oz assiette

Goodbye cruel blog world

2006-12-17T20:35:00.000+09:30

You might notice that it's been a while since I've updated the site. That's because I am a total slack ass. I don't know if anyone reads it anyway, but the appeal of blogging is not as strong when you write all day for a buck as well. Perhaps, some day I'll be inspired anew and under the cover of some witty pseudonym start again but for now ta-ta.

Restaurant and Catering Awards

2006-07-25T17:14:00.000+09:30

There were some surprises at last night's Brisbane awards, with the winners going on to represent QLD in the state awards. It was a pretty good result, although a couple of my personal faves (Citron & Tukka) didn't win anything.Nice to see Two Small Rooms get some recognition-it's probably been one of Brisbane's most consistent restaurants. it was a great night, but I reckon there are a few sore heads this morning. So here's the list. Feel free to express your opinion.

Winner
Best Alfresco Dining Restaurant Watt Modern Dining

Finalist
Best Alfresco Dining Restaurant The Full Moon Hotel
Finalist
Best Alfresco Dining Restaurant Vroom Café & Bar - Brisbane

Winner
Best Pizza Restaurant Arriva Italian Restaurant Dairy Farmers
Finalist
Best Pizza Restaurant Beccofino
Finalist
Best Pizza Restaurant Capri Café Bar

Winner
Best Thai Restaurant The Royal Thai Orchid Milton Nepenthe Wines
Finalist
Best Thai Restaurant
Mons Ban Sabai Thai Garden Restaurant
Finalist
Best Thai Restaurant Talay Thai Restaurant

Winner
Best Chinese Restaurant China Sea Milton Restaurant
Finalist
Best Chinese Restaurant The Bamboo Shoot
Finalist
Best Chinese Restaurant Wang Dynasty Southbank Restaurant

Winner
Best Chef/Owner Restaurant Seasalt at Armstrongs Goodman Fielder
Finalist
Best Chef/Owner Restaurant Gianni's Restaurant
Finalist
Best Chef/Owner Restaurant The Courthouse Restaurant

Winner
Best Informal Dining Restaurant Two Small Rooms Coca Cola
Finalist
Best Informal Dining Restaurant Amis Restaurant Bar & Venue
Finalist
Best Informal Dining Restaurant Baguette Restaurant & Lounge Bar
Finalist
Best Informal Dining Restaurant Blue Frog
Finalist
Best Informal Dining Restaurant Cha Cha Char Wine Bar & Grill

Winner
Best Specialty Cuisine Restaurant Ahmets Turkish Restaurant - Southbank
Finalist
Best Specialty Cuisine Restaurant Morgans Seafood Restaurant & Teppanyaki Room
Finalist
Best Specialty Cuisine Restaurant Tukka Restaurant

Winner
Best Seafood Restaurant Lure Restaurant @ The Coro Hotel Department of Primary Industries & Fisheries
Finalist
Best Seafood Restaurant Bretts Wharf Seafood Restaurant
Finalist
Best Seafood Restaurant Gambaro Seafood Restaurant
Finalist
Best Seafood Restaurant Morgans Seafood Restaurant & Teppanyaki Room
Finalist
Best Seafood Restaurant Oxleys on the River
Winner
Best Hotel/Motel Restaurant The Lab Bar & Restaurant American Express
Finalist
Best Hotel/Motel Restaurant Va Bene Restaurant
Winner
Best Casual Dining/Buffet Restaurant Hanaichi
Finalist
Best Casual Dining/Buffet Restaurant Shingle Inn Café
Finalist
Best Casual Dining/Buffet Restaurant Story Bridge Hotel - Shelter Bar
Winner
Best Indian Restaurant Sitar Indian Restaurant - Albion Castlemaine Perkins
Finalist
Best Indian Restaurant Sitar Indian Restaurant - West End
Finalist
Best Indian Restaurant Taj Bengal Indian Restaurant
Winner
Best Fine Dining Restaurant Gianni's Restaurant Alsco
Finalist
Best Fine Dining Restaurant Isis Brasserie
Finalist
Best Fine Dining Restaurant Restaurant Two
Winner
Best Modern Australian Restaurant Two Small Rooms
Finalist
Best Modern Australian Restaurant Baguette Restaurant & Lounge Bar
Finalist
Best Modern Australian Restaurant Restaurant Two
Winner
Best Family Establishment Restaurant Ragazzi's Café Westpac
Finalist
Best Family Establishment Restaurant Cosi Ristorante Italiano
Finalist
Best Family Establishment Restaurant Enchilada's Mexican Cantina
Winner
Best BYO Restaurant Piccolo Restaurant
Finalist
Best BYO Restaurant Raphael's Restaurant
Finalist
Best BYO Restaurant Sprout Café
Winner
Best New Restaurant Bespoke Restaurant Foster's Australia
Finalist
Best New Restaurant Amis Restaurant Bar & Venue
Finalist
Best New Restaurant The Point Restaurant & Bar
Finalist
Best New Restaurant Citron Restaurant
Winner
Best Themed Restaurant High Societea
Finalist
Best Themed Restaurant Ahmets on Oxford
Finalist
Best Themed Restaurant Belgian Beer Café Brussels
Winner
Best Pub/Tavern/Club Restaurant Regatta Boatshed Steakhouse Harbottle on premise
Finalist
Best Pub/Tavern/Club Restaurant Deery's Restaurant - Story Bridge Hotel
Finalist
Best Pub/Tavern/Club Restaurant The Full Moon Hotel
Winner
Best Breakfast Restaurant Café Conti
Finalist
Best Breakfast Restaurant Depot Emporium
Finalist
Best Breakfast Restaurant Jones the Grocer Indooroopilly
Winner
Best Italian Restaurant Mario at the Dining Room Ristorante Italiano Barilla
Finalist
Best Italian Restaurant Alberto's
Finalist
Best Italian Restaurant Mariosarti
Winner

