Last Sunday I was given the opportunity to attend a workshop hosted by ‘Cakes by Judy C’ at Ashgrove.  Her shop sells an array of beautiful cakes, biscuits and other baked sweets. Just recently she has been offering workshops to small groups of people who are interested in learning specific cake decorating skills.  I’ve always been impressed with decorated cakes but daren’t try making one myself – I simply didn’t know how to do it! But since doing this workshop I have complete confidence that I will be able to ice a cake again at home. And this all comes down to Judy’s teaching style. She is a natural tutor – for the 5 ladies in the workshop, she first showed us how she would decorate the cake, and then we were each given a cake to decorate ourselves. Throughout this time she would move between us, offering advice and assistance if we needed it.

If you are interested in learning this skill, I highly recommend Judy’s workshops.

I was pleased as punch with my cake and so proud of what I had acheived. And at the end of the day we not only went home with our finished creations, but we also took with us the confidence of a new skill.

Here follows a step-by-step How To of icing a traditional fruit cake. I have focused mainly on the base icing only, because I feel that the only way to get that flawless, professional-looking cake is to get a perfect, satin-finish white base.  

 Here is a quick list of utensils and tools we used during the day. Most of them, apart from the wood float you probably will have already. If you would like to buy a wood float, you can contact Judy – she has them handmade! (I’m seriously thinking about getting one!)

• A cake to decorate
• Pettinice icing (or any good quality ’plastic’ icing)
• Cornflour
• Decorations
• Royal icing (eggwhite and icing sugar)
• Sherry
• A foil-lined card cake platter (or a plate!)
• dessert spoon and water
• Pastry brush
• Rolling pin
• Wood float /acrylic float (see photos below)
• a pin
• a small knife

Judy had baked a batch of beautiful fruit cakes for us and had them ready at room temperature. (P.S. Judy’s cake is to die for – one of the best I’ve ever had!)

Hot Tip! Often, before adding the fruit to the cake batter, she will smear some batter over the sides of the cake pan then  add the fruit to the batter and pour it in. This eliminates a lot of the extra fruit on the outside of the cake, which can cause dimples.

Turn the cake over so the flat bottom is facing up and remove the paper (Judy uses old butter paper to line her tins. I love her for that!! )

Hot Tip! To stop the cake from ’sweating’ after it’s complete, make sure the cake and the icing are at room temperature before you begin.

Make sure the cake sits in the centre of the presentation platter

If the cake is sitting unevenly, take some icing and roll it into a sausage with your hands and wedge it under the cake to ensure it sits flat

Make more thin sausages and with moist fingers press and wipe it along the bottom edge of the cake to fill the gap down there.  If there are any divits on the top or sides of the cake made by the fruit in the cake, press them down and see how far they go in. With wet fingers, press little smudges of icing into them to fill the hole.

As you go, wet the back of a dessertspoon and press and wipe the icing so it sits flat on the cake.

Wipe away any crumbs and water with a teatowel

Brush the whole cake with a fortified alcohol. You could use sherry (which we used), brandy, cognac or rum. Whatever you choose, to help preserve the cake, it must be over 17.5 percent alcohol.

Again, wipe away any crumbs off the platter and clean and dry your whole bench.

Dust your bench with pure cornflour, cut a large piece of pettinice icing from the block and knead it with your hands until you feel a change in texture to smooth and silky. The heat of your hands with make it more maleable.

Dust the dry bench again with plain cornflour. Roll the piece of icing until it will fit over the cake and down the sides. Don’t roll it too thin!

Pick it up and with one quick movement place it straight onto the cake.

Working quickly now – rub your hand across the top of the cake to make it smooth

Carefully smooth the sides and press it onto the cake

Rub the icing back and forth so there are no creases or lumps

This is a specialty tool, but it is wonderful! Use the smooth wood float to further smooth the surface of the icing. Rub it firmly across the top and around the sides

If you notice any air bubbles sitting under the icing take a very thin pin, find the airpocket with your finger and at an angle pierce the icing then press out the air with your finger and gently smooth it over.

