Last night was my first Ararat Wine & Food dinner as foodmaster. The occasion of the much anticipated pig’s trotters filled with pork, shallot and mushroom and served on lentils with a red cabbage and apple salad. Delicious.
The scallops on black pudding with green pea mash went down a treat as well. The appetisers of lamb sweetbreads and duck liver parfait set the scene for the dinner with some members clearly very apprehensive and others getting stuck in straight away. We finished with the appropriately named “pig’s bum” rhubarb steamed pudding with rhubarb ice-cream and jelly.
The wines were all trophy winners at the recent Federation Square wine challenge. One of our members, Tom Guthrie, is the wine maker of the overall trophy winner - Grampians Estate Black Sunday Friends Shiraz and we were lucky enough to get to drink some of that.
The dinner was held at “The Vines Cafe & Bar” in Ararat where Sandy O’Malley is the chef.
I meant to take some photos of the food but got so caught up in the evening I forgot. Next month will have a modern Spanish theme so if you’ll be in Ararat on Thursday 11 September and want to come as my guest let me know.
August 15th, 2008
This afternoon I was a guest on the Counterpoint program on Radio National. We talked about my latest article in the IPA Review about food movements and Gordon Ramsay. The ABC is very thorough in its web content creation so by the time I got home from the studio in Ballarat the segment had already been uploaded to the website.
Anyway, I think it went OK. We talked about food movements such as slow food and locavore (food miles). I think I could have been more succinct. But I’m reasonably happy that I got across my key point that the problem with all these food movements and celebrity chefs is when they start demanding public policy changes to suit their preferences. Food is a personal choice and cheap food is the great gift of modern agriculture to the world.
July 14th, 2008
It is always difficult to decide what to blog on when starting up again, should it be something momentous or something of the moment? A story caught my eye in The Age online today by Jason Dowling on the growing cosiness between the Nationals and Labor.
Perhaps inadvertently (these passages are out of order from the original article) Jason has laid out for all to see the innate corruption of the National Party. It is completely clear that their primary goal is getting more pay for Nat MPs. It has nothing to do with better representation for the long suffering National Party voters.
As Ryan danced a little jig in
the hours after the Nationals’ strong election showing, he made it
clear the Nationals would work with the Bracks Government when it
was in the best interests of the Nationals and rejected any talk of
a renewed coalition with the Liberals.
The Bracks Government has introduced legislation ensuring the
Nationals’ leader in the upper house will receive a pay bonus as
leader of the third-largest party, despite the Greens outnumbering
the Nationals three to two in the upper house.
The Nationals’ Damian Drum has secured Labor’s backing as
chairman of the rural and regional committee, the only non-Labor
member likely to chair a parliamentary joint investigatory
committee. In return, the Nationals agreed to support Labor
candidates for the chairmanships of other committees.
Peter Ryan can blather as much as he likes about not going into coalition with the Liberals yet everyone knows that even if Ted Baillieu won enough seats to not need them, the Nats would come crawling for the ministerial car and drivers, additional salary and right to call themselves The Hon. If Ted does need the Nats to form government they will ponce around demanding far in excess of their entitlement based on numbers, make all sorts of wild calls about sitting on the cross benches, and then accept the white cars. They did it last time and they will do it again.
Let’s not forget who they put up as ministers in the last coalition government: Pat McNamara, Bill Baxter, Roger Hallam, and Bill McGrath. Of these, only Roger Hallam would have got a guernsey in a merit-based team while Pat McNamara has to win the prize as the most incompetent. He was agriculture minister and didn’t notice the country was turning against the government before the election then he caused a by-election which resulted in Labor winning his seat of Benalla for the first time ever.
Given the calibre of the current Nat MPs it is unlikely they would do any better in the next coalition government. Meanwhile they are selling out rural Victorians for
mammon.
March 4th, 2007
His Grace says “But in places like Australia, we must now ask, has Jesus Christ a future? … And this is a very interesting question for me, as a Christian, albeit one who often feels I hang onto my faith by my fingernails. It is just as interesting for me as someone passionate about public policy, about Australia and our future. Where, if anywhere, is my nexus between my faith and my politics?
Continue Reading November 15th, 2005
At last, research that investigates whether some car safety regulations are worth it. The guys at Freakonomics have examined the available evidence to see if car seats for children aged 2-6 work better than seatbelts and found they didn’t. They went further and looked at those booster seat things for kids up to 10 and found they might actually cause more harm than good. Thanks to Andrew Leigh of Imagining Australia for the pointer.
Continue Reading October 23rd, 2005
For my birthday (somewhat belatedly) my beloved gave me a Kitchenaid mixmaster.
Continue Reading October 22nd, 2005
I think it’s important that research continues on non-GM varieties so the yield differential between the two doesn’t get too big. As long as there are conventional varieties around farmers wil be able to make a decision that weighs up more expensive GM seed and less chemical usage against cheaper seed and higher chemical costs. Where a future problem will occur is if development of the conventional varieties stops or stalls so the gap between conventional and GM gets too big. However, while the economics may give me pause, I’m more convinced by the environmental and personal health benefits. I just want less chemical and less harmful chemical used on this farm, where I live.
Continue Reading September 29th, 2005
After somewhat of a slack period in terms of trying new recipes, in the past two days I have done a new variety of roast chicken and made some amazing chocolate brownie-type biscuits.
Continue Reading September 28th, 2005
Fallout continues from the release by the British Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution of a report on Crop Spraying and the Health of Residents and Bystanders The report concluded, amongst other findings, that ‘possibly one million people could be affected by crop spraying close to their homes’ - when only 13 possible cases were cited and are as yet unproven.
Continue Reading September 27th, 2005
At some point I reckon people have to take some responsibility for their own actions and especially their own health. I’d be more supportive of all these rules if I thought they actually stopped anyone getting food poisoning but in the main they seem to be more concerned with covering everyone’s butt (especially the regulators butts) against being sued.
Continue Reading September 25th, 2005
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