Best Tourism Restaurant Vino's Restaurant & Bar Department of Tourism, Fair Trading and Wine Industry Development
Finalist
Best Tourism Restaurant Oxleys on the River
Finalist
Best Tourism Restaurant Sirromet Wines, Restaurant Lurleens

Winner
Best Coffee Shop/Café Restaurant High Societea ABS Business Sales
Finalist
Best Coffee Shop/Café Restaurant Café 21
Finalist
Best Coffee Shop/Café Restaurant Justea

Winner
Professional Development - under
100 Staff Watt Modern Dining
Finalist
Professional Development - under 100 Staff Cha Cha Char Wine Bar & Grill
Finalist
Professional Development - under 100 Staff The Courthouse Restaurant

Winner
Professional Development - over 100 Staff Conrad Treasury Brisbane
Finalist
Professional Development - over 100 Staff Heritage Catering Services

Winner
Best Steak Restaurant Cha Cha Char Wine Bar & Grill Top Cut Foods
Finalist
Best Steak Restaurant Deery's Restaurant - Story Bridge Hotel
Finalist
Best Steak Restaurant Regatta Boatshed Steakhouse

Winner
Best European Restaurant Bespoke Restaurant Fine Wine Partners
Finalist
Best European Restaurant Lat 27 Brisbane
Finalist
Best European Restaurant Savini Restaurant & Wine Bar

Judges Commendation

Best Restaurant in a Winery Sirromet Wines, Restaurant Lurleens

Winner
Best Entertainment Restaurant Ahmets Turkish Restaurant - Southbank APRA
Finalist
Best Entertainment Restaurant Ahmets on Oxford
Finalist
Best Entertainment Restaurant Harem Turkish Restaurant

Winner
Best Asian Restaurant Two Seasons Cuisine
Finalist
Best Asian Restaurant Citron Restaurant
Finalist
Best Asian Restaurant Hanaichi

Winner
Best Restaurant Wine List
Featuring Qld Wines The Boroughs Café Wine Bar
Finalist
Best Restaurant Wine List Featuring Qld Wines Tukka Restaurant

Winner
Best Venue Caterer Michael O'Brien Catering - The Gabba Arnott's Campbell’s Food Service
Finalist
Best Venue Caterer Catering with Flair
Finalist
Best Venue Caterer Spotless at Suncorp Stadium

Winner
Best Event Caterer Cha Char Catering Yellow Cabs
Finalist
Best Event Caterer Bretts Wharf Events Catering
Finalist
Best Event Caterer Culinart Creative Catering

Winner
Best Function/Convention Centre Caterer Bretts Wharf River Room
Finalist
Best Function/Convention Centre Caterer Hillstone St Lucia
Finalist
Best Function/Convention Centre Caterer Spotless at Suncorp Stadium

Winner
Best Site Caterer Lifestyle Chef
Finalist
Best Site Caterer Heritage Catering Services

Winner
Best Corporate Caterer Cha Char Catering
Finalist
Best Corporate Caterer Bretts Wharf Events Catering
Finalist
Best Corporate Caterer Michael O'Brien Catering - The Gabba

Winner
Best Institutional Caterer Lifestyle Chef
Finalist
Best Institutional Caterer Beadles on the Quad

Winner
Best Wedding Caterer Hillstone St Lucia
Finalist
Best Wedding Caterer Bretts Wharf River Room

Winner Caterer of the Year Bretts Wharf River Room Queensland Government
Winner Restaurant of the Year Two Small Rooms Sunsuper

5 minute baby pear tarts

2006-06-17T12:35:00.000+09:30

My just-turned 7 year old loves cooking (and eating the results!)and today, being a cold, greyish kind of morning, was perfect for cooking. I had some puff pastry in the freezer, and a pear that was looking a little mushy and came up with these. They're so fast, and kids love doing things with pastry! I have a thing for palm sugar- at the moment, I just love the subtle, caramelly flavour of it.

