My crazy day - food, video and tv cameras!

You never know when opportunity will come knocking and for me it was this morning with a very unexpected phone call from a producer at Channel 7. They were looking for a food blogger to help with a story on the rise of food blogging - of course I said YES!

It came about because the wonderful Amanda and Jennifer invited me to be the Food Blogger of the Month for May 2013 on the Food Bloggers Australia website - this is how Channel 7 found me. If you're a food blogger in Australia definitely consider becoming a member - it's free (!) and it can provide you with opportunities like this one - as well as loads of useful and practical information to make your blog even more fabulous.

I had a crazy morning with a video camera already planned, as I had said I'd be a cooking class member for my friend Mel who was shooting a corporate video for her cooking school Vanilla Zulu. Somedays I really do pinch myself :)

After helping cook and eat amazing food with Mel, I rushed home to slap on some more makeup and a top not splashed with flour.

Making bread with fresh, grated tumeric, flower petals and black sesame seeds - so pretty!

Simple herbed butter balls with a couple of goat cheese balls for good measure - if your butter is too hard just grate it

The final dish - cauliflower, sweet potato mash, roast red pepper, amazing lamb backstrap rolled in a spicy pistachio mix, bit of toasted proscuitto for crunch. Nom nom nom 

With 15 minutes to spare before the Today Tonight crew turned up, I frantically tidied the kitchen.  Luckily no one looked under the sink cover or in a cupboard! I don't think it's ever been this tidy!

Our unusually sparklie kitchen :) 

I had loads of fun, talking about one of my favourite topics - food! And I had a huge giggle when two of the crew walked in and almost started drooling when they saw my Thermomix :)

Emily, the Associate Producer who interview me asked loads of great questions that made me reflect on why I blog and how lucky I am to be part of such a fantastic community of like-minded people. We really do have a fabulous community - thank you to all my fellow food bloggers around the world who are a part of this.

Blogging, blogging, blogging! And a bit of promotion for the beautiful new book by the gorgeous Jude Blereau 

Julian the cameraman 

Thanks Julian, Jeremy and Emily! I had loads of fun :) 

There were a few questions about what I thought about bloggers who review restaurants and whether chefs are justified in hating bloggers. Clearly now I've seen the promo this is the focus of the story! Let's hope a few of my comments about how I blog to share my love of food comes across.

You can watch the preview here - for some reason it didn't embed :( 

I clearly said that I don't review restaurants, but that I will share positive experiences of places I go to without giving a rating or a point score or without critiquing the food in a detailed way (I don't really consider OMG YUM!! to be a critique :) ) . Let's face it, I want my blog to be a positive place. I also made it clear that no way would I blog nastiness (life is too short!), and that if I have less than great restaurant experiences I always let the restaurant know privately.

Let's see how I'm portrayed when the story airs on Today Tonight tomorrow (Wed 29 May) at 6.30pm on Channel 7.

However regardless of what happens when Today Tonight goes to air tomorrow, I had a fabulous time this afternoon, and shared quite a few laughs and a bit of my leftover maple pecan date and bourbon pie (which was a massive hit and will be blogged...).

Let me know what you think after tomorrow night!

Food for thought

December is one of my favourite times of year. Not because it’s nearly Christmas (although that is pretty good too), but because it’s the annual fine amnesty at Brisbane City Council libraries. Yes I confess. I’m a library lover who doesn’t always return my books on time. Smacks on the wrist for me.

How it works is this: return your overdue books and take a donation of canned or other non-perishable food. Any overdue fines, processing and holds fees waived in exchange for your donation. This includes any fees you may have racked up over the year. For the record I only have about $3 outstanding. And this was mainly for holds I had reserved.

This year, the library amnesty will donate all food to Foodbank Queensland, a brilliant organisation that distributes food to charities and community organisations who assist those in need. I was shocked to read that each year two million people rely on food relief – around half of them are children. That’s one in every ten Australians in need. Foodbank is Australia’s largest hunger relief organisation, and in 2011 provided over 32,000,000 meals.

