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Blog Archive
The Restaurant (19) | Wine review (1) | Our region (3) | The Garden (10) | Tree Change (18) | Wine and Food matches (9) | Recipes (20) | Travels and dining out (13) | The Wines (16)
January 2012
- GRAZING kitchen garden in "Green" Magazine - Our beautiful kitchen garden has been featured in "Green" Magazine. Have a look! MAINPHOTO PHOTO2 PHOTO1 PHOTO3 * Slight error in their text too...
- Discovering perfection - I have always dreamed of Tuscany; every clichéd, romantic Hollywood image of it. Somewhere in my deepest desires, I have images of a sun kissed stone...
- Summer of Riesling! 1. Food for riesling - XO Scallops - I absolutely love XO sauce. My very favourite thing in a good Cantonese restaurant is XO pippies. But XO prawns, lobster, crab and scallops are all equally...
- Because beans don't need to be boring - Just picked from our kitchen garden, these beautiful beans are not only colourful but sweet, juicy and crunchy! The purple beans are called "Royal Burgundy"....
December 2011
- The green invasion - I can remember someone once saying to me "you know you are living in the country, when you have to lock your car doors to stop people giving you zucchinis."...
November 2011
- Vermentino and anchovies - The Piazza Garibaldi, in the old part of Monterosso al Mare, lies buried under metres of rubble and mud. Wrecked cars are strewn in with the mire. The...
September 2011
- In caso di nebbia - Our plane from Dublin to Milan was running late. Captain Paddy announced that he had to disembark from our aircraft to fly another one so that it wouldn’t...
- Galway - We recently visited Galway to attend a friend's wedding. Whilst there we thoroughly enjoyed the local wild Galway Bay mussels. MAINPHOTO They are smaller...
August 2011
- Glühwein - There is nothing better after a hard day’s skiing than a warming Glühwein. I have tried Glühwein at various places but none is better than that made...
- Owning a part time farm - Before we made a permanent escape from the city, we dipped our toes in the alluring waters of country living, by purchasing a farm as a weekender. When...
July 2011
- A Taste of winter at the restaurant - Chef Kurt has been creating some beautiful dishes for the winter menu. Here are a few of my favourite things from the GRAZING kitchen. MAINPHOTO ENTREE:...
June 2011
- Carrot & butternut squash soup with goat's cheese beignets - YOUTUBE For the Carrot and Butternut Squash Soup Makes 8 125 Gram Unsalted butter 150 mL. Vegetable oil 2 Medium Brown onions, peeled and diced 4 Cloves...
May 2011
- Introducing Chef Kurt Neumann - MAINPHOTO It is with much excitement that we announce that Chef Kurt Neumann has joined the team at GRAZING to oversee the operation of the restaurant....
- The colours of Autumn - It is such a beautiful time of year here in the Canberra District. Autumn brings cool crisp mornings, perfect days and glorious colour everywhere. In the...
April 2011
- Malaysian cooking school - After Christmas, we needed a bit of a break and I had a strong desire for some warm tropical water. We decided to head just over the equator to beautiful...
- Crab Apple Jelly - Autumn is a wonderful time for preserving the garden harvest. The crab apples ripen and its time to make jelly. MAINPHOTO In the Grazing garden, we grow...
March 2011
- 38 second with the grape pickers - A quick video of our viognier being picked at the Kyeema Vineyard
- Riesling Harvest - We have purchased some beautiful riesling from Long Rail Gully Vineyard. Two clones, the Geisenheim and the McWilliams clone. This short video shows today's...
- Restoring the old girl - In 2003 we made an impulse purchase which changed our lives. The National Trust listed, Gundaroo Pub had been for sale for two years. We use to drive past...
February 2011
- Summer in the garden - The Chefs are in the garden with a bounty of summer produce.
January 2011
- The most extraordinary thing happened today - We are very puzzled by this baby chicken. We haven't had a rooster for well over a month. The incubation time on an egg is 21 days. The most amazing...
