newsletter eight January 2009
Welcome to our january newsletter.
What’s my excuse? Well, it’s just too damned hot that’s what! This unprecedented January heat wave through Southern Australia is creating havoc. Another fabulous 43°C (109.5°F) and unprecedented scenes on our local beaches where thousands have flocked to escape the heat. A thick snake of people as far as the eye could see. In a small city like Adelaide, you know if there are that many people in one place, there is no one in another, and city restaurants have been suffering horribly as people head for the beach or cling to their homes and their air–conditioning. Across the board power cuts in Melbourne and our city Adelaide and we are all hoping there won’t be an electricity grid melt–down. One thing is certain vintage is going to get an enormous hurry on and that beautiful slow ripening canopy of just ten days ago is rapidly vanishing. Still at this time last year vintage was almost over and everyone was tearing their hair out wondering just how they could get the grapes in fast enough. The old laptop is so hot we’ve had an ice pack continuously underneath it for a week and when the fan starts whirring noisily again we replace the pack to calm it down again.
Things haven't gone to plan for January. Firstly when we went to add food we discovered our service providers, not unreasonably, had caught up with our excessive overrun and wouldn't let us add another kilobyte to our overloaded site. Also, the traffic (thank you all) so far exceeded our limit there were other issues that needed to be attended to. So, as this is being written we are moving server to a massive site with ample data base facility and food is postponed until February 09. One of the good things about having this forced upon us earlier than planned is that recipes will be populated at a faster rate than anticipated. Bear with us in the next two months as there are bound to be glitches during the transition.
This year is make or break for Galaxy Guides. Once we have added food (even before), we are up for comment, criticism and suggestions. There is only one thing that is not up for discussion and that is restaurants cannot pay to be included in our reviews. Naturally we will be looking for support from the industry in general, but in a way that does not compromise the integrity of our reviews! We will start to sell ads like the gratis samples we have been using in our newsletters for three months at the beginning of March 2009.
One of the great pleasures of January has been two visits to Magill Estate Restaurant, not reviewed by us for three years because it had become so lack lustre. New chef Luke Stepsys has been there just three months and the difference is remarkable. Even a dinner two weeks apart, on the second visit opting for their degustation menu, there was a noticeable improvement (not that it was bad on the first visit). Their degustation is terrific value for money, doesn’t take all night and most importantly doesn’t leave one feeling so full it’s unpleasant or so hungry you stop for a hamburger on the way home. Just about perfect in every respect. take a look at our degustation menu In just three months we rank them in the top three restaurants in Adelaide (South Australia), with The Manse Restaurant and Bar and Chloe’s Restaurant. We have put our names down for the Grange Dinner for the first time in three years and cannot wait to see what Chief winemaker Peter Gago, chef Luke Stepsys and Sommelier Remon Van de Kerkhof come up with. Go to the 2009 Grange Pre Release Dinner information and make sure to read their review
COOKS’ CLUB news
A few places remain for the Ice Cream and Sorbets class to Sunday February 8, 2009 – Ice Creams and Sorbets booking form but the Thermomix class Sunday February 22, 2009 is booked. We have been finalising overseas work for 2009 and will publish the 2009 Cooking Class Program to coincide with food in February. Public classes are a maximum of fifteen people and we also accommodate private or corporate classes on request.

We think we have pretty well recovered our December glitch but if you hear of anyone complaining they haven't received the newsletter please ask them to subscribe again

Thermomix
This month we have also done a considerable amount of technical development for Southern Rocklobster Limited using a THERMOMIX. At this stage the information is principally about stocks, stock clarification and bisques but it is very useful and fully explained in their current CHEF NEWS
The work I do for Southern Rocklobster Limited is pure joy. A product that I believe is the best in the world, but most importantly to me it is CLEAN GREEN and sustainably farmed. Our ice salt slurry green meat extraction method has been revolutionary and our meat to shell ratios are consistently achieving 50% meat. The best has been 53% and and as we use the technique more often we have sped up the process to the point where the extraction is very labour cost friendly. We have been achieving food costs between 18% and 30% for really fabulous dishes. We have a raft of new dishes made with green leg meat that were previously not possible because the legs were blanched to extract the meat.
subscribe to their CHEF NEWS

next month February 2009
Our first full reviews for Sydney from the left the Victoria Room, Fish Face and Bodega and of course our first food.

