Tag Archives: australia

I blame Crocodile Dundee

July 21st, 2009

Make no mistake. No Reservations is a show primarily about food. That doesn’t mean that every episode is only about food or that the entire length of the program is centered around food. Sometimes an episode focuses more on the people, culture, history, geography, or various other aspects of a location – instead of only the food.

No Reservations Australia was about food. Not necessarily Australian food either. More like food that happened to be made in Australia. Like so many other places on this planet, globalization is in full effect in Melbourne, Australia. The food is heavily influenced, if not outright made and served by, people from other cultures around the world. This episode, rather than focusing on the Australia we all think we know (shrimp on a barbie, Aborigines eating bats in the outback, and kangaroos) it focused on the side of Australia we probably never knew was there. I blame Crocodile Dundee for my skewed view of Australia.

I suppose Tony’s little black book being chocked full of amazing chefs all over the world helps – since we undoubtedly saw a side of Melbourne cuisine that most of us probably couldn’t afford. But I’m ok with that. No Reservations is the world through Tony’s eyes – not mine. Through Tony’s contacts, budget, and experience – not mine. And every single week I look forward to that… whether or not it depicts an experience that I could ever have or not.

Shrimp over pasta

I decided to make something a little different for this episode. Yes, I made shrimp but I decided to add a little bit of an Italian flare (read: make my own basic tomato sauce and throw it over pasta). There was no indication that Italy has had any real effect on the food in Melbourne, Australia in this episode (although I’m sure it has)… but there was a lot of showing many other areas that obviously have had a huge impact. British, Lebanese, and Sichuan influences were highlighted the most. I need some Sichuan food at my next opportunity.

When No Reservations focuses on food everything else seems to fall into place.

Threatening pig traps woman

September 26th, 2008

Wild pig.

Wild Pig, Florida – ricksege

Finally some real news! A 63-year old woman learns a lesson that many learn by feeding a stray cat; never feed a wild animal. However, Caroline Hayes didn’t feed a helpless stray cat that became a nuisance thereafter.  She fed a 176 pound wild pig.

Neighbors, who have observed the pig taking a mattress out of Caroline’s garage and ripping it to shreds, have named the pig Bruce. Cute. Rangers, who came to transport the pig, brought too small of a cage. Well played. And Ms. Hayes is trapped in her home because, well, a huge hungry pig can be pretty aggressive.

The current plan is to trap the pig and send it to a piggery for butchering. As irony would have it, Ms. Hayes is a vegetarian, so she will not be getting any sort of sweet revenge on Bruce.

You may send the bacon thisaway plz.

The lesson? Never feed a wild animal that is larger than you are unless you intend to eat it.

Source: BBC News: Large pushy pig traps Australian.
Via: Boing Boing.

Benjamin Wilken’s Australian adventure

July 18th, 2008

A nine year old boy in my area recently won a trip to Australia with National Geographic.

“For Benjamin Wilken, it was the chance of a lifetime. He wrote a 300-word essay on how he became a young explorer, attached a photograph he took, put it in the mail and now, months later, he is packing his bags for an all-expense-paid trip down under with National Geographic.”

When I was younger I remember my grandparent’s library holding hundreds of copies of National Geographic Magazine.  They had a subscription to the magazine for, what had to be, decades.  The best part about it was that they shared this subscription with my father, who would take an edition home after my grandfather was done reading it.  I would, in turn, read (or at the very least look at the photos) the editions after he was done.

At the time I didn’t really realize how great an opportunity I had, being exposed to such incredible journalism and information from around the world at my finger-tips, long before I ever signed onto the Internet.

Benjamin Wilken, who started playing with a digital camera around the age of 6, went a step further than I ever did.  He read the magazines and even entered a contest in it.  To be fair, he has a subscription to National Geographic Kids – perhaps the reading is a tad-bit lighter.

His love for photography, the subscription to the magazine, and his attention to the material is now paying dividends. He and his father have an all-expense paid trip to Tazmania. Based on the experience Leo Laporte had (which I loosely linked to in April of this year), I’m sure he’s in for an incredible Australian adventure.

Source: Wayne County Student on Aussie Adventure.

A comet, lightning, and fireworks

July 7th, 2008

Perth Australia beach lit up by fireworks.

Talk about a photographic trifecta.  The Astronomy Picture Of The Day, from July 5th, is a photo taken in January 2007 in Perth, Australia wherein a group of people watching the Australia Day celebratory fireworks catch a glimpse of Comet McNaught and a lightning storm.

You might be wondering what the Aussies are doing on the beach in January, wearing shorts no less.  Let us not forget our solstices.

The photo is amazing, stunning, and extremely well captured.  The editor for APOD hits the nail right on the head when they wrote: “Sometimes the sky itself is the best show in town.”

Source: APOD 2008 July 5 - Comet Between Fireworks and Lightning.

Leo Laporte’s photo kit

April 15th, 2008

Leo Laporte recently went to Tasmania on a photography adventure. Sponsored by O’Reilly and Adobe’s Photoshop Lightroom, the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Adventure on the Australian island seemed to be a blast (and you can consider me jealous).

Recently Leo went through his bag and showed off his photo kit that he brought with him to Tasmania, why he chose to bring what he did, and how it uses each of the things in his bag. Leo is sporting a Canon 5D with a three or four lenses. Watch the the video for more, or click through to his blog and watch it.

Source: Packing My Kit : LOL: The Life of Leo.