With the acrylic icing trowel smooth the top and sides and with the edge cut into the icing all the way around the edge of the cake

Now use a knife to cut the excess icing completely away from the cake

Lift the excess icing away and smooth out the edges again with the trowel

Wipe away any smudges of icing from the presentation platter.

Ta Da! That’s how you ice a traditional fruit cake!

Use extra pettinice icing to make the decorations. It can be coloured using liquid food dyes. Massage the dye into it, then shape it how you wish.

To get the decorations to stick to the cake, use a small wet artists brush and use the water as a glue.

Add extra decorations (like these lovely red cinnamon flavoured holly berries)  by piping royal icing onto the cake. Also use the royal icing to add the candle wax detail and to use as a glue to help the inedible ribbon to stay put.

We used a little edible lustre powder to make the candles glow.

Iced cakes like this can last for months and months at room temperature – just pop them in a container so the bugs won’t get to it before you do!

I’m sorry to say this cake lasted no more than a few days – but it was delicious! My justification is that I plan to make one just like it again before Christmas to hone my skills.

Merry Christmas!

Cakes by Judy C

Shop 1/227 Waterworks Road
Ashgrove QLD 4060

Phone: (07) 3366 9111
Fax:(07) 3366 9222

http://www.cakesbyjudyc.com.au/

You often see even very good chefs on TV flaming a whole pepper on top of the stove directly over the flame – I really don’t know why you would want to do this. It imparts a sickly gassy flavour to it and is not very efficient at all. The thing is – It looks sexy! And I’m sure most people are secretly pyro’s.

So, to start off, get a capsicum, it can be an old daggy one too – and just cut out the gunky bits, cut around the bottom, around the top, near the green part, and down one edge. Open it up like a book. Trim the white membranes from inside and lay it flat.

Lay it under your salamander (grill – but I just like the word Salamander!) skin side up, crank it up to HIGH heat! Close the door and leave it there – forget about it –  until you smell BURNING. Now, the photo on the right there, that’s nowhere near done, you need to wait until it is black as the ace of spades – all over.

Once this happens, turn off the grill and use a pair of tongs to place the capsicum flesh in a zip lock bag. If you don’t have a zip lock bag, use a couple of layers of glad wrap or any plastic bag. Wait for about 5-10 minutes, pull it out of the bag and carefully pull the skin (which will now be black and bitter-tasting) away from the sweet flesh underneith

Slice it thinly, maybe crack a bit of salt and pepper over it… no need for oil though!

and serve it with some crusty bread, or other anti-pasto bits and pieces. We shared ours for lunch with some pumpkin bread from the Kelvin Grove Markets, a camembert cheese (from ALDI – it was actually pretty tasty for a simple cam) and our fresh, homegrown ’Tigerella’  tomatoes with salt, pepper, a little olive oil and basil from the garden.

Pate!! 

Fresh, local pate at that too! Pate is one of those things that I have really fond memories of from when I was a kid. My mum was a big pate fan (Actually, I’m pretty sure every adult during the 1980’s was a fan of pate – along with smoked salmon, purple eye shadow and Dire Straits). And it was one of those things that even after I found out that it was made of animals livers, I kept on eating it! See, this news would have usually put me off most foods, but not pate. It transcends race, creed and mere offal…. It’s like making a silk purse out of a sows ear.

Actually this sort of food is generally my absolute favourite type of food, which I’ve probably mentioned on this blog a billion times already but I think it’s really important. You can do wonderful things with food and other things with not much money. In another example of this I recently made some gorgeous bread by using this recipe. My first ever time making bread from scratch (without a bread maker) It was divine! It cost me about 60 cents for the ingredients – and about 3 minutes work.  This in comparison to an ‘artisan’ loaf at the markets for $6 a pop! There are so many wonderful things that can happen with a tiny bit of extra effort and less cash.

Anyway, I digress – I’m pretty sure an absence of almost a month from blogging is bad for my little fingers – they’re getting run off their feet with this ranting!…. I was talking about Pate. This Pate. More specifically Free range Goose Liver and Black Truffle Pate, made here in SE Queensland.