 

Thorn Park by the Vines David Hay and Michael Speers are back from their extensive travels and Thorn Park by The Vines their new luxury Clare Valley accommodation will open in March. There are some operators that just get what the word luxury and hospitality mean. A different property, modern with expansive windows with wonderful bush and vineyard views it is just gorgeous. Light, cool and spacious with beautiful artworks, rugs, a few old familiar things and quite a few new things their new property is brilliantly tasteful, comfortable and peaceful and of course the superb cooking of David hay and consummate front of house service of Michael Speers. So, what’s to want? Nothing of course! www.thornpark.com.au  Kangaroo Island This is paradise island, South Australia’s and we’ve only scratched the surface the wonderful southern end of the island that remains utterly unspoiled. True they don't have brilliant world class restaurants, but we think they have something better. A fresh fish, skin dive for some sea urchin, a scallop or two a fresh lobster and some whiting from Ferguson Australia, a little bit of wine tasting and a boot full of great wine to drink with the catch and a range of accommodation that suits all budgets. Four days, no phone, no email, a little fishing, some leisurely cooking, a lot of eating and drinking, sleeping and reading it was heaven. As for feasting from the community mulberry tree where else in the world can you find this? read more The Rockford Stonewall Table is undoubtedly one of Australia’s most unique dining experiences. A reward for their loyal clientele it is one of the most unusual reward systems in the Australian wine industry. Stonewallers might have annually purchased as little as a single bottle of Rockford wine but their loyalty is generously rewarded with their Stonewall membership . Restaurateurs who stock their wines and their chefs are also invited to attend the lunches. Their brilliant chefs and gardeners Michael Voumard and Alison Cribb have vast knowledge of growing and cooking food, drawing from their travels that includes, Europe, Mexico, South America, Asia, India and most recently Bhutan. This is not superficial food knowledge, they are the encyclopedic when it comes to growing food and putting it on the plate. Their menus are governed entirely by seasonal availability from the Rockford Krondorf Garden, a three acre organic and bio-dynamic garden and local producers. Free–range Berkshire pig was on their menus long before it became fashionable. Wines, are selected from their museum and carefully matched with the courses. Lunches are hosted on a rotational basis by Robert O’Callaghan or a Rockford employee. To call these people employees is to simplify their role. Most have worked for Robert O’Callaghan for many years and all seem to have extraordinary loyalty and talents, talents that have been encouraged to bloom or continue under the Rockford banner. O’Callaghan clearly understands the benefit of whole people with interests and talents that take them way beyond the workplace, knowing that these rounded interesting individuals add depth to his already highly regarded brand. Our most recent host Grant Dickson is an accomplished musician with a history of playing with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra as well as the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and he still continues to play with internationally acclaimed orchestras when the opportunity arises. Dickson’s passion for food and wine is deeply entrenched in his private life and his Vietnamese wife is reported to be a brilliant cook. This wonderful table is not available to the general public, but it is unlikely that anyone in Australia with a love of great wine would not know a Stonewall member and they are allowed to invite guests to join them at the table. read their review The restaurant reviewer Prompted after listening to a Radio National in design conversation between presenter Alan Saunders and editor of the Sydney good Food Guide the wonderful Joanna Saville you might like to read the comments in our last newsletter and if you enjoy a twist to the restaurant review you’ll probably enjoy Roy Andries de Groot’s philosophy. page one and page two if you're looking for a great food and wine web site we think SAVEUR is one of the best

Thorn Park by The Vines the new luxury Clare valley accommodation of David hay and Michael Speers due to open in March read more

Kangaroo island We’ve been to the southern end of kangaroo island. This glorious unspoiled island might lack sophisticated dining but it has some great wine and there is plenty of great produce to cook yourself read more

