Oysters at ten AM

Even for someone who doesn't 'get' oysters like me, I recognize that a culinary adventure that starts with starts with 12 super fresh oysters at ten AM is probably going to end up being a good day




This was our trip to the beautiful island of Bruny, postponed for a day so I could battle a dose of super mutant Tasmanian flu and it actually started with my first caffeine in 72 hours at the ferry terminal. It was like giving the biggest coldest beer in the world to a man who'd been lost in a desert where the pubs only sold VB.




Straight off the ferry the first stop was Get Shucked. The Wife had declared them the best oysters she had ever had at Taste so a stop was seen as compulsory. We were the first customers of the day, she was still opening up and the oysters were again declared delicious. The way they were inhaled certainly seemed positive.

Next stop was my personal goal, Bruny Island cheese. We got to taste a fresh 'young' hard cheese, a smoked hard cheese, which they claimed was smoked for three months, but I think the girl at the counter was a bit confused. We also tasted their brie/camembert soft cheese, their one day old fresh cheese in olive oil and a raw milk cheese flavored and colored with saffron. All very tasty. I was entranced with their aging room, which is at 12 degrees. I should be able to replicate that with the second hand fridge I hope to score soon. Fired up about making some soft cheese.




After the cheese we did a bit of sightseeing to keep The Wife happy before stopping for lunch at the Hothouse. We shared a smoked salmon and salad wrap and a beef and guinness pie. Both very nice. Hothouse was a real homestyle cooking sort of place, great friendly staff, lots of fruit trees and veggies around the grounds. The girls had this great herb damper with butter and cheese, salmon and salad on the side. Yummo!




After lunch we struck out, food wise for the first time this trip. The berry farm had no berries! All the vine berries were done and we were too early for the strawberries. We skipped the fudge and headed back to pick up some cheese on the way home.

The day was completed with a nice free range roast pork and these great strawberry cream potatoes which I tried earlier in the week and had not gone great as mash. No matter, they made fantastic roast spuds, tinged pink all they way through. I used a trick a mate of mine had told me about the crackling, pouring a kettle of boiling water over the skin before oiling and salting it. It worked a treat, best crackling I've had in ages. Thanks Spud.

All in all a great day for those of us who travel through our stomach and a mixed berry crumble is being assembled as we speak!

MF from my iPad

Location:Bruny Islands