Yes.

That’s right.

So creamy. So smooth. Delicate but rich. Luxury OFFAL!

Also a Chili Crab Pate, which was more like a terrine and very delicious. 

I guess a good way of describing how good they both were is that every time I tried one I would exclaim that it was my absolute favourite, then scooped a little pate from the other and exclaimed with equal sincerity that that one was now my favourite.

Look! Even our Puss wanted some – but with such a kick from the chili we thought better of it!

We got these at the Jan Powers Markets, but it’s also at a few other spots too – check out their website for the details.

www.freshchefsfoods.com.au

_________________________________________________________________________

OK… so as i’m typing this my V button just popped off the keyboard. Moral of the story for any new parents out there – Close your laptop when you’re finished with it!

(I’m sure some grammar nazis would suggest that perhaps hiding my exclamation point key would be a good thing. )

I posted on porridge a little while back and I thought I’d found the secret formula. But alas I was wrong. THIS is the best way to eat porridge!

LEMON BUTTER AND STRAWBERRIES!! It is SO tasty!

I add a teaspoon of honey and a few drops of vanilla to the oats, then spread a tablespoon of lemon butter over the top, add strawberries and some dry pan roasted almonds on top. A bit of banana is good too.

WOW.

I bought this lemon butter from the Kelvin Grove Markets. It’s made by Ken and Dot Windolf, out at Laidley. They’re number is 07 5465 1899. It’s lovely and fresh and tangy.

Kitchen Garden update!  I would love to say that the strawberries atop my porridge were from my garden, but sadly no… but! We have one lovely glossy red strawberry in our garden that will hopefully be ready tomorrow! I hope we get to eat it before the possums do!

So when my sister suggested we make a trip to the Gold Coast to go to Max Brenner I jumped at the chance. I had heard to expect a wait – 30 minutes or more. This is how popular he is. How exciting, I thought! We got there, and thankfully didn’t have to wait at all. We ordered at the counter and were served by a cute happy gay fellow who happily took our order. In fact, all the staff seemed to be really glad to be working there. Not one of them looked like they didn’t want to be there. They were all positively glowing whenever they gave us our order, or even when being asked for a bottle of water.  I guess when you’re working for a chocolate company this would be fairly easy, but it certainly was refreshing.

The fit out is dark – chocolatey-brown dark, hence why all my photos are blurry! But it was a great place to sit and enjoy the food.

They had huge vats of warmed chocolate in the middle of the cafe with thick tubes to make it look like the chocolate was being siphoned off into the kitchen at the back.

When we received our order of Fondue, both dark and milk melted chocolate with portions of marshmallow, banana bread, banana and strawberries,  my daughter, 20months old,  almost lost it – “OOOOHHH!!” and grabbed for the plate. I immediately thought she would grab for the big pots of melting chocolate (as I would have done) but she quickly grabbed a strawberry and popped the whole thing in her mouth! (Yay! My kid digs fruit – over and above chocolate!)

The ‘Chocolate Souffle’ was delicious, but really it wasn’t a souffle, more like a chocolate fondant, or Lava cake. I ordered a peanut-butter chocolate thickshake, the flavour was fantastic, but SO rich, like drinking pure cream! It was served in a specially designed milkshake ceramic cup with a hole for the straw, very cute!

My sister ordered a white chocolate chai and it came out in a plastic teapot with no spout. We asked for help with pouring it: this fancy contraption fits over the top of the glass and when you press it onto the lip the tea pours through a filter and out through the bottom of the pot. Genius! But not at all intuitive. I had a taste of the chai, and it was definitely my favourite of what we had ordered.

Max also stocks a number of take home chocolates in gorgeous and fun packaging. I purchased a simple slab of semi-dark chocolate. I actually found that Max Brenner chocolate is a lot nicer as a melted version (as in the fondue) than a solid block.

If you’re a fan of chocolate and design you’ll love Max. But I was hoping for a little bit more mystery. I was hoping to need a secret handshake or a nod and a wink to enter through a heavy wooden door, but really, it was a great experience, one I would like to try again, but maybe next time not order so much!

