Break the Ice Pole

Our February Kitschen Ckaos recipe is Watermelon Yoghurt Ice Poles. Our 2016 calendar combines our love of food, photography and design. This year our mouthwatering recipes focus on the delicious world of Hors d’Oeuvre, so join us on our gastronomic journey of discovery!

Watermelon Yoghurt Ice Poles
Icy poles are not just for kids anymore, these divine adult icy pops challenge everything you know about the sticky sweet icy poles of your childhood, with a fresh flavour that will have you licking and slurping as many as you can get your hands on. No accompaniment required, just give in to your inner child and lick the melted icy pop off your fingers!

Makes 12

Ingredients
1 cup natural yogurt
1-2 tablespoons caster sugar
500g watermelon
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons caster sugar

Method
Combine yoghurt and sugar. Spoon mixture into the base of 12 x 1/3 cup (90ml) capacity icy pole moulds. Freeze for 1 hour or until just set. Insert icy pole sticks and allow to freeze for a further 1 hour. Process watermelon, lime juice and sugar until smooth. Pour over set yogurt and freeze for a further 4 hours or until set. Invert icy poles and serve.

A LITTLE SUGAR
Laura recently attended the 2016 Sugar Mountain Festival, an annual single-day festival in Melbourne showcasing the best in contemporary music, visual art and new media, focusing on the natural meeting points between different mediums. Above all, Sugar Mountain is a place for creativity to be absorbed and celebrated.

A QUICK ESCAPE
After a full day at Sugar Mountain, Laura needed to make a quick escape to recover with some of her uni mates down at Phillip Island. (Unconfirmed reports mentioned witness protection, but we can neither confirm nor deny!).

Rock and Roulade

Our January Kitschen Ckaos recipe is Mini Turmeric Roulade, Yoghurt and Spiced Cauliflower. Our 2016 calendar combines our love of food, photography and design. This year our mouthwatering recipes focus on the delicious world of Hors d’Oeuvre, so join us on our gastronomic journey of discovery!

Mini Turmeric Roulade, Yoghurt and Spiced Cauliflower
What a decadent decade! These mini roulades, with a hint of Indian flavour, drag the heavy filled rolls of the 80’s very firmly into 2016. The added nuttiness of black sesame seeds, top this light and aromatic nibble. The mild spices of this dish pair well with a light amber ale, which will balance the sweetness and richness of the cauliflower.

Makes about 30 slices

Roulade
40g butter
¼ cup plain flour
1 cup milk
½ teaspoons turmeric
3 eggs, separated

Spiced Cauliflower
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
1 teaspoon nigella seeds
1 teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon chilli flakes
¼ teaspoon turmeric
¼ head cauliflower, cut into small florets

To serve
200g thick natural Greek yogurt
1 bunch radishes, thinly sliced
30 curry leaves, fried until crisp
1 tablespoon black sesame seeds or nigella seeds

Melt butter in a small saucepan and add flour and combined well. Cook over low heat, stirring continuously for 1-2 minutes or until the flour appears to be cooked and starts to change colour. Gradually whisk in milk and turmeric and simmer, stirring frequently, for 2 minutes or until mixture has thickened. Remove from heat, cool slightly, then stir in egg yolks, beating well between each addition. Season to taste with sea salt. Transfer mixture to a bowl and cover closely with plastic wrap and cool to room temperature.

Using an electric mixer, whisk egg white until stiff peaks form. Using a large metal spoon, fold egg whites into turmeric mixture in two batches. Pour mixture into a baking paper line 25x38cm Swiss roll pan and smooth top. Bake at 200°C for 15 minutes or until just set and barely cooked. Turn out roulade onto a clean tea towel and peel off baking paper. Cut roulade in half widthways and trim long sides. While still warm, carefully roll up each half from the long side and cool seam-side down.  

Heat oil in a small frying pan over medium heat. Add spices and cook for 1 minute or until spices are fragrant. Reduce heat to low and stir in cauliflower. Cover and cook for 5 minutes or cauliflower is just tender. Season to taste and allow to cool.
 
To serve, slice roulade and top each round with sliced radishes, a small dollop of yogurt, a fried curry leaf and a sprinkle of nigella seeds. Serve spiced cauliflower on top or as a side to spoon on top.

Tips
If yogurt appears water, strain through a fine sieve for a minimum of half an hour to remove excess liquid.


WELCOME 2106
Welcome to 2016… the International year of the pulse, year of the Monkey, a leap year and in the Ckaos calendar, year of the Hors d’Oeuvre! At Ckaos we look forward to spending another exciting year with you, and hope that we can bring you a little balance to your hectic workday through sharing a glimpse of ourselves in our blog. And look out for the return of our informative newsletter, If you haven’t signed up already, you can do so here.

POSTER GIRL
We’re still catching up on Laura’s busy end to 2015 when she attended the Re-Issue exhibition and panel discussion. Re-Issue is an ongoing collection and annual exhibition of contemporary posters from around the world. Celebrating small runs, rare design and hard to find art, most of the posters in the collection have been sourced from museum and design studio archives. The panel discussion addressed the role of the poster as a cultural barometer.

