Eggs from the chickens at Rouse Hill House and Farm. Photo Scott Hill © Sydney Living Museums
“Nothing is worse than stale eggs” states Isabella Beeton,
“… stale, or even preserved eggs, are things to be run from, not after.”
I can imagine having to run after chickens but not eggs, but needless to say, fresh is always best. Continue reading
Apple hedgehog. Photo Jacqui Newling © Sydney Living Museums
When I was a child my dad would confuse me by asking “do you say the yolk of an egg is white or are white?” But it is their yin-yang, rich-light; oily-dry duality that makes eggs such a versatile food. While the sun shines in the yolk it is the whites that bring light to many a dish, including omlets, meringues and snows. Continue reading
Quong Tart teapot (detail). Private collection. Photo © Jamie North for Sydney Living Museums
Quong Tart, celebrated in the Celestial City: Sydney’s Chinese story exhibition currently showing at the Museum of Sydney, played a significant part in Sydney’s colonial history. The exhibition explores many aspects of Quong Tart’s life, but he is famously remembered for his tearoom establishments, which helped revolutionise casual dining in the city in the late 1800s. Continue reading
The Rouse Hill dining room by candlelight. Photo Scott Hill © Sydney Living Museums
Currently at various Sydney Living Museums Houses we’re running a series of night time tours, where you can see the houses as their original occupants saw them lit by candle and lamplight. Which raises the vexing question of just HOW should you light the historic dining table? Continue reading
Handmade Meroogal sponge cake. Photo © Sydney Living Museums
Today is #MusCake museums’ cake day! And there is plenty of cake to go around at Sydney Living Museums! The number of cakes consumed on our properties – historically and today – is countless! And there are dozens of cake recipes in our house museums and Caroline Simpson Research library collections – so the cry today is ‘let us eat cake!’ Continue reading
Eat your history recipe testing volunteers with Meroogal sponge cakes. Photo © Sydney Living Museums
We’re very excited to introduce our fabulous recipe testing volunteers – Charmaine, Margot and Paula, as part of our Eat your history heirloom recipe project. The team has been working their way through manuscript recipes from family collections at Meroogal and Rouse Hill House and Farm. Continue reading
Portrait of Quong Tart (detail), c1880s. State Library of NSW ML1346
This Saturday we’re welcoming in a brand new exhibition at the Museum of Sydney, Celestial City: Sydney’s Chinese story with a host of supporting programs enveloped in the theme. Continue reading
In the pantry at Meroogal. Photo © Nicholas Watt
Our volunteer, Bethany Leyshon, shares with us some recipes, tips and long lost techniques that piqued her curiosity while transcribing handwritten books from Meroogal…. Continue reading
British sailors boarding a Greek pirate (detail), J.L. Marks. The Mariner's Museum Collection
So blow me down ye son of a biscuit eater! Here be a tale of pirates at that den of infamy, Parramatta! – and a curious recipe for ‘Pirate’s delight‘! Arrrr!
Bethany Leyshon / photo © Thomas MacRae. Artwork: A Crucifixion, Reuben Paterson, 2012, glitter and synthetic polymer paint on canvas, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, purchased NGV Contemporary, 2012 © Reuben Paterson, courtesy Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
I have always had a fascination with old houses and the stories they tell, so when the opportunity came up to do an internship at Sydney Living Museums’ Rouse Hill House & Farm (one of my favourite properties) – I couldn’t let it slip. Continue reading