They're more like pear sandwiches than a tart, but I just don't know what else to call them! I broke my camera last week, so can't photograph them, but they're quite cute and would be fab with some really good vanilla icecream.

Makes around 16-20 mini tarts

2 sheets puff pastry
3 ripe pears
some palm sugar
milk to brush on
cinnamon

Lay out the pastry sheet, and using a the edge of a glass, cut out rounds. Put on a grease-proof baking tin. Peel and slice pear and place a couple of slices on each round of pastry. Top with a sliver of shaved palm sugar and sprinkle with cinnamon. Put another pastry round on top and brush with milk. Bake until golden and eat warm.

Blimey- this is my kind of degree!

2006-06-09T09:27:00.000+09:30

While researching yesterday at work,(ok, surfing!) I came across the astounding fact that at Adelaide University, you can do an MA in Gastronomy!! Yes, seriously!!You can even do it online. Check out the link. It sounds fabulous. Am seriously considering this one.

Natascha

Food and Ethics

2006-06-01T20:18:00.000+09:30

I've just been reading Peter Singer and Jim Mason's new book 'The Ethics of What we Eat'. Singer is an Australian professor of bioethics, although he spends his time between Uni of Melbourne and and Princeton Uni. Mason is an American journo, attorney and enviromnmentalist.

It's very disturbing reading. For example, "Chickens today, now grow 3 times faster and consume only 1/3 as much feed as they did in the 1950's. 90% of broiler chickens have leg problems because of their body weight, 26 have chronic bone disease. Sometimes their vertabrae snap and they are left to die of thirst or hunger. The high ammonia levels from all the bird droppings give the birds respiratory disease, sores on their feat and breast blisters and many go blind."

More than 90% of pigs raised for meat today are raised indoors in crowded pens of concrete and steel. They never get to go outside, or root around in pasture and don't even have straw to bed down in. They are pregnant most of their lives"

or veal calves "16 weeks of confinement in semi darkness in a bare wooden crate too narrow to turn around in. ALready stressed by separation from his mother and unable to mingle with others of his kind, he will be fed only 'milk replacer' a liquid mixture of dried milk products, starch, fats, sugar, antibiotics and other additives. This diet is deliberately low in iron so he will develop anaemia. Thats what the veal producer wants because it means that the calf's flesh, instead of being a normal, healthy red colour of a 16 week old calf on pasture will retain the pale pink colour and soft texture of 'prime veal'.

There's alot more in this vein- stuff about aquaculture farms and the damage they do in terms of pollution etc. It's pretty graphic- but not preachy. Basically, they are saying 'these are the facts- we don't expect everyone to become vegetarian but just to make whatever better choices they can'. They then offer a few ways to do this for example'

Eating local
Puts money into local economy and helps save small, often family run farms

Eating Organic
Better for the environment because of the lack of fertilisers and pesticides that make their way into the food chain

Eating sustainable wild fish rather than farmed. (The book gives links to finding out what these are)

Buying Fair Trade products- currently in Australia, these are mainly tea, coffee and chocolate marked with the Fair Trade logo. It means they have to pay workers a fair wage, the farmers have to be part of a co-op, they have to follow strict health and safety regulations and the farmers are paid a set price for their coffee, even if the market crashes.

And of course, considering become a vegetarian, vegan or cutting down on animal products.

Ethics are not really something I've ever thought about in connection with food- but it is certainly a complicated issue. While I'm unlikely to give up meat (I don't eat it all that often, and have only ever bought organic for years) because I like it, but the book has given me food for thought. I never really considered dairy for example, but will now go organic for my milk too, try to seek out some fair trade coffee and generally be more aware of what I'm eating on ethical, not just health grounds.

My name is Natascha....and it's been 3 hours 26 minutes since I checked my emails

2006-05-16T22:36:00.000+09:30

I have a love-hate relationship with the internet. I use it waaaay too much. I check my emails like an expectant teenager, with the absolute conviction that it's only a matter of time until something remarkable is going to appear in my email box;an amazing job offer, an old lover recently divorced who can't get me out of his head, news of an inheritance.

