Slippery when wet
And so rain came to Sydney and with it the first, faint pang of longing for home. Odd that it should have been that of all things, the damp, wet smell of rain and its accompanying sounds.
As I walked to the shops earlier the scent of wet grass and pavement and the gentle pitter-patter of rain on the canvas of my umbrella brought back a host of memories – the sound is one I’ll forever associate with the sound of rain on the canvas of the tents I slept in on scout camps, both as a scout and a scout leader.
The sound of rain also brings with it the memory of woodsmoke, the two somehow forever linked in memory. Be it the smell of a wood fire over which I was cooking or simply sitting around and chatting with friends later to retire to our tents and the gentle beat of rain on canvas. Or the smell of woodsmoke from a roaring fire in the corner of a pub somewhere, into which we’d stepped to get out of the rain. That sound, of rain beating down, against canvas, windows, leaves and tarmac and the smell of rain and woodsmoke always brings out in me the desire for a darker beer. The best ones are shared with friends around the fire or in the corner of a pub full of warmth and companionship.
Coopers Best Extra Stout: worth a look
Unable to resist the urge memory was driving, I stopped into the bottle shop on my way back and got myself a Coopers Best Extra Stout. After letting it warm up for a while (who wants to drink cold beer on a day like this?) I poured it, thick and dark, into a waiting glass. The first sup, full of dark malt and chocolate, raises yet more memories, of winter nights in too many pubs to name, of drunken laughter, of wrapping up well when it became time to leave.
The link between taste and smell and memory is deeper and much more complex than most of us ever really get the time to consider. But on cold wet days, why not pour a good beer and succumb now and then and enjoy it?
Yorkshire pudding experiment #1
A relatively quiet weekend, spent being amused by the other half’s nephew and his fantastically cute ‘disappointed face’ (and accompanying shoulder slump), was finished with a pork roast with Yorkshire puddings. Having never cooked them in the oven I was using before I decided that a spot of experimenting was in order; this led to experiment number #1 of Yorkshire pudding production – varying the amount of fluid in the batter mix.
The basic recipe I started with was a cup of flour, two eggs plus one yolk and then either 100ml, 200ml or 400ml of water/milk mix (half and half). The results show a rather conclusive victory for the 100ml batter mix. Next I’m planning to try varying the quantity of egg to see what effect that has. This should in no way be taken as an indication that boredom with unemployment is setting in…
Yesterday I ventured out of the house and into the bright lights of Sydney, my destination was the Australian Museum; my mission, to swot up on all things natural and Australian. I was suitably impressed with the museum, it has a lot going on and the exhibits explain things quite nicely. There’s a really nice display of ceremonial / artistic masks from Melanesia as you first go in and the gallery about skeletons on the ground floor was fun and suitably macabre.
I do like the one on the left…
Upstairs was the obligatory ‘stuffed animal section’ featuring four walls of stuffed Australian birds and opposite the four walls, four cabinets running the length of the room of mounted insects, arachnids and all manner of other creepy-crawlies. I spent a suitably amount of time eyeing up everything that looked dangerous so I know when to run screaming. Having had pet stick insects as a child I was also interested in the bloody enormous variations to be found out here.
stick insect, yikes.
The section on dinosaurs suitably pleased my inner geek, I was especially pleased that they had a display on birds and their evolution from therapods. The picture of the scary looking thing with feathers here is Sinornithosaurus. It was quite nice to see them mention (and explain why it’s unlikely) Alan Feduccia’s theory about birds evolving from an archosaurian ancestor. The section on living Australian animals featured a nice wall display about all the different types of snake which are going to kill me and had a big tank with some baby freshwater crocodiles which, I’ll be honest, I could have sat and watched all day.
Sinornithosaurus
After that all that excitement I decided a wander and a pint was in order, so off into town I went. After a nice long walk I ended up in The Pumphouse Bar and met F for a pint after she’d finished work. It’s the first time I’ve been in the Pumphouse and I can see it being a definite summer drinking spot (and I imagine it’s rammed during the summer). Quite an impressive array of beers to choose from. We both tried the Double Hoptendre – a double hopped, red rye ale - aka the ‘People’s Pint’ and found it very good (even if $32 for two pints and a bag of crisps made the Yorkshireman in me have heart failure). For those who haven’t heard of it, The People’s Pint was a really nice idea from the Crafty Pint website – basically they got amateur brewers and beer enthusiasts to suggest a great beer they’d make and then some judges narrowed it down to a shortlist and then people voted on which one they liked best. They ended up with six finalists, of which the Double Hoptendre won. It’s being served at The Pumphouse for a while so why not pop in and try a bit of democratically elected beer?
The Pumphouse, Darling Harbour and Double Hoptendre: The People’s Pint!
Only a quick catch up post this time – had quite a fun week getting to know Sydney and its environs. Blogging has been a little lax however…
We had a very nice trip up the coast a few weekends ago to Copacabana to catch up with friends. I didn’t do a great deal of note, though that was pretty much the point. I did however have a dip in the ocean and made my first acquaintance with Dan Murphy’s. This provided an excellent opportunity to raid their beer selection and taste away – beers from Mclaren Vale, Burleigh Brewing Co, Stone and Wood, Endeavour Brewery, Knappstein Enterprise Brewery, Matilda Bay, 4 Pines and more. All of which were good, some of which were spectacular.
The house itself was lovely and a good size given there were about 20 of us. Right opposite the beach, it afforded lovely views and a spot of sea breeze too.
Of note have been the Burleigh Brewing ‘My Wife’s Bitter’ and the Mclaren Vale IPA (which I actually prefer to their vale ale I think), a beer by Two Birds Brewing – their Golden Ale - which had a quite unique (and very good) mouth feel to it, as well as getting reacquainted with some more of The Rocks Brewery beers and intorduced to Young Henry’s Brewery and their Real Ale. I also ate a beef burger filled with pulled pork. Filled with it. (It’s called The Charlotte burger and it’s at Harts Pub, do try it, though don’t have a large lunch beforehand…). All that and some sunshine and beer: you can’t really argue.
A rough summary of the last few weeks…
The job application process is in full swing so blogging is likely to be a little light in the next few weeks…hopefully back to full speed soon.
Copacabana beach, NSW