There is a Max opening in Southbank very shortly, and… there are whispers that we may be blessed with another at Chermside… but that is just a rumour… they are just so irresistible!

COMPETITION REMINDER!! We have a mixed case of 24 bottles of Apple and Pear Cider to give away from Punt Road Wines. To enter, all you have to do is write a comment on ANY post on iatebrisbane and add your suburb name in the comment. Open to Brisbane (and surrounds) entrants only (could you imagine the international shipping fees on a case of cider?!). Check out the details and the tricky little fine print here.

This year, I decided that one of my goals would be to try as many new beers as possible. What an exciting prospect! I have set off with a cracking start to 2010, ordering anything I can find at bars that is unfamiliar – along the way, I have tried locals, such as Burgleigh Brewing Co’s “Big Head“, and international beers, such as the Fourex of Finland, “Lapin Kulta“, and the more adventurous Finnish “Prykmestar Savu” (smoke beer). And by happy fortune, I went along to a beer tasting at the Platform Bar with my friend Mikael, where I enjoyed my first Stone & Wood Draught Ale, and met Beer Matt, the beer-obsessed genius behind Good Beer Lunches.

Matt’s imparted wisdom stepped up my 2010 New Beer Pledge to whole new level, and since meeting him, I have spent increasing amounts of time at Nectar, Grand Central’s Platform Bar (Brisbane’s best-kept boutique beer-serving secret), and the quite new Archives Beer Boutique Bistro in West End. I have ALSO spent a whole lot more time at various beer tastings – including one of Matt’s mouth-wateringly awesome Good Beer Lunches. You take three courses of delectable food, match them with a variety of beers, slather on a healthy dash of beer education, and you have a recipe for Sunday afternoon success.

Matt’s lunches and tastings are friendly and fun, and he welcomes both beer novices and beer buffs. Jovial and unpretentious, he happily answers all questions that are thrown at him (those that he knows the answers to, anyway), and urges guests to make up their own minds about what they like, what they don’t like, and the sorts of flavours and smells they experience in the beers.

On this particular afternoon, we enjoyed our Good Beer Lunch at the Platform Bar. The beers and food were as follows – and thanks to Matt for letting me steal bits from his tasting notes!

Stone & Wood Draught Ale on arrival
This beer is really enjoyable, and has a fresh, fruity (passionfruit) flavour. Yummo! Would be a great beer on a hot summer day!

Schöfferhofer Hefeweizen matched with Scallops with Tomato Salsa
Schöfferhofer is a cloudy wheat beer from Germany, made cloudy by the “hefe”, or wheat. I’ve had this one before and it’s absolutely sensational! Wheat beer is my favourite variety of beer! It was incredibly light and fresh with the minimalist flavour of the scallops.

Stone & Wood Stone Beer matched with Slow-Cooked Lamb Shanks
The Stone Beer is a dark lager made using the medieval technique of adding red hot stones to the brew kettle to assist with the boil. The hot stones caramelise the sugars and enhance the toffee flavours – which matched the  juicy, sweet, lamb shanks nicely. Incidentally, the lamb shanks were incredible.

Little Creatures Pale Ale with Louisiana Cajun Chicken on Sweet Potato Cake
The Little Creatures is an American-style Pale Ale. I have two things to say of this course: firstly, the chicken breast was a little dry and stringy, which overly-enhanced the spices that I think might otherwise have been quite succulent with a bit of a subtle kick. Secondly, I was pretty inebriated from all the beer up to this point, so I really don’t have a proper assessment of the matching for you! Suffice to say, though, having drunk it a few times since, this beer  has a decent amount of bitterness for a pale ale, and is quite enjoyable.

Coopers Best Extra Stout matched with Chocolate Cake, Ice Cream and Strawberry
I really enjoyed this beer. With beautiful coffee and chocolate flavours, the chocolate cake and ice cream cut nicely through the intense bitterness.