- Kyeema Vineyard - January - A one minute tour of the Kyeema Vineyard
- Heirloom tomatoes - The GRAZING Chefs are whipping up some beautiful specials using heirloom tomatoes straight from the garden. This would be perfect matched with 'The Swinger'...
- How 29 tweets per day has grown our wine business - A copy of my article that was recently published in Wine Business Magazine MAINPHOTO I was reading my October copy of WBM and I came across Larry Lockshin’s...
December 2010
- December - Work on the cellar door and new function room begins. The vineyard and garden look beautiful after all the rain.
- Sour Cherry Crumble - The kitchen garden at GRAZING includes two orchards, one very old and one which was planted about five years ago. There are also several other fruit trees...
- How to outsmart Mother Nature - You know you have really become a farmer when your main topic of conversation and main source of complaining is to do with the weather. Living in an...
- Land of Flooding Rains - It hasn't stopped raining. It is making our building work very slow. This morning the Yass River broke it's banks and there is more rain on the way.
November 2010
- Why natural wine makes me cranky - Last night I was enjoying our last bottle of 2007 Morgon. Produced by Marcel Lapierre, this stunning gamay is made with minimal intervention. It has huge...
October 2010
- The arrival of the ducks - The ducklings have arrived. OK OK – I know! One of my last blog posts was on Hong Kong and eating far too much roast duck for a single human being over...
- Lemon Delicious Pudding - 3 eggs ¾ cup sugar 1 ½ cups milk 2 ½ tbs SR flour 1 tbs finely grated lemon rind 1 cup fresh lemon juice 1 tbs extra sugar Separate eggs Beat eggs...
- Murrumbateman Field Days - According to the website, “Murrumbateman Field Days is an annual weekend event dedicated to sustainable and best practice small area farming. PHOTO2...
- Roast duck sums it up! - We recently visited Hong Kong to attend a trade tasting and meet with some distributors who are interested in selling our wines. I love Hong Kong - it...
- Penfolds and pork dumplings - Given the amount of times that I travel to Adelaide, I am surprised that I have only just discovered the Mandoo Korean dumpling house. It could be because...
September 2010
- Bottling day at Kyeema - It is bottling time and the winery is abuzz with activity as we bottle our 2010 chardonnay and the 2009 shiraz and merlots.
- Chicken Sausages -
- 700gm minced thigh and breast meat * 1 tsp salt * 1 bunch chives finely chopped * zest of half a lemon * 1/2 onion finely chopped * 3 cloves of garlic...
- A day in September - The future wine makers go for a walk in the Kyeema Vineyard and then help plant spring seeds in the GRAZING garden.
- The Mornington Peninsula - We recently visited the beautiful Mornington Peninsula. We wanted to visit the wineries and see what we, as tourists, like about the cellar door experience....
- The Busy Bees - Spring is a busy time in the garden. The big tidy up of the winter garden begins and the beds are being prepared for spring planting of the summer crops....
- Pork with garlic, sage and lemon - Chef Tom and I have a couple of food heroes in common. I guess that’s why Tom fell so comfortably into running GRAZING and the philosophies that I initially...
August 2010
- GRAZING - An introductory Video - Chef Tom Moore welcomes you to GRAZING and his magnificent kitchen garden
- Parap Village markets - Darwin - The Mindil Beach sunset markets are one of Darwin's most popular tourist attractions. Held every Thursday and Sunday through the dry season (May - October),...
- The three Ps - When it comes to grapevines there are three important things. Planting, pruning and picking. All three involve lots of hard repetitive work – the latter...
July 2010
- Rabbit and winter vegetable ragu - 1 whole rabbit ½ onion - diced 1 carrot - diced 2 sticks celery - diced 4 cloves garlic - roughly chopped ¼ cup Olive oil 1 cup white wine 2L chicken...
- Cream of Jerusalem Artichoke Soup - 1 x leek 2 cloves garlic 500 gm Jerusalem artichokes - peeled and kept in acidic water (water with lemon juice) 2 medium potatoes 2 L chicken stock 150...