Instead I frequently open it to find offers of cheap viagra or letters from a dying Nigerian lady, who wants my bank details so she can deposit her billions into my account for distribution to charity on her death.

I pathetically google myself every couple of months, just in case someone has written something about my fabulousness. I look up recipes, then have to do searchs on what 'ready whip' and 'hamburger helper' might be. Somehow, hours disappear and I resurface, dazed and confused, with a vague memory of logging on to check whether the buco, in osso bucco has one c or two.

I tell myself I'm going to give it up. Today, I decided to research the old fashioned way and went to the work library to look at BOOKS. I realised when I saw the astonished open mouthed faces that greeted my entry that I had crossed a line. The remaining guardians of paper and page were trying to spend their last few years before retirement drinking their cups of Tetley in peace and didn't want the likes of me making them climb stools for books, what with their arthritis and all.

I forget to leave a crumb trail and it took many hours of wandering through dark corridors to find my way to my desk again. I did discover however, there are 6 male and only 4 female toilets in my building and sat down to write a letter of complaint to the equity board, but make the mistake of checking my email while I'm waiting for the thesaurus to find a alternative for 'piss trough'.
Somehow, I end up at this site, : http/www.lileks.com/institute/galleryinstitute/gallery
my pod mates are rolling their eyes at my guffawing and my mascara is twin black rivers. By the time I recover it's going home time. A very unproductive day and I'm still not 100% sure how to spell osso buco, but just occasionally, the twists and turns of the cyber highway take you somewhere special.

Natascha

Thanks for the cake Soph!

2006-04-29T19:18:00.000+09:30

Always great to have an excuse to eat cake! Tonight was going to a friends place for dinner and another friend, Sophie was coming. It was her birthday a few days ago, so I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone and make a cake for dessert. Unfortunately dinner was cancelled. So here I am, with a still warm cake and no one to share it with. :(

Anyway, the recipe, which comes from all round nice guy, Pommy chef Antony Warrell-Thompson is one of the easiest I've ever made, a no-fail standby that is very moist nicely textured but not sickeningly sweet.

2 Oranges
200g castor sugar
200g almond meal
pinch baking soda
6 eggs

Boil oranges, for two hours. When done, drain, cool and put in a magimix with sugar, eggs and baking soda (left out the baking soda today and it still worked) and almond meal until just combined. Pour into a lined springform pan and cook for around 45 mins.

Natascha

Phuc it, I love a bargain!!

2006-04-25T17:50:00.000+09:30

One of my all time favourite cheap eats in Brisbane is the Phuc Deli. Ok, I *do* like just saying it alot (am SURE it is not pronounced phonetically!)but Phuc deli is in (argghh, blush, stammer) Indooroopilly Shoppingtown food court!! I know, I know! Very very low on atmosphere,but god, it does fantastic Viet salads. They always taste different (more chili, less lemongrass, lots of beansprouts/less noodles etc) depending on who's cooking, but are always good and I highly recommend them as hangover cure. I always agonise over my choice, especially between the lemongrass beef salad and the spring rolls. The spring rolls are about the size of your little finger and are definitely the best I have yet tasted in Brisbane. I am sooo dull, not only have I never eaten anything but the Viet salad from the Phuc deli, but I always order a lime iced tea with it. I have never had this drink anywhere else and probably never would, it's just my Phuc deli 'thing' and I am to nervous to deviate in case everything else is Baad!

Not to push the point, but there is something about the Phuc Viet salad that is so satisfying and I've discovered through long experience, hangover-calming!! While your body may crave fat and salt, the viet salad addresses most of your post binge needs- the acid of lemon, the heat of chili, the satisfying weight of meat or chicken, plus the fresh crispness of bean sprouts and shredded lettuce and refreshing dose of green freshness of coriander does the trick much more long term than McDonalds or a pizza.

My other fave cheapie is NoNo's at Red Hill. It's a little Lebanese place with a couple of tables, but mainly takeaway. They do THE BEST hommous, not that awful, whipped weirdly sweet supermarket hommous(who is it that LIKES that stuff?); this is grainy and tastes of tahini, garlic and lemon juice like it should. I also love their zucchini fritters and honey-drenched filos stuffed with pistachios.

Sometimes, you just don't want the fancy stuff. You want to walk in with your greasy hair and be annonymous. You don't want wait staff pulling out your chair, snapping your napkin or have to worry about which knife to use or whether they might be smirking about your wine choice in the kitchen. Increasingly rare, the good cheapie is a real treasure, something you should if you are a truly dedicated food lover, generously share with everyone!

