Life with Bees

For a really good Big Green Egg brisket, get a proper butcher to cut you the meat so you get the full size. We got ours from Barry Hawkes at Fyshwick Markets - it was nearly 3kg for about $17. Rub it down the day before your barbeque with a simple dry rub of salt, paprika, pepper, brown sugar and spices. Opinion is generally divided on the use of brown sugar - some say it offers a perfect, caramelised glaze while others say it does nothing. We hedged our bets and used very little. Also be sparing with the salt, which draws moisture out of the meat. Seal the brisket up in your biggest freezer bag and leave in the fridge overnight.

The next day, soak a few planks of mesquite wood in water for about an hour before you begin cooking. Take the meat out of the fridge - it will be moist because of the salt. Get the Big Green Egg going, keeping the coals between 200-250 C. TK put the brisket on the top tier of the Egg grill plate for indirect heat. He put a ceramic plate on the bottom tier of the plate with a pan to catch brisket drippings. On the middle tier we had a rack of American ribs which were cooking for lunch.



Cooking time is usually estimated at anywhere between 1 and 1.5 hours for each pound (450g) of meat. But it can vary. We put the brisket in the grill at about 10am, using that formula, and expecting it to cook for about 6 to 7 hours, just in time for dinner. But the meat surprised us - when TK took the ribs off the grill for lunch, he found the brisket sitting ready to be served. It had reached 87 C, the optimum cooking temperature.

So check regularly.

If your brisket is done too early, wrap it in a couple of layers of aluminium foil and place it back in the Egg. Shut off both air vents - this kills the fire slowly, allowing the meat to stay warm as long as possible.

Or keep the brisket warm in the oven while making some barbequed side dishes. Arrange handfuls of potato wedges across the top tier of the grill plate - they become crisp and smoky without any need for fat. Cook corn in their sheaths alongside the wedges.

The brisket made a beautiful early dinner with corn on the cob, crisp wedges and a pile of Turkish rolls. TK deglazed the drippings pan with a shot of Scotch and added the juice to a homemade hot barbeque sauce. The slices of meat were completely tender, melting down your throat with a warm, slightly smoky-sweet flavour. The brisket fed four hungry people with plenty of slices for TK to wrap in fresh rolls for lunches the rest of the week.

The beginning of November was the beginning of the end for cooking as we knew it. That was when TK got his newest, dearest companion - the Big Green Egg. The Egg is a ceramic barbeque, it is a smoker, an oven and a grill. Filled with coal and a scattering of smoking planks, it produces temperatures of up to 400 C and can reduce the grainiest, cheapest cut of meat into a tender melting meal.

Our friend Doc helped us assemble it over the weekend and we spent an afternoon playing cards and cooking the first Egg meal. It gave us an ochre tandoori chicken heavily striped with smoky black scorchmarks. The chicken was spicy and full of warmth, a little dry and crisp. It wasn't perfect, but the meat had a remarkable earthy, appetising flavour and for TK it was love. Afterward we huddled around the Egg on our tiny balcony roasting raspberry marshmallows on the dying embers in the bowl, laughing if we got them to catch fire and blowing fine smoky ash off the caramelised ooze.

It was love.

We recently went on a holiday down the NSW coast and stopped to check out the pretty seaside town of Merimbula in the far south. The town is lovely, with a marina and a big sandbar providing a surf beach on one side and a pelican haunt on the other. Whales cruise past the town on their way to Antarctica and the fishing is apparently quite good.

For lunch we tried out the Cantinas tapas bar and restaurant on the main strip. The food sounded interesting but nothing was Spanish. There was no paella, no tortilla (Spanish omelette), and only a whiff of chorizo on the menu. The mains included a fettucini with chicken and rib-eye steaks. But after a morning spent out on the bay, we were hungry so we had the speciality "tapas plate for two" ($60) which promised to give us a good spread of dishes.

The plate, when it came, was piled high with little savoury dishes and a heap of Greek salad. A generous helping of salt and pepper calamari was a highlight - they were cleanly seasoned and seemed fairly fresh. TK thoroughly enjoyed two Greek lamb skewers with yogurt dip and I favoured the corn and coriander fritters which were well herbed and juicy. The salad was reasonable - sliced cucumber, capsicum, a few cubes of fetta and olives - and the plate left us quite full.

But not everything was good. A fetta and potato spring roll was just that - a dim sum masquerading as tapas. A pair of spanakopita were extremely ordinary and ended up left on the plate. And there was a curious, curious serve of indistinguishable curry and rice, so thoroughly overcooked that the ingredients were falling to pieces and absolutely smacking of leftovers that the chef wanted to be rid of.

The service was cheerful and prompt, though one waitress had to ask the boss what was actually in the tapas for two. We were able to sit in the open window and watch tourists drift past on the main street. There was plenty on the drinks menu and it didn't seem to matter if you wanted a meal or just a glass of riesling on the comfortable couches to people-watch with.

It was a nice holiday meal - but it was only holiday good humour and hunger that left us satisfied. For $60, you should expect more. Not necessarily more food but more style and thought from the chef. Perhaps even a little proper Spanish cooking. And you certainly shouldn't expect to be palmed off with leftovers from last night's dinner menu.

Cantinas Tapas Bar and Restaurant, Merimbula NSW
Rating: 2/5
Value for Money: 1/5
Service: 3/5

When your hair is waist length, you start to notice if a shampoo or conditioner works. And you really notice if it doesn't - try combing four feet of prickly dry strands, or struggling to find a scarf big enough to hide it all on a bad day (a tight bun helps or alternatively adopt purdah). Thus begins the never-ending quest to find the perfect product for extremely long hair.

In this case, the quest is complicated by the fact that I'm trying to use shampoo and conditioners without dodgy chemicals. There are hundreds of organic or natural beauty products on the market - sadly, many of them simply don't work. For the last year I've been treading the fine line between icky synthetic goo that makes my hair beautiful and pure organic crap that leaves it ugly. Here are some of the things I've tried.

Aesop advertises itself as a beauty company with high organic standards - and a price tag to match. The Gentle Scalp Cleansing Shampoo (pictured - $40) is quite a good shampoo, very mild and seems to be effective even on dandruff-prone scalps. It doesn't froth up orgiastically in an effort to show how well it's working. Instead it's more like a gel cleanser, it stays matte to the scalp and a little goes a long way. I might get it as my main shampoo if I'm feeling rich. The Revitalising Hair Sealing Conditioner ($42 from www.aesop.net.au) was very disappointing. It left my hair nearly crackling with dryness and seemed to help create tangles. Very poor form and definitely not a good option for long hair. It was meant to be used in conjunction with the Rose Hair and Scalp Moisturing Masque ($100 - yes, $100) - described as a weekly botanical treat for hair. You apply the masque to freshly washed hair, wrap in a shower cap or clingfilm and leave on for half an hour before rinsing out. Sadly, it did nothing for my hair. I got the masque as a free sample with a purchase so wasn't out of pocket, but if I can save just one long-haired lady $100 - then all the pain has been worth it. :-|

Kiehl's Olive Fruit Oil Nourishing Conditioner (about $40 from Mecca Cosmetica). A rich conditioner that really softened my hair. More importantly, it didn't wear off and kept hair soft for days. Ends were still a little dry but I've never found anything that cured dry ends. Left a good gloss on the hair and helped detangle. I got compliments for how shiny the hair looked. A favourite. It's not chemical free and doesn't use organic ingredients but there are no parabens or SLS and none of the more obviously questionable ingredients. A good compromise between the two.