PUT ON YOUR RED SHOES AND DANCE THE BLUES AWAY
Emma recently organised a Flash tribute street party in Brunswick to honour David Bowie. With a Red shoe transformation station and Bowie face painting this event was a celebration and remembrance of a great artist. ⚡ Rebel rebel, let’s dance, ashes to ashes ⚡
Photo credit Kate Longley.

Slow Roast to Labna

Our December Kitschen Ckaos recipe is Slow Roast Lamb with Pomegranate, Pistachio and Labna. Our 2015 calendar combines our love of food, photography and design. This year our mouthwatering recipes focus on the delicious world of cheese, so join us on our gastronomic journey of discovery!

Slow Roast Lamb with Pomegranate, Pistachio and Labna

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 teaspoons sea salt
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon turmeric
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 cloves garlic crushed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1.5-2kg lamb shoulder
½ cup beef stock
1 red onion, very thinly sliced
¾ cup labna
80g pistachios, toasted and roughly chopped
5 fresh dates, quartered
seeds of ½ a pomegranate
2 tablespoons chopped coriander
cous cous, to serve

Combine peppers, salt, paprika, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, garlic and olive oil in a small bowl. Place lamb in a large roast pan and pour stock into the base. Cook at 220°C for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cover tightly with aluminium foil. Reduce heat to 160°C and cook for 3-4 hours or until tender, basting occasionally.

Place onion in a microwave safe bowl and Microwave on HIGH for 1 minutes to soften. Slice or shredded lamb using two forks and arrange on a serving platter.

Top with red onion and generous dollops of labna. Finish with pistachios, dates, pomegranate and coriander. Serve with cous cous.

How to make Labna

500g Greek natural yogurt

Place a double layer of cheesecloth or muslin in a colander or sieve over a medium bowl. Spoon the yogurt into the muslin. Gather the edges of the cheesecloth together and twist the bag tightly, return to colander. Allow to stand for several hours or overnight in the refrigerator to remove excess whey. Discard whey.
 

NIGHT NOODLE MARKETS
Oodles of noodles! Jenna and Laura recently ventured to the glorious Night Noodle Markets at Birrarung Marr. This year the huge outdoor festival had a record 56 stalls, three bars and a VIP dining area. The authentic Asian hawker style market is held over three weeks, as part of Melbourne's Good Food Month festival. Jenna's food picks were:

Night 1: Crispy five-spice Pork belly with chilli caramel and Asian slaw, grilled salmon, sushi rice, kim chi, Japanese mayo and chilli oil in a tempura nori shell, and to finish off, vanilla bean w/ raspberry crème brûlée.

Night 2: Pancake with braised pork and Viet slaw, Indian style nachos - roasted papri chips topped with curried chick peas and potato, beetroot and carrot slaw, coriander and mint chutney and tamarind and date and deep fried gua bao filled with peanut gelato, dipped in milk chocolate sauce and rolled in crushed peanuts.

Laura had: Wonderbao bao buns, KOMG BBQ corn and spicy chicken wings, crème brûelée and chicken skewer sticks. Food Envy!

SWEETFEST - GOOD FOOD MONTH
Laura won two tickets to the Sunday afternoon session of Sweetfest via. the Facebook competition on The Age - Melbourne Express Facebook page. Whilst she was there, she saw a masterclass demonstration by American Big Gay Ice Cream, who made a ‘choinkwich’ - a chocolate and caramelised bacon ice cream sandwich. She also brought back some delicious cinnamon scrolls to share at the Ckaos studio. YUM!

UNDER NIGHTSHADE by Kate McCleod
Laura and Lilly have been exhibition hopping again, this time venturing to Collingwood where they viewed Melbourne artist Kat Macleod's mixed media show, Under Nightshade. Other then co-running a successful graphic design studio, Macleod is know for her pretty, mixed media works and commercial illustrations. Her latest solo exhibition is inspired by deep sleep, comprising of mixed media works on linen, combining a distinctive mix of gouache, watercolour, hand stitched embroidery and beading. She was inspired by the botanical, world as a means of expressing how sleep can be beautiful, clam, quiet, enchanting, unreal, unpredictable, weird, dark, wild and elusive.

CAMERON'S ZOO VISIT
What better way to spend a sunny spring day than at the Zoo! Cam recently ventured along to check out some of the wildlife.

FLORENCE + THE MACHINE
This month has been huge for live music at the Ckaos studio! Laura and Lilly recently went along to one of Florence + The Machine's sold out performances at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. Florence Welch has been regarded as one of the most dynamic live entertainers on the planet. Since her performance at the Splendor In The Grass Festival earlier this year, her return to our shores has been eagerly awaited. And this time around, her performance certainly didn't disappoint! The girls said the show was like nothing they had ever seen before, describing her as “electric” and “goose-bump incredible”.

MUMFORD AND SONS
Another international act to grace our shores this month was British rock band Mumford and Sons, performing their biggest local show to date at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. Eleni and Laura attended the performance and said it was a fantastic night.

The Hard Cheese

Our November Kitschen Ckaos recipe is Cheese Churros with Romesco Sauce. Our 2015 calendar combines our love of food, photography and design. This year our mouthwatering recipes focus on the delicious world of cheese, so join us on our gastronomic journey of discovery!

Cheese Churros with Romesco Sauce

3 cloves garlic, unpeeled
1 very ripe roma tomato, halved and seeded
2 long red chillies , halved and seeded
2 small red capsicums
¼ cup blanched almonds
¼ cup hazelnuts
2 thin slices or 1 thick slices crusty white bread
olive oil for cooking
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 cup water
30g butter
¼ teaspoon caster sugar
½ teaspoon salt
150g plain flour
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
2 eggs, lightly beaten (add eggs in food processor)
oil, for deep frying

3/4 cup grated Manchego cheese

Preheat oven to 200°C. Roast the garlic, tomatoes, chillies and capsicum for 10 minutes; removed tomatoes. Continue cooking the capsicums, chillies and garlic for a further 30-40 minutes or until capsicums, chillies have blacken and blistered. Wrap capsicums, chillies and garlic in plastic wrap or foil and allow to cool. When cool, peel capsicums, chillies and tomatoes and place in a bowl, discard stalks, skins and seeds. Cut the end off the garlic cloves and squeeze over garlic puree. Set aside.

Spread the almonds and hazelnuts on a clean baking tray and bake for 5 minutes or until toasted. Leave to cool. Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat and fry bread for 3-5 minutes or each side or until golden, then break into rough pieces.

Place toasted nuts and fried bread in a small blender or food processor and process until mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add the reserved vegetables, olive oil, vinegar, salt and a little water if mix looks dry. Pulse until coarsely chopped and blended. Set aside.

Combine the water, butter, sugar and salt in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Once at boil, remove from heat and stir in flour, paprika and cheese. The mixture will form a stiff ball of dough. Cool for 5 minutes. Using electric beaters, beat in the eggs to form a soft, glossy dough.

Spoon the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 1.5cm star shaped nozzle. Pipe 5cm lengths of the dough either onto a paper lined tray or directly into the oil and snip lengths with scissors. Deep-fry the churros in batches in the hot oil until golden brown and cooked through.

Drain well on absorbent paper then sprinkle with remaining Manchego cheese. Serve with Romesco Sauce.

PLAYTIME
Christopher recently entered the Illustrators Australia 9X5 Exhibition. This year will mark the 19th year of the exhibitions running, that showcases original artworks from professional illustrators. This year's theme is 'Playtime'. The illustrations are all formatted in 9"x5" format, based on a 1980's exhibition where such artists as Tom Roberts, Fredrick McCubbin and Arthur Streeton (of the Heidelberg School) painted their works of art on cigar box lids, which has similar proportions to 9"x5". Christopher's illustration, Saint Rich Uncle Penny Bags; Patron Saint of Games, encompasses games, tying in with a religious theme – someone you can pray to when you're playing a game of some sort. Rich Uncle Penny Bags is the central character, other games depicted are: Monopoly, chess, cards, the dice (which is the main element for most games), snakes and ladders, backgammon, scrabble, trivial pursuit and darts. Click here, to view the work in progress.

ISLAND DAY TRIPS
Jenna recently had a surprise birthday visit from her family and they ventured to Phillip Island for the day! Phillip Island is about 140km south-southeast of Melbourne. The island is known for its nightly waddling penguins and famous Motorcycle Grand Prix racing circuit. Jenna's day trip consisted of delicious food, tasty wine, great company, and beautiful scenery! Here is her favourite snap of the day.

CKAOS FOCUS: WOMEN IN DESIGN
Lilly, our latest industry placement student has been doing some interesting projects throughout her University semester this year. Having just wrapped up her third year of uni, Lilly recently completed a case study that required her to choose a topic that links directly to her placement studio. Lilly's case study was called 'Women in Design' and explores the idea that many women are underrepresented in graphic design, especially in key creative and decision-making roles (often due to stereotyped views of women's creative abilities).
Her intention was to find out more about the studio culture, attitudes and beliefs of the team here at Ckaos as it is a unique design workplace being predominantly female with a female creative director. Lilly interviewed several of the team members here at Ckaos about gender related issues and a females experience in the design industry. She was struck by the team's very positive, supportive and determined mindset – overcoming gender stereotypes to forge a more open, contemporary view of the identity of the designer. Lilly's topic is a very prevalent one in today's industry, and particularly relatable to our studio here at Ckaos. We wish Lilly all the best with her end of year results!

I'D LETTERPRESS THE SH*T OUT OF THAT
What could be better than some fancy letterpress on a Thursday evening! Laura recently went along to the lettering and letterpress exhibition, I'd Letterpress The Sh*t Out Of That. The idea for the exhibition came about in the Gold Coast departure lounge after the completion of typography exhibition, Typism. I'd Letterpress The Sh*t Out Of That celebrates and expresses the collaborative nature of the two crafts of lettering and letterpress, and the way eight letterers and one letterpress printer tackle the day. The exhibition featured an original piece by each artist, letterpress printed in limited edition. The 'Cactus!' print was live-lettered for exhibition goers by letterer, illustrator and graphic designer, Eliza Svikulis on the night. Take a look at the prints on offer here!