So I did a bit of a pantry clean out the other day to find a few things to donate. Mainly foods we rarely eat [and I have no idea how they ended up in my pantry - cans of pineapple, kidney beans and a packet of Uncle Ben’s instant rice].

Not all that sure where these even came from!

The next day I saw a tweet from ex-Masterchef, all-round great guy Callum Hann.

 What it said was:

For the next seven days my girlfriend Chloe and I are only going to eat foods which appear on the Wesley's Food For Families appeal top ten most donated foods.

Wow, how cool, I thought. Then I read the top ten:

• Baked beans
• Pasta
• 2 minute noodles
• Tinned vegetables
• Tinned tuna
• Rice
• Packet potato mash
• Long life milk
• Tim tams
• Jam and honey

Um, good luck Callum and Chloe. I know that would be a massive challenge for me. No herbs, no spices, no sauces, no tea, coffee, hot chocolate, no cereals, no chips! Let alone nothing fresh!

They are doing this challenge to encourage people to donate food, but also to think about what food specifically they are donating. Well, Callum, you certainly made me think about it. I’m going to donate my canned pineapple, beans and rice, but also going to pop down to my local shops and buy some packets of my favourite spices and a few other foods that aren't on the list to add to my donation.

If you are in Brisbane and want to participate in the amnesty, pop along to your local Brisbane City Council Library between 1-31 December 2012 with your overdue books and a donation of canned food. But maybe go via the supermarket to buy a couple of foods that aren’t on the list.

The Brisbane Library amnesty is also accepting pet food. 

To help Callum and Chloe, what meal ideas can you give them from the list above? 

Queensland Good Food Guide

When I moved to Brisbane 12 years ago I was instantly struck by the lack of decent coffee, the lack of sidewalk eating, and the generally disappointing food scene.

WOW! How far have we come!

Last year I ate at Esquire a few weeks after it opened. I can safely say it was THE best dining-out experience I have had in Australia. And possibly anywhere in the world. EVER.

Last night Esquire became the first Queensland restaurant to be awarded 3 Hats by the newly established Queensland Good Food Guide, taking its place alongside Sydney and Melbourne restaurant luminaries including Tetsuya's, Marque, Quay, Attica, Vue de Monde and more.

I was excited to be invited to the Queensland Good Food Guide Awards last night. Not because I work in the industry [I did once. As the world's worst waitress ever.]. Not because my friends were receiving awards. Not because I wanted to meet celebrity chefs.

I was excited because it gave me the opportunity to applaud the many, many hardworking restauranteurs, cafe owners, wait staff, sommeliers, baristas, chefs, cooks, dishwashers and all those others who have worked tirelessly to give Queensland incredible food experiences.

To all of you I say THANK YOU.

Books like this don't "just happen" - thanks to all those involved  - the lovely Natascha Mirosch who edited this book [and who just tweeted is going out for one last lunch before starting the "mother of all diets" tomorrow!], brisbanetimes.com.au, all the reviewers [how do I get a job doing THAT?], and all the sponsors, including Citibank and Vittoria Coffee.

And to everyone like me, who loves food, loves dining out, loves sitting in a cafe for a sneaky coffee when you're meant to be working, all I can say is, how lucky we are in Queensland.

You can check out all the winners at the Good Food Guide website. 

Make sure you grab a copy of the Queensland Good Food Guide [book, iphone app, digital version, e-book, or website subscription] and get eating! 

Please make sure you tell me reader, what is your favourite place to eat in Queensland? 

Coles fruit & veg prices go down down down

As we have seen in the media over the last few days, the retail giants (Coles and Woolworths for those of you not in Australia) have now decided to duke it out over the price of fresh fruit and vegetables. Coles started this battle when announcing yesterday that they are going to cut prices on "at least a dozen" more popular fruit and veg every week. A quick glance at the full page ad in today's Courier-Mail shows that Woolworths are matching or beating Coles prices on many of these items.

