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Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake
2007-10-21 02:17:00
Rhubarb Upside -Down Cake 1 package yellow cake mix 4 cups rhubarb, diced 1 1/2 cups sugar 1 pint whipping cream Prepare the cake mix as directed. Pour the mixture into a 9 x 13-inch greased pan. In a medium bowl, mix the rhubarb and sugar together. Evenly sprinkle the rhubarb mixture over the batter. Pour the whipping cream over the entire mixture. (It will look very runny.) Bake in a 350 degree oven for 40 to 45 minutes or until the cake tests done.

Rhubarb Pie
2007-10-21 02:17:00
Rhubarb Pie 3/4 cup sugar 2 tablespoons flour 2 eggs, beaten 1/4 teaspoon vanilla 1 cup sour cream 2 cups rhubarb, finely cut Topping: 1/3 cup sugar 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 cup flour 1/4 cup butter In a large bowl, beat together the sugar, flour, and eggs. Add the vanilla and sour cream into the mixture. Put the rhubarb in and mix until thoroughly blended together. Pour the mixture into an unbaked 9-inch pie shell. In a small bowl, combine the topping ingredients. Mix together until the mixture is crumbly. Do not put the topping mixture on the pie right away. Bake the pie in a 400 degree oven for 25 minutes or when the center of the pie is firm. During the last 10 minutes of the baking time, sprinkle the topping mixture over the pie.

Rhubarb Muffins
2007-10-21 02:16:00
Rhubarb Muffin s 1 1/2 cup sugar 1 egg 1/2 cup oil 2 teaspoons vanilla 1 cup buttermilk 2 1/2 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 cup walnuts 1 1/2 cups rhubarb, diced Topping: 1 tablespoon butter, melted 1 1/3 cup sugar 1 teaspoon cinnamon In a large bowl, mix together the egg, sugar, oil, vanilla, buttermilk, flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Add in the walnuts and the rhubarb and mix together well. Line a muffin pan with paper liners. Pour mixture into the muffin liners. In a small bowl, mix together the topping ingredients. Add the topping to each muffin. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes.
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Zucchini Granola Cookies
2007-10-21 02:15:00
Zucchini Granola Cookie s 3/4 cup butter or margarine (softened) 1 1/2 cups brown sugar 1 egg 1 teaspoon vanilla grated rind of 1 orange 3 cups grated, unpeeled zucchini 3 to 3 1/2 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 cup butterscotch or chocolate chips 3 cups granola cereal In a large bowl, mix together the butter and sugar. Mix in the egg, vanilla, orange rind, and zucchini. Add in the flour and baking soda. Mix in the granola cereal. Then mix in the butterscotch or chocolate chips. Grease a cookie sheet and put teaspoonfuls of the dough onto the sheet. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes.
More About: Zucchini

Chocolate Zucchini Bread
2007-10-21 02:15:00
Chocolate Zucchini Brea d 1 cup brown sugar 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup margarine 1/2 cup oil 3 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla 3/4 cup buttermilk 3 cups flour 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda 5 tablespoons cocoa 2 1/2 cups grated zucchini 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips 1/2 cup raisins 1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional) In a large bowl, mix the sugars, oil, and margarine together. Add the egg into the mixture one at a time. Mix in the buttermilk and vanilla. In a small bowl, sift together the flour, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, and cocoa. Add in the zucchini and dry mixture by alternating. Add in the chocolate chips, raisins, and nuts. Grease a 9×13-inch pan and pour the batter into it. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 1 hour.
More About: Chocolate , Choco

Café chain is top food franchisor
2007-10-21 02:08:00
Café chain is top food franchisor Australian-owned Gloria Jean’s Coffees has been named the Food Franc hisor of the Year 2007 national winner at the PricewaterhouseCoopers Excellence in Franchising Awards. It caps off a year for the successful café chain that has included the opening of 75 stores in Australia and 80 internationally. Group chief executive of Gloria Jean’s Coffees Ian Martin said the year has been another major milestone year for the company with significant investments being made to our business structure and franchise systems which directly resulted in both increased sales and profitability in 2006-07. Martin said that in the last year Gloria Jean’s Coffees has implemented a range of initiatives to provide significant benefits to franchise partners including investment in brand market research and creating new marketing strategies, TV advertising and promotions. The company has also developed a new operations platform with tools, systems and training faciliti...
More About: Chain , Hain , Ranch