BrewBoys Seeing Double to finish!
Wow. What a crazy, crazy beer! Very few people liked this one, but I absolutely loved it! The flavour is quite literally that of blue cheese – well, blue cheese and bitters. It was marvellous! I love really gutsy flavours in beer, wine, food, and cheeses, and so this was a real treat for me. Give it a go if you’re feeling game!

So a great afternoon of beer and food! I had a fantastic time, and so did my friends who came along, all of us with different interests in beer.  I can highly recommend you head along to one in the near future. They’re great value for money, and you’ll learn a lot about beer, regardless of how much you’ve tried in the past.

Matt also runs plenty of other events, including Beer 101 classes, and the monthly Back Alley Beer Club, which features several beers from a single brewery each month.  I attended one of these last Friday, where we were privileged to enjoy a variety of beers from the Kiuchi Brewery in Japan. This evening was another big wow, because, boy do they brew em’ strong in Japan.  With a Belgian style white ale(5%), a ginger ale (7%), a beer brewed from rice (8%), an India pale ale (8%), and an unusual Belgian strong ale (7%) it’s suffice to say that Friday night was very festive night indeed!

I can’t recommend Matt’s tastings enough. Check out his upcoming events by going to Good Beer Lunches, or get the latest on beer internationally and locally by going to Australian Brews News.’

Also, the Brisbane Brewer’s Festival will be happening over the weekend of July 16-18, so if you’d like to get to know beers and their brewers a bit better, there are a range of events happening throughout the weekend which you can read about at Good Beer Lunches. Matt is hosting the opening night on the Friday at Grand Central Hotel, and Archives in West End are also running an event for the festival too.

Finally, on another bottle-related note, don’t forget about our “Win a Mixed Case of Punt Road Cider” competition that we are running until the end of July! All you need to do is comment on any post before the end of July with your Name and Brisbane Suburb, and the most interesting one will land the case! Check out the details here.

PS – excuse the average photos. It’s hard to take photos after a few good beers!

The scenery is breathtaking as well: this weekend, we were at Hinze Damn, were everything is lush, green and peaceful, and we idly chat away, paying little attention to the fishing, basking in the natural beauty. Best of all, though, is the catch: we take what we catch as a group back to the campsite (providing, of course, it’s of legal size and limit) to cook up to enjoy for dinner.

This year, we enjoyed plenty of bass amongst a group of about 30 anglers (Ellen, below, is posing as Rex Hunt with one of her catches), along with a massive haul of Red Claw Crayfish which were caught in traps by one of the fishermen. Red Claw are actually a pest species in Hinze Dam, having been introduced from up North, so you’re legally required NOT to release any you catch – which is fine with me, thankyou very much, because they taste absolutely sensational.  And we had such an overflow of Red Claw that I was able to bring some back with me to Brisbane, even after having fed an army of anglers the night before!

So what of these Red Claws? Well, I’ll apologise that I got them too late to get a photo of a whole one for you (they were almost all shelled by the time I arrived at camp) but I have included a photo that I found here so that you have an idea of how they look whole! 

Deep blue in colour, their bodies are about 10cm long, and the flavour is pretty similar to Moreton Bay Bugs – perhaps a tiny bit sweeter. When cooked, they are firm to the bite, but quite tender and succulent. And slather them in butter and garlic and you’re well on your way to a meal made in heaven. But tonight, I decided to use them in my favourite pasta dish. It’s simple, classic Italian flavours, it’s full of flavour, and it’s always a crowd pleaser. In fact, if you’re feeding a big group of people any time soon, I can highly recommend it, because you can use any shellfish you like, and it takes about 15 minutes to cook – yet it tastes as good as any meal that you might slave over for hours!

Preparing the Red Claw

1. Work on a stable surface.
2. Start by removing the head of the Red Claw by twisting it at the neck.
3. Place the Red Claw shell side up, flat on a chopping board.
4. With a large, very sharp knife, cut down the centre of the shell (bottom left photo, above), cutting all the way through. You will need two hands to do this, and quite a bit of pressure, so make sure you keep your fingers on your secondary hand well tucked under, so you don’t cut them off!
5. With both hands, “break” the shell apart. From here, the white flesh of the Red Claw meat will come away pretty easily from the shell with your fingers.