Natascha

A Southern Hemisphere Marriage

2006-04-19T19:57:00.000+09:30

I recently received a copy of the book 'The Simple Art of Marrying Food and Wine' by Malcom Gluck and Mark Hix. Both are English, both very well respected in their fields (Gluck=Wine, Hix=Food) and seem like lovely guys. (Gluck was here finishing a book on Australian wine, due for release in October).

However, reading the book, looking at the recipes, I realised how far we have come and how little European cooking ever suited our climate or our way of life.

There were recipes for Roast Goose, Partridge stuffed with Cotechino, Cassoulet de Toulouse, Lamb baked in Hay with Lavender,Tarte a la Creme and Baked Alaska. There were a couple of brief nods to Asia but it was superficial- a flirtation rather than the life-long relationship we seem on track to have. Everything looked delicious, the kind of dishes you knew you'd enjoy immensely, but then toss and turn all night as your stomach worked overtime to digest it. Realistically, there's never been more than a small window of opportunity (especially here in Queensland, when the mercury rarely dips below 15c) to really enjoy this kind of food and I pity our poor ancestors as they sat in their crimpolines and dinner jackets, sweating over scalding roasts and boiling puddings.

Flicking through the book, even the food styling looked a little old fashioned- dark and wintery, all shades of brown and gold. I missed the bright reds of chilli's-the vibrant green of coriander, clean white plates that look like artworks- little slivers of this, diamonds of that, pretty little dots of sauce- lightness and colour that I've become used to.

As time passes, it apepars that the seams of so called 'Asian fusion' are practically invisible. Galangal and palm sugar, Gow Gee wrappers and dried shrimp are no longer exotic items that require a trip to Chinatown, but are available in most supermarkets. We have given up that pretentious posturing of the 90's where we tried so hard to 'authentically' imitate Europe, and acknowledged instead that what we have here is of as much value. While still acknowledging our history, we also value our geography, sitting on Asia's doorstep, as well as the immense contribution that all the people from all over the world who've made their home here have bought with them and added to the vast cultural melting pot. Once bush foods are produced in any great quantity, they too will be added, and in a few years, Australian cuisine in its truest form will be ready to serve.

Natascha

mmm.. chocolate!

2006-04-13T11:34:00.000+09:30

Easter is usually the only time of the year that many of us chocoholics feel like we can indulge our pleasure without fear of recrimination. Not this year it seems.
This morning, while innocently about to enter a chocolate shop, to buy some Easter chocolates, I was pounced on by a Heart Foundation associate who tried to entice me to her stall so she could lecture me and give me pamphlets on the dangers of chocolate eating...........Argh! I was immedidately overcome with guilt and left the shop empty handed. (Once it's worn off, I'll be off to my local, Hot Chocolate at Paddo for some truffles though.)

Of all the food in the world, there's nothing quite as emotive as chocolate. We use it as an expression of love, to comfort and as an indulgence.

Mayan history says that cocoa seeds were brought from Paradise and that wisdom and power would come from consuming the beans. It was therefore much revered, its value put even above that of gold. The Mayans and the Aztecs would roast the beans and crush them, made into a drink they called "xocolatl". It was the Spanish conquistidors who took it back to Europe though, where sugar and spices such as cinnamon were added to make a sweet drink.

You can still see evidence of chocolate's savory origins in Southern Mexico's 'mole'a sauce made from chocolate and chillis, traditionally served with Chicken.

Today Chocolate is a multi-billion dollar business and comes in many forms, from the awful cheap stuff that is full of fat solids and compound chocolate and leaves a horrible film on your tongue to velvet smooth, instandly melting variety.

If you are buying chocolate for easter, in my opinion, buy the best you can afford. Check out the cocoa content- the higher the better. Not only does it taste better, but it's much better for you it has less fat and more health giving anti-oxidants.

With this cooler weather, I thought I would include this recipe for Mexican hot chocolate. Mexican chocolate is delicately spiced with cinnamon and a pinch of cloves. It's sort of grainer than normal chocolate and is often sold in disks rather than squares.

In Mexico (and Spain) hot chocolate is drunk most mornings, often with some kind of sweet roll or coronary-inducing deep fried, sugar coated morsel. I was lucky enough to visit Mexico and this hot chocolate always evokes for me memories of heading out to a local cafe for breakfast; the crisp mountain mornings and scent of wood smoke in the air in San Cristobal de La Casas.

Serves: 2

I N G R E D I E N T S
2 cups milk
4 ounces Ibarra Choclate (Available at good delis)
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

Warm the milk and chocolate in a saucepan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and add to milk.
Whisk until the chocolate is melted and the mixture begins to boil. Remove from the heat and froth the chocolate with the whisk. Sprinkle with a little cinnamon and perhaps decorate with a some gratings of orange zest.Serve immediately

Natascha

What I'd miss about Brisbane

2006-04-11T06:07:00.000+09:30

Off topic a bit, but I was reading this Courier Mail blog called 'What I would Miss about Brisbane' and it got me thinking about the 10 years I spent in London and what I'd missed most.

