Odyssey Tavern presents Mornington Peninsula Brewery Beer Degustation

A well thought menu, complete with tasting
notes from both brewer and chef!

Last Wednesday night (2^nd August), I had the opportunity to attend the Geelong region’s first Beer Degustation, held at Odyssey Tavern in Mt Duneed. The brews featured on the night were all from the Mornington Peninsula Brewery (MPB), with six beers matched to six courses by the chefs from Odyssey.

Grant and the crew have been operating the Surf Coast craft-beer mecca that is Odyssey Tavern since March 2012, giving the region a much needed opportunity to sink its teeth into the boutique brews that the mainstream invariably forces out in set-in-its-ways Gee-troit. With over 80 beers from Australia and New Zealand, 8 taps of continuously changing guest pours, and a menu that caters to pretty much everyone, it is rapidly becoming a favourite in the area. You won’t find a Carlton Draught, a VB, or (heaven forbid) a Corona in the place, but what you will find are passionate staff who are happy to guide you on your first steps along the path to malty, hoppy enlightenment.

Lots of speculation about the upcoming pairings
(Photo courtesy Odyssey T&B)

After a weekend at Splendour in the Grass, subject to mid-strength beers and foot-deep mud, I was eager to get out to Odyssey for what was shaping up to be a great occasion. So eager that while on the bus, I missed my stop, and ended up in Torquay. Look, it was dark, and it’s the Surf Coast Highway. After hitching a ride back to Whites Road with an off-duty bus-driver, I was met by the warm glow and happy buzz of pre-drinks, with attendees mingling around the two long tables and, of course, bar. I started with the MPB Sorachi Kolsch, a clean, light, refreshing brew, with a nice lemongrass hit on the tongue, most likely from the Japanese Sorachi Ace hop. Would be perfect for a few in the hammock come summer, and was a great way to start the night.

After finding our seats (well, everyone really just sat where they were and got to talking to the people around them), and a brief welcome by Grant, he handed over the floor to the guys from Mornington, Head Brewer Andrew Gow and Michael “the sales guy”. It was fantastic to have these guys introduce each of the beers, talking about the ideas and influences, the process, answering every question thrown at them, and with a good dose of humour. Their passion was contagious, and really took the appreciation of the beers to another level.

Smoked Salmon Wonton w/ MPB Witbier

First up was the MPB Witbier, matched with a smoked salmon wonton stack, with wasabi mayo and balsamic reduction, served with roast pear and pickled ginger. Now, I’m not usually a huge fan of witbiers. I find them quite confronting, with a sense of umami that I’d sooner associate with cured meat, vegemite, or sushi than a beverage. However, paired with this dish, I found a certain appreciation, and the witbier and I made a tenuous truce. The beer has a real coriander element, with citrusy overtones, which worked wonderfully well to create a sweet and sour sensation with the soft pear, spicy ginger, and gentle warmth of the wasabi. It also cut well through the richness of the smoked salmon, and the whole dish was lightened by the crunch of the crispy wontons. One of my top two matches of the night!

Herb-crusted lamb w/ MPB English Special Bitter

The second entrée was a herb crusted lamb backstrap on citrus couscous with a quince jus, matched to the MPB English Special Bitter. It was a beautiful deep orange colour, would be perfect around autumn harvest with big sweet raspberry notes, and a bit of earthy brown-sugar toffee. Something a bit fruity as well, almost reminding me of trail mix, or Christmas cake. The lamb and quince worked really well with this beer, bringing out some of the more complex flavours, but consensus at our end of the table was the summery couscous was a little out of place. Whilst delicious, and working very well with the lamb, the bitter really felt like it needed something a bit more earthy, like sweet potato, or a parsnip mash, to really complement the autumn characteristics of the beer. 

Poached Rockling w/ MPB IPA

It was then on to the MPB American-style IPA, matched with a delicate poached rockling, scalloped chat potatoes, and a baby caper, thyme and verjuice sauce. The chef was not kidding when in his notes he said it was “something a little left of centre”, but it worked! The IPA was beautifully malty, quite bitter, and a little on the alcoholic side (~6.2%), with subtle nectarine/peachy flavours. From memory, this is attributed to the three types of hops, Citra, Centennial and Simcoe (correct me if I’m wrong!). The creamy sauce played down some of the bitterness, though the bite from the red onion gave a bit of the punch I’d associate with IPA’s usual spicy pairings.

Too tasty to last (Pork & White peppercorn sauce)

The final main was pork medallions, with blue cheese and green peppercorn sauce, topped with some leafy green salad, and matched with the MPB Brown Ale. One of the few brown ales available at the moment, this was the beer highlight for me, a really nutty, warming beer, very malty. Really reminded me of rum & raisin chocolate. While this paired really well with the pork (chocolate and pork are always a winning combination in my book), the thick, creamy sauce got in the way a bit, bringing out all of the pepper, and drowning any more subtle flavours that the lighter white meat would have brought forward.

