Eating with baby #2 – Cafe Caldera

Cafe Caldera
Shop F214
Spencer St DFO
Melbourne

Last Friday we took baby on her 2nd tram ride to the city to shop for some much-needed stuff. First stop was Spencer St DFO. It took a while for us to pick out the stuff we wanted, and we ended up having a late lunch at Cafe Caldera.

We’d popped our heads in while walking past, and it was packed with the weekday lunch crowd. All the tables were taken, including the comfy looking armchairs (Oooo – great place to breastfeed!)

Q needed to be changed and fed, so I tried the DFO’s very own parents room. What a sordid space! The sink and toilet were dirty, the nappy bin was overflowing and there were discarded nappies all over the floor. It stank, and there was no way I’d use the facilities, let alone change my daughter! Obviously, I couldn’t feed her with the lovely scent of eau de baby poo in the background. Yuck.

We decided to finish our shopping and returned to Cafe Caldera at about 2pm, scoring the armchair seats in the back. I was shielded by the bar and the chairs were comfy and supportive. They provided us with a water jug straightaway, which was lovely! I ordered the soup of the day (lentil) and P had the fisherman’s basket. We ate off a small, low table – enough for 2 for a light lunch, or cake & coffee for 4. Food was nice: I’d say about a decent pub-cafe standard, and service was pleasant.

Here we are waiting for the food to arrive:

Baby friendliness: There were no other babies in sight, but staff were pleasant and didn’t mind me breastfeeding.
Breastfeeding: Great privacy and comfort up the back where the armchairs are. There’s even a large, high window to watch the world go by while you feed.
Baby change facilities: Bloody awful! Not sure where you can change a baby in the cafe either. The Travellers Aid Society have a breastfeeding room at Southen Cross station. I’ve never used it but it may be the best bet.
Reviews: Can’t find any, sorry!

The damage:

Eating with baby – intro

It’s hard enough leaving the house with a baby, let alone taking it to a restaurant. However, we love eating out and didn’t really want to stop having culinary adventures even though we had a newborn in tow. There seems to be a distinct lack of family friendliness to the food blogs I’ve come across, so this is my way of creating some positive change. I’m not sure if other parents will find eating out with kids relaxing, but I’ll attempt to take out some of the guesswork.

When you read the Eating with baby entries, please keep in mind that:

1. P and I are very relaxed parents with a very relaxed baby who (knock on wood) seems to behave exceptionally well in restaurants. If you are going to stress out while eating out, it might not be a good idea to eat out: you may not enjoy yourself.
2. We live in Melbourne’s inner south, so many reviews will be concentrated in that area.
3. I find prams unwieldy and do not rate not rate pram friendliness, except on the rare occasions where we did take our pram. If you have one, you may not be able to navigate into some of these restaurants.
4. I breastfeed, so I don’t do any bottle feeding related posts either. I try to feed discreetly but will also be looking at staff attitudes to breastfeeding and note if there are any concerns. I’m not the sort to whip out my boob, so all the restaurants will have an area I deem private enough to feed in. I have fed in every restaurant I review.
5. Booth seats are the best! If you can find some, you’ll be alot happier eating out.
6. Most of these restaurants were visited outside of peak times (ie lunch hour or weekends) when we had a wider seating choice. Booths may not be available if the restaurant is crowded, but always ask (politely) if you can have baby friendly seating – we have never been refused so far!
7. Most importantly, enjoy, eat, play and have lots of fun!

Eating with baby #1 – Cafe Sweethearts

Cafe Sweethearts
263 Coventry St
South Melbourne, 3205
(03) 9690-6752

We’d happened upon this South Melbourne institution by chance on a Monday afternoon, and entered after spying the booth seats and a very happy baby perched on a high chair. We pointed to our little one, asked to be seated in the booths and the “Reserved” sign was promptly removed with a smile. Better and better!

The menu arrived and omg, this place has the largest eggs menu I’ve ever seen. The next time we visit (and there wil be a next time) I’m going to take a picture of it. We put baby down between us to sleep, and had a very enjoyable lunch.

I was enticed by the extensive breakfast menu and ordered the divine blueberry pancakes with bacon and hash brown. The pancakes were scrumptious, blueberries popping in my mouth. The hash brown tasted like a gourmet potato cake: crisp on the outside, soft and well-seasoned on the inside.