Number one was the summer storm. That sweaty rising humidity, a rapidly darkening sky and fat drops hitting the footpath. That peculiar smell of rain on hot concrete, the stampede on the tin roof, the thrilling rumble of thunder. And then after, when everything is cool and earthy smelling...I missed waking up to the sounds of birds, of cheeky possums scuttling across the roof at night, of nervous bush turkeys streaking across the suburban streets.I missed our silly parochial ads, our even sillier TV programmes where old stars never die. I missed the 6 degrees that seperates all Brisbane residents.

Food-wise, I desperately missed summer lunches, sitting with friends shelling fresh, fat prawns, still tasting of the sea, washed down with a cold glass of sauvignon blanc. I dreamt of summers eating Bowen mangoes in the pool. I missed roadhouse hamburgers, seeing fields of pineapples, and Sunday morning trips to the 'hot bread shop'. I ate plaice, sole and cod, but longed for snapper and barrimundi and mackeral. I missed poking with a broom at the backyard pawpaw tree try to get the fruit for a breakfast fruit salad.

Today,after being beack for nearly 7 years there's even more I'd miss about Brisbane.

Natascha

Thanks Little Mick for the lovely Brisbane pics!

Julie Child Archive Footage

2006-04-08T10:42:00.000+09:30

Julia Child Archive of American Television
Here's some vintage footage of the inimitable Julia Child

Podcast - San Francisco Chronicle

2006-04-08T10:36:00.000+09:30

This audio file comes from Chronicle food columnist GraceAnn Walden - she interviews cookbook author Susan Herrmann Loomis - "Cooking at Home on Rue Tatin."

Nobu Matsuhisa

2006-04-08T08:51:00.000+09:30

Nobuyuki Matsuhisa known as simply "Nobu," is world famous for his fusion cusine - Traditional Japanese and South American food.

Nobu was born in Japan and his first job was in a sushi restaurant called Matsuei. At 24, he opened a restaurant in Lima, Peru, with one of his Matsuei customers. Here the Peruvian flavors influenced his style. After three years, Nobu worked briefly in Buenos Aires, Argentina before returning to Japan. He went on to open a restaurant in Alaska that burned to the ground. This left him with debt, but also an undiminished spirit. He took a job in a sushi bar in Los Angeles to pay off his debts and nine years later, in 1987, opened his own restaurant, Matsuhisa. Since then he has received acclaim from Food & Wine magazine as one of the "10 Best New Chefs in the United States" (1989) and one of the top destination restaurants in the world by The New York Times (1993). In 2001, Nobu published his first cookbook Nobu: The Cook Book.
(source http://www.bestofcaliforniatv.com/lifestyle/story_990.php)

Check out his books

Taste 3 - Wine, Food & Arts in California

2006-04-08T08:39:00.000+09:30

The Robert Mondavi Winery celebrates 40 years this year. 'TASTE 3' program includes:
* Georg Riedel, Austrian crystal designer;
* Drew Nieporent, powerhouse restaurateur;
* archaeological chemist Patrick McGovern, expert on wine in the ancient world;
* Leo McCloskey, founder of Enologix and the chemistry of points;
* Peter Menzel and Faith D’Aluisio, the globetrotting creative team behind the award-winning
Hungry Planet book;
* M.I.T. Media Lab’s Hugo Liu, creator of the Synesthetic Cookbook project;
Maricel Presilla, food dynamo, historian, author, restaurateur and James Beard Award
nominee;
* Hiroshi Tanaka with his instant (and controversial) wine-aging technology;
UC Berkeley-based preservationist Victor Geraci with the oral histories of over 100 Bay Area
chefs, foodies and growers.

PLUS

25 alumni of the Great Chefs at Robert Mondavi Winery including Alice Waters, Thomas Keller, Bradley Ogden, Roy Yamaguchi, and more, and a guest list including 50 of America's top sommeliers.

Cost is cheap! $2,350 per person July 13 - 16

Raw Food

2006-04-06T15:07:00.000+09:30

In 2003 Charlie Trotter published a cookbook entitled "Raw" with one of the country's top raw food chefs, Roxanne Klein. The raw food movement has grown enormously since then.

How about a shaved fennel and daikon salad, cucumber spring rolls and vanilla ice cream made from nuts, coconut oil and maple syrup !

Trotter's work is impacting on chef's around the world ......

