Sunday 26 July 2009

Have you got a secret?

Today’s post is about people’s secret food vices, and you’ll understand it all when you read the email at the top of the post (below) which I sent out to a few foodie friends that I knew would respond…….

Hi Kim

I was chatting to someone yesterday, who, to me, is the epitome of truly healthy eating, and found, much to my surprise, that they indulge in a few secret unhealthy food binges each day as well!

It got me thinking it would make a great discussion topic on my blog, so I thought it would be interesting to get a few people’s secret vices and confessions about what food vices, if any, they too have.

Do you have any that you’re prepared to share with my readers?

I’ll start with my secret vices anyway: I always have a packet of those Violet Crumble reject squares, on the lounge where I watch TV. My huge downfall is those Weis Honey and Macadamia ice creams that come in an 8 pack at the supermarket. I start to eat one after my dinner each night, then have found it impossible to stop. I always eat the whole 8 pack there and then, so I now buy them in lots of 3 packs! (Which obviously lasts me 3 days!!)

Cheers, Rita

KIMBRA TOWNEND – TEAM LEADER, COOKERY, POLYTECHNIC, DRYSDALE

Oh my god - all 8!

At the moment I am absolutely addicted the mint Aero family size bars - I usually eat a whole one on the drive from work to home!

Then finish the day after the evening meal with a chocolate milk shake in the blender with rich choc ice-cream!

Love violet crumble as well - yum

COLETTE BARNES – OWNER/CHEF UT SI’S CAFÉ, PERTH

I don't know where to start Rita! I'm a wine & food snob...totally & unapologetically...would rather not eat or drink than consume crap...but sometimes I can't go past a can of Bundi & coke & a packet of snakes! C x

PAUL FOREMAN, HEAD CHEF, MARQUE IV

Hi Rita,

Lasts you 3 days, yeah, sure?!

I would have to say that I have a weakness for ice cream, and not just a cup full!
My favourite indulgence is the Browns Grand Marnier and roasted almond, and yes we are talking a litre here!!
Blue cheese is another problem for me, on thick ciabata with loads of butter and a little honey, NASTY, but delicious.

There are others but they involve another person and a little nudity!!!

Talk soon,

Paul.

KAREN GOODWIN-ROBERTS, OWNER/CHEF/CATERER , TASTE CAFÉ AND CATERING

Karen Goodwin-Roberts told me that she has grown to love chocolate – fruit & nut, or Old Jamaica, but cheese is her biggest downfall.

STEVE CUMPER, RED VELVET LOUNGE, CYGNET

Hi Rita,
Hmm, where to begin!
Doritos corn chips & Red rock deli chicken, honey & soy chip packets rustling are like Harpies to my Ulysses tied to his mast but my ropes are from Chickenfeed!

Even though I hate myself for it I all too often eat HJ's when on the run in town. Chips are like magnets to my gob, each one finds its way there with graviational force.

I have been known to gorge on a whole packet of Golden Crumpets, thats six mind you in one sitting. maybe its got something to do with their name sounding similar to mine, a sort of self love leading to devouring ones own person?

My kids have never seen a chicken wing & must assume that chooks just come with legs n breasts as they dont appear with the rest of the chook at the table when we have a roast as I need a traveller or two between the kitchen & the dining table! On chicken I will often gobble up all the crispy skin leaving the white flesh exposed again lending some confusion as to the exact anatomy of a the poor fowl. I have often wondered if some lab geek working in big food could develop a chicken just made of skin & wings to satiate my appetite?

Despite my sourdough fixation sometimes all I crave is a soft white roll with ham & piccallil onnit, the softer the better.

Wow I feel unburdened, are you an ordained chaplain?
Cheers Steve



45 comments:

Christina said...

Oh where do I start!
National Pies! Must be cold from a fidge or lukewarm, no sauce!
Old Gold Rum and Raisin chocolate, at least 2 squares after dinner every night.
Cold Baked Beans, straight from the tin, must be Heinz in tomato sauce. if served hot, must be in Ham sauce!
A fresh bread roll, must have sesame seeds with real butter and vegemite.
Tasty cheese and honey on white shop bread.
Mashed potato soaked in worcestershire {Holbrooks} sauce.
Fish Fingers, {birds eye only} with Heinz spaghetti and lemon juice.
Rita's favourite, Raisin toast with vegemite!
I could go on but the seven sins are stopping me, with gluttony being top of the list!!!
I have a sign in my kitchen which reads "indulge"!
I'm afraid I do!!!

Anon2 said...

KFC wicked wings,very fresh hot National pies with tomato sauce, wing dings, lamb souvlaki with plenty of yogurt, toast with apricot jam and kraft cheddar slices, macadamia shortbread, spag bol, tempura battered fish from Fish Frenzy, Jamieson whiskey ......oh... oh....give me a nice green salad I'm having a coronary!!!

Anonymous said...