My friend & P ordered from the lunch menu:

P’s chicken burger

Friend’s lamb pie or something (trust me, I will get better at remembering what people ordered)

I kept stealing P’s excellent fries, and everyone enjoyed their food. We lingered over our cuppas as I breastfed baby in the privacy of the booth. It was a very stress-free eating experience and we’re looking forward to returning.

Baby friendliness: Pleasant staff, high chair provided.
Breastfeeding: Privacy to breastfeed if you ask for the booths (there is only one) and position yourself right. Otherwise it could be a bit of a challenge as the restaurant is quite light, airy and open.
Baby change facilities: The clean but tiny toilets will make changing baby a challenge. Nearest place to change baby would be the South Melbourne market, I think.
Reviews: Mietta’s summarises things; or you can read this lovely review instead.

Chocolate cookies

This is my first week at home, and although I’ve been valiantly trying to rest, I can’t help reverting to my usual self and keeping busy.

A magazine I have become slightly addicted to is Australian Gourmet Traveller. It’s a bit like Vogue for foodies: intelligent and sophisticated. I was a bit intimidated by the recipes, but we’ve tried a few so far and they’ve all turned out to be surprisingly easy to follow and the results are yummy.

Anyway, this past week, we made the best chocolate cookies ever. The recipe is part of the June 2009 issue’s  Chocolate heaven section. I coudn’t be arsed making the chocolate ganache (maybe next time) and didn’t find any dried sour cherries so ours were plain chocolate. I think this will become our basic chocolate cookie recipe, and we are planning to experiment by adding macadamias, candied orange, candied ginger or dried cranberries. Should be fun.

My new favourite chocolate cookies

Serves 18
Prep time 25 mins, cook 15 mins (plus cooling)

INGREDIENTS

• 260 gm butter, softened
• 220 gm (1 cup) caster sugar
• 150 gm (1 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 vanilla bean, scraped seeds only (I used a teaspoon of vanilla essence)
• 300 gm (2 cups) plain flour
• 100 gm Dutch-process cocoa (I used supermarket cocoa)
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 140 gm  dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), coarsely chopped (I used supermarket-brand dark chocolate buttons and was too lazy to chop them up).

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Beat butter and sugars in an electric mixer until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes), add eggs and vanilla and beat well to combine.
2. Sift over flour, cocoa, bicarbonate of soda and ½ tsp salt, stir to combine, then stir in chocolate.
3. Roll heaped tablespoons of mixture into rough balls, flatten slightly and place on baking-paper-lined oven trays, leaving plenty of room for them to spread. As you can see from our photos, they really spread out, so be generous and leave lots of room.
4. Bake until puffed and starting to set (8-9 minutes). Cool slightly on tray then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Cookies will puff while baking and flatten while cooling. Cookies will keep in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Barcelona Favourites

Here are some of my favourite memories of Barcelona.

1. Eating in Barcelona

There are so many delightful food places, especially in Gracia and El Raval, and I had an amazing time eating. What I would have loved to do is eat at the following places:

1. The food markets combine my love for architecture and eating. It’s wonderful being snap happy and then stopping for something delicious when I get tired (which I didn’t end up doing). My favourite ones are in La Llibertat in Gracia and La Boqueria on the Ramblas.
2. Escribá: so famous they have their own plaque on the floor of Las Ramblas. It will be chock full of tourists but don’t let it discourage you from pushing your way in and getting something yummy.
3. Bar Central: I walked past it a couple of times before finding out it was one of Barcelona’s iconic bars. If you end up coming here, have a tapas and beer for me.

2. Sleeping on the beach, Sitges.

We had so much fun eating that all we wanted to do was lie in the sand on the beach in Sitges. The beach was nice and quiet, the sand was warm, and the breeze was cool. Be warned that Sitges becomes a very crowded and annoying place once summer hits. Probably not recommended in the summer months!

3. Wandering thorugh El Raval

El Raval is a very interesting neighbourhood to walk through: the large immigrant section population there gives it great character (and some of the best food), and the closer you get to MACBA (the Modern Art Museum of Barcelona), the more arty and funky it becomes, with young skateboarders and artists hanging out on the streets and the hip bars and cafes.

