(Early) Christmas Roast Duck
Several weeks I signed up to a local farmer's duck mailing list - they had plenty of chickens, but were waiting for the ducks to grow up and had limited supply, so they said I could put my email address down to express interest for a duck. I really had no plans to fork out $$$ for a lovingly hand raised duck, but it turns out their ducks were cheaper than their lovingly hand raised chickens! So I said yes to one when I found that my inbox contained this wonderful news, and picked one up - an added bonus being that this one still had its head attached, how cute! I just wish it also had its feet... oh well.I was a little disappointed that it came frozen instead of fresh, however, that turned out to be a good thing since I didn't plan to cook it till the week after. I had spent the next 5 days agonising on how to prepare this delicious being - halved, and cooked two ways? Lightly seasoned and just roasted? But then I remembered one of my favourite restaurant brands had a gorgeous roast duck dish - and I decided to take a chance and make my own version.
For the first time in a long time, I've also managed to take progress pictures to be able to document this pretty feat of kitchening!
It all started with a duck. A very happy duck!
This guy was then salted and set aside for a few hours.
I made a wild rice stuffing in the meantime (I had to use up my rice somehow) - a mixture of wild rice, brown long rice and red rice. Cooked the rice with some Italian herb mix first, let it cool, then chopped up some pancetta and cherries and mixed it all up. For some reason the flavour of the cherries got lost in this dish - I wanted it to add sourness and sweetness, but it didn't quite get there. I wouldn't have used more though, since I didn't want sweetness to overpower the mixture.
Next up, honey mustard glaze! After consulting the good old internet, I decided to completely ignore most of what I found and made this up as I went. Honey, dijon mustard, wholegrain mustard and rendered bacon fat (yessss!) went into this.
Once it was all ready, into the oven it went! I was also super forgetful and didn't end up buying kitchen twine, but managed to improvise leg-tying with some strips of foil. For those who are also super attentive - yes, a duck neck doesn't bend like that. There's a toothpick holding its head into that position!
I felt very lucky to have obtained a herb haul from the markets! Rosemary, sage, thyme. With flowers too! They smelled so good!
The still happy duck :)
And the plate up and photoshoot. I also baked some kipfler potatoes in the residual fat, but it turns out mixing in thin slices of pink beetroot wasn't a good idea as their colour got lost. Should roast them separately next time.
And the angled shot!The end result? Was very happy with my efforts, though the oven wasn't very great at being consistent, so while the breast was cooked, the marylands weren't as done as I would have liked them to be. I calculated it at my chicken cooking times; 40mins per kilo, and then added time for the fact that this was quite dense and had stuffing in it (though the stuffing was already cooked, and I knew it wouldn't overcook, yay for wild rice). I did have a problem with the glaze and bird beak/wings starting to burn due to the uneven heating of the oven (I never exceeded 180 degrees), but due to my limited time, I couldn't roast this the way I had originally planned (3+ hours cook time at a lower temp).Nevertheless, it was tasty, the glaze was fantastic, and the stuffing tasted good too! Very happy with my efforts!DUCK DUCK GOOSE?!
Darkness Witch
Finally made enough time to finish the picture. Omitted wings and tail though because I was lazy and time poor.
James Parker Sushi & Sake
So this place has popped up a couple of times on my radar, but I've been so hesitant about any sushi place outside of Japan and Sydney because I've become a snob (ok, I've always been a snob) about the quality and style of sushi. It doesn't help that I think I suffer whatever the name of the condition is where you think you know something because you read someone else's opinion on something, and you apply it yourself without understanding. In this case, it's about nigiri.So after a long walkaround and having just consumed some pub fish and chips (with some awesome chips) and then nibbling away at a friend's chicken parmie and chips, I decided I could still eat and should really have a proper dinner. Finally, I decided this sushi place was worth a shot since I was in the area.I totally did not expect the place to look like it did, and wished I took a picture of the outside and the entrance! There's a lovely hallway that kind of reminds me of the Rockpool Bar & Grill Perth entrance, only brighter and not as long. Still very beautiful though! I was in a classy place.Not only was I in a classy place, it also felt very Japanese. I would say authentic, but it was too big to be truly authentic (maybe. I've only been to two sushiyas and no izakayas to actually know). I was seated at the sushi bar, which had the most amazing lineup. The ordering system was pretty interesting because the waitstaff would pop your order into their tablets (and my tea arrived while I was still asking about the menu!), and were very good at explaining the menu too. I wasn't sure whether to opt for the 10 piece chef's selection of nigiri or to order my own, and after being explained what the 10 were that day, I decided to order my own choice. The lovely sushi chef had an amazing sashimi knife - now I want one!
One of the staff prepared the little nigiri board and presented some soy sauce, and the sushi chef went to work. He presented one type of nigiri at a time, placing it on the board and keeping an eye on the pace at which I was consuming so that he could make the next one once I'd finished the first, and so on. I thought that was really cool! The rice was lovely and warm, but some of the fish came out a little too cold in contrast for my liking. So here we go.
