Make a Night (Heron) of it

If there was a year to do it, it was this one.

I was turning 35 and I had to have a birthday party. Not ‘birthday drinks’, but a Birthday Party.

I discovered the quaint little bar, The Night Heron, with a mate a few months ago. A local had told me that it was brand new and he had stumbled upon it by accident and had been sipping amber liquid there a few nights a week since. It had a beer garden. My buddy and I had to try it. We did and they played Holst’s The Planets for me on request.

I loved this bar instantly.

 

The inner west seems to have had a spike in tiny bars of late. I’m a sucker for the classics: The Yarra Lounge, The Reverence, Seddon Wine Store; but I’m always up for trying somewhere new. Especially if it has the pre-requisites that I so love: beer garden, tinnies and a most excellent playlist that includes everything from Toto to Technotronic to Sinatra and a bit of Wilson Phillips for those special moments.

I returned to The Night Heron only a few weeks ago. I had it in my sparkly mind that this was the place to hold such an eventful birthday party. Upon returning I discovered a former work colleague of mine behind the bar. An artist by day and bar owner by night, I knew my party was going to be in good hands with Ross Taylor at the helm.

Before I even approached him with all my party-esque questions, Ross explained that there were some radical food options nearby that could deliver tucker to my hungry little guests as they guzzled frothies in the beer garden.

Burger Business sits right next door and offers a quality beef-n-bun option with sensational chippage in old school packaging. A sure stomach liner if you are planning a big night.

A couple of doors down is Addis Abeba, a very well recommended Ethiopian eatery who will also deliver to the bar, making these last of the summer nights an absolute pleasure.

When the Birthday Party arrived, I was equipped with knowledge. I had booked the beer garden and had made a dress fit for the occasion out of a Ken Done curtain. I was ready and so was this fine little bar.

The beats were pumping and my pals came rolling in – some of them even crossed town to the ‘westside’ to experience this little place I’d been raving about. They ate burgers, they drank Footscray lager, they stayed all the way to the 1am curfew and best of all, they cheered when a superb choc-mint 90s themed birthday cake came out topped with sparklers and candles and my favourite mixed cassette tape, just for me.

It was an excellent Birthday Party. One that I won’t forget. What made it sublime was the gorgeous Night Heron and it’s oh-so-Footscray appeal that provided me and my bestest of mates with the bestest of times.

My highlights? The Night Heron lager is rad as is the Castlemaine Celtic Red Ale on tap. The staff are fun and friendly, there’s a different dj mixing vinyl most weekends, the beer garden is easy and oh so very appealing on a warm night and it feels like you’re in your hood. Which you are. This should become your new local (if it isn’t already).

I’m going to go back. You should join me!

The Night Heron is located at 228 Nicholson Street, Footscray. Discover its cool activities at www.facebook.com/thenightheronbar

Pics courtesy of The Night Heron. This article first appeared in the April issue of The Westsider.

Kitty Kakes

I have a friend who hates bananas.

Heaps.

I used to work with her and if you had a banana in your lunchbox that was 1 hour past it's non-scented period, she would squeal a high pitched sound, crouching in a corner holding her nose with her two fingers like a dolly peg.

"Who has got BANANA!" She would cry while holding back a dry-retch.

So because of this delicious pal, every time I smell a banana going off in our house I think of her.

I also think  about making banana bread. But today, with my ripe ol' heap of browning bananas, I made muffins.

But in tribute to my banana-phobic pal, I would like to call these Kitty Kakes.

Here's how you make such a sweet pack of punch:

KITTY KAKES

3 cups of wholemeal SR flour
1 1/4 cups of milk
1 egg
90g butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2 mashed up brown bananas

Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees.
Combine flour, sugar and cinnamon in a  bowl.
In a jug, combine mashed banana, melted butter, milk and beaten egg.
Make a well in your flour mix and add the banana mix.
Mix together, but not for too long just until combined.
Put into a greased muffin tin.
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until  your skewer comes out clean.

Kitty Kakes. Don't be scared.

xx

Having a crack at egg free choccie cake

My kid's favourite words are 'chocolate cake'. When I ask him what's in his bag, he responds with 'chocolate cake'. When I ask him what he does in the potty, he says 'chocolate cake'. When I ask him what he wants for lunch, he says (you get it now) 'chocolate cake'.

So today we decided to make chocolate cake but we had NO EGGS in the house. So I searched for an egg-free recipe online and came up with this ripper. I've tasted it and I think it is gold. Give it a crack!

EGG FREE CHOCOLATE CAKE

185g butter
125g sugar
2 tablespoons golden syrup
1 cup of milk
1 1/2 cups self raising flour
1/2 cup of cocoa

Pre heat oven to 180 degrees.
Melt the butter, sugar, milk and golden syrup together on a low heat. Then take off the stove and add the flour and cocoa (I mixed mine all by hand in the saucepan to save on dishes).
Pop in a cake tin or patty cake pans and pop in the oven for approx 30 mins or until a skewer comes out clean when you give it a jab.

Eat on a stoop in the sun with a cold cup of Milo. Don't drop the cake on the ground like Alfie did. The way he behaved you would have thought he had spilt his milk!

Enjoy pals.

x

Gettin' loose with orange juice

I've become a little obsessed with wastage.

Every week our bins are choccas, so full that I have to do a midnight run in my Hello Kitty nightie around the street to shove crappy nappies in other people's bins, because mine just don't have the space!

I read recently that over 30% of an average food shop is wasted. What. The. Fuck? Meaning, we throw out a third of our weekly, hard earned and spent, grocery stash.

Hell.

So I went and spent a third of that dough on a book by Rhonda Hetzel titled Down to Earth. This woman is pretty incredible, basically living the life my parents gave us as kids in self sufficient country Victoria. Living off the freaking land. But it's not all woodfires, macrame and hand washing, there's some great stuff in there for city dwellers such as myself and my gorgeous-as-hell family.

Our weekly box of organic fruit and veg arrived today  - $35 from local grocer Vari's Organics - and as I was putting the goodies away, I made note of all the remaining fruit and veg I needed to use up before starting on the fresh stuff.

I came across three super ripe and juicy oranges and using Rhonda's Whole Orange Cake recipe, I whisked up this amazing treat. And my goodness, my house smells like a freaking citrus orchard.

Two dishes too, so even someone like me can handle it. My son  is going to lose his face with squeals when he tries this tomorrow.

Rhonda Hetzel's Whole Orange Cake
This is one of the easiest  cakes you'll ever make and it's full of flavour and orangey goodness. It's all mixed up in  the food processor too, so there's very little washing up. Easy peasy, orange squeezy!

1 orange, washed and quartered (I actually used two and drank the juice of the third)
3  eggs
180g butter, melted
1 cup white sugar (or less)
1 1/2 cups self raising flour

1. Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees and grease cake tin
2. Put the orange quarters in the  food processor and process until they're completely broken down and no large pieces remain.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients and process again for around 30 seconds or until you feel awesome
4. Scrape the batter into the tin and bake for around 40 minutes or until the cake is golden  brown and if you stab  a fork into it, it comes out clean.
5. Cool it - both you and the cake. You don't want to cut it too soon.

Serve up a decent slice and sip it down with a cup of chamomile tea and a side of a Channing Tatum YouTube clip.

Delicious.