And we move on.....

I'm freshly back from a meeting with my web designers. I say freshly in the timing sense rather than in the well being sense as I'm feeling a little fragile from yesterdays wine consumption.

All is looking well with the site and you can expect to see wonderful food related blogs, picture and videos at www.benzagorski.com very soon :-)

Another pretty hectic weekend completed. It all started on Friday after work when I began prepping salads and marinading meats for the 70 head BBQ on Saturday. I was up until near enough 4am getting it all ready and I'm glad I did because there was no way I'd have been able to do it at the cricket club due to lack of available kitchen space.

The actual BBQ was fun although the amount of smoke that kept getting in my eyes eventually gave me a headache. It was also quite difficult because the only about 1/3 of the BBQ actually gave out enough heat to cook anything. I'd have actually had more cooking space of one of those disposable BBQ's so cooking burgers, sausages, ribs, chicken and prawns for 70 people took much longer than anticipated. Still we got it done and all thanks to Carley because I'd never have been able to do it on my own.

Check out just one of the piles of meat and notice the hot spot at the back under the resting rack, that was all I had to cook on....





It also got very dark so it was tricky trying to work out if half the food was actually cooked through. No complaints though in fact all feedback has been extremely positive.

The meat I'd got from Devon Rose was perfect, really top quality and it showed by the comments that we received. I've only just noticed that they have a B&B on their farm and I'm definitely going to book it up for a weekend.

After such a long day on Saturday I had some judging to do for Reading, steady, cook but before that I treated us to a nice lunch at Jamies Italian. I did want to go to Pepe Sale but alas it was closed which was a shame, I will get there to sample some of that wonderful Sardinian cuisine.

The meal at Jamies was so so, I thought my pasta was a little overcooked, no real bite to it. The olives and music bread were lovely though and I do like their tapanade that it comes with.

The cooking comp was this time being held at The Royal Tandoori in Reading which for me is the best Indian restaurant in town by a country mile. They have some very authentic and varied dishes which sets it apart from the standard curry house. I'm yet to try the Devil Lamb which by all accounts is dynamite hot.

The judging was extremely difficult and both contestants could have made it all the way to the final had they not come up against each other at the quarter final stage. Cyril's halibut and baked goats cheese was just edge out by the narrowest of margins by Martin's duck curry. Cyril showed what a great technical cook he was and I hope we'll see more of him. Lots of support there too which was nice to see.

Back on judging duty again at 7pm tomorrow when the last quarter final takes place a La Tasca in Reading town centre but before that I have a radio interview with the lovely Helen Wright at 12pm on Reading4u.

Anyway must dash....house to view....toodlepip :-)

What day...........

It's Wednesday today isn't it ?!?! Yeah I think so. Isn't funny how you lose track of the days when you are off work? I'm the same over Christmas for me.

So I was hoping to giving you lots of pictures today from my fishing trip and of course the following BBQ but we had to skip it because it was a bit too choppy out there.....too many "White Tips" apparently which I assume are the little breakers on the wave rather than particularly nasty sounding animals. We are booked in again for Sunday morning when the forecast is better.

It's a shame to be missing it but it does mean that I can enjoy some sunshine and drinks if I wish because it's a lovely day inland and we have some Kangaroo to sling on the BBQ and having had it before I'm looking forward to sampling it again because it's rather yummy.....like a mixture of Beef and Liver and those two are up there with my favourites so a Hoppyskippyaussietrippy combo can only be a good thing.

This morning we had a walk down Mornington main street where they had a market and I found a 1kg bag of Wasabi Peas for just $2.50. They are tasty but alas they are not nose burningly hot.

I have had my introduction to Aussie spiders today as well. OK they weren't face suckingly big but they looked nasty. I gave them a squirt with some spray killer stuff and they looked like they were just having a shower! The warning on the can might just have well have read "CAUTION - Aussie spiders will just look at you and laugh if you use this product".

That's today's check-in for me so toodlepips chums xx

Oz update....

Well excuse me for being a bit lax in the blog department. I've not yet bumped into the guys whom I'm renting my holiday studio off to get an access code for the wifi so I'm having to do what I can whenever I get a connection. At the moment this means walking into the town and using the library wifi which is great because it gets me out and about.

So the first few days here were pretty hot. According to the weather forecast it was only about 22 or 23 degrees but with the depleted ozone above Victoria I alluded to in my last post it felt around 10 degrees higher. I can't imagine how uncomfortable I'd feel if it hits 35 as it often does ?!? Anyway today is much cooler, plenty of cloud in the sky and a nice breeze which mean covering up a bit more but certainly nowhere near getting the gloves out.

The walk down to town from my studio is really rather pleasant. Yesterday I took the beach route which was lovely but such hard work, I never remember quite how difficult and demanding it is walking on sand, especially on a hot day.



I ended up leaving the beach and finishing the rest via the footpath and from there you have this great view across the bay and you can just about see the city skyline of Melbourne. Pretty sure my iPhone camera is not going to pick that up but I assure you it's there somewhere...



I'll get some more pictures of Mornington town later today when I've finished up here and post them up when I can. Once you see some I'm sure you'll see what I mean when I say there is a good deal of American influence.

The walk back to the studio is somewhat different in terms of elevation. I was absolutely knackered when I got back there yesterday...I was sweating like Homer Simpson in a doughnut factory !!!!

One thing I have been doing is eating well. I'm absolutely loving my little BBQ area at the studio, slightly concerned that there might be some meanies in there wanting to have me for dinner though.

I'm not entirely sure it is a BBQ to be honest, it's more like one of those gas fired hot plates that you see in burger vans. I adore it though and I want to get one at home.

A word of warning though to those who like their vices and are considering Australia as a residence or for a holiday it's very expensive for things that are bad for you. A packet of 25 B&H cigarettes is around £14 and you're looking at around £5 or £6 for a beer too. As for other things that of course I'd have no interest in at all being a good boy but I know a few readers might be eager to know these things.......I did overhear somebody suggesting $350 a pop....and that's not Colombian dollars either !!!