India’s demand for Aussie food
2007-10-21 02:07:00
$233 billion and growing; India’s demand for Aussie food set to boom The Australian Government is urging Australia’s food producers to take a good look at the burgeoning demand in India for food products and position themselves to take advantage of the predicted boom. India is rapidly emerging as a critical market for Australia’s food industry, according to a new Australian Government-funded report just launched in New Delhi. Minister for Trade, Warren Truss, and Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Peter McGauran, said the report, Strengthening the India-Australia corridor in select food and agribusiness sectors, showed increasing consumer demand among the sub-continent’s burgeoning middle class. Mr Truss said that this demand was creating huge opportunities for businesses in the Australian food sector. “Indian food retail is a multi-billion dollar industry, estimated to be worth around $233 bn, with food being the largest category of consumer spending. He sa...
More About: Food , Demand

Critical mass
2007-10-19 12:54:00
Critical mass When celebrity chef Neil Perry’s Sydney restaurant Rockpool shuts its doors next weekend after 19 years of trading, to stellar international reviews, at least part of the blame for its closure will belong on the plate of reviewers and editors. Perry has been quoted in past weeks as saying his move to dismantle Rockpool stems from the decision by this year’s The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide, co-edited by the Herald’s chief restaurant reviewer, Simon Thomsen, to award his restaurant two hats rather than the maximum three, thus denying Rockpool top billing with other leading venues in a city that loves awards. Although Rockpool will reinvent itself as, depressingly, a casual seafood venue likely to be called Rockpool Fish, the damage has been done. That this deluxe, albeit somewhat tired, fine diner favoured by the celebrity set has consistently made the top 50 in British magazine Restaurant’s annual guide to the world’s best eating ...
More About: Mass , Critical , Critic

Resort-style complex takes luxury living to a new level
2007-10-19 12:54:00
Residents of a North Shore retirement complex will be served food made to order by a chef trained at one of Sydney’s premier restaurants, Rockpool. Waterbrook Greenwich, which will open its doors in December, bills itself as a five-star resort for the over 55s. Jason Green, who trained under Neil Perry at Rockpool and worked with Kylie Kwong, will oversee the upmarket deli-style cafe-restaurant. “We just want everyone to feel comfortable with asking me for basically whatever they want to eat. I can formulate menus based on their health or dietary requirements, seven days a week, 365 days a year,” he said. Residents will have the option of hotel-style room service or dining in the indoor-outdoor cafe, which will also stock groceries including gourmet cheeses, dips and olives. Green believes the approach will win over residents, whose average age will be about 70. “People’s tastes are changing,” he said. “We’re finding people are going a...
More About: Living , Luxury , Style , Complex , Resort

Hat-trick for Hilton
2007-10-19 12:53:00
Hilton has been named the No.1 Asia-Pacific hotel chain and Asia-Pacific’s leading choice ahead of 50 of the world’s leading hotel groups. In Australia, Hilton gained top place for the third year in a row in the annual 2007 BDRC Asia-Pacific Hotel Business Guest Survey of 1450 business travellers, including 255 Australian respondents. Koos Klein, Hilton’s Asia-Pacific president, said Hilton retained the highest brand ranking in the past three years, despite strong international competition. The survey found also that the Hilton website was the most visited and most booked hotel website. In Australia, 81 per cent of business travellers made a hotel reservation online, compared with 47 per cent region- wide. Sunday Times (Perth), October 14, 2007.
More About: Trick , Hilton

