Happy 3rd Anniversary to Us!

Last night, Zack took me to dinner at The Press Club in downtown Melbourne.  This was a delayed celebration of our third anniversary (July 5), because I wasn't able to join him in Sydney earlier this week.  This restaurant is owned by George Calombaris, one of our favorite judges on MasterChef Australia.  No, George wasn't there (bummer!), but we had an awesome time at this fancy place.  It is described as combining "modern Greek cuisine with contemporary dining."  Our reservations were at 9 pm, and we were there until after midnight!

We ordered the symposium degustation, which means we each got eight courses of smaller sized portions of various things from the menu.  We started with rolls, olives, and olive oil with black salt.  We moved onto sweetbreads, a mushroom dish, a crab dish, salmon, duck, venison, some sorbet (to refresh the palate), and then dessert.  By the end, we were definitely full!  I'll go into more detail on the pictures I'll post on Shutterfly, but I've put a few of my favorites here.  This was the venison.  It had a raspberry sauce, and it was awesome!

This was the dessert.  On the left is chocolate mousse, and it was so thick and velvety.  On the right is creme fraiche, which is a French version of sour cream (it tastes like yogurt).  There are some salted caramel dollops (so good), chocolate crumbs, a cube of tea-flavored jelly stuff, and some sort of fruit in the middle of the plate.  The green things are tubes of apple-ginger flavored something or other.  All I know is that the whole thing tasted great!

It was really fun to try so many different dishes.  We were always excited for the next course to come out, and I could definitely see George's influence on MasterChef with some of the techniques and ingredients used.  We also had fun using our favorite MasterChef phrases ("This dish is a cracker!") and pretending like we were judging each plate.  The kitchen area was open and facing the restaurant, so it was also interesting to watch the chefs cook and plate up the fancy creations.  They were so calm and precise.  I guess they can't really yell at each other or look stressed out if everyone's watching!

Our first anniversary was spent on the beaches in Puerto Vallarta, our second was spent summiting four 14,000+ foot Colorado mountains in one day, and our third was spent (pun intended) at dinner at a fancy restaurant in the middle of Melbourne, Australia!  What on earth are we going to do next year?

MasterChef Mania

Zack and I have a little routine going now.  On most weeknights, he gets home from work, we eat dinner, and then we watch a television show called MasterChef Australia.  It is awesome.  Basically, lots of wanna-be chefs are narrowed down, and then there are various cooking competitions to see who gets eliminated each week until they get down to one.  This reality TV show is on six days a week here-it's crazy!  Depending on which night of the week it is, there might be an elimination challenge, a pressure cooker test (timed cooking), a master class with a famous chef, etc.  They also bring in various guest judges and cook-off competitors who are famous chefs and restaurant owners around Australia.

"Five minutes left-chop chop-this is 'do or die' time!"

We have fun trying to figure out who is going to get kicked off, who is going to make something good, and being grossed out by some of the dishes.  We also have a good time mimicking the judges.  They are hilarious.  They say dramatic things like, "Cook as if your life depends upon it" and distinctly Australian things like, "This dish is a cracker!" (that's a good thing), and funny things like when they were cooking Spanish dishes and one said, "You are in a 'House of SPain!'"  One of them wears ridiculous colored suits with fancy scarves every night.  We call him "Scaaaahf," which is "Scarf" said with an accent and a raspy voice.  Try it.

Scaaaaaaahf on one of his more subdued days.

The only problem with this show is that now Zack scrutinizes my cooking like a MasterChef judge!  When it's good, I might hear, "There is an explosion of flavor in my mouth!" (said with an accent of course).  When it's bad, well, I never cook badly, so I wouldn't know!  :)  Ha-just don't ask him about the smoky haze he comes home to sometimes.  I swear it's because of the horrid frying pan in this furnished place-it's a piece of junk!

A contestant gets her dish judged.

Anyway, this show (now in its third season) has brought a pretty big focus on cooking and food to Australia.  The interesting thing is how it's different from reality shows in the United States.  Nobody on this show talks badly about anybody else; they all support each other.  They cheer each other on, help each other out, and they are sad when someone is eliminated.  It's not like Hell's Kitchen or reality cooking shows in the States where everyone yells at each other and fights.  Very different.  Very fun to watch.  And I am very much putting off making our own MasterChef dinner by writing this blog entry!