Tuesday, November 13

Blessed cheese

All is quiet here. Poor Jo decided to have her flu shot last week and now she's sick as a dog with suspected flu! I knew extra needles were evil. Last night we had friends over so I made ginger scented chicken broth with wontons then a spicy, garlicky, gingery Thai salad with slices of pork tenderloin. Good food for colds, lots of crunchy greens, oranges and reds. Anyway, here's hoping she's over the worst of it.

And as a side note, or perhaps the whole point of this post, I was digging through the pics I took while I was in Australia and thought I'd blog a little about the amazing day I had with Kath, Andrew and their little Angus (boy not cow) while I was staying with them in South Australia. Lucky for them (and me) McLaren Vale is just a hop, skip and 20 or so minute drive from their house! We didn't do the wine circuit but we did manage an olive oil tasting! They had discovered a place called The Olive Grove that produces excellent olive oils, so while they topped up their supplies I dipped and ate my way through most of the selection. The lemon infused oil (seasonal) was amazing as was the kalamata EVOO (as the Americans would call it - lazy!), but my favorite by far was the kalamata mustard that had a fantastic amount of bite to it! They have online sales and I enjoyed the tasting so much that I'm happy to give them a plug.

The other incredible place that we went was a bustling little cafe called Blessed Cheese. My stomach has just started rumbling at the thought of it! This place was brilliant, great wine list and just the most incredible food. Now you have to remember that I'd been in the US for a year and a half at least by this point, so the idea of good antipasto was becoming a myth! Sure, we can get stuff that looks like antipasto, but it might as well be playdoh in comparison to the real thing. I will allow the pictures to speak for me but the platter that we ordered was heaven on a, well, platter.


What you can't really see in the picture is the cheese...they have a huge selection from all over (you pick 3) and the pate (behind the salami) that was good enough to rival the one made fresh at the nichols farm in Tassie! Oh boy, if you get a chance, hit McLaren Vale...gogogo

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Faithful Reader here.

Not getting any life out of The Olive Grove link, and I think that was where those really excellent olives that you brought for us came from.

Now must write an encouraging email to Jose.

Jac said...

Odd, it seems to work fine for me :(

http://www.olivegroves.com.au/

However, I got the incredible olives from the Adelaide market at a local store whose name is on the tip of my tongue but I can't quite remember it. I'll do some more searching!

CupKate said...

Hi JacJac
I tried to comment yesterday but my internet connection rejected me! Big A notified me that you were back at the blog! I hadn't checked because I was limiting my procrastination in exams, and then avoiding computers! Glad to read the culinary commentaries continue. I look forward to tasting some local San Antonian varieties.