Resort-style complex takes luxury living to a new level
2007-10-19 12:53:00
Residents of a North Shore retirement complex will be served food made to order by a chef trained at one of Sydney’s premier restaurants, Rockpool. Waterbrook Greenwich, which will open its doors in December, bills itself as a five-star resort for the over 55s. Jason Green, who trained under Neil Perry at Rockpool and worked with Kylie Kwong, will oversee the upmarket deli-style cafe-restaurant. “We just want everyone to feel comfortable with asking me for basically whatever they want to eat. I can formulate menus based on their health or dietary requirements, seven days a week, 365 days a year,” he said. Residents will have the option of hotel-style room service or dining in the indoor-outdoor cafe, which will also stock groceries including gourmet cheeses, dips and olives. Green believes the approach will win over residents, whose average age will be about 70. “People’s tastes are changing,” he said. “We’re finding people are going a...
More About: Living , Luxury , Style , Complex , Resort

Restaurant Fifteen
2007-10-19 12:52:00
The trainees entered the kitchen in September 2006. The idea — to inspire disadvantaged young people to believe that they could create a career in the restaurant business — was Jamie Oliver’s, but the ongoing success of CBD restaurant Fifteen (basement, 115-117 Collins Street) has been thanks to the hard work of the first batch of apprentices. With its first anniversary being celebrated at a special dinner tomorrow night I asked Vanessa Spilbury, a recently graduated Fifteen student, to tell me what it meant to get the restaurant to this milestone. The major challenge, she said, lay in learning to work as a team. ”To make a kitchen and restaurant successful, we have to produce the best food we can with great, fresh, locally produced ingredients,” Vanessa said. ”Keeping everyone on track and focused, including myself, is a daily task.” Sunday Herald Sun (Australia)
More About: Restaurant

Diner has an eye to the future
2007-10-19 12:51:00
Does service with a scowl put you off your lunch? Does romantic, pink lighting encourage you to linger over your fruit salad? A new research centre — dubbed the ”restaurant of the future”—at the Dutch university of Wageningen hopes to help answer these questions and more by tracking diners with dozens of unobtrusive cameras and monitoring their eating habits. ”We want to find out what influences people: colours, taste, personnel. We try to focus on one stimulus, like light,” said Rene Koster, head of the Centre for Innovative Consumer Studies. ”This restaurant is a playground of possibilities. We can ask the staff to be less friendly and visible or the reverse,” he said. ”The changes must be small. If you were making changes every day it would be too disruptive.” The stylish new facility has self-service tills that allow diners to scan their lunch while they and their trays are being weighed by a set of scales built into the fl...
More About: Future , The Future

Demand has room prices soaring
2007-10-19 12:51:00
Brisbane hotel room prices have soared to become the second-most expensive in the country, with average rates of $148.86 outstripping Melbourne for the first time. Latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics reveals the average room rate in Melbourne was $142.58 a night for the June quarter. Sydney is still the most expensive Aussie destination with an average room rate of $168.62, according to the ABS Survey of Tourist Accommodation. Brisbane Marketing executive chairman Ian Klug said the rise in rates was a reflection of growing demand in Brisbane’s business and leisure markets. And he said rising rates would help the case for building more hotels in the city. Brisbane Marketing and Tourism Queensland have been trying to encourage investment in a luxury six-star hotel in the city heart. But most hotel development earmarked for the city is the smaller boutique style of less than 100 rooms. Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels executive vice-president Troy Craig said the opening...
More About: Room , Soaring , Soar , Demand , Prices

Australia triumphs in wine world cup!
2007-10-19 05:52:00
Australians disheartened with the result of the Rugby World Cup game in France need only look across the Channel in London where the results for the World Cup of the wine world – the international Win and Spirits Competition – should give them a reason to rejoice once again. Australia blitzed the opposition with Clare Valley winery, Taylors picking up the coveted cup for Best International Red Blend with their Eighty Acres 2005 Cabernet Shiraz Merlot. Taylors only just made it in time to enter the Eighty Acres range this year, following the release of the four new blends, including the 2005 Eighty Acres Cabernet Shiraz Merlot, as recently as August this year.
More About: Wine , Australia