This method also works well for Moreton Bay Bugs, which are more expensive but much easier to source. Please note, though, that you don’t need to remove their heads before cutting, and that Bug shells are much tougher to cut through, so take extra care with your fingers!

It’s Red Claw Pasta Time!

• 50g butter
• 2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 tins whole roma tomatoes
• A splash of red wine
• 1 tsp sugar
• A handful of fresh basil leaves
• 300-500g Red Claw flesh (approx 0.5kg – 1kg of whole Red Claw flesh, more or less as you like!)
• Spaghetti, enough for 4 serves

1. Cook your spaghetti til al dente, rinse under cold water and set aside.
2. Heat butter and garlic in a large frying pan, until butter melts.
3. Add the Red Claw flesh, and cook until it becomes white and opaque, and just a little bit golden (don’t overcook! you want it nice and tender!)
4. Add the roma tomatoes, roughly breaking them apart with a wooden spoon, a good splash of red wine, and the sugar (which will help cook off the alcohol).
5. Take the basil, tearing it roughly in your hands, and add it to the pasta. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Simmer the sauce for about 5 minutes, and taste for seasoning.
7. Serve sprinkled with fresh basil and a good glass of red wine.
8. Buon appetito!

Serves 4. Recipe courtesy of my mum!

For those of you interested, this is the bass I caught – Hinze Dam bass are absolutely delish!

When I visited Finland there was always lots of rye bread to nibble on. The rye bread there was so moist and dense, hopefully I’ll be able to make some like that soon!

Ingredients I used today….

this was enough to feed 2 of us.

Dark rye bread, toasted or fresh (I got this rye bread from the Kelvin Grove Markets on Saturday)

1 stick celery, sliced

2 swiss brown mushrooms (or any mushroom)

small amount of red onion, sliced thinly

a few sweet spiced pickled gherkins, sliced

a few pickled onions, sliced

2 hard boiled eggs

some radishes from the garden

a few lettuce seedlings from the garden

a few sprigs of fresh dill

I made a ‘fake’ sour cream with:

3 parts no-fat greek yoghurt

1 part whole egg mayonaisse

1 part grainy mustard.

Then all you do is stack it all onto the pieces of rye whichever way you like, dip the celery and mushrooms into the creamy sauce and crunch down on the radishes.

So why do we use cutlery anyway?  It started off with the knife of course, slicing off chunks of food, stabbing them with the pointy end and shoving it in your gob. Then came the spoon – for all those not quite pick-up-able, not quite slurpable foods (Porridgefor instance). Then along came the fork. Once this happened, tableware became all rather fancy and then ‘the rules’ kicked in. I was speaking with a group of bloggers recently and Ms Strayed From The Table mentioned her partner does not enjoy going to upmarket restaurants because he simply doesn’t know what to do. I can understand this as some restaurants can be quite daunting. Yes, it is gratifying to experience lavish food and the traditions and rituals that surround it, but sometimes its just as pleasurable to enjoy simple food, eaten simply.

Ingredients

Ridiculous amounts of veges – cut up fairly small. Try: Eggplant, zucchini, capsicum, potato, sweet potato, beetroot, turnip, parsnip, carrot, mushrooms, swede, red onion, etc

Cloves of Garlic – as much as you want

Dukkah  - I use the Splendid Blends one from the Jan Power’s Markets in Brisbane. (3352 6855), or make your own with Sesame seeds, coriander seeds, hazelnuts, chick peas, cumin seeds, mint and salt and roast it all up.

Lamb backstrap or any red meat, Free-range preferably - Or leave this out completely

Cherry Tomatoes

Chopped Nuts (I used Chestnuts, but use whatever you have handy)

Fresh Rosemary sprig (Catherine was lovely and gave some to me from her garden. I’ve kept 4 sprigs of it in a glass of water on my window sill. They’ve started to grow roots – I’ll plant them in the garden in a month or so.)

