Alice Springs news
Alice Springs news; NewspaperNT
2010-09-23
This publication contains may contain links to external sites. These external sites may no longer be active.
This publication contains many links to external sites. These external sites may no longer be active.
English
Community newspspers; Australia, Central; Alice Springs (N.T.); Newspapers
Erwin Chlanda
Alice Springs
v. 17 issue 34
application/pdf
Copyright. Made available by the publisher under licence.
Erwin Chlanda
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C00042
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/232924
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/659688
accompanied by a delicious tea, in china cups of course, made from riverland mint, native to eastern Australia. In the Dessert category the win went to Ange Vincent for her Passion Brulee, a creme brulee flavoured by native passionfruit, which has a delectable light pumpkin-like flavour. Ms Vincent can deliver on the requirements of classic recipes but allows her bushfoods to speak strongly through them, in taste, texture and presentation. The beautiful orange of the passionfruit, which shed harvested herself and painstakingly pulped to remove the bitter seeds, could be fully appreciated in the glass coffee cups she used to serve. The wild passionfruit was new taste to Mr Fielke. A noteworthy new taste for me was the mulga apple used by Carol Turner to make a jelly, with a wonderfully light, refreshing taste and a slightly nutty texture (her only additives were a small amount of sugar and gelatin leaf). In the Wildcard category Ms Vincent presented an Assiette de lapin, a mixed plate of rabbit, using the whole carcass to make variously a terrine, a confit and cured meat. A memorable taste sensation was the cured meat topped with a bush orange jelly. Runners up in the Dessert category were acclaimed particularly for the aesthetic of their creations. Raeleen Beale served a quandong icrecream in a bowl made from ice in which shed trapped mint leaves and quandong peel. These touches of green and red in the transparent ice had the delicacy of an exquisite piece of china (it sat inside a glass bowl, of course, and on a warm day would prevent the icecream from melting too quickly). Suzante Kelly was inspired by the West MacDonnells landscape, building towering forms from wattleseed brownies, and boulder-like mounds from burnt orange-coloured macaroons. Mr Fielke told guests at Sundays gala bushfoods dinner that he had been blown away by some of the competition entries; they were outstanding, exhibiting such creativity. This assessment comes from a man who has seen over many years, as he said, a lot of dishes made from native foods. He spoke of the possibility of a community kitchen being established, perhaps using the facilities at CDU, in which people could make foods to a commercial standard when ingredients come into season. This could be the basis of a small industry. Its smarter to value add here, he said, urging organisations like Desert Knowledge, the council and the government to get involved. An important step nationally has been the creation in 2006 of Australian Native Food Industry Limited as a peak body to lobby for research and industry development. Mr Fielke also spoke about recent victories for the industry in getting some bushfoods, such as lemon myrtle, recognised as traditional rather than novel, which makes a difference to the way they can be exported. This represents a huge turning point for the industry, he says: it will help with the future recognition of further foods from the incredible array native to Australia. POP VULTURE with CAMERON BUCKLEY: Mask-a-raiders! Last Saturdays Melting Moments Masquerade Ball at Montes served up a layer cake of music. Local ensemble Los Bandeleros Perdidos have reached a new maturity not only their instrumental bonding, but the very stage presence bouncing off this Alice-born rhythmic octopus is more than worthy of out of towners getting a taste. The cluster of musicians summarise desert festival spirit, with the organic percussion of their sound, and the balance of emotion on stage (the stone-faced musicians in the background combining with the facial animation of the front man). It was good to hear this group again. The fact that they have spaced their last few shows further apart seems to have heightened their sense for live performance. Sound check between sets gave ball-goers opportunity for their own type of theatrics. Extroversions, small suppressed quirks, and any other undercurrent of mannerisms people stash away, are turned loose when someone dons a mask. The entire evening had this warm blunt edge of happiness snaking its way in and out of the gathering punters. With the barrage of events recently gifted to the town coming to an end, there was the desire to hang on to the after-glow of the past 10 days. With a collective local force that constantly has people from interstate challenging their preconceived ideas of Alice nightlife, the ever-reliable Alice event regulars produced a unique brand of entertainment.