 

Sex on a plate: Vanilla pannacotta w/ MPB Porter

Dessert one was the highlight of my night. The MPB Porter, paired to a vanilla pannacotta with burnt orange syrup and roasted pinenut toffee. There are those moments in your life where something just works. I flushed, I giggled, and I melted into a pool of dessert ecstasy. The porter is beautiful and rich, with big, bitter dark chocolate and coffee flavours, with a subtle thread of vanilla to round it out. Combine that with the luscious, perfectly set pannacotta, which really brought out the vanilla in the porter, the bitter orange caressing the chocolately notes, and the way that the bright pinenut toffee brought out the brown-sugar notes of the beer were amazing. I could have died a very happy woman there and then. The guys opposite me at the table were asking if I needed a moment to recover. If Odyssey does not make this combination a permanent fixture, they are missing a beautiful opportunity.

Chocolate Pikelets w/ MPB Imperial Stout

The final course was a super-rich stack of dark chocolate pikelets, with white chocolate and honeycomb filling, served with a mulled wine syrup, and matched to the MPB Imperial Stout. It was a great match, the chocolatey stout adding another chocaholic layer to this decedent end to the night. A touch of liquorice, and something reminiscent of cherries in the beer was enhanced by the syrup, which I could happily have drunk on its own. It was the prefect winter dessert, matched with a brilliant winter stout (at 9.5%, it’s a real warmer). Coming at the end of what had been a huge meal, it was perhaps a slightly heavy note to finish on, but a tasty one none the less. I did manage to resist the urge to curl up under the table and go to sleep afterwards!

After dinner, it was great fun to hang around, meet some of the beer aficionados of the region, and sample a few more of MPB stable, including their delectable Imperial Amber (figgy caramel goodness), and the ol’ faithful Pale Ale (My original introduction to the world of beer!). Whilst the beer was the star on the night, the food was beautifully presented, and every course was delicious. I will certainly be back for more. This was an absolutely wonderful event, and I express my whole-hearted thanks to everyone that was involved in making it such a memorably experience. May it be the first of many (official) beer appreciation sessions!

Neysa xo

A letter to Apple

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Dear Apple,

I am writing to provide some feedback about how impressed I am with the durability Apple devices.

Not so bad, right? At Box Office, Corio St, where Stick
offered condolences and coffee

A month ago, while riding to university, a strap on my bag snapped, and caused it to fall on to the road. Before I was able to retrieve the bag, it unfortunately found itself beneath the back wheel of a school bus. No, he did not stop. Yes, I agree, that’s a bit rude. The bag contained, among the normal university commute items, my Macbook Pro, iPhone 4S, and two external backups being moved for ‘safe keeping’. Immediately, I resigned myself to the complete loss of everything in my bag, including my beloved Keep Cup, and of course the 4 years of cancer research notes, my library of 1200+ PDF papers, and the last 2 years of photos housed between my Macbook and backups. Whilst dodging sweary soccer mums in Landcruisers, I retrieved the contents of my rather flattened bag, and removing the unsurprisingly intact biology textbook, I proceeded to determine just how bad my losses were.

After being run over by a bus, which item survived:
A Macbook, an iPhone 4S, or a pair of reading glasses?

Yes, the back glass panel was shattered, the metal frame was slightly bent, and getting the charging jack connected required 15 minutes of patient manipulation, but my iPhone was otherwise intact, and in perfect working order. I have a notoriously bad history with mobile phones, and by some miracle avoided having to talk to my phone company about requiring a new phone less than a fortnight after receiving the new upgrade. It also allowed me to ring my boss to tell him I’d be late, organise new bank cards, and call my mother to throw a tantrum maturely discuss my bad luck. I would like to heartily congratulate Apple on the design of their iPhone 4S, the durability of which allowed it to survive being run over by a bus.

MacBook Pro Pancake

Unfortunately, the Macbook Pro was not so lucky. Since 2010, that Macbook had been the workhorse of my PhD, taking the all-nighters, conference presentations, 'Protect Research' campaigns, mass data analysis, movie marathons, and Twitter trawling in stride. Initially, I was excited by the fact that it appeared to be in one piece. The outer casing, whilst now decorated with a charming array of scratches, dents, and depressions, was still intact, as was the ‘clam’ hinge. The Apple logo hadn’t even sustained a mark! Sure, it wasn’t quite closing properly, and you could see exactly where every piece of internal hardware was located, but all the pieces were contained inside the hard casing! That much could not be said of the external hard-drive, which was so badly broken that it was unable to be picked up from the middle of that busy road, or the USB drive that was literally snapped in two. Unfortunately, the tinkling of glass indicated the screen was completely destroyed, and whilst making a gallant attempt to start up, the ominous knocking of hard drive components and loud, previously inaudible, whirring of fans shattered the last of my hopes. Admittedly, those hopes were minimal after discovering my insurance didn’t cover ‘transit damage’. A quick trip to my local Apple reseller confirmed my worst fears, with the device declared “unsalvageable”. The lovely lads did, however, whip out the hard drive for me, with murmured, half-hearted encouragements of “perhaps a professional recovery service can save something for you”. Alas, the $1,900+ recovery fees far outstrip the resources of a PhD student stipend, but I took home the priceless lesson of ensuring you have multiple back-ups, stored in water/fire/terrorism/bus-proof safes, that are never allowed within a 1km radius of each other under any circumstances.

