the essence of summer

ahhhh. the very essence of summer.

the smell of frying onions, oil in the air, and in our case - fried soy dogs.

new bbq!

essential summer backyard equipment.

tofu and chickpea burgers frying on the left; fried onions and fried potatoes chillin' on the right.

adey was quite adamant that he be scored highly for his efforts. but as i said to him, i gots ta be true to my readers.

taste: ✓✓✓

price: ✓✓ (well, i paid)

service: ✓✓✓ (service with a winning smile)

nirvana xx

ben's birthday barbecue bonanza!

is this heaven?

you're too bloody right it is!

oh god yes.

ben was none too happy about the last post showcasing his tong talents. photos taken too late, just a few lousy cold snags and chevapchichis sitting in a roasting pan. he demanded a re-blog! so 'ere it is - ain't she a beauty? i can honestly say it was all true blue dinky di delicious.

i promised myself i'd never do this but... what the hey. 4-✓'s!

p.s. yes, that spinach leaf is a prop.

nirvana xo

victorian election: sausage sizzle snagvotes

finally! the government (victorian not south australian, always leading the charge) are taking sausage sizzles seriously!

this sausage sizzle map is sort of like a dream-come-true for me. in my mind it was always possible, and there were times i thought i would be the creator of such a map. but lack of time and facilities precluded me from doing so. and here it is, in all its glory. there is still hope for SA.

anyway, back to the map. after you have clicked on the link above you will see a map and a number of stalls alphabetically listed which have a sausage sizzle open for business tomorrow, being election day. and there are a LOT of stalls open. the map/list combo make it extremely easy to locate a stall in your area.

plus, you can click on any individual stall link to find out further details i.e. the address, what other stalls will be open. for example, the toorak primary school village fair will be having stephanie alexander as a special guest. AND a dog show. erm, i die.

enjoy melburnites!

nirvana xo

anglicans vs catholics

my last few sausages have been quite disappointing. i could feel myself getting more and more cynical. losing faith in the sausage world you might say.

thankfully, this guy came to the rescue:

g'day mate. you do a decent snag here at aggy's.

i'd always assumed aggy was a woman. possibly one of the sweet elderly ladies running aggy's op shop? well blow me down, it appears aggy is a man. that nickname makes him sound pretty cool, kinda like igby. but it looks like aggy is actually a costanza with a penchant for recycling clothes which should probably stay in the 90's. see that bundle he's gently supporting the church with? that is a pile of chenille jumpers and tencel jeans and crocheted crop tops.

well man, woman, or both, aggy's has restored my faith.

and warmed my heart with their homemade signage!

as you can see, 3-✓'s for price!

here i am gleefully paying my $2 plus another $2 for my sister's sausage:

this sausage gets full marks all round. the price was amazing, the service was fast, the onions were perfectly soft and slightly sweet, the sausage was meaty and fatty mmmm and the bread (white, although wholemeal was offered) was soft and fresh. good work!

i don't know how often agg holds his fairs, but this was the spring fair. we can only hope it is four times a year. in conjunction with the sausages there was a fashion show. sounds naff, but the emcee was incredible. notable mention when referring to the model: "that dress fits like a glove, it sticks out in five places" when referring himself: "i bought these in hahndorf, you should all get a pair. did you know birkenstock is german for lesbian shoes". he was frickin awesome, don't miss out.

taste: ✓✓✓

price: ✓✓✓

service: ✓✓✓

nirvana x

fancy farmer fails to follow through.

after my last sausage, i was reminded of a sincerely insightful quote by young philosopher jessica simpson. when offered some delicious-looking buffalo wings by now-ex-husband nick lachey, she replied "i don't eat buffalo."

well now neither do i.

reason: buffalo sausage at the collingwood childrens' farm farmers market (alternates between that venue and the abbotsford convent).

i like to frequent farmers markets, like the rest of you foodies out there. these treasure troves of organic fresh fruits and vegetables, home-made preserves, and backyard wine are brimming with slightly unusual ingredients, or walk-and-eat jobs. part of the reason i go is to expand my taste horizons and i am always open to trying something odd. how many times have you been tempted by something a little out-of-left-field, a tasty morsel you have not tried before, an animal you didn't think lived in australia?! enter the buffalo.

when i think of buffalo, i think of a very hairy creature, residing in a snowy region, being herded by some other very hairy creature. not the usual meat to be minced into a sausage. so when i came upon the buffalo sausage stand at the farmers market i was intrigued. it was also the only sizzle on.

see below photo of half-eaten sausage...