Recently I've got a fix on potato gnocchi with melted butter and parmesan, clix biscuits, Danish pastry, melting moments ... and at least 1 Hungry Jacks hamburger with everything including double cheese..... But only once a year when I'm in Sydney , oh, and a daily Jamieson's!

82 year old diabetic Monica

Anonymous said...

Doritos and chicos are my weaknesses. Also comfort food equals toast, butter, marmite and banana.

Hazel said...

It must be my Hungarian ancestry but I can eat an entire jar of pickled gherkins - the real ones, not the sweet ones.
My grandmother used to make us what she called Bundas Kenyer- translated literally it means furry bread - found out when I grew up everyone else knows it as French Toast. She always served it with sliced gherkins and tomatoes. We ate it til she ran out of bread!
My husband makes beer battered apple fritters - I can't stop with those either!
My last sin to confess - nutella, on sourdough with lots of butter, or in our homemade Baci icecream - a Nigella recipe for chocolate icecream with an entire jar of nutella in it.

Anonymous said...

Brinjal (eggplant) Pickle or Lime Pickle with cheddar cheese on watercracker... mmmm, also sour cream (yes on it's own), nandos bbq chicken ribs

Monica said...

How could I forget my weekly fix of Karen's toasted apricot and bran bread with Elgaar farm butter from the Taste cafe at Baha'i Centre

nutsdeb said...

I too love Mint Aero Bars and have to have a block in the fridge to calm my nerves. Good choccie milkshakes are also a must for me.

bri said...

Monica, apricot and bran bread doesn't sound like a vice to me - that sounds delightfully healthy!

My three biggest vices (I have many) would be:
- raiding the charity chocolate boxes at work for the 3pm munchies
- an unhealthy addiction to Kewpie mayonnaise (the delicious Japanese mayo commonly served with sushi)
- although I'm a bit of a cheese snob, my fridge always contains processed cheese slices...

Rita said...

Christina - one word for you - gross!
Anon2 - I would never have guessed it about you!
Mon - all my favourite indulgences, but I haven't tried Karen's bread.
Anon 7.25 - chicos are MINE! Hands off!
Hazel - Hungary, it seems, has a lot to account for!
Anon 10.08 - are you kidding? Sour cream on its own?
nutsdeb - Mint Aero's - tick!
Bri - processed cheese slices for a cheese snob? Sorry but I can't picture it. Do you have little kids?

sir grumpy said...

By the way...my missus bought me a cup cake from that new shop in the mall.
It was far too sweet. The meringue was nice. I won't get addicted to something this sugary.
Even the granddaughter thought they were too sweet.

Anonymous said...

Well on Friday they looked like they were selling out of the 2000 cakes they are making a day .. and it was only about 2.30pm

So the proof of the pudding might be in the bank balance!

P

The Colonel said...

I have it on good authority that it would be a very brave person who would stand between Joff Jennings and a bucket of KFC.

nutsde said...

A friend just returned from Gunnadah NSW (the chicken capital of Australia) and swears the KFC was the best she'd ever had and wasn't greasy. I'd like to try that!

bri said...

Rita - nope, no kids in my house. I think it's a comfort food thing: toast, butter, promite and a cheese slice. That combination is just not as comforting with real cheese :)

Tassiegal said...

Bri - I am also a cheese snob but do ocassionally sucumb to the siren call of cheese slices.
TG (who was also the ANON at 7:25)

Foodtrail said...

Rita - I used to be a KFC and Burger King junkie. Not anymore. Not sure why. But give me a pack of Smith potato chips and I will keep going with no "Stop" sign in sight. When I go back to Penang, it is addition at all time high for 5-6 meals a day on hawker food, and usually it is 2-3 different type of hawker food per meal. They are full of animal fat, salt, sugar, chillies and more greasy stuffs! :-) Victor

sir grumpy said...

I love those Dutch almond fingers and rounds. Will scoff the packet with a pot of strong Assam tea.
Or a glass of Real Milk (without shaking it up to mix the cream).
In fact I often add extra pouring cream to my glass of cold milk.
Then there's the missus' tuna fishcakes and home-made burgers.
And snakes and jubes and turkish delights and plates of freshly dug pinkeyes smothered in good butter and sprinkled with parsley.
Or good crusty bread with lashings of butter. Good pies, Cold pasties out of the fridge (preferably with short-crust pastry) with a pint of full-strength Guinness.
Friands. Good ice cream. Sticky toffee puds with custard and cream. Walkers shortbread plain and choc-coated. Tim-Tams.....Oh, I could and do go on....

QW said...

hmmmm.... Dim Sims come to mind!! and I love dark chocolate :)
Also a national pie lover!! I have the 3pm Munchies now!!!
Oh Chips and 'gravy'!!

Rita said...

I reckon a common theme here is the good old stand-by - the Aussie meat pie! Now there's a business tip for anyone slightly entrepreneurial - start up a yummy, handmade pie business, and you'll be busier than Cutie Cups!

Rita said...