Diana von Cranach, the owner of Puri Ganesha Villa, a $400-a-night Bali hideaway - has just come from a chefs' raw food training course in Australia and is adding dishes like avocado and coconut salad and apple and pear spaghetti to the resort's menu.

CBS Raw Food Recipes -
Pave
6 large portabello mushrooms
2 1/2 cups filtered water
1/2 cup nama shoyu
1/4 cup minced, peeled fresh ginger
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 jalapeno chile, seeded and minced
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup minced shallot
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

The Blubber Generation

2006-04-06T07:12:00.000+09:30

Our kids are obese. The stats are terrifying: obesity in kids has doubled over the last decade as have the incidences of type two diabetes. The government is spending millions of dollars on campaigns and marketing strategies to try to head off the problem (which add billions in future health care dollars to an already crippled health system) but refuse to stop advertising of junk food aimed at kids.

Watch Saturday morning TV for an hour and it's horrifying. Almost every ad is for fast food, or so called 'healthy' snacks (like bars drenched in corn syrup and sugar), often promoted by celebrities. Meanwhile, the governments own ads promoting the eating of more fruit and veg obviously aimed at kids is on at adult viewing times.

It's ridiculous and hyerpcritical and as long as the government continues to allow marketing of junk food aimed at impressionable kids, the health system will grow from lame to completely crippled as funds are spent on the completely preventable complication (amputations from diabetes, cardiac problems, lap band surgery etc) of obesity. Health Minister Tony Abbott last year said it was the responsibility of parents to switch off the TV if they were worried about their kids!

If you feel strongly, or just want some info on childhood obesity, or marketing of junk food to children, visit The Parents Jury http://www.parentsjury.com.au/ a great website doing a fantastic job in trying to get the message out there that we need to cut off the problem at source. Not only is it morally responsible to stop marketing bad food to kids, but it makes financial sense too. Whatever money the government makes by allowing these ads comes out of their other hand to pay for the results.

Natascha

New Cook Books

2006-04-05T10:43:00.000+09:30

MY LIFE IN FRANCE" BY JULIA CHILD AND ALEX PRUD'HOMME (KNOPF, $25.95) Yep, a new book from the now-departed, ever-beloved Julia. In the last two years of her life, she collaborated with her nephew to write a charming account of the most pivotal period in her life - her time in Paris with her husband, Paul.
"THE NASTY BITS" BY ANTHONY BOURDAIN (BLOOMSBURY USA, $24.95) Anthony Bourdain may not have invented the chef-memoir, but he certainly gave it a welcome dose of testosterone-fueled fearlessness. His new book gathers previously published and unpublished essays into a rich, spicy stew
"The New Making of a Cook: The Art, Techniques, And Science of Good Cooking" by Madeleine Kamman (Morrow Cookbooks, $40 hardcover). This book is a revision of Kamman's 1971 classic "The Making of a Cook," used widely by professional cooking schools. Kamman teaches classic fundamental French techniques using American ingredients.
"She's a good instructor and her books, for the home cook, are easy to understand," said David Daggett, executive chef and owner of Tastebuds Epicurean Suite.

Food Blog Winner

2006-04-05T10:27:00.000+09:30

Julie Powell, a 32-year-old Texas-raised New Yorker, beat 89 other contenders for the first Blooker Prize and won $2,000 from the award's sponsor Lulu, a U.S.-based digital do-it-yourself publishing house.
Her blog was published last year in book form by Warner Book Group's Little, Brown imprint, and went on to sell more than 100,000 copies.

Openings and Closings

2006-04-04T20:37:00.000+09:30

Farewell Madame Fu

Out there somewhere there is an ex girlfriend with a big grudge who has been sticking pins in her Murray Williams doll for the past couple of years...How else would you explain this Chef/businessman's never ending run of bad luck? In recent years there has been Ems, the Dining Room, The Mark, Ciao Baby and now Madame Fu's New Farm is the latest to topple.

Simply bad luck or is there something more?

The Prayer Flags are Flying....

above what was once the sucessful Italian local, Casa Mia. Then for a brief time, it became LT72 on an awkward little corner of Latrobe Terrace in Paddington.

Hopefully in it's newest incarnation as a Tibetan restaurant it will emulate the former rather than the latter.

How nice....

Also opening up the road on the re-vamped Latrobe and Given Terrace corner is Simpatico ('nice' in Italian) where former e'cco chef Linda Franz serves up French and Italian-influenced but apparently generously sized) tapas dishes. Can't wait to try it.

with a couple more new places on the cards to open, Brisbane diners will have more choice than ever. My predictions are that there will be more places like Simpatico and Salon in Tenerrife offering smaller tasting portions of dishes, that more restaurants will offer degustation menus, and even I suspect that Brisbane may in the future see an intimate 'no menu' restaurant where what's being cooked in the kitchen that night depends on the whim of the chef and what's fresh that day...