My first thought when I heard this was "jeez, the farmers just can't get a break". However Coles have been quick to say that lower prices will increase demand which will provide more certainty for farmers. Whether this actually happens remains to be seen. You can read the full media release from Coles here.

My second thought when hearing this was hmmm. Maybe there is some good here. Research shows only half of Australians eat the daily recommended allowance of fruit and veg, with many people saying they can't afford to buy fresh f&v as it's too expensive (personally I dispute this, but that's a conversation for another day!). What I'm wondering is this: now that fresh fruit and veg are cheaper, will people eat more? Especially those who have previously said it was too expensive?

There is much research that says eating 5 serves of vegetables and 2 serves of fruit a day provides significant health benefits, particularly in terms of long term disease prevention including the prevention of many types of cancer, heart disease, hypertension, stroke, cataracts and macular degeneration of the eye and type 2 diabetes. Not to mention the short term benefits. I don't know about you, but when I have a meal that contains lots of veggies, I feel a lot better after than I do after a meal of takeaway!

While Coles and Woolies fight it out, I'll continue to support my local farmers and my fabulous local fruit and veg shop (that is next door to Woolies and over the road from Coles) by stocking up at our local farmers markets and supporting small business owners in my community. 

Some of my favourite fruit and veg

Do you think lowering the price of fruit and veg will entice more people to eat it? Or do you think there are bigger challenges involved? 

A new year dawns.

This post was originally going to be about my food goals for 2011. But as I sit here typing this, floods are ravaging Queensland, many of my friends and loved ones are frantically packing away precious possessions and Brisbane is preparing for flooding, the likes of which have never been seen before.

It's quite surreal given that barely 2 years ago the dams that provided Brisbane with water were down to 16% capacity.

Today Wivenhoe, Somerset and North Pine Dams are releasing water from storage as they are significantly over 100% capacity. In fact, Wivenhoe is at 140% 160% 175% capacity {I personally didn't even know that was possible!}.

The point of this is that we need to all spare a thought for our farmers. I lamented earlier today that my poor garden has drowned. It only supplies me with a few herbs and veggies to save me a few pennies. Our farmers are far, far worse off. Their livelihoods and their futures are at stake.

My soggy veggies. The front was zucchini and cucumber. The chilli and lemongrass are thriving! Everything else is weeds or mint or a few other very drowned herbs!

But Queensland {and all other Australian} farmers are a hardy bunch. In the last 10 years alone they have survived crippling drought, cyclones, dust storms, locust plagues, and now severe flooding. They will come back from this latest challenge. But they will need our help.

These are my ideas as to how we can help, other than making a financial donation to the Queensland Flood Relief Appeal:

• buy from local farmers at farmer's markets - and yes, some of the produce will look a bit odd - it might be marked, it might be a funny shape, it might be a bit bruised, it might have the odd bit of extra protein {!}. But it will still taste good!
• buy from organisations that support local farmers - such as your local CSA {I buy from Food Connect in Brisbane}
• eat at cafes and restaurants that support local producers and growers
• find out about farm tours and farm stays and do one {Food Connect organise regular Farm Tours for farms around Brisbane}
• encourage your kids to eat more fruit and veg and teach them where it comes from - encourage schools to invite farmers along to talk to them and teach them.

What's a CSA? CSA stands for Community Shared Agriculture. It's when local communities buy directly from local farmers and other local producers to support locally grown seasonal produce. The benefits are many, but include reducing carbon emissions due to the food travelling fewer "food miles" and keeping money within your local community, thus benefitting the local economy and helping it become or remain sustainable. 

Being part of a CSA also allows city-folk to become more aware of where their food comes from so they can become more educated consumers. 

So how do you find out who supports local producers? Well, the easiest way is to ask. Talk to your local greengrocer, butcher and other retailers and ask them where they source their produce. If they don't support local then ask them why not. 

My biggest food goal for 2011 is going to be to better support my local farmers. Because without farmers we WILL starve. What will yours be?