Not Belgium... but Singapore to a tea..

As president of an Australian organisation representing people who write and communicate about food and farming, Liz is meant to be in Belgium this week meeting with peers from around the world. But thanks to volcanoes in Iceland, she found herself trapped en route in Singapore for four days before aborting her plans altogether and coming home unexpectedly early.
What to do as compensation? High tea at Raffles was on the agenda until a Singapore resident warned her they now use tea bags - a completely unacceptable development to a keen tea drinker who also collects tea pots!
Instead, Liz discovered two treasures that were almost compensation for missing out on all that Belgian chocolate - high tea at the Shangrila Hotel (102 kinds of tea offered to accompany an amazing selection of savoury and sweet dishes in elegant surroundings); and the TWG Tea company, which sells more than 200 kinds of tea including a fabulous Singapore breakfast tea and hard-to-get first-flush, finest orange pekoe picked from the highest altitudes of some of the world's best tea estates. Nothing like a good cuppa to soothe the travel-tortured nerves.

Art Life Chooks

Noosa Show blue ribbon champ Annette Hughes writes about her experiences in regional Queensland on her great blog, Art Life Chooks. Apparently Annette is well known for her rosella jam, made from home-grown produce. Catch up with her latest experiences at http://annettehughes.blogspot.com/

Slow day at the show

Slow Food members will be gathering in the Barossa on March 13 to explore all things food at the annual Tanunda Show, where competitive classes are strongly influenced by the famous valley's German traditions. Fiercely contested cookery competitions at the show include special championships classes for German yeast cake, dill pickles and rote grutze (a dessert made from wine grapes and sago, featured The Blue Ribbon Cookbook).
Mark MacNamara, award winning chef of Appellation Restaurant at Marananga will introduce the Slow Food group to Barossa produce on display at the show. The group will also be joined by Angela Heuzenroeder, author of “Barossa Food”.
And for lunch, members will sit down at the show's extremely popular Magpie Café, set under grandstand, where this year's menu offers a Local Producer’s Barossa Platter: Three Butchers, Three Bakers, Two Cheese Makers & Condiments (bread, mettwurst, lachsschinken, babybel, gruth, dill cucumbers and chutney);“Hutton Vale” Lamb and Vegetable Pie made with fresh vegetables, Carême Pastry glazed with egg and served on a bed of mashed potato; and award-winning Barossa wines.

Testing your cooking skills at a show near you

Think you have the potential to be a prize-winning show cook? South Australia's autumn show season starts on February 20 in the Adelaide Hills, with the popular Uraidla Show. Held on picturesque, shady grounds just a few kilometres from the city centre, the show offers the perfect opportunity to experience a country show without travelling too far.
Coming up next is the Angaston show on February 27 and 28, followed by Mannum and the special centenary show at Mundulla on March 6, Tanunda on March 13, Maitland on March 17, Mt Pleasant on March 20, Cleve on March 27 and Mount Barker on March 27 and 28.
Cookery entries usually close a week or so before the event. For more information go to the SA Country Shows website.

A bite-sized look at show cooking

Agricultural shows are an important part of community life across Australia, according to award-winning consultant and multi-media presenter Victoria Hansen who explores the topic in a recently-recorded podcast with author Liz Harfull.
"In country areas they give people an excuse to get off the farm and catch up with the neighbours, and the city shows are both a spectacle and an institution that bring the city and the bush together for a few brief days each year.
"But for many individuals they represent much more than an opportunity to relax and have fun. They are about the serious business of rewarding effort and enterprise."
Visit Victoria's wonderful food site, BiteSize Cooking and listen to the interview.

Learn how to make the perfect Christmas cake

Champion cook Emma Kemp will be demonstrating how to make the perfect rich fruit cake in time for Christmas at the Adelaide Showground Farmers Market on Sunday, December 13. Emma will appear with author Liz Harfull at 11am, in the market's popular demonstration kitchen. A major trophy winner at the Royal Adelaide Show, the audacious Emma is one of show cooking's brighest young stars. She has already qualified for the 2010 State Rich Fruit Cake Championship, after winning a qualifying regional final at the recent Lucindale Show.

Full house for Mount Gambier event

A full house of more than 120 people greeted Liz yesterday for her first Meet the Author event in her home town of Mount Gambier. Volunteers from the local Anglican Church created a fabulous spread for the occasion, using recipes from the book; they also organised a magnificent display of old cookbooks and historic kitchen items from the local National Trust collection. Liz talked about her early ambitions to become a writer, her career as a journalist, starting at the local newspaper, The Border Watch, and how The Blue Ribbon Cookbook came about. The event raised funds for the Christ Church Building Fund.