Shattered, but functional

New ergonomic iPhone design

 The fact that the iPhone emerged with little more than cosmetic damage is a testament to the durability of the devices designed and built by Apple, and despite the damage it incurred, I remain very impressed about how intact the Macbook was, allowing it to be quickly and safely retrieved from the flow of irate peak hour traffic.

I fully intend to purchase a replacement Macbook Pro, once my savings account reaches Apple-supporting levels. Five years should just about do the trick.

Kind Regards,

Neysa

Good News, Bad News

So, what happened on Friday of Week 3 that has potentially killed me for the rest of the RDWC challenge?

After a week of taping my ankle to help with support, I’d had the tape off for about 2 days, giving it a chance to prove itself before derby on Sunday. My quadriceps were still pretty sore from the previous weekend, but I was still stubbornly believing that there was nothing to worry about, and that I’d be fine by Sunday. Then, on the way to watch the football with some friends at the pub, my ankle gave out. I landed heavily on my knee (thankfully not the dodgy one!), and all of my weight went back. Those crazy tight quads screamed, and so did I.

It took me almost 10 minutes to limp the 30m from where I fell to the pub. A skinned knee dripping blood down my leg was the least of my worries. My right leg couldn’t bear weight without feeling like I’d been stabbed in the thigh.  I was fairly convinced I had ripped the muscle from the bone. I spent 2 hours sitting on one bar-stool, my leg supported on another, with ice wrapped around my quad, before I felt like I could put any weight back on it. Thankfully, my favourite team was playing their pre-season game, so in between growling, yelping and crying, I got to see them play. After hobbling to the car, and then from car to boyfriend’s couch, I spent the rest of the night with ice on and off. The pain localized, and seemed to be focused on my vastus intermedius, the middle section of the quadriceps, the type of pain suggesting partial tear, rather than full snap. Despite being good friend’s with my physio, and knowing he was open the next morning, I decided to wait it out until my appointment Monday afternoon. I knew the drill: RICE. Rest, Ice, Compress, Elevate. Saturday, could weight-bear for short distances, but rested up as much as possible. Sunday, the first day of RDWC’s Week 4, I decided to test myself.

Derby.

I couldn’t strap anything but my ankle, thanks to the amount of sweat that appears on a 38C day. I got 3 laps of the track at a teeth-clenching jog before having to pull out in pure agony. No luck with squats, even less with lunges. 50 wall push-ups and about the same of crutches later, and the uninjured Fresh Meat had finished their warm-up. Threw on the skates, made it halfway around the track before having to rip everything off. I was in tears, and not just because of the pain.

The following three hours were seriously depressing. I watched as my fellow Fresh Meat worked on their falls and slides, learnt the fine art of the slalom, and practiced their hops. I didn’t want to be sitting on the side-lines, I wanted to be out there, falling on my arse, laughing, learning. Instead, I watched, and I listened, and I tried to remember everything that was said, in the vain hope I’d be back the next week. Once the Fresh Meat had finished, I was the only one to stay behind for the level 2 and up training, like I do every week, even getting the opportunity to act as penalty timer for scrimmage. It was great, I learnt a lot, and our Fresh Meat coaches were fantastic, encouraging me to come along next week even if I was off skates, and telling me they’d run me through a one-on-one catch-up session when I was back on my wheels. That made me feel better (Thanks Ace and Fink!), but I still couldn’t shake the sinking feeling that in the space of one week, I had blown a year of physio and hard work. Home to more ice and an early night.

Today, I saw my physiotherapist.

“A Grade Strain”. After 15 minutes of explaining what happened, how it felt at the time of the injury and since, discussing my suspicions, and having a bit of a poke around (Ok, actually more technical than that, but you don’t want details of my screaming and crying), those three words were a sweet relief. A strain I can handle, as long as the muscle is intact. An intact muscle doesn’t need surgery, it just needs some gentle love and attention until it is healed.