The Rockford Stonewall Table is undoubtedly one of Australia’s most unique dining experiences. A reward for their loyal clientele it is one of the most unique marketing schemes in the Australian wine industry. read more

new book reviews
We don’t have a chick lit section in our book reviews. Should we, or shouldn’t we??? Pure CHICK LIT Barbara O’Neal’s The Lost Recipe for Happiness will not be for everyone, but……it has its charms
go to the review

You sometimes have to wonder why books don't get a publisher. When fishing on Kangaroo Island we used a brilliant book to identify edible species like our snail. Written by Karen Gowlett–Holmes, A Field Guide to the Marine Invertebrates of South Australia (ISBN 9780980485400) is a brilliant reference. A deluxe paperback, the colour images make the species easily identifiable and the only suggestion we would make for the second edition is that a single cooking suggestion might be great. We were lucky enough to know roughly what to do.
To buy this brilliant book click here
Take a look at our snail which we cooked up like abalone.

Wine Dinners and Events
February
Chloe’s Restaurant — Adelaide
Next Chloe’s Club Dinner Monday February 23 — you can book a table for the menu in the restaurant, but the private dining room that accommodates just 20 people is a great place to be. regulars have a keen interest in food and wine and the conversation is feisty and fun. It’s also very comfortable for singles, so if your partner doesn’t share your passions for food and wine or you are a single the private dining room is a great option without having the need to find a partner, the notion of which we think it totally outdated.
download the menu — download the booking form — contact Chloe’s Restaurant

Universal Restaurant — Sydney
Together with wine merchant Euan McKay,
Universal is pleased to announce that acclaimed Burgundy producer, Thierry Violot–Guillemard will host a dinner to showcase his 2006 Pommard wines.
This quality artisan producer owns 5 precious hectares of vineyards planted since 1936 which he farms organically.
Thierry’s wines will be supported by 2006 white Burgundies from Morey-Blanc, Michelot and Guy Amiot as well as 2000 vintage Champagne J. Lassalle.
Christine Manfield has designed a five course dinner to complement this superb range of fine burgundies

Thursday February 12, 2009 at 7.00 pm $195 inclusive
contact Universal or t +61 2 9331 0709

April
Magill Estate Restaurant — Adelaide
The Grange Pre Release Dinners will be held at Magill Estate Restaurant Monday April 20, through to Saturday April 25,2009. All dinners are hosted by key Penfolds winemakers and the menu is a collaboration between chief winemaker Peter Gago and his team, chef Luke Stepsys and sommelier Remon Van de Kerkhof.
$360 AUD per person food and wine
make a reservation or direct your enquiries to Restaurant and Function Coordinator, Melissa Stewart
t+61 8 8301 5449.

We are happy to list special dinners in our newsletter, but reserve the right to refuse unsuitable events. AO

we adore figs more than any other fruit and have some really fantastic recipes, that will give you just a taste of the good things to come in food on Galaxy Guides
go to the recipe for this, and many more, wonderful figgy treats and there are more interesting recipes on the Willabrand site  

food and wine and hospitality web sites and html newsletters designed by people with an association with the hospitality industry — www.annoliver.com

ann oliver’s
cooks’ club
www.annoliver.com

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if you receive the newsletter more than once please email us, let us know what your main interest is, and we will ensure you only receive a single newsletter.

black sheep t–shirts
For all those people who seem to want to steal our black sheep T–shirts please contact Mary Hamilton, of Hugh Hamilton Wines with you credit card in hand and it can be arranged, or just pass by the winery and collect them yourself and maybe have a fine little lunch at one of the region’s excellent restaurants.

top picks in alphabetical order
d’ A’rry’s Verandah
Fino
Penny’s Hill The Kitchen Door
Spice Bar

food in 2009
We'll be populating our food site with hundreds of kitchen tested recipes and each month adding new recipes and food essays, like batty cactus on your plate which will be the first of these articles.