Frommers has a walking tour for El Raval that takes in most of the cool sights I saw. It is a great neighbourhood to get lost in and I had a fabulous day out when I was there in April 2009, sans tourists.

4. Wandering thorugh L´eixample

I loved the Lonely Planet Modernista walking tour, but try this one from Frommers of Modernista Léixample. The lonely planet one is much longer and more complete, though. So if you have a LP guidebook, use it.

My favourite place on the tour is the:

• Palau de Musica Catalana. One of the coolest Modernista buildings from the outside. There are organised tours of the complex in various languages for 10€ (adult). They can be obtained from the box office but were sold out the day I went, so try and book ahead. You cannot take photos during a tour, which sucks big time if you’re a photog. My photos of the outside did not do it justice, so I decided to skip the tour and buy a souvenir book for about 4€ instead. I would love to attend a concert in the gorgeous concert hall, preferably while they are playing the pipe organ!

5. Shopping

1. Lefties: You might not have heard of Grupo Inditex, but you would have heard of their stable of iconic brands such as Zara, Massimo Dutti and Pull and Bear. Well, this is where all their retired clothes come to rest. (!!!) On my recent visit, baby jumpsuits were 10€ for a set of 5. I bought 2 gorgeous tops for about 15€ each. This translated link of a forum has more information. The 2 most accessible Lefties outlets in Barcelona are:
   At the end of Calle Pelai 2-4, corner of Placa Universitat, minutes from the Paseo de Gracia metro and very close to Plaza Catalunya.
   At Maremagnum, the mall at the south end of Las Ramblas (map). Ground floor, Shop 44. Open Mon – Sun from 10h to 22h.
2. Markets: If your aim is to shop at (rather than take photos of) Barcelona’s many markets, this article should be useful.

Have a great time in Barcelona, and I hope this list has helped take you off the beaten track!

Baking by accident

The house is filled with the yummy smell of chocolate and mint, thanks to my darling husband’s request for cookies/ biccies.

For starters, I baked a batch of ANZAC biscuits, without the coconut. I can’t stand coconut in baked goods, and I’m going to try at least one of them, so…

His next request was for the Choc-mint biscuit that we made minty-er by mistake (thanks to Lizzie) when I misread vanilla essence as mint essence. We all thought it improved the recipe and that’s how I’ve made it since.

Of course, being me, baking mishaps abounded.

1. The first time I made Anzac biccies I got the temperature all wrong, and ended up buring the lot (!!) and filling the house with the sweet scent of burnt food. This is my second attempt, and luckily it went off without a hitch.
2. Then I tried making choc mint cookies, I didn’t have enough butter. After checking in my trusty Tiptionary that it was ok to sub margarine for butter, I kept going. Of course, I also had to read the “Cookie” section and apparently margarine has a water content that is too high and will affect the end result! Ooops. Only a taste test will tell!
3. Of course, I also ran out of another ingredient: chocolate chips. Thankfully I’d bought 2 extra packets of dark chocolate chips when I went to the supermarket a few weeks ago (they were on sale, and that’s my excuse!). Being a lazy-ass non-housewife, I had left them near the kitchen window in the green recycled shopping bag they came home in. Of course, when I took them out, they were melted solid from the heatwave! That’ll teach me not to put my groceries away. Oh well. I went at the solid hunk of chips with a hammer on the carpet (tee hee – it was FUN!!!), promptly bursting the bag open with the pressure, and making chocolate flakes instead of chocolate chips. Ooops again.. I tried separating the chips by hand, and ended up having fun and getting dark chocolate all over my fingers, which I proceeded to lick off. I mean, why waste good chocolate? So now, the chocolate chips are separated, and I am putting them straight into the pantry this time!

Thankfully, the biscuits all turned out well (lucky me!) and I’m trying my best not to eat them all. I’m supposed to send them to my darling husband, along with computer games, in a large, happy care package. Not fair, since right now he is having more adventures than I am, and getting baked goods is a bonus he surely doesn’t deserve!

Hey, at least tonight I go to bed with a house smelling like chocolate. Yum! Here’s to sweet, chocolate dreams!

