My oh my. It's been nearly a whole month since I last posted anything here, and to be honest I have no decent excuses. Yes, I could say I've been busy saving lives and fighting crime, but the truth is I recently found a streaming anime site and have been watching a show about some Japanese kid who is ridiculously good at American Football. Yes, it really is as exciting as it sounds.
But I don't want to distract you all with the tales of Eyeshield 21, American Football star. Instead let me update you on all the goings on that have been...going on. Some of you may be pleased to hear (but certainly not surprised if you follow my facebook updates) that I've finally left Horsham after my 10 week internment. And that was not just some clever pun I accidentally used; living and working in Horsham really was quite the ordeal. No offence to the native Horsham-ians, but I think that place was slowly destroying my soul, much more than MAPU ever did (and for those who saw me during my MAPU days, you know that's saying something). The only thing that made it bearable was my fellow interns. Towards the end of our rotation we started going out a lot more, possibly because we were great friends, but I think more because we needed to bitch about the crappy hospital we were working in.
Which leads me very nicely to my next point: I haven't cooked for a very very long time. With one failure after another my motivation to cook was slowly waning, and the invitation to dine out with the fellas was just too hard to resist. Plus, I didn't want to buy a whole bunch of ingredients in my last weeks in Horsham only to have it all go to waste. The only exception to my little cooking hiatus was my effort to make a proper omelette. Inspired by the Masterchef egg challenge (don't lie, I know you all watched it), I was determined to cook the perfect 3-egg omelette, my dozen free-range eggs at the ready. Four failed attempts later, I learnt yet another important kitchen lesson: GET A NON-STICK PAN! My fracking eggs kept fraking sticking to the stupid hospital-supplied non-non-stick pans, and as such no amount of butter or oil could get them to flip over without there being fraking eggs bits stuck all over the place. Yes I know, a real chef doesn't blame his equipment, but hey, I'm not a real chef, so I'm blaming the mother-fracking pan.
All this talk about omelettes and anime and I haven't even gotten to the exciting part of the blog. As of last week I am officially a general medical intern at the Wangaratta Base Hospital. Where is Wangaratta did I hear you ask? Good question! Wangaratta is a relatively large country town situated approximately two and a half hours north of Melbourne, just off the Hume Highway as you head towards Sydney. Having been here before as a student I'm fairly familiar with the town and it's incredible surrounds, including the Milawa Gourmet Food region, the Kinglake wine region, and of course, the Alpine region which I hope to be visiting in the near future to get my snowboard on. The work is good (sorry surgical people, I much prefer medicine), the other interns are great, and the registrars seem keen to go out as much as possible. Which is fine with me, because unlike Horsham the restaurants around here are fantastic. I will put up a list of recommendations some point down the track if any of you ever get the urge to visit. The most exciting part, however, is my new kitchen! Sadly, my oven is still electric, but the supplied cookware is exponentially better than what I had before. I got TEFAL! No more sticky omelettes for me! Hopefully!
As I mentioned, I have been eating out a lot more of late. And while it has been a great bonding experience, it's been distracting me from all my country cooking adventures, and in turn, depriving you of some much needed late-night reading (yes that one was for you Vi). My spices have been sitting idly on the window sill, my cupboards bare, my fridge filled with nothing more than milk, ham, cheese, and ice cream (I like to indulge). I was in desperate need of some inspiration.
That inspiration came in the form of an unexpected afternoon off work. With a relatively short list filled mostly with GEM patients (that's old people rehab for those not in the know), my reg kindly suggested I take the afternoon off and enjoy myself. With nothing to do and no one to do it with, I decided to hop in the car and do some exploring in the Milawa area. I had been before as a student and loved it, but having money to spend definitely helps enhance the experience. Stopping by a few boutique wineries along the way, I quickly lost track how much I was spending on the vino. There are currently four bottles sitting on my shelf, and that's only after I exercised a lot of restraint. To go along with this wine I bought some cheeses from the famous Milawa Cheese Factory, though I have to say the service was quite lacking. I tried to ask about all the different cheeses but got very muted responses. Sure, it was close to closing time, but a helpful hint or two isn't too much to ask is it? In contrast, Michelle at the Milawa Mustard store (I hope I'm allowed to use names here) was absolutely lovely. Not knowing a lot about mustards or how to use them, she took her time explaining where the seeds came from and all the different ways to cook with them. After buying myself a jar of garlic mustard and some quince paste (for the cheese platter, yum!), I wandered outside and saw the amazing herb garden that the mustard store uses for its different mustards. I commented to Michelle how hard it was to find all the different herbs in town, and without hesitation she started cutting off a whole bunch of different herbs for me, free of charge! I couldn't believe how helpful this lady was being to this self-confessed cooking novice, but she was genuinely encouraging of my cooking journey and wished me all the best. Returning home with my gourmet spoils, I could feel my motivation returning to me with the waft of heavy-scented rosemary sitting on my window sill, the delightful acidity of Milawa goat's cheese, the sharp refreshing finish to a bottle of Brown Brother's Chardonnay.
Fettucine with tuna, sun-dried tomatoes, parsley, olive oil and a squeeze of lemon. Ok, it really isn't anything special. I just wanted to make something that I could throw together, and canned tuna and sun-dried tomatoes from Woolworth's (not Safeway, as I have been calling it this whole time) seemed like a good idea. Plus, I really wanted to use the parsley Michelle gave me. I'm not sure if it made the dish any better, but it definitely added some much needed colour. The taste itself wasn't too bad. A little bland perhaps, but that's probably because I forgot to season it. Lesson number two for today: salt and pepper are your best friends.
That's it for tonight folks! My deepest deepest apologies for my lengthy absence, but I hope there will be more frequent posting in the future. I have high hopes for this town and it's produce, and finger-crossed I'll be able to whip up some more tasty treats with my super cool cookware. Oh and I forgot to mention, I bought myself a Donna Hay cookbook off ebay just last week and will be in receipt of it in a couple of weeks. I have officially given up on Jamie Oliver and his imprecise, 'cook by feel' recipes. This amateur cook needs a little more direction at this stage in his development me thinks.
Oh and a final word. Thank you so very much to Lucy and Adrienne who got me a subscription to Delicious magazine for my birthday! It is a great read, and the recipes in there look fantastic. Most are probably still a little out of reach for me, but I'll be keeping them in the bank for later. Get excited!
