Chilli Walter's New BFF

This is a bit sad, I know. My thermos is my friend. She has been loyal all through 'the intensive', offering support with warm lidfuls of jasmine green tea. Thank you Husband who brewed the tea fresh and filled her up every morning, and to my 'favourite Singapore supplier' (who will, from here on, be referred to as my FSS) who gifted it to me last Christmas. I love you both but there can only be one BFF. And because I can carry her around, she wins.

The Intensive

I am tired. I have just finished day 8 (2 to go) of an English intensive course. In my case, my twenty kiddies (uni students actually) take part in the 10 day course and then, do an exam at the end of it. It's not easy on them either, nevertheless, when I finally walk through the door after a long day it's only me I feel sorry for. Last week was a shocker for my thighs. I usually sit when I am with small groups but a group of twenty requires a different kind of energy. Pacing the aisles and standing for the full five hours type of energy. At the end of the day, I cannot be asked to speak a full sentence. One may hear these utterances from me, 'Day? Good?' or 'Dinner? Kebab?' But I have to add, they are a very motivated bunch. I could hold up a pair of socks and they would be off, talking mile a minute, discussing the wider impact of socks on society and debating the advantages and disadvantages. There is nothing better than a group of non-native speakers who are not afraid to speak. We haven't discussed socks, I have been a little better organised. What have we talked about? Hmmm... The Stolen Generation. The movie Australia, however dismal, seems to have brought this into awareness. I was surprised that 80% of them (it would have been 100% if it wasn't for the film) hadn't heard or didn't have a clue what I was talking about. I guess Australia is too far away or Aussie history doesn't rate that highly on the scale of world history. One student did comment that they are so busy learning and relearning their own history that it leaves little time for others. Good point. One earnest lad stopped after class and asked me if I was Aboriginal. He was concerned. Was this my shocking history? Um... no. I had to laugh because I think my Indianess is so obvious. I forget that for some of my students, who perhaps haven't yet earned the dosh to do much travelling outside Europe, one brown skinned person looks just like the next. It's great. I wouldn't be mistaken for anything else in Australia. Here, I am mysterious. I guess I am not making it sound too bad, sounds like a day of chatting and joking with some bright young people. It is fun, but after a day of, 'what means...?' (You mean 'what does... mean?'), 'Can you say me...' (You mean can you tell me ...) and 'This car is only allowed to drive the doctor' (What do you mean?), the alertness required to hear and correct these common errors are enough to drain my batteries completely. After three years of life here, it isn't difficult for me to start to accept this Genglish (or as my sister likes to call it, Ingles) as normal speak. Most invasive and must be stamped out of my speak are, 'Have you hunger?' and 'Have you cooked the water?'
Today was the last day for presentations, I love doing this with the kiddies. They usually present on a hobby or interest. Unless somebody gets up and is all monotone or all we manage to learn about them is um and er (we did have a couple of those) they are pretty interesting. We had a bagpipe player today. A big guy, with a big instrument. I have heard and enjoyed the bagpipes many times but didn't really register how alarmingly loud they can be. Especially in an enclosed area, say... a classroom. Procedure in my presentations requires that them to have an interactive part, the bagpipe player decided that he would play a tune so the the class would know how it went and then he would play it again and we would all have to sing a little Scottish ditty that he had projected onto the board. Here it is :

O flower of Scotland

When will we see
Your like again
That fought and died for
Your wee bit hill and glen
And stood against him
Proud Edward's army
And sent him homeward
Tae think again

So off he went with the first round, the windows were vibrating, the class was laughing, and after those initial notes knocked the wind out of me, getting my breath back, I too couldn't help but laugh. Until he stopped and looked up at us innocently. He was all set for us to sing along. A visual: A class full of German students and one Chilli Walter, launching together into a very uncertain rendition of 'The Flower of Scotland'. There was no singalong. I am, after all, there to maintain some order (party pooper!) and I really was scared a fire engine would turn up wondering who set off the alarm. The kiddies were disappointed, they were all set to give it a go. He played well, I like the bagpipes, but within the confines of a classroom I think the sound can best be described with the adjective 'violent.'

Tetsuya Envy

I was forwarded this email by Anne-Marie, who received it from her friend Anastasia, who ate at Tetsuya's with a few friends - and was sufficiently inspired by her evening to write about it. Anne-Marie added a short message, 'Don't read if you are homesick'. She was right to caution me. I felt a number of emotions, homesickness was definitely one of them but I ended on insane jealousy. After reading I swear I could taste that crab custard and simply had to ask for permission to publish the email here. I love the details and find it very entertaining. I mean, would you send anything back at Tetsuya's? I would be praising the tap water. More power to you Anastasia! And a big 'thank you' for letting me entertain readers with it here.

Here it is, just as it was sent to me...