The verdict? Minimum two weeks recovery. I have set exercises I have to do 3 or 4 times a day, and am restricted to walking, with a reassessment in one week. In the words of my physio “No running, no jumping, no hopping or skipping or lunges, and for gods sake, no skates!” Any core work involving my legs is out, so no planks, wall sits or push-ups (unless they’re one legged, against an upright surface, on my good leg). It’s boring, and it’s horrible, and I’m annoyed, but you know what? I’ll do it. I’ll take the weeks off skates until I’m approved again. I’ll research a million-and-one ways to work my core, back and upper body without engaging my quads. Because I want it. Because derby is worth fighting for. And because I’ll be damned if I’m letting my body get the better of me again.

Neysa xo

RDWC2012 - Week Two & Three Wrap Up

Ever feel like your life has just been picked up and thrown around a bit, to the extent you’ve lost a certain amount of control? That’s been me for about the last 2 weeks. I had best intentions of posting a weekly round-up for this challenge, but life had other ideas! So, how’s the challenge going?

Week Two

After the shaky start in Week 1, I was really happy with the progress made in Week 2. My body recovered well when I put my calorie intake back up and cut out some of the meat proteins. On the Sunday I had 2 hours of derby training and felt fantastic, bouncing straight back afterwards, with little soreness the next day. Every day that week, I rode my bike for at least 30 minutes, on one day for around 90 minutes. (House-hunting is fantastic for this!). I did push-ups and sit-ups every second day, giving my abdominals a chance to recover in between, since I know I have a history of over-working them. Due to some knee and ankle issues that have flared up, I didn’t do much leg work outside what my physio gave me, but at the end of the week, I was pretty happy with where I was. According to my food diary, I was still about 300 calories short a day, but I was probably operating a touch under my calculation values, so I wasn’t too stressed.

I didn’t have too many major challenges during Week 2. I didn’t want to push myself too hard after how my body had reacted in Week 1, but I was still happy with my increased activity levels and my food choices.

Week Three

Week 3 started quite well. Fresh Meat training on Sunday was great, though I started to get a niggle in my ankle while doing some stopping drills. Monday afternoon I had an appointment with my physio, who diagnosed acute tendonitis and some lower-leg muscle weakness. A quick refresher in support taping, and an adjustment to my exercise regime, and I was out the door again. More push-ups and crunches on the Tuesday, and I was feeling good! Then, Wednesday. I had a rather epic day of riding around to house inspections, only to get clipped by a car while on my bike on my way to the last house on my list. Thankfully, no major injuries were sustained, but I was rather shaken, sporting a few bruises, and had some doozey road rash. Took Thursday and Friday fairly easy, not wanting to do more damage to already bruised muscles.

On the Saturday, I was somewhat unexpectedly called to play a game of baseball, something I haven’t done in about 3 years. I played a season as an undergrad, then shifted clubs as a scorer, and eventually left the game behind, before taking up softball for a season in my final year of undergrad, and giving it away again when I started my research career. 4 hours of running around the outfield in sweltering heat made for a super-sore body that night. My quadriceps were a lot tighter than normal, but I attributed that to lack of use, and figured it would mend with some stretching. Sunday, I was still sore, but roller derby awaited! We spent a whole 2 hours working on our knee slides and falls (Ok, well maybe half an hour was spent learning sticky-skating). By the end of it, my quads were screaming at me, and I ached pretty much everywhere. Not to worry, nothing some stretching and ice wouldn’t fix. That night, at a BBQ (Meat and salad, yay! A ginger beer, oops. In my defense, still came in right on my calorie intake for the day!), one of my friend’s fell through a section of roof, and I ended up heading to hospital with him after holding a tourniquet on his arm until the medicos arrived. Thankfully, when I finally got to see him in the ER after getting checked out, he hadn’t done any serious damage. He had a bruised butt, a bit of a bump on the head, and a lovely deep laceration that laid the muscles on his arm bare, but thankfully hadn’t severed anything vital. Once he had settled in for the night, I met up with some friends at the pub, and being the good girl I am, didn’t have a drink. Didn’t do much else either, still being rather sore from all that sport. Still, nothing stretching, ice and rest wouldn’t fix, right?

Oh how wrong I was. When by Tuesday I still couldn’t move properly, I should have given my physio a call. My gut told me something was wrong, but I convinced myself that if I kept up with my normal recovery routine, I’d be fine. I shifted from ice to heat, stretched out my legs every chance I got. I cut out everything that wasn’t prescribed by my physio. I took a ridiculously long, hot bath and THEN stretched. Friday morning, I was starting to feel better, but was still tight. Needless to say, called the baseball girls and put in my apologies for the rest of the season, and eternity.

So what went wrong? Find out in Part 2!

Neysa xo

P.S. Friend is fine. After a nice 3 day hospital stay, he had surgery to reattach all his skin, and is now recovering at home. He's vowed never to climb on a roof again.