June 2010
- Getting children to eat vegetables - I loved my life in our terrace house in the inner Sydney suburb of Alexandria. It was our first home. We painstakingly restored the 1886 treasure; at one...
- One man's trash is another man's treasure - People think that the social hub of any small village is the pub, but we locals know that the true socialising happens at the tip. We don’t have rubbish...
- Pass the honey king prawns - On a recent trip to Hong Kong we decided to lash out and try the only three Michelin star restaurant in Hong Kong, the Lung King Heen in the Four Seasons...
- Warm Spiced Guinness Gingerbread - 1 can Guinness 1 cup mollasses 1 cup golden syrup 1 tsp baking powder 6 eggs 2 cups brown sugar 2 cups sugar 1/1/2 cups veg oil 4 cups flour 2 tbls...
May 2010
- Singapore - I love Singapore. I love it when you step off the aircraft and the warm tropical air hits you. It smells damp and exotic. It is a vibrant, modern business...
- Water wars - Part Two - I still laugh at the time that Mark kept coming home from the vineyard, cursing and swearing about a problem with the vineyard irrigation. After several...
- An outback adventure - day one - Some very dear friends of ours decided to charter an aircraft to fly out and look at the outback after the flooding rains in northern Australia. They very...
- An outback adventure - continued - MAINPHOTO Birdsville is famous for its pub. It actually has two pubs in town - one open and one ruined. PHOTO1 PHOTO2 In the outback people are very...
- Maccheroni al formaggio - The May 2010 Gourmet Traveller magazine is the Italian issue. For those of you who know me, you will know that I love everything Italian. The cool autumn...
- Water Wars - Part One - Moving out of the city has proven to be a rewarding “tree change” but I didn’t really know what hard work was until we started our own small business....
- Finding the perfect love nest. - When a city girl meets a country boy and falls in love, certain things have to be sorted out, like where the future will see the happy couple living. Mark...
April 2010
- A day during Vintage 2010 - The Kyeema Vineyard 2010. This video shows some scenes from vintage.
- Creating a kitchen garden - The idea of growing our own vegetables was always a dream when I lived in Sydney. I was a really good gardener; I lovingly tended my garden in our inner...
- The quiet achiever - In the early noughties, the media started to discover the wines of the Canberra District, and the charge was lead by the very savvy Tim Kirk of Clonakilla....
- A child takes a glimpse into her future. - The late ABC journalist Mike Hayes once ran a successful radio program and newspaper column from our little village called ‘The Prickle Farmer’. Mike...
- The Chef - Tom Moore was our savior. He took our busy restaurant off our hands so we could continue our dream of owning a small winery. An award winning Chef, before...
- Keeping it local - When we established GRAZING in 2003, we made a decision to put only local wines on the wine list. Our vineyard at Tallagandra Lane, Gundaroo was not long...
- My tales of wine, food and escaping the city - My life is busy. Very, very busy – actually most people think I am crazy. I probably am! But I think I am just a person who likes to be busy and challenged....
- 1st year Apprentice Nathanial 's Pork Croquette - 1st year Apprentice Nathanial 's Pork Croquette (Makes 6 croquettes) MAINPHOTO * 1 Shoulder of pork de-boned * 2kg duck fat or Vegetable oil * 2 bay...
- Honey Roast Fig and Cinnamon Ice Cream - Honey Roast Fig and Cinnamon Ice Cream • 500 mL pouring cream • 500 mL full cream milk • 10 Free range egg yolks • ...
- 8 oz cake - Berry 8 oz cake MAINPHOTO 8 oz (240gm) unsalted butter, softened 8 oz (240gm) caster sugar 8 oz (240gm) almond meal 1 tsp baking powder 4 eggs at room...
- Welcome to our blog - Hi - I'm Jen. My husband Mark and I fled ‘the city’ in 2003 to pursue our dream of owning a small winery. Our adventures in moving to the country and...