Natascha

Ferran Adrià

2006-04-04T16:41:00.000+09:30

"Food is a language in which you can express harmony, creativity, happiness, beauty, poetry, complexity, magic, humour and provocation," said Ferran Adria, regarded by many as the world's best chef, in his Manifesto for Contemporary Cooking.
Learn more about this remarkable chef:
Adria
Adria
1998 - 2002 elBulli
Wikipedia Adria
Magic of the Alchemist
Recipes
eBulli Hotel

Fast Food Ads

2006-04-04T16:36:00.000+09:30

There are far more ads for fast food and snacks on black-oriented TV than on channels with more general programming, researchers report in a provocative study that suggests a link to high obesity rates in black children.
Commercials on Black Entertainment Television, the nation’s first black-targeted cable channel, were compared with ads during afternoon and evening shows on the WB network and Disney Channel. Of the nearly 1,100 ads, more than half were for fast food and drinks, such as sodas. About 66 percent of the fast-food ads were on BET, compared with 34 percent on WB and none on Disney. For drinks, 82 percent were on BET, 11 percent on WB and 6 percent on Disney; and for snacks, 60 percent were on BET, none on WB and 40 percent on Disney.

Da Vinci Code Diet

2006-04-04T16:26:00.000+09:30

Only from America.......A baker ( Stephen Lanzolotta, owner of Sophia's Bakery in Portland, Maine) who lost half his business to the low-carb craze has written a book based on the mathematical principles of the Golden Ratio....A little maths theory kneaded with biblical lore from "The Da Vinci Code" !!!!!

Lanzolotta uses this ancient ratio to determine the healthiest ratio of fat, protein, and carbohydrate we should incorporate into our diets:
52% carbohydrates
20% protein
28% fat

Excerpt

Where is Brisbane's Flower Drum?

2006-04-01T12:42:00.000+09:30

There are no really good Chinese restaurants in Brisbane. -Sure there are plenty of yum cha joints where you can feed a hangover with greasy fried things that often as not slide out of your chopstick to lie among the wishbones and bits of spring roll from the table's previous occupants. -Places where you try in vain to catch someone's eye for a glass of water or a green tea top-up amongst a feeding frenzy that only begins to quieten at 4 o'clock. I go to these places occasionally because they offer a quick, cheap meal but inevitably the bill is twice as much as I plan for because I've ordered lots of things I don't like, simply because I pity the poor waitress who's drawn the short straw and ended up with the trolley full of limp, gritty greens and deep fried squid rings that no one wants.

Most of us cut our dining teeth on the Chinese restaurant, they've been around for decades and really were once, along with the rustic pizza place (chianti bottle candlesticks and red checked tablecloths) the only place to eat out. I've a certain soft spot for the old 'Golden Dragon' or 'Lucky Dragon' or whichever combination of the words 'luck, dragon, and gold' it happens to be called, - but what about evolution? While Chinese restaurants have not changed their decor or menu in decades, new kids on the block the Vietnamese have been streaking ahead.

I was at Green Papaya for dinner last night- which is the perfect case in point. Lien Yeoman's restaurant is modern, with clean lines and pared back decor-not a fishtank of trussed lobsters or dodgy 'hotel' carpet in sight. The food is imaginative, beautifully presented and there's a decent wine list. China is a massive country with a long and proud tradition and incredibly varied regional cuisine-the lip stinging spices of Szechuan and Hunan Cuisine, or deliciously fragrant and tender tea smoked duck- Plump Jiaozi dumplings filled with delicately spiced meat and vegtable dishes that could almost turn me herbivorous.

So, who's going to step up to the plate? Who is going to grab the surly dragon by his tale and haul him out the cave he's been skulking in for the past 20 years sprinkling MSG and orange food colouring into our sweet and sour pork? Who will be Brisbane's Kylie Kwong? Where, oh where is our 'Flower Drum'?

Natascha

Salt - Friend or Foe

2006-03-29T13:13:00.000+09:30

How much salt should we eat?
Salt is crucial for our health, but currently we eat, on average, at least two and a half times what we need. The UK Government is trying to reduce average salt consumption for adults from more than 9g a day to no more than 6g. They think levels should be even lower for babies and children, recommending less than 1g per day from 0-6 month; 1g per day from 7-12 months; 2g per day from 1-3 years; 3g per day from 4-6 years; and 5g per day from 7-10 years. These are maximum levels, and they advise parents to aim for less. Learn more