The Wednesday night before last I went to Tetsuya's (located at 529 Kent St Sydney) with Jim, Tas and the Sooz. If you're short for time, no need to read beyond this paragraph. All you need to know is that it is expensive but a sublime culinary experience. Our taste buds were tantalised and satisfied. Well worth the visit but don't bother with the wine menu accompanying the 10 course degustation menu: it's disappointing, especially where the vin rouge is concerned. I sent back the wine (pinot noir). Twice. But they were very good about it. The menu does change and I imagine so would the wine so I MAY consider doing the wine menu the next time I go.

Dining at Tetsuya's is perfection. The food was exquisite. Incredibly clean, sharp, pure flavours yet totally refined. My tongue was left begging for more. The service was excellent: prompt, polite, good humoured and never far away.

We initially had problems finding the restaurant and actually walked past it. Somehow we (i.e., Jim and myself) missed a heritage listed cottage in the middle of the city, almost parallel to the George St cinema complex. To be fair, there was a big gate that was probably designed to stop people from simply wandering in to have a squizz.

For those who are curious. This is what we feasted on:

1) Chilled Sweet Corn Soup with Saffron and Vanilla Ice Cream. Refreshingly light, slightly sweet yellow mousse served in small martini glass. Great way to clean and prepare the palate for what was to follow.

2) Smoked Ocean Trout and caviar with what we thought was a lightly poached egg yolk and a subtly flavoured white sauce drizzled around the dish (don't know what type. i missed the name because the waiter spoke too quickly. And yes, it was in English). I found the dish a bit fishy on the first mouthful and thought that perhaps the trout was a little on the cool side when served but the flavour definitely improved (i.e., less fishy) as the meal progressed as the trout "warmed" up - at least in my mind. Suz disagreed with me on this point (i.e., the initial coolness and fishy factor).

3) Caramelised Leek and Queensland Crab Custard. Clean smooth, slightly textured. Crab situated at the bottom of a small Japanese style tea cup. Had to get all of the layers into the spoon as you scooped it out to get the maximum bang taste bud-wise. The meal was served with an incredibly crisp sake, chilled to perfection, the perfect complement to this dish.

4) Scampi prepared in 3 different ways. You had to eat them in a certain order. Anti-clockwise as it turned out. The first one was a bit very peppery (can't remember any more details beyond that) although you had to wait a bit for the flavour to hit the tongue. and when it did it was an incredible sensation. The next scampi was in a shot glass containing salt water and lemon olive oil - incredible texture. this was the sooz's favourite scampi. The third scampi (which was my favourite scampi) was served with pancetta and tarragon and pepper characterised by wonderful smoky flavour. Have no idea which of the scampis Jim and Tas liked. Don't suppose the Sooz and I could hear them above our moans of ecstasy. Accompanying wine for this course was a dry riesling from Mornington Peninsula. Not bad.

5) The next course was Tetsuya's signature dish: Tasmanian Ocean Trout with kelp topping served on confit of shredded apple and possibly fennel, fish roe and a green salad on the side. Divine. Accompanying white wine from Dead Man's Hill in the Upper Goulburn Valley. I think the wine was good - love the name.

6) Ravioli of Queensland Spanner Crab with avocado soup, buckwheat, tomato and basil vinaigrette. Margaret River Chardonnay that came with it was too sweet for my liking.

7) Grilled Fillet of Barramundi with Braised chestnut mushrooms and other stuff. Nice smokey caramelised flavour due in large part to mushrooms. Excellent

8) Twice-Cooked Spatchcock with foie gras and black truffle and some red wine sauce. I needed to add salt but not too much. The pinot noir that was served with it was the same one I had upon arrival. I really should have asked for the Shiraz instead but by that time I was a bit tanked so I didn't.

9) Grilled Wagyu Beef with (maybe pongyu jelly?) eggplant (i.e., aubergine), wasabi and some sort of mushroom. Excellent. Meat was succulent and the Cab Sav was a great complement to meal - far superior to the pinot noir.

10) Sweet lentils with Heidelberg Tasmanian cheese. cleansed the palate before dessert which was presumably the final course but was served in 2 different plates brought to us in succession. Hence the 12 courses in my email. Not sure I am meant to include the lentils but who cares?

11) First 2 desserts: peach sorbet with champagne jelly and raspberry shortcake. I liked the latter more.
Dessert wine was from Eden Valley. Am not a big fan of dessert wines.

12) Then we got 3 desserts but I only managed to record 2 of them for some reason:
Chocolate ganache on red bean with green tea
Lemon meringue with vanilla bean: incredibly light and very "fluffy", almost like a mousse. I liked this one more. No idea what the third one was but I remember my favourite dessert being the raspberry shortcake.
This dessert plate came with a Spanish Muscatel - was too rich for me.

Jim and I may have had coffee after this or we simply contemplated having it. I have no idea because after that we all fell into a food coma.

My rating: 4.90 stars out of a possible 5 (due to pinot noir).

I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did. To those I eat with when I am in my Southern Hemisphere home, please, please, please don't go getting any big ideas about going without me.