PS - I loved hearing about Joff's addiction to KFC!

Anonymous said...

My secret is The Head Chef from Morilla has bought a one way ticket on the ferry to Marque iv.

Rita said...

Anon 3.45 - that info is not official as yet!

Anonymous said...

He didnt buy a ticket - he was pushed

Anonymous said...

Whether he was pushed or not is irrelevant. He’s going & he will be better suited & far happier with his next appointment. However when he does go, I know that his sous chef is not the man to hold things together & will probably crumble at the first twitch of accountability. Now that there’s no apron to hide under or chef to white-ant, perhaps we’ll see him delivering those buckets of KFC that Joff likes so much LOL!

Anonymous said...

Maybe we should wait for the official announcement... I seriously doubt he has left though. You know what Tassie is like... nothing ever changes... Mind you Paul Foreman, Fee & Me and Simon West are moving on...

Just a few thoughts...

Why do you think he was pushed? He seemed to be a well respected and good chef. Might explain the Steve Szabo cancellation if he is leaving?

Why do you say that about the Sous chef? Have you met him because it sounds like you know him?

On that note, I also wonder how the rest of the kitchen is coping and who the right man to replace him would be? Think it will be from within the company or a blow-in? As Graeme Phillips was saying, it's hard to get good chef's into the state but I think a place like that could do with a Sydney/Melbourne based chef. Maybe Tetsuya wants to make a move! LOL! One can only dream...

Finally, I wonder what they will do with the restaurant? Keep it open? Or maybe a new chef in a newly renovated restaurant. A fresh start and the THE new restaurant in Hobart... Guess we will have to wait & see...

sir grumpy said...

I'm such a peasant now I don't really care where all the high-enders are going.
But, I hope they do well...all of them and the ones left to carry the burden, for themselves, the state's reputation and you top-end diners.

Anonymous said...

The pie thing has already been tried -- Go to Flynns Cafe near the Kingston Medical Centre!!! Best ever homemade pies

sir grumpy said...

Yep, Flynn's is in.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Anon 5.26pm. I think Anon 5.01 knows the sous chef. I also think 5.01 knows Justin from Moorilla. The more I read it the more it sounds like you do... Was there something going on between the sous chef and exec chef? Because you say he wasn't happy and that the sous chef was "white-anting" him or hiding under an apron and twitching at accountability... Wow! I feel like Sherlock Holmes! What do you know 5.01? Your like the Oracle on this! LOL!

The Colonel said...

I also have it on good authority that, when in Hobart, Tetsuya sneaks up to Flathead for fish and chips, and a beer.

Anonymous said...

Last anon: I'm sure Tets wil still come but I would warn him to make sure sure Flathead's proprietor is on that night not his incumbent understudy whom is likey to make excuses for his lack of care on the night.

Anonymous said...

Best Flake and chips I have ever had at Flathead the other night. Absolutely perfect !

And fabulous service, but I don't know who the boss is.


P

Anonymous said...

Flathead is too expensive for me, for what you get.

Anonymous said...

Well it depends what you do. Main course size flake & chips is $17.90 I think and a number of others much the same. Add a bit more for a side salad Sir G

They do give you the option of BYO so that's they way you can have a economical night out with great food and wine. If you can get in!

I am a great blue eye/trevalla fan but the flake and chips up at Flathead is fantastic.

P

sir grumpy said...

Mind you, Tetsuya may know his fish and chips but I don't fancy his chilled corn soup with vanilla ice cream.
Come on.

Anonymous said...

Have you had it?

P

sir grumpy said...

No, but I'll just go and open a can of creamed corn, chill it and serve with a splodge of the old Peter's ice cream.
Has anyone had it? I wouldn't be game to try it. Some thing you just KNOW wouldn't work for you.

Anonymous said...

We talk about the pitfalls of dining in Hobart, well people like that person @ Moorilla cant be helping, Imean if they dont com ercomende by chefs then who can you trust?

Anonymous said...

The trouble is Sir G, I reckon it may well taste fantastic, and all you have to do is look through this list of postings of all of the crazy things that people eat, well never rule anything out.

And of course it wouldn't taste the same as the canned crap you are talking about. Nothing ever does when you pay heaps of cash!


P

sir grumpy said...

No, I was taking a liberty with the canned crap, P.
But I don't like cold soup for a start (or starter) and it just seems a wrong combination.
But, without trying it, I am incapable of backing up my hunch. Or hunching up my back.
I concede, grovellingly.

Anonymous said...

Well I'm ready to be sent to Tetsuya's place to try this stuff and anything else that he might want to serve up.
Please send cash! Lots of it.

P

Tassiegal said...

Rita - was at Montys last night and someone was talking about this post!!! Didnt over hear much but there was much discussion about comfort foods before we trooped in to the Game degustation.

Joy said...

Anyone know where you can get Brown's icecream? (favourite of Paul Foreman). Sounds delicious, but I haven't seen it around.

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