Fresh Turkish bread or Lavash/Pita Bread. I bought mine from The Hills Bakery, 170 Patricks Road in Ferny Hills (0733515277) - They’ve got new owners, and truly this is a hidden gem of the bakery world. Worth a trip out to ‘The Hills’ to try their Fresh Rosemary Turkish Bread – just delicious. And if you want to have a good chat with a true foodie, definitely spark up a conversation with the owner.

 Method

1. Turn the oven onto 200 degrees Celcius. Put all the veges into a large oven dish with the whole cloves of garlic and rosemary. Sprinkle the dukkah on everything. Cover the tray with a lid or aluminium foil.  Chuck it in the oven. Wait until all veges are tender and a little brown (usually over an hour)

2. Brush the meat with a little oil on one side and press dukkah into the flesh. Sear the meat on all sides then shove it in with the veges, along with the cherry tomatoes and nuts. Cook Uncovered for about 10minutes.

3.Take the meat out and rest it for about 5 minutes, then slice thinly.

4.While waiting for the meat to rest make a yoghurt dressing with natural greek yoghurt, lemon juice (and zest if you’re using fresh lemons… I’m slack and use the bottled stuff if I don’t have fresh lemons) a bit of mint from the garden, a pinch of dukkah, salt and pepper.

5.Toast the bread for a short while and then put the dish of veges, bread and yoghurt on the table. Squeeze the soft gooey garlic from it’s papery skin and use it like butter.  Assemble messy, open sandwiches with the ingredients with your bare hands, get TRIBAL and shove it in your gob.

Uh-mazing!

COMPETITION REMINDER!! We have a mixed case of 24 bottles of Apple and Pear Cider to give away from Punt Road Wines. To enter, all you have to do is write a comment on ANY post on iatebrisbane. Open to Brisbane (and surrounds) entrants only (could you imagine the international shipping fees on a case of cider?!). Check out the details and the tricky little fine print here.

BUT! Before I go any further, I’d like to announce our FIRST EVER! competition here at iatebrisbane! (Yes, we’re giddy as you are!)

We will be teaming up with a host of Australian food businesses over the next few months to bring you some great stuff. First up, we have a massive swag of cider from Punt Road Wines to give away! So if you want to get your mitts on a MIXED DOZEN of Punt Road’s Napoleone & Co. Pear and Apple Ciders, read on, dear friends, read on!

First of all – why the competition? Well, we’re super keen to get all of you Brisbane food-(and drinks-)lovers sharing your opinions and making iatebrisbane a melting pot of Brisbane food-themed discussion. But how to do it? Why, with bribery, of course! With this in mind, we sent out our feelers to the various Australian food businesses that we love, to see if they would be interested in helping us in this scheme – and lucky for us (and you!) Simon and the team at Punt Road Wines said yes!

(At this point, I do need to make one thing clear – iatebrisbane is still an independent blog, and we’re not selling out; we don’t get anything from this except a bunch of comments on our blog!)

So why Punt Road? Well first up – those of you familiar with them will know that they are actually a Victorian winery based in the Yarra Valley. I have been enjoying their wines ever since I first stumbled upon them at the Brisbane Food & Wine Show a few years back. Their 2005 Cab Sav was so rich and full-bodied and I instantly fell in love with Punt Road. A little while back, Punt Road extended their range to include ciders, produced from the orchards they grow on their estate. Sadly, Punt Road lost a portion of their vineyards and orchards in the Black Friday Bushfires in 2009 (along with many other Victorian wineries), but have bounced back spectacularly. You can check out their full range (including their juicy Cab Savs!) at www.puntroadwines.com.au .

Win a Mixed Case of Punt Road Ciders

Here’s what you get:

• 12 x Napoleone & Co. Apple Ciders, and
• 12 x Napoleone & Co. Pear Ciders

Cor blimey that’s a lot of cider! Check them out at Punt Road’s websites under “Our Wines”.

How to win:

• Unfortunately, this competition is open to Brisbane residents only!
• You can comment on any post on iatebrisbane.com between now and 31 July 2010
• Please include your email in the box provided in your comment (it will be hidden on the site, but visible to us) to be considered for the competition.
• Please include your Brisbane suburb name in the body of the comment.
• Comment as many times as you like! Just make sure you include your suburb name and email each time!

