; popular, yet delivers consistently good quality. I've lived in Melbourne long enough to see it growing and growing, but whenever I go there I remember my student years at University and the endless cups of espresso we consumed there, in the then small and intimate premises... 

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

SUMMER

We've been having some Summer weather and we're enjoying the heat as a cool change is on its way...

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

LILLY-PILLY

HAPPY EASTER TO ALL WHO CELEBRATE IT

Syzygium smithii (formerly Acmena smithii) is a summer-flowering, winter-fruiting evergreen tree, belonging to the myrtle family Myrtaceae. It shares the common name "lilly pilly" with several other plants. In New Zealand, it is commonly known as 'monkey apple'. It is planted as shrubs or hedgerows, and features: rough, woody bark; cream and green smooth, waxy leaves; flushes of pink new growth; and white to maroon edible berries. Unpruned, it will grow about 3–5 m tall in the garden.

The tree and fruit were called "Tdgerail" by the Indigenous people of the Illawarra (New South Wales); and "Coochin-coochin" by others in Queensland. Early colonists noted that the fruits were eaten by the Indigenous Australians and are acidulous, and wholesome. They can be made into jams and chutneys.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme.

PEPPERS

It's the season for peppers! '

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme.

DINNER

"I'll have the rissoles, thanks!"

This post is part of the Weekend Reflections meme,
and also part of the Saturday Critters meme.

MELBOURNE COFFEE

Melbourne’s fascination with coffee began with the advent of the Italian immigrants after the Second World War and since then it has taken off! Whether you’re visiting or working here, you’re in luck because Melbourne’s coffee scene is unmatched anywhere else in the world! In fact, in a survey done by booking.com, Melbourne emerged as the city with the world’s best coffee, beating titans like Rome, Vienna, and even Sydney.

You don’t have to be a coffee connoisseur to know the difference between good and bad coffee. Coffee has the effect that the good stuff propels you through a slow day and horrible coffee just adds to the blues of a bad day. Some of the best Melbourne coffee shops are these. One of my personal favourites is Brunetti's in Carlton.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

NECTARINES

Nectarines almost ready to pick as Summer progresses.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme.

CHIVES FLOWER

Chives is the common name of Allium schoenoprasum, in the family Amaryllidaceae. As most of the other species of the Allium genus, chives are a choice edible herb. A perennial plant, it is widespread in nature across much of Europe, Asia and North America. A. schoenoprasum is the only species of Allium native to both the New and the Old Worlds. 

The name of the species derives from the Greek σχοίνος, skhoínos (sedge) and πράσον, práson (leek). Its English name, chives, derives from the French word cive, from cepa, the Latin word for onion. Chives are a commonly used herb and can be found in grocery stores or grown in home gardens. In culinary use, the scapes and the unopened, immature flower buds are diced and used as an ingredient for fish, potatoes, soups, and other dishes. Chives have insect-repelling properties that can be used in gardens to control pests.

The flowers are pale purple, and star-shaped with six petals, 1–2 cm wide, and produced in a dense inflorescence of 10-30 together; before opening, the inflorescence is surrounded by a papery bract. The seeds are produced in a small three-valved capsule, maturing in summer. The herb flowers from April to May in the southern parts of its habitat zones and in June in the northern parts.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

DINING BY THE SEA

It is very good now and then to go out and have a lovely meal with compatible company in a restaurant where the food and service are good and the milieu is agreeable. Such was the case recently when we went and dined in Melbourne’s “Waterfront Port” Restaurant. The restaurant is just outside Station Pier (Melbourne’s passenger ship harbour) and the picture windows face out over the port, where one can watch the ships sailing in and out and the seabirds scrambling for tasty seafood morsels. Meanwhile, the lapping of the waves outside and the companionable hubbub of fellow diners inside make of the experience an extremely pleasant one. Obviously, seafood is very much on the menu, but not only.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

AN OLD RECIPE

The Byzantine Empire succeeded the Roman Empire and officially began when Constantine the Great (St Constantine - 272-337 AD) moved his capital in 330 AD from Rome to Byzantium, renaming it Constantinople (now Istanbul). Constantine had chosen the site for his new capital with care. He placed Constantinople on the frontier of Europe and Asia, dominating the waterway connecting the Mediterranean and Black seas. It was a crossroads of trade, of cultures and with a great tradition going back to prehistory.

From 330 AD to 1453 AD Byzantium reigned supreme, and while Western Europe languished in the dark ages, Byzantium flourished. The most salient aspect of Greek Byzantium was the transmission of classical culture. While classical studies, science, and philosophy largely dissipated in the Latin west, Byzantine education and philosophy still zealously pursued these intellectual traditions. It was in Byzantium that Plato and Aristotle continued to be studied and were eventually transmitted first into the Islamic world and then back into Western Europe. A basic education in Byzantium consisted first of the mastery of classical Greek literature, such as Homer (largely unknown in the West during this period) and almost all of the Greek literature we have today was only preserved by the Byzantines.

The Byzantine emperors reigned over a vast empire of fabulous wealth. Life in Constantinople was extremely civilised and the emperor’s court and his nobles lived a lavish existence, dressed in silks, adorned with gold and precious stones and eating the best and freshest foods spiced with the richest condiments the Orient had to offer.

Here is a recipe from the Byzantine Empire, which has continued to be cooked and enjoyed by Greeks (and not only!) until present times - in fact, this was our dinner tonight!

KEFTÉDHES (BYZANTINE MEATBALLS)

Ingredients

    500 g lean beef or veal, ground

    1 large onion, grated

    2 cloves garlic, crushed

    1 egg, beaten lightly

    3 slices of bread, crusts removed, soaked in water and squeezed lightly

    3 tablespoonfuls finely chopped parsley

    2 sprigs fresh mint

    3 tablespoonfuls red wine

    2-3 tablespoonfuls water, if necessary

    Freshly ground cinnamon (pinch)

    Freshly ground pepper (to taste)

    Freshly ground nutmeg (pinch)

    Freshly ground allspice (pimento - pinch)

    Salt to taste

    1 cup of barley, powdered in the blender

    Olive oil, enough for a frying depth of 2 cm

Method

In the authentic recipe, the meat would probably be pounded or finely minced with a knife instead of ground.

Mix all ingredients except barley and olive oil, and refrigerate for an hour.

Pinch off small pieces of the mixture, the size of walnuts, form into a ball and dredge in the barley flour.

Heat the oil to a smoking point and fry the meatballs until crisp, turning constantly. Remove and drain on absorbent paper.

Serve with a green salad and crispy bread, accompanied by a gutsy red wine.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme.