We've been wanting to grown our own herbs for a while now. Originally we went down another avenue of having a landscape architect design a roof garden which was all encompassing and impressive but more expensive. Then we found these guys and it was 'yeh that's what we need!'. The Little Veggie Patch Co Have a look at their website. They've done veggie gardens for Church St Enoteca and Stokehouse. And good bang for you buck as well. 
So here's some pics of day one. In about 2 weeks all staff will get together and plant the first seeds. We are all so excited to grow our own herbs, lettuce and maybe tomatoes. Thanks Fabian & John. If there are any cafes all even folks at home that want to start growing their own I would definitely recommend these chaps. Cause it's more than just dirt and seeds, you need your right PH levels, make sure there's enough nitrogen and then you need some magic worm poo.. I think that sounds right... was trying to keep up with Fabian. We have definitely got one of the best backdrops of any herb garden around. Come on Summer!

Our current Dead Man Jams:

Here's a wee snapshot of some potential new dishes for lunch. Stay tuned and hopefully we will have finalised them this week. 

Yeh spring time! Jo getting stuck into the broad beans

I was going to put this photo on the blog highlighting her enthusiasm but thought not as it might embarrass her

Broad beans & Asparagus, part of a new dish

Not finish yet but here's a sneak peak, broad bean quenelle's & asparagus. ... need another something, got some ideas, try them out tomorrow

Almost done. Herbed crumbed chicken schnitzel with appleslaw...

This baby needed something else but first must find the right product and supplier. 

So after sampling lots of new dishes this could be the favourite. Birds nest rosti w poached eggs, sprouts and ash goats  cheese. We added some cherry truss tomatoes as the juice blended nicely with the rosti... but might look at other alternatives (though I'm pretty happy with they way it is!)

An awesome latte art smackdown by Market Lane last night with funds raised going to Coffee Kids. 

Some of the Dead Man Crew

Michael Vs Baptiste of il Fornia

Cale on the left from Duchess of Spotswood

Matt from Market Lane Vs Johnno from St Ali

A guy from Korea flying in just for the Market Lane Smackdown?

Toshi of Market Lane Vs Cam of BBB/Seven Seeds & MC Dave Makin of Axil Coffee Roasters

Not sure if these were their coffees but it was one of the closest battles. Toshi just nudging out Cam

Will of Auction Rooms making it thru to the next round. 

A coupla beers later and Nellie of Dead Man jumps in as a wildcard. Also to represent the outnumbered girls. 

Jake of Auction Rooms Vs Jason of Market Lane. Recall this was a close one. Jason through. 

TayTay of Seven Seeds and 1963

Beer supplied by Stone & Wood & prizes by Crumpler

The Judges, Fleur of Market Lane, Mark of Seven Seeds and me...

...who for some reason kept misjudging the distance between his finger and the coffee. I blame Stone & Wood.

The semi-finalists

And the winner... Toshi of Market Lane. (such a pimp these days)Dead Man wants to thank Market Lane for putting on such a great event. Good turnout & Good Vibe. Love those guys. They raised $1700 for Coffee Kids. Stay tuned for Toshi's next event where he holds a fundraiser for 'Our right to hunt Foxes'

....the phantom barista...

The top ten scores for the Premier League Fantasy Football are as follows. Winner of 5 free coffees for the month of August is Matt Riches. Jeremy started off on top but kinda flopped last week, is the pressure getting too much for Team Dickson? Henry looks like he might be the one to watch in September but there's nothing daring about 5 in defense, more like Henry's Cautious Devils and also look out for the Kiss of Death. When you're in next ask Nitish what his inside tip is. It worked for him last week. I'm expecting more from the Hungry Weasel, maybe he's eating too well these days, all that fine food at Circa, maybe change your name to Content Weasel.. with scores like that Clarkey. 
Game on September!

1	the luciel balls	Matt Riches	61	193
2	Mutton Chop	Luke Mutton	56	182
3	Anoos United	Simon Boucher	33	176
4	El Toro Grande Utd	Kevin Wong	52	175
5	oldbogotonians	Jeremy Dickson	37	173
6	Gooners	Ryan Marks	36	153
7	henry's daredevils	henry preston	58	149
8	teekaywhy	Kai Yau Teo	51	146
9	Hungry Weasel	Andrew Clark	45	144
10	Kiss of Death	Nitish Kissoondhery	62	142

Staff Wanted: We are currently seeking a full time waiter, barista and chef.  
Please email resume or apply in person. Not at lunch time, though I'm sure I don't have to say that!


Requirements;
Waiter - Efficient, speedy & punctual. Friendly.  
Barista - Experienced. Passionate about coffee and other brewing methods. 
Chef - Cool head. Interested in regional & seasonal produce. (Day time work only.


luke@deadmanespresso.com.au

There was a nice spread on us in the September edition of the Delicious magazine.  Not sure if there are any copies left, think Mum has bought them all.  It's great to be included in a mag that we buy and the exposure it generates.  We are somewhat in no-mans land, nestled amongst the brothels, near the freeway and away from the hub of Clarendon St and South Melbourne Market and so word of mouth and articles like this helps let people know where we are.  Good to see Nashy make it into another magazine.  We also had a mention in the latest Gourmet Traveller Wine mag as part of a guide to Melbourne by Matt Skinner.   Awesome.  Thanks Matt. 

From Market Lane Coffee this week served as pour over we have the Kenya Mtaro. Also from Seven Seeds we have Tanzanian Peaberry Songea, sweet with good acidity which is also in our Dead Man blend along with the Bolivian Cup of Excellence Lot 11 & Sulawesi Toarco. 

Went to the Collingwood Farmers Market for the first time on Saturday.  There were a few meat producers I wanted to check out, like Warialda Belted Galloway Beef and Hook & Spoon.  Had read about Hook & Spoon and liked their ethos.  Would like to see these guys twittering more as we're interested in learning more about their produce and how their day is made up. 
Had my hands full with Bowie, so could only grab a few items.  Brought back some Mutton Backstraps which we tried as a lunch special today.  Man, the Mutton was so tender.  Also grabbed some Royal Blue Potatoes from Jones Potatoes(had a pretty good selection there), so Nitish whipped up a Mutton Forrest Garniture w Pepperberry Spice. The plan is to get to a farmers market each weekend and learn more about the regions & it's produce. Bring back some new goods and give it to our MacGyver in the kitchen, Nitish and see what we can make. 

Here's a little vid of the Collingwood Farmers Market. 

Before we opened, almost a year ago, I spent a lot of time looking at design blogs as well as coffee and food blogs... and still do!  They're so addictive and there are so many out there and they're free.  Just like anyone I'd prefer a magazine or book but that's just not practical nor affordable.  It's tricky finding time to keep this blog alive which is a bit annoying as I wanted more for it. Twitter has been the saviour.  I don't do Facebook but Kylie does and I hate emailing but I swear by Twitter.  It's such a good learning tool. Instead of blogging I've found myself spending more time following peoples tweets.  If they've found something worth reading, say on coffee, they will tweet it and I'll read it.  So in a way I just let it come to me.  We seem to get  a few people asking questions about suppliers, furniture, coffee etc.  Some as customers, others as new business owners like us.  This is our first business and if we can pass on any information we are only to happy to do so.  We'll try to keep this blog up to date but if we get a bit slack come and get me from Twitter Land and drag me back here. 

Dead Man Espresso's Premier League Fantasy Football is about to kick off. Still time to join though, go to www.premierleague.com and register, then email me for code to join our private league. It doesn't matter if you sign up after the first game, you may just be behind a few points. But you'll probably still be ahead of Alex Lobov. All Dead Man customers are welcome and twitter followers. 5 Free coffee's to the highest score for the month(I know, I know, broke the bank on that one) and $100 cash prize for the overall winner.
Game on!

Dear Blog, apologies for our absence as of late.... but we have something we think is great - Rainbow Chard w fig & walnut open sandwich...oh and a little blue cheese...yummmm!  Now wasn't that worth the wait!