batty last year the prickly pear was ripe in January, this year they still look a few weeks away, but never have we seen a crop as prolific.
The prickly pear is a pest in Australia with an equated nuisance value that comes close to the blackberry. We are here to do our bit to keep it under control by making it fashionable. A great Mexican dish with a fabulous chocolate mole sauce and a Persian prickly pear sorbet with crystalised rose petals and pistachio.

stoned since when does stone fruit shrivel, go mouldy and is still hard as a rock? What is the stone fruit industry doing to the fruit they are expecting us to buy? Apart from the fact that anyone with a backyard or a street frontage or a community garden should be planting heritage stone fruit trees, we want to know why they think we are going to continue to pay good money for this crap!
This is a story that proved more complicated than even we anticipated and is one that we will continue to work on and publish at the start of the 2009/2010 stoned fruit season. Scientists, producers and retailers interested in having a say please email us or call Ann Oliver on +61 403 117 739

visit the Redgate Beijing web site for full exhibition details

new book reviews
	THE LOST RECIPE FOR HAPPINESS Barbara O’Neal Published by Harper Collins Publisher Australia, P/B $32.99 This is shameless ’chick lit ’ and it’s pretty unlikely that any male chef (or for that matter male) is going to get into it unless they are a bit pissed (or stoned) and sentimental and/or have been recently dumped by a tough female chef in love with nothing but her food. Girls will get it, especially kick arse female chefs who make it to the top and stay there because they have earned and gained the respect of their male colleagues by being their better, tougher, stronger and
more talented. The Lost Recipe for Happiness does make the connection between the kitchen that really works, the one that understands it takes a team and the better the team, regardless of how competitive it is, the better it works. Punters will probably not get half of this book, the sickening opening night that goes completely wrong, a kitchen half staffed with illegal immigrants, drunks and addicts, the jealousies the love, the family that is the mystical group of cripples who share a peculiar love for each other and run the best kitchens; basically the full catastrophe. O’Neal even gets most of the kitchen bits right apart from the notion of dying the tamale husks with food colouring ddd…! It just wouldn’t happen in a good kitchen. There is a lot in this book for Anthony Bourdain’s ’kitchen bitches’ to relate to, right to the crippling agonising pain of a broken back, the exhausted limping which was a bit too close to home. This could have been yet another dreary hash of sickeningly sweet books like Mostly Martha, but somehow manages to scrape in with just enough toughness to have some sense of truth. At least there is a lot of hot and steamy sex, just like every normal kitchen, that ends up condoning complicated incestuous trysts because no has the time or energy to go looking for a relationship after a 16 hour a day. These cynical personalities are mainly driven by their love of food and cooking, but deep down most long for someone to love who will love them back without asking them to give up their passions. If you’re into kitchen reality you should probably tear out the last 20 pages before you start reading and throw them in the bin, but if you feel like a lot of unbelievable happiness and in need of a good weep the end will kill you. After all the title says it all! If they make this book into a movie, which is more than likely, there are bound to be girls in cloggs attending the mid afternoon sessions, weeping noisily and wishing their love affairs had half such happy endings. It’s a soft, mushie, tragic, sad, a story of ghosts and kitchens, love and redemption and for some inexplicable reason impossible to put down.

 

Toying with opening a business in Shanghai or Beijing
We know and trust these people to deliver their promise and all have essential market knowledge and between them cover all aspects.

Campbell Thompson, The Wine Republic
David Laris, Laris Creates
Simon Tan, The Wine Centre
Walter Zahner, walternative

our snail delicious!

European truffles are available from Marco Martinelli, alias Adelaide’s Mushroom Man click here for price details, restaurant wholesale enquiries call 0400 189 303 (Australia)

Galaxy Guides Policy
We support our suppliers for their integrity. We need them to care as much as we do, it makes the food we cook better. When you buy your ham this Christmas support your local producers and, where ever you are buy local

The gluten free issue is becoming an increasing problem for restaurants. There are any number of recipes on line and we have found that many simply don’t work. Pamela Moriarty’s sharing sweet secrets gluten and wheat free has been a brilliant resource for us. To read the full review click on the cover.