so, it appears most people are fond of the fondue, be it cheese or chocolate. hurrah!

the fondue luncheon last week turned out to be quite a bit of fun, even the part where i visited four liquor shops in search for a bottle of kirsch. the owner at the bottle-o on broadway said that he stopped selling kirsch months ago as it was a dust collector. i would have bought a dusty old bottle last sunday, especially after i spent way too much time agonising about which recipe to use and which cheese combination to include. in the end i selected this recipe which called for gruyère and emmental to be grated into mounds of two cups and then melted in simmering dry white wine, a scratch of nutmeg and corn flour and kirsch (or in this instance some sweet sherry) as the thickening and flavouring agent. did you know that when melting cheese for dishes like this, one should stir the cheese in figure 8 shapes to prevent balls congealing? i followed this rule but the lumps still formed so i had to use a balloon whisk to get it back to its lava like consistency. the trick i believe is a low heat after adding the cheese and consistent figure 8’s and not leaving the cheese alone for a few moments while you do this and that as i did.

i would say this was the easiest lunch i’ve hosted because all i had to do was buy the cheese, make some meatballs, and lay the table. having a selection of vegetables and crispy apples is highly recommended to cut through all that cheese. it helps to have wonderful guests like helen, her sister, bowb and my cousin sonali who brought the rest of the tasty dipping morsels and dessert. and what a spread we had. just to brag; we had walnut bread, rosemary & olive bread, blanched vegetables, a roast pumpkin salad with the most crisp sugar snap peas i’ve had in a long time, stretchy walnut and mint turkish delight, almond macaroons and a yummy concoction of strawberries with brown sugar sour cream which reminded me of a sweet creme fraiche dessert i once had. ’twas great to see merry faces as we dipped our two pronged forks into the oozy cheese, each of us taking a turn to drop a piece of potato or cauliflower floret into the cheesey abyss.

see the photograph of the fondue pot on the left? see the dark brown at the bottom? that was the end of the cheese, burned down to a crisp. it is also a part of the swiss fondue tradition to lower the heat of the flame so the cheese burns at the end of the meal. the tradition is to break up the cheese and share it with your guests to enjoy. i don’t think we lowered the heat down in time so it was just cheesey crumbs here and there, all tasting of melted cheese on toast - which isn’t such a bad thing.

and so it appears there are more than five people reading this humble blog. for some reason i thought those readers were made up of a female only demographic, so it’s nice surprise to see a few fellows and new commenters pop in. i was telling helen that there is no sign of me ever stopping the food blog especially with all the plans we make to eat around sydney, but i may take a small break just to do things like read and stuff… hope that’s ok. i’m guessing that as soon as i put that out there, i’ll be updating like a crazy.

Oh, brown cheese how you have eluded me since I first heard about you. First through an online order, and then a sad email from the nordic shop saying they could not deliver perishable items through Australia Post. But yesterday when I found myself transported in Newtown after a day of database coding I went to the trusted Deli on King for a nice slab of blue cheese for today’s pre-spring sandwich picnic.

And there you were, a cute sized cube labelled Ski Queen - GJETOST CHEESE sitting right in front of the glass cabinet of cheese tresures. “You have brown cheese!” I said to the deli girl. “I’ve been trying to find this cheese for some time” I said before she could reply. “We have everything …” she said and then added the cube to my order.

The packaging is perfect, because it is red and simple and comes with the recommendation to use a cheese slicer when serving. I love serving recommendations! So, I had to have a small sliver on the spelt loaf from Crispy Inn Bakery just to make sure that the the bread was still fresh. Ok… alright … I just wanted to see if the brown sliver was as caramely as Robyn said it was.

A savoury caramel, I never thought I’d see the day.

The label on the lemon butter jar reads: “Delicious on toast, cakes, ice-cream and pancakes“. All lovely recommendations no doubt, but it didn’t stop me from toasting the last crumpet in the packet before spreading some of the shiny pale yellow stuff on top. Those who love a toasted crumpet will agree that butter is a must, to get within those holes and suprise you with each bite. Honey is also very good for the same reason. But crumpet lover’s do try the lemon butter next time; you won’t regret it!

[ Helen, I was growing a little concerned on my way home that the lemon butter would be as you described; gloopy. But I was pleasantly suprised that the contents are gloop-free. And after a night in the fridge the butter seemed to have thickened even more because the teaspoon came out of the jar with a thulunk sound. Perhaps the gloopiness comes from the being exposed to the fresh morning air at the Pyrmont Grower’s Market.]

On Saturday the lady at the lemon butter stand was doing the hard sell at the Grower’s Market. She picked up a few crackers from behind the stands and held them up to Helen and I; “Would you like to try the passion butter?” We did, and then I tried the lemon. The lemon butter lady was still talking though; “The butters were made this week, so they will last for another three months” and “We use free range organic eggs” and … so I picked up a jar and asked how much and paid the $8, because the lemon butter it tasted like the butter my Aunt Patsy once made.

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