Check out the fine print at the bottom of this page, if you’re into that kind of thing!

So that’s it! Good luck! Go win yourself some cider! We’re really looking forward to hearing from many new Brisbane voices over the coming weeks.

Now, onto Scandinavia!

To get you in the mood for 2 months of Scandinavian sensations, let me start by telling you what I experienced during my time in Finland and Sweden: Beautiful design. Reindeer. Fish. Oh so much fish. Freezing winter. Beautiful springtime. Ice fishing. A shipwreck that is older than Australia (it sunk in 1628)! A restaurant that is older than our country (Den Gyldene Freden – ‘The Golden Peace‘ for history buffs – established in 1722 on current premises!). A LOT of rye breads. Plenty of local beer. Warm, friendly, and oh-so-beautiful people. Wow, what a place. I can recommend it to anyone.

I stayed with many host families, met so many inspiring people, was inspired by Finnish (and Swedish) Rotary, and was given so many incredible personal and vocational opportunities. I must take this chance to extend an enormous thanks to the Rotary Foundation and Rotary Districts 9600 in Australia and 1400 in Finland who sponsored my trip through Finland. I was given the opportunity through Rotary’s Group Study Exchange program, which is a fantastic program and I can highly recommend you contact your local Rotary club (wherever you are in the world) and find out more about being involved.

One of the most exciting things about my trip, however, was that (vocation goals aside) I went over there with two goals: 1) To try as much Finnish (and Swedish) food as possible; and 2) To try as much Finnish beer as possible.

I am happy to report that I succeeded on both counts – and I would like to thank all my Finnish mamas and pappas for being so enthusiastic about helping me achieve these goals. Most of all, I’m really looking forward to sharing my Finnish cooking skills with you all over the coming weeks! To whet your appetite, here’s a list of my top 5 meals I enjoyed whilst I was in Scandinavia:

• Arctic Charr in Hollandaise with Frisée, Dill, Roe and Browned Butter (in the top photo below) at Den Gyldene Freden
• Lohikeitto, or, Salmon Soup with Potatoes, Cream and Dill cooked with my host mother in Oulu, Arja (recipe coming soon!)
• Barbequed Chilli Marinated Whole Salmon, enjoyed with Savu, a Finnish smoked beer
• Home-made Korvapusti / Pulla, or, cinnamon and cardamom buns cooked with my host mother in Raahe, Helena (recipe coming soon!)
• Brunberg’s Mansikka Suklaa Kyss, or Strawberry Marshmallow-filled Chocolate Kisses – controversial AND delicious!

Well, that’s enough of a rant for now. Keep your eyes peeled for a world of Scandinavian flavours coming your way in the next couple of months. We’re looking forward to your comments! For now, I’ll leave you with a collection of photos from my adventures to inspire you.

(Scandinavia, from the top: “Summery” sky over Ivalo, Finland; Stockholm’s Skeppsholmen, and omnipresent tulips; a “Norwegian” fisherman and his dog, in Oulu, Finland; Enjoying Arctic Charr at Den Gyldene Freden, and Vaniljä Mohito, in Stockholm; Reindeer in Ivalo, Finland; EATING reindeer with lignonberries, and Sami (reindeer milk) cheese-making hoops in Ivalo, Finland; Cakes at Kauppahalli in Oulu, Finland; Enjoying whole baked fish with rye bread at Lohilaakso in Kalajoki, Finland; A snowy morning in Ivalo, Finland.)

The Fine Print

Note that the Win A Case of Punt Road Cider competition is a test of skill – the most interesting comment as deemed by the team at iatebrisbane.com between 16 June 2010 and 31 July 2010 will win the prize. Please note that delivery is not included. We will contact you at the completion of the competition to arrange collection. The competition is not open to people under the age of 18. Only entries that include a Brisbane suburb name and an email address will be included for consideration the competition. If the winner cannot ne contacted within 10 days of the selection, we will select a new winner. You can enter as many times as you like, as long as you include your suburb name and email address! Good luck!