...need i say more?

after paying $6 i got my sausage. hmmm. i'm sad to say that the sausage was rather dry and tasteless. and not flavoured with honey and rosemary as promised. obviously the buffalo is a lean, mean, grass-eating machine not dissimilar to a kangaroo which would also produce a dry sausage and unlike the more sausage-friendly grain-guzzling pig. how scientific of me! i think i am on to something...

take heed readers - from here on in, nirvana does not eat sausages made from grass-eaters, including giraffes, yaks, and wildebeest.

taste: ✓

price: ✓

service: ✓

nirvana x

the US of A!

readers! how could i have neglected to post about my international sausage experience?!

when adding photos to my last post, i came across these, from my recent foray overseas.

a delicious sausage, native to America, called a 'hotdog'. it is very common and sold by street vendors. part of the staple diet of the policeman.

the 'dog' is not sizzled, as we do here, but is either steamed or boiled, making it very plump and moist. the 'dog' is then placed in a white bun, not on a piece of bread, and laden with delightful toppings!

atop the 'dog', the american will spoon tomato relish, sauteed onions and sauerkraut. you may then add additional tomato sauce (or ketchup as it is known there) and mustard. this is possibly the strangest thing about the dog. tomato relish is made of tomatoes and onions. you then add more tomato sauce, and the vendor will add sauteed onions. too much of a good thing? not really! the sauerkraut is essential. sour and delicious!

a must-do during any trip to new york - but not before any strenuous exercise.

taste: ✓✓

price: ✓✓

service: ✓

2-✓'s for taste cos of the sauerkraut and 2-✓'s for price. i think it was $2. only 1-✓ for service cos the guy was like "no photos for the review - only for yourself? who are you? no food review!" i felt a bit uneasy after that.

nirvana x

a federal election.

voting day to me always feels like a family affair.

not because my family all vote for the same party - far from it - but because i always seem to be in adelaide on election weekend and we always follow the same routine.

- have breakfast

- put the leashes on the dogs

- toddle down to the church

- have a short meaningless chat about politics

- put a number in a box

- feel like part of the wider community

- buy a sausage!

in recent years, the boothby electorate office has been really jazzing it up. i discussed this in my post about locating a sausage sizzle. cake stall, art exhibition, free funny face cookies! plants for sale, games, balloon animals. last time they even gave out free origami flowers.

as exciting as all that is, sadly, the sausage sizzle has suffered in the shadow of all these peripheral stalls.

taste: ✓

price: ✓✓✓

service: ✓✓✓

the onions were underdone (folding under the pressure of the lunch rush) and the bread split upon folding which means it wasn't fresh enough. or it had been out in the cold too long. much like the voting officials.

still, the man who gave me my sausage was very chatty and it tasted pretty okay for having been cooked by a chemical engineer.

better luck next time boothby!

here are some happy snaps, taken by my sister:

nirvana x

photo credits: nylanda ma

the thespians show us how it's not done.

as promised, readers. guest blogpost from my lovely man:

Wilin Week/VCAM Student Union Sizzle

After being a part of the festivities on this day since the early hours of the morning, a painful experience for any budding, depressed and tortured artist, I respectfully and gainfully so worked up a hunger to match that dude (whats his face) and his dinner table portrait aptly named 'the last supper'.

Across the yard from me the kind folk of the almost extinct VCAM Student Union were cooking up a storm with a smell that got my gut groaning and my mouth bursting to the seams of salivation. As i wonder over i am greated with a great cheer and smile to brigthen anyones day and to find that they have options... VEGETARIAN OPTIONS!

Much to my disgust of most sausage sizzles only catering for the carnivore variety of human my mouth drooled with excitement over the bbq full off vegie patties. I rushed in on that shit and snagged my self a pattie between 2(two) pieces of bread with a generous helping of dead horse to match. I found that the pattie was quite over cooked on the outside and slightly burnt which blistered my mouth as i hoed into that sucker like a termite in a tree brothel so I could beat the crowd and go back for seconds. Second time round, only one piece of bread aloud which was disappointing, have you ever tried to eat a full pattie with one piece of bread, come on, have some sympathy for the animal lover. The second pattie was undercooked and sloppy which forced me to retire form this sausage sizzle game and hand it back to Nirvana the professional.

In conclusion, i cant complain, all of this came at a small price...NOTHING! FREEEEE!

Taste : ✓
Price: ✓✓✓
Service: ✓✓✓

a bonny day for a barbecue!

happy eighth birthday bonnie!

in honour of miss kirkman attaining the ripe old age of eight, the kirkman/adey grown-ups gathered around a table of baked/assembled/fried/chargrilled/released from their foil packaging goodies and ate them while watching the children scream past.

we also had egg & spoon races (with real eggs yo, southies don't muck around) and i judged a freeze dance comp. freeze is like statues, for those of you who grew up in the 80's.

while not technically a sausage sizzle, ben did barbecue up some mean sausages and i ate them. 3 ✓'s all round!

here are some long overdue photos:

ben's handiwork

paul adey

and finally one of your faithful blogger!

nirvana x

p.s. my blog seems to have a mind of it's own when it comes to font sizes and such. sort of amusing.

photo credits: matthew adey

the anzacs

yesterday (and technically spilling over to today due to strange public holiday laws) was anzac day. i am slightly disappointed in myself for not venturing out to find a sausage sizzle held in honour of the veterans of gallipoli, and just veterans in general.