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The new Queensland Wine Centre has opened!!! It is at Cedar Creek winery in Hartley Rd, not far from the Cooking School. Premier Anna Bligh was there to open it officially today. Fourteen of the Granite Belts top wineries are showcasing their wines there. This nicely compliments the other wines available on the Mountain. If you have always wished Stanthorpe was closer, come to Mt Tamborine instead, it is all here!!!

I also now submit food articles and recipes at www.tamborinedailystar.com look for “Terris Kitchen” along the top. New rhubarb story.

Spring is the best time in my garden for Italian food, all of the crisp salad leaves and herbs are young and tender. In the new classes learn how to make all the classics like pesto, napoli sauce, risotto, ravioli and polenta  as well as decadent deserts tiramisu and ice creams.
Tomorrow will be Spring and the weather will be warm enough to plant your herbs and salad leaves.  It really is a necessity to have fresh herbs on hand. Water daily and fertilize regularly. Use them while they are young and tender and dress with the best olive oil, it is one of the secrets of a healthy Mediterranean diet. Plant rocket, any lettuce, basil, mint, parsley, coriander, radishes,cucumber, cherry tomatoes, any thing you like.

Tamborine Cooking School now has a facebook page. Look at it for recipes and cooking tips and answers to culinary questions.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiqKgdU0Yjs for a brief demonstration.

On Sunday we had a wonderful day at Witches Falls Winery (on Tamborine Mountain) , it was their members day featuring cheeses from
Witches Chase cheesery matched with new released wines (email me and I will send the tasting details) I have been a member there for 3 years and I have seen their vintages improve and expand. Their “Wild Ferment” range is exceptional, I love the Marsane and Grenache. I also use the Saignee and Co-inoculated Verdelho in the cooking school, these wines match the Middle Eastern flavours that I seem to be doing a lot of lately so well. Jon the owner and wine maker along with David the grape grower give the grapes and wine as much love and nurturing as a parent with a baby, and the results are worth it.  A quote for you-

wine makes every meal an occasion,
everytable more elegant,
every day more civilized.
(Andre Simon,”Commonsense of Wine)

Great news!  I can get fresh seafood delivered to me on the mountain. It comes straight from the trawlers at the Gold Coast seaway. So expect to see a lot more prawns, fish and other seafood delicacies on the menus. For locals Grant sets up his van next to the bakery on Main St on Saturday mornings. I think Bouillabaisse will have to be added to the French menu and Chermoula prawns to the Middle Eastern. My mouth is watering!

Menus and dates are now on the booking schedule for October and November.

I have been in heaven trialing the new “Moroccan” and “Spanish ” menus. The beautiful flavours of these cuisines are intoxicating, think about orange blossom water, saffron, smoked paprika, cinnamon and roasted almonds. Cooked with fresh seafood and organic free range chicken. I cooked the famous Moroccan Bastela Pie at a Media event yesterday and not a crumb was left. It will be the centre peace for the new Moroccan menu. I get my spices from gourmetspiceblends  (a local bussiness on Gallery walk and at markets) or mail order through herbies.

Along with Kylie Kwong (celebrity chef), Matthew Evans (TVs The Gourmet Farmer), Clarence Stocklee (ABCs Gardening Australia presenter). And about 20 others I am off to Italy. I am lucky to be chosen as an Australian delegate to attend “Terra Madre” a biannual sustainable food conference organised by Slow Food. It will be a huge opportunity for me to learn about the Italian way of eating and sustainable food trends. When I get back I can share my knowledge with you at the cooking school as well as talk to schools, garden clubs and food groups. www.slowfood.com

On Friday night in Brisbane I was lucky enough to attend a cooking class and a dinner with the one and only larger than life doyen of Australian food. She is a lovely lady very generous with her information and so jolly. She has been in 4 states in 3 days, in Sydney judging “Master Chef” they are down to the final 3, but didn’t give any thing away, then to Canberra to make a “Constitution ” cake, then back to Adelaide, so she would have been a bit tired. But it didn’t show, her enthusiasm was contagious. She loves all food  produced locally -to her the Barossa. So it enforces the belief that I have in the food produced in my SE Qld and Tamborine region. I have been able to source fantastic Organic chicken from Inglewood and especially bred lamb from a regional co-op run by families. These places take extra care of their animals and it does taste so much better. We haven’t quite got the amount of wineries as the Barossa but I am more than satisfied with the SE Qld quality. A few tips I picked up are where to source Australian grown pepper corns, capers and vanilla beans. Watch out for them being used in my classes.