Chocoholics Annonymous

Ok, I love hot chocolate. Living in a house with a confirmed chocoholic (who else but my darling husband) can be fantastic, but he thinks I’m torturing him when I take a month (or more) to eat my share of TimTams/ choccy bar/ fudge/ cookies. Everytime he opens the pantry/ fridge there may be something yummy staring at him, beckoning him to eat them all (or so he says).

With hot chocolate however, we’re united in our gluttony. Joining us is the divine B, with her very yummy post on some yummy spots in Melbourne.

There’s a fantastic list of great chocolate places in Melbourne if you live here. I’m sure there are equivalents in every city – just google! And check out this chocoholic’s blog entry and follow her links to more delights (or critique, anyway).

One of our fave hot chocolate places is Xocolatl. This drool-worthy Melbourne Age review will convert any skeptics. And if you’re looking for a present for me, this is one place where you don’t have to spend too much money for me to be very happy!

Also see Chocoholic Tours, Melbourne.

Banana Pecan muffins

Every time someone bites into these muffins, they inevitably ask for the recipe, so here it is, by popular demand.

Ingredients:
a) 3/8 cup of castor sugar
b) 1/3 cup plain flour
c) 4 tablespoons of cold unsalted butter

d) 1 cup brown sugar
e) 1/2 cup vegetable oil
f) 2 large eggs
g) 3/2 cups of mashed ripe banana
h) 2 cups plain flour
i) 1 tsp baking powder
j) 1 tsp baking soda
k) 1/4 tsp salt
l) 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
m) 3 ounces chopped pecans
n) 1 cup dark choc chips (optional)

1. Heat oven to 190C.
2. Struesel: mix a+b+c with fingers until finely crumbed.
3. Combine d+e+f and beat until foamy. Add g and beat. Leave g chunky.
4. Combine h+i+j+k+l+m(+n) and mix. Add liquid and stir till just combined.
5. Almost fill each muffin cup with mixture and add tablespoon of struesel on each. Leave 1 or 2 muffin cups empty with water if not all muffin cups are full.
6. Cooking for 20-25min.  Check for done-ness and cool in tray for 5mins before transferring to a cooling rack.

Enjoy! One day, when I remember, there may be muffin photos. Until then, you can bake your own to find out how they look like and taste.

How to eat (according to me)

A few choice articles on my food philosophies.

In No accounting for haste, Melbourne Age food columnist John Lethlean writes a hilarious rant on wierd supermarket processed “food”.

Followed by Gulp, gulp gullible. Anyone who drinks bottled water regularly should be shot. They probably have bad teeth, so there!

Anyone who eats meat should read So, You Think You’re a Carnivore?. I’ve always felt the same way, but never been brave nor articulate enough to say it.

And to end on a very yummy note, a short summary of The world’s best street food. IMHO, street tacos are yummy anywhere in Mexico (not just in touristy San Miguel), especially if the taco stand is really on the street with a big bunch of Mexicans standing around it. And any hawker stand in Singapore is good (but of course).

2 Fave Food Court Desserts

It’s definitely possible to find great dessert in a food court in Melbourne. Even when the food court in question is disgustingly commercial, noisy and crowded.

1. Chocolateria San Churro, Eastland

On one of our rare forays to the far east, we chanced upon this gem in the Eastland food court. The churros are good (but the ones at Movida are a bit better) but I reckon it’s the best place in the area for your chocolate fix. Note the McDonald’s outside: this is real food court territory!

Eastland
Shop G014, Eastland Shopping Centre,
175 Maroondah Hwy
Ringwood 3134
Phone: 03 9870 8338

Mon-Wed 9am-5:30pm
Thu & Fri 9am-9pm
Sat 9am-5pm, Sun 10am-5pm

2. Calatrava, Crown Casino Food court

If you walk past all the usual food court stalls, gamblers and tourists, you will be enticed by the window display at Calatrava near the river entrance of the food court. We absolutely adored the Lemon & Lime Tart. We only went in there to watch Ironman, but next time we walk past, we’ll try something else.

Calatrava
Ground Floor
Crown Casino Food Court
Ph: 9686 5757
24 hours, 7 days a week