Terroir Restaurants appoints new head chef
2007-10-19 05:51:00
In a move to cement its position as the Hunter’s leading restaurant, the highly decorated Terroir Restaurant at Hungerford Hill has appointed Hayden Ellerton as its new head chef. Hayden, a professional chef for more than 10 years, has accumulated diverse culinary experience from a number of leading Sydney restaurants and has trained under the legendary Peter Doyle at Cicada and followed Peter’s recent trail for a stint at both Celsius and Est. Hayden’s most recent post has been Beach Road at Palm Beach. Terroir Restaurant offers a contemporary Australian menu matched with Hungerford Hill’s award-winning wines. Indeed, the marrying of wine to menu resulted in Terroir being named by the NSW Restaurant and Catering Association’s as having the ‘Best Wine List’ in regional NSW. Adding to the long list of accolades, the much touted Wine Spectator Magazine recently awarded Terroir an ‘Award of Excellence’ for having one of the most outstanding wine lists in the world. Te...
More About: Restaurants , Chef , Head

Act on India boom
2007-10-19 05:51:00
India is rapidly emerging as a critical market for Australia’s food industry, according to a new Australian Government-funded report launched in New Delhi this month. Minister for Trade, Warren Truss, and Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Peter McGauran, said the report, Strengthening the India-Australia corridor in select food and agribusiness sectors, showed increasing consumer demand among the sub-continent’s burgeoning middle class. Mr Truss said this demand was creating huge opportunities for businesses in the Australian food sector. “Indian food retail is a multi-billion dollar industry, estimated to be worth around $233 billion, with food being the largest category of consumer spending. The sub-continent’s 300-million strong middle class, with its growing affluence and changing lifestyle, is driving growth in organised food retail and food services, with organised retail expected to increase by 30 per cent over the next five years,” Mr Truss ...
More About: India , Boom

McDonald’s adds to healthy options with Nudie move
2007-10-08 09:16:00
McDonald’s Australia has unveiled its latest move to position itself as offering healthy options to its customers by teaming up with high profile juice marketer Nudie. The fast good giant is working with Nudie to launch a new range of premium 100 per cent juices with flavour that will be excusive to McDonald’s and will be available in its 756 restaurants across Australia. The selection of three juices includes Mango Mash; Blueberry Blend and Strawberry Burst. They have no artificial flavours, colours, preservatives or concentrates. McDonald’s SVP/marketing director Helen Farquhar said McDonald’s had worked with Nudie for the past 12 months to develop the range. “Nudie have really been supportive in working with us in offering a unique product that complements our evolving menu range,” she said. Nudie’s ‘chief sales and marketing Nudie’, James Ajaka, said Nudie was excited to be working with McDonald’s to offer 100% fruit juice to over a million Australians every ...
More About: Options , Move , Healthy , Heal

New guide to help foodservice operators trim menus of bad fats
2007-10-08 09:15:00
The National Heart Foundation has released a new guide aimed at helping the Australian foodservice market take steps to reduce the levels of trans fats and saturated fats in the food in its menus. The development of the 3 Step Guid e to reducing unhealthy fats in cooking followed a roundtable meeting of representatives from Australia’s Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) sector, as well as other food and health organisations, and the Federal Government held earlier this year. The guide is available to be downloaded from the Heart Foundation’s website. It explains how to identify saturated and trans fats and provides simple steps for reducing their use on menus. Tony Kemp, the brand manager foodservice for the Heart Foundation Tick, said the current consumer and media interest in healthier eating presents foodservice operators with an opportunity to take a leadership position and take positive steps towards reducing the level of trans and saturated fats found on menus. “Our research ...
More About: Operators , Trim , Fats

London wins for SA wines
2007-10-08 09:14:00
A McLaren Vale wine selling for $25 a bottle has been named the best cabernet sauvignon at the International Wine and Spirit competition in London . The Chapel Hill McLaren Vale 2005 cabernet sauvignon also won a gold medal at the prestigious competition. Chapel Hill’s 2004 McLaren Vale shiraz claimed the trophy for the best Australian red wine at the competition, while the 2005 vintage of the shiraz won a gold medal. Chapel Hill chief winemaker Michael Fragos said the winery was delighted with the results. The Advertiser, October 6.
More About: Wines , Wins

