Bad blogger!

I have been very slack about blogging.  I feel a little lacking in direction - I started this blog to a) chronicle Tabitha's development (in lieu of a baby book) and b) to talk about Baby Led Weaning.

Well, now Tabitha is a Very Big Girl of 17 months, and changing so much every day that it is nearly impossible to keep up.  She learns new words and games and tricks constantly - too much to keep up with on the blog, or else risk boring you all to tears.

And now she is hardly a baby - correct me if I'm wrong, but I assume that most children of 17 months feed themselves (with hands or spoon / fork) whether they are 'BLW' babies or not?  So I'm not sure I can offer much advice or interesting insights into feeding Tabitha, since she still just eats 'regular' adult food.  Hmm.  

The blog seems to be morphing into more of a cooking blog (of course, with plenty of baby stuff too!), which makes me thoroughly nervous, since I am by no means a brilliant or talented cook.  Most of my food is just 'ordinary' food - mostly comfort food, lots of carbs, lots of cakes. 

So I suppose the only way to continue is to keep plodding along as I have been.

So, on that note - it was our third wedding anniversary last week on Monday!  To celebrate, The Daddy brought me home some really gorgeous peonies (I am a sucker for a fluffy flower):

And we went out for dinner at Vue de Monde, one of Melbourne's best restaurants.  Vue de Monde has recently relocated to a truly spectacular venue - the 55th floor of the Rialto Tower building.  The fitout is incredible - kangaroo leather tabletops, black tiled walls, breathtaking bathrooms, secret doors - and the food and wine, as expected, were just brilliant.

We sat right by the window, taking in the breathtaking views of Melbourne at night, lit up and twinkling into the distant suburbs.  Forgive the basic iPhone photos - I'm not enough of a food type to drag my SLR out to dinner, normally, and the staff really wanted to take a photo for us:

The next day, the restaurant emailed me the menu - so I can tell you what we had, although I must say that the menu reads very simply.  In fact, the dishes themselves were incredible, and the basic descriptions do not do them justice:

For Amuse Bouche, we had oysters, venison roll (cured on hot salt rocks), pumpkin (a fancy little dish including toasted seeds) and my favourite dish of the night - smoked eel with white chocolate glaze and caviar.

We then had spanner crab with avocado, lime and caviar.

Next was pine mushrooms, walnuts, bird's cress and a cona infusion.

Next marron, corned beef sandwich with a brown butter emulsion.

Followed by poached duck egg, lamb sweetbread sausage, pickled onion and white truffles.

A cleanser of cucumber sorbet and gin, with nitrogen-frozen (at the table!) smashed herbs.

Then rabbit, white asparagus, smoked potato and rosemary.

Striped trumpeter, herb emulsion, prawn, smoked bone marrow.

Next was Blackmore wagyu beef, chestnut and wild garlic.

Then a course of four cheese (each chosen from a roaming cheese cart) with breads and jams.

A course called 'beer and nuts' which included a foaming passionfruit drink, and little cold sweet balls of licorice and coconut.

First dessert was a deconstructed lemon meringue with white chocolate 'snow' and parsley.

Second desert was a tonka bean souffle with smoked cocoa ice cream.

Finally we had petit fours, including 'Aussie classics' such as their interpretations of Golden Gaytimes and lamingtons - see below:

I could not possibly convey the incredible sense of theater and occasion of the evening - dishes were frequently brought out by the head chef himself, some courses involved smoking or liquid ice clouds at the table.  The staff were charming and attentive and the wines were matched perfectly (we had a wine matched to each course.  Yes, that is an absolute bucketload of wine and Champagne.  I skipped a few of them!)

If you are into wines, the wines we were served were:

2002 Krug Blanc de Blancs, France

2009 Feudi di San Gregorio ‘Pietracalda’ Fiano di Avellino DOCG  Campania, Italy

2009 Tenuta delle Terre Nere ‘Etna Rosato’  Etna Rosato DOC  Sicily, Italy

NV Krug Rosé  Champagne, France

1995 Yarra Yering Blanc de Noir Sparprumkling  Yarra Valley, Victoria

2010 Massolino Barbera d'Alba, Barbera DOC, Italy
2009 Domaine Blain-Gagnard Chassagne Montrachet 1er Cru Clos Saint Jean 'Pinot Noir'. Burgundy, France

2004 Castagna Shiraz Genesis  Beechworth, Victoria
1999 Domaine Disznókó Tokaji Aszú’5 Puttonyos’  Takaj, Hungary

2006 Domaine Grande Maison , 'Cuvée du Château', AOC Monbazillac, France

1985 Warre’s Vintage Port Douro DOC, Portugal

2009 Feudi di San Gregorio ‘Pietracalda’ Fiano di Avellino DOCG  Campania, Italy

Here I am clutching my glass of Krug Rose, looking quite thrilled but also tipsy!

When we left (at 12:30am!!) they sent us home with a little 'breakfast bag', containing a freshly baked brioche loaf, some honey from their beehives in Heidelberg, some toasted museli, a delicious herbal tea blend, and some cookies.  You can see this below - except for the cookies which Tabitha dug out of the bag at 7am, while The Daddy and I were trying to properly wake up after our late night! 

Because neither of us could stomach eating a proper breakfast after so much food the night before, I let the brioche sit and go a little stale for a day, then made a bread-and-butter pudding for our supper the next day.

Bread and butter pudding is the easiest thing - just take around 6 or so slices of white bread, or brioche, or a few torn-up croissants, and butter them, then cut the slices into quarters.  Arrange them in a greased baking dish (around 2 litres capacity), sprinkling a few tablespoons of sultanas in as you go.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, gently heat 1 1/2 cups of milk, 2 cups of cream, 1/3 cup of caster sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla, and 4 eggs.  Heat gently, stirring, until the mixture thickens a little, turning into a nearly-custard.

Pour the custard over the bread, then sprinkle with a couple of spoonfuls of demerera or raw sugar, plus a grating of nutmeg, and leave to sit for 10 minutes or so, to soak up the mixture.  Then place in a water bath (half way up the dish) and bake at 160 degrees for 45 minutes.  Leave to sit for about ten minutes, then serve with ice cream or on its own.

The experience at Vue de Monde was really memorable - the food was just outstanding, we tried some incredible wines (for example, apparently only two restaurants in the world serve the Krug Rose by the glass, so it is unlikely we would have had another opportunity to try it), and the staff were just lovely.