Otoro, flown straight from the Tsukiji fish market! And this is the only place in WA where you can get it :). It was a good and bad thing that I was hypercritical eye here, I really got to take in a lot just by looking at the sushi. There were nice thin cuts across the fish, but they were slightly inconsistent. Nevertheless, it was quite tasty. A bit too cold to get the full flavour and there wasn't a glaze of soy sauce on top so I had to dip my own. At $11 for a single piece, I'd say my $15 piece from Sokyo was more worth my money.After my first bites though, I was very pleased that the chef asked how the sushi was and whether the portions were the right size! I asked for them to be a little smaller but I couldn't actually tell the difference through the meal. Was it just the rice he made smaller? I actually wouldn't have minded if there was less topping too since I was looking for balance (hurrah my sushi eating skills have evolved to actually care about taste instead of just a lot of fish!).
Scallop - lovely and sweet, and at the time the waiter took my order, he asked of I wanted it seared or fresh, so there are options for the scallop. I believe one side was scored while the other remained untouched. I love all scallop sushi and sashimi so this one tasted as expected.
Mackerel, marinated in vinegar. I love mackerel, and was hoping to get this one fresh. However, that vinegar was so refreshing! It wasn't overpowering at all and I ended up loving this.
Ok, I'm going to admit to being silly here. I said "ika" but I had meant to say "tako". Oops! So I ended up with a squid nigiri. Also nicely scored. It wasn't as tender as I would have liked it and it warmed up really quickly as I was chewing it, so I still don't like squid sushi.
I also spotted some sea urchin, so why not - I ordered two. This wasn't any kind of special urchin though, so while they were still more expensive, weren't overly so ($6pp, compared to the other fish which were about $4pp I think). It was nice and creamy, but these ones were a bit too bitter for my liking. I couldn't tell whether they were also imported or local (and by local I mean anywhere in Australia), and hadn't asked.I'd skip the uni next time unless they really stood out in the display cabinet.
The salmon roe though, was really nice - much nicer than I expected! It wasn't overly fishy so it tasted great! And yes, they have branded seaweed.
And of course my beloved tamagoyaki. I love tamagoyaki. It's sweet and savoury at the same time but this was a pretty massive piece so I had to take two bites to eat it.
It was about halfway through that I realised that I'd forgotten to order the normal tuna, plus I had to correct my mistake of ordering squid instead of octopus, and just after I'd noticed that, a group of three were seated at the end of the sushi bar and started talking to chef in Japanese, so I started trying to pay attention even though I barely understand anything at all. They were asking about where the salmon came from, at which point the chef mentioned Tasmania. They also asked about the kingfish, but I had no clue what they were saying. They had the chef's attention, so there was a bit of a delay with the tuna and octopus that I'd ordered after I finished the first lot.I didn't mind at all since it was normal - the restaurant was filling up really quickly, plus I knew the service I was receiving at the beginning because I was the only diner who'd ordered nigiri at the sushi bar. Not to mention I was mesmerised by the chefs working behind the bar. Nonetheless, the chef was apologetic, and that was a really nice touch.I love normal tuna, and this one was quite tasty. The winner still belongs to Tetsuya when it comes to how to make tuna taste good though!
And my octopus! A large piece (almost too big for my mouth), but it was quite tender (and it was scored) and I actually really liked this one too! Normally I'm not a big fan of squid or octopus, but here the octopus was delicious and I was happy to end my nigiri session on this piece!
I had placed my dessert order with the last two nigiri pieces, and the staff were super attentive so that this wasn't served until I was finished with my sushi. This was the shiratama uji kintoki - green tea shaved ice with red bean paste and glutinous rice balls. I am a proxy-only shaved ice snob; I don't actually know a thing about it - but this had great flavour though the ice felt kind of hacked as I had a few large chunks. But the green tea flavour wasn't overly sweet so I could eat the entire bowl, and the ice cream gave it a much needed creamy texture. I kind of miss making my own red bean paste, mainly because I'd gotten used to my own flavour and texture. This one was made way better than my homemade stuff but I like my own flavour better.I can't believe I ate all that sushi not an hour after my late lunch! I was definitely super full afterwards. However this experience was well worth it and now I can see why a lot of people come here. It's a great place that I think has an authentic enough experience. The quality of sushi is great too! I wouldn't mind coming here again except that there's the very hefty Perth Price Tag on it. This place has restored my faith of good sushi places outside of Sydney and Tokyo!
Caversham Wildlife Park
I'm being kind of touristy, but it's kind of fun. Managed to take a trip to a wildlife park, with a huge walk-in kangaroo enclosure as well as some other hands on attractions.I ran around mainly with my 60mm lens, which is awesome for taking pictures of everything that isn't food! It also has the added advantage of being able to shoot through fences, to an extent.
There were some cute white kangaroos here as well as the usual brown variety. The poop... the poop was everywhere and everyone was walking on/through poop! You could feed them too. There was a hefty entrance fee to the park of $27 but there was free kangaroo feed in the exhibit.
The emus were kept in their enclosures of course - they were funny looking and I bet they didn't like the look of my face! There were some tourists here who asked what they were, so I explained they were like ostriches, but native to Australia. So then one of them proceeded to tell their kid it was an Australian ostrich! That kid later brushed his hand on some stinging nettle and they had to call one of the staff over to check he was ok. Australia, where everything is trying to kill you!
And then of course the pretty birds! There was also a walk-in bird enclosure, which is where I took the picture of the egret. The tern (stork? couldn't remember) and kingfisher were inside cages.
Reptile enclosure!!!
An entire walk-in petting zoo! The goats are so cute and hilarious.
And of course all the sleeping animals!