Fine dining Rockpool’s shock switch to seafood
2007-10-08 09:13:00
For 18 years celebrity chef Neil Perry ran super-fine dining institution Rockpool on a knife edge. Margins were thinner than a dessert wafer. Finishing the week in the black required a Herculean effort. Then a chef’s hat from one of Sydney’s restaurant guides went missing two years ago and things got even harder. Now after years of filling famous stomachs and emptying fat wallets, Rockpool—a regular haunt for Hugh Jackman, Elle Macpherson and John Travolta, among others—is being re-imagined as something more affordable. The theory doing the rounds of the kitchens is that Perry has had enough of being denied the third chef’s hat that was once almost a given and is taking his vat and broil and going home. The actual reasons have more to do with profits than pride. ”If we take $17,000 a night we break even at Rockpool, if we take $20,000 or more we make money,” Perry explained. ”But that’s a function of having 20 chefs in the kitchen and 22...
More About: Shock , Seafood , Switch , Dining , Fine

Basic foods about to cost a lot more
2007-10-08 09:13:00
The price of dairy, fruit, vegetables and other basic food will soar in South Australia this Christmas as the drought impact reaches supermarkets. Bread, cakes, pies, eggs, cheese, butter and some fruit and vegetables will be hit. With world wheat stocks at a 30-year low, some baking product prices are tipped to rise 30-50 per cent within six months. The viability of about 12 Adelaide bakeries—ranging from corner bakeries to larger operationsis also under threat because of the crippling cost of ingredients such as flour, vegetable oil, sugar, margarine and milk powder. Industry leaders said imports would increase as Australia struggled to supply some foods, but they would not necessarily be high quality. Cream is already imported from New Zealand and white onions from the U.S, while oranges and ham are expected to be imported this summer. Experts also warned that consumers should make the most of relatively low wine prices before they rise sharply next year. The Advertiser (Adelai...
More About: Cost , Basic , Foods

Boutique bar law is a bit of a fizzer
2007-10-08 09:12:00
Sydnesiders are debating the need for small bars and cheaper liquor licences but city dwellers shouldn’t hold their breath that a crop of Melbourne-style hole in the wall bars will spring up if the new laws are passed. The West Australian Government, amid much fanfare in May, introduced liquor licensing laws similar to what us being proposed in Sydney, in a bid to reinvigorate drinking options which were dominated by barn like pubs. Five months later only one small bar has opened—but not through lack of interest. Because local council in WA as they do in NSW have authority over planning and health issues, application for liquor licences first need council approval. And, with the exception of the City of Perth local governments don’t seem to quite as excited about the new laws as the after work crowd looking for somewhere new to have a drink. Australian Financial Review, October 8
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Bar humbug on licensing laws
2007-10-08 09:11:00
They’re big, brash, noisy, often lacking in style and make too much money. Professional footballers? Good answer. But I speak here of Brisbane’s bars and the laws which ensure that the stream of gold which flows from selling alcohol remains directed into the pockets of those who contribute most handsomely to the major political parties. But first to Sydney where that city’s Lord Mayor, the delightfully named Clover Moore, is attempting to overhaul the drinking laws by allowing the establishment of small bars similar to those which trade so successfully in Melbourne. In Sydney, it presently costs more than $50,000 to get a liquor licence. Moore wants to reduce this to $500. ”For too long New South Wales’s night economy has been dominated by large pubs and clubs with poker machines and televised sport and large nightclubs with pumping music,” she says. Sound familiar? This revolutionary spirit has spread north and infected Brisbane lad Ben Eltham, a...
More About: Laws , Licensing

Careers & Courses
2007-10-08 09:10:00
The hospitality and tourism industries are booming in Australia and the supply of skilled staff is not keeping up with the growing demand. “There is a huge skills shortage in these industries. The growth of hospitality and tourism is phenomenal,” says Janette Illingsworth, career development manager at Blue Mountains Hotel School, whose students live on-campus at Leura. A decade ago, the industry was dominated by on-the-job training and diploma courses but recently there has been an increase in degree courses. Maxine Hawker from The Hotel School, a partnership between Southern Cross University and the InterContinental Hotel in Sydney, says students now need degree-based training to advance to top-level jobs. “That’s the professionalisation of the industry. Once you could have climbed the ranks without a degree but today you need a degree in order to get to the top. If they don’t get a degree, they are capped at how high they can go,” she says. Syd...
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Cooking: The Many Ways To Enjoy Food
2007-10-07 07:34:00
There are several ways that individuals can enjoy the art of cooking. Each method offers unique values to the person participating. Listed here are just a few of the ways individuals can enjoy the art of food making. Cookin g classes are a great way for an individual to learn basic cooking skills, learn a specific cooking skill, or improve what they already know. These classes cover a variety of topics to help individuals achieve their goals. Cooking contests are also a great way to enjoy food and the spirit of competition at the same time. Contests range from entering an individual’s favorite recipe for a chance to win a prize to actual cooking to win the prize. Websites offer a myriad of choices of contests to individuals to enter depending on an individual’s desires and goals. Recipes can be fun ways for individuals to enjoy food. There are several different kinds of recipes or flavors to choose from. Each kind of recipe has its own unique flavors. Individuals can choose wh...
More About: Food , Enjoy , The Man

Chafing dishes
2007-10-07 07:34:00
Planning your next big get-together? Whether it’s a birthday bash, church fundraiser or holiday gathering–serving buffet-style is the way to go. When setting up a buffet table, chafing dishes are the best way to keep food hot. They allow a large number of guests to serve themselves while the host can mix and mingle without having to worry about food on the stove or in the oven. Even if you don’t entertain frequently, purchasing or renting chafing dishes can’t be beat. Chafing dishes, sometimes called steam pans, are simply large serving dishes in which food is kept warm (or cold). The different types of chafing dishes consist of a frame or wire rack, a water pan, a food pan and a cover. Water in the pan is used to conduct the heat which maintains the food at a proper serving temperature. The heat source is sterno or an electrical heating element placed underneath the water pan. TYPES Oval or round, ornately decorated chafing dishes, would be perfect for an el...
More About: Dishes

Melbourne - top convention city in Australia
2007-10-05 12:41:00
Melbourne confirmed as top convention city in Australia - UIA Melbourne has overtaken Sydney as the top congress city in Australia according to The Union of International Associations (UIA). According to the UIA, Melbourne has moved from 34 in rankings in 2005 to 26 in 2006, and has 26.2 per cent of the Australian market. This compares to Sydney’s ranking which has slipped from 25 in 2005 to 38 in 2006, and holding a 19.8 per cent market share. CEO of the Melbourne Convention + Visitors Bureau, Sandra Chipchase, said despite increasing competition globally Melbourne continues to see growth in the business events sector.
More About: City , Melbourne

New Crown Hotel for Melbourne
2007-10-05 12:40:00
Crown Melbourne Limited announced today it has sought planning and building approvals to construct the biggest hotel in Australia at the Crown Entertainment Complex in Melbourne. At an estimated cost of $300 million, the proposed new hotel will be the third hotel in the Crown Entertainment Complex along with the award winning, luxurious Crown Towers and Australia’s best business hotel - Crown Promenade Hotel . This year the existing hotels have achieved extraordinary occupancy rates with Crown Towers reporting an 88 percent occupancy rate and Crown Promenade Hotel a 93 percent rate. The proposed new hotel’s 658 rooms will bring the total number of hotel rooms available at the Crown Entertainment Complex to more than 1600 rooms. The proposed new hotel, which is still to be named, will target the international leisure market but will also focus heavily on the global conventions and conferences industries. The CEO of Crown Melbourne, David Courtney, said today the proposed new hot...

New Private Beverage Packages – No. 3
2007-10-05 10:22:00
Beer, wine, bubbles, spirits & cocktails on arrival Prices start at $35 per head for three hours drinking. Includes trestle style bar, bar staff, glassware, equipment and GST Cocktail on arrival Vodka, gin, rum, tequila, bourbon, whiskey and Baileys Seaview Sparkling St Andrew’s Red and White wines (Chardonnay, Sauv Blanc and Cab Sauv) Boag’s Premium and Cascade Light OJ, coke, lemon squash and lemonade, still and sparkling water 3 hours - $35 per head (minimum 35 pax) 4 hours - $40 per head (minimum 35 pax) Additional hours $5 per person per hour
More About: Private , Beverage , Riva , Ages