spicemag – Abstract Gourmet

Vale Spice Magazine

It was very sad news for me (and the food loving community of Perth) when recently Spice Magazine announced that it had printed it’s last issue in Winter of 2011.

I’ve been a contributor to SPICE for the last 4 years. Since editor Anthony Georgeff decided that perhaps they might be able to make something out of my ramshackle scribblings. Since then I’ve been able to write articles on all manner of topics for SPICE including which types of pans you should choose for your kitchen, how to cut vegetables like a chef does, which iced coffee is least likely to make you heave, and espousing little paragraphed sized opinions on what’s good and not-so-good to eat in our fine city.

I love the magazine and what it stood for. The content was parochially West Australian and came from a place of deep sincerity. The front cover of each magazine always featured a person, rather than a fancy dish or some gratuitous food porn photo – reason being that it’s people who make the food industry keep running, and without the efforts of local farmers, chefs, baristas, restauranteurs, wine makers, and producers – we’d be much less better off.

I hope it’s not the last time we see SPICE. The magazine always tread the line between the commercial world and the food world with thoughtful dexterity (perhaps to their own detriment), and any other publications hoping to move into the void they have left open will have very big shoes to fill.

On a directly personal note, SPICE also had a hand to play in the direction of my life. If Anthony hadn’t found space for my article on local providore “Spanish Flavours” in Wembley two years ago, my future wife (who was working there at the time) would not have read it 2 months later and been prompted to (finally!) get in touch.

So thanks for the memories SPICE, and I hope we meet again in print, sometime soon.

SPICE Spring 09 – SpanishFlavours

SPICE Spring 08 Master Cuts

September : The Month that Was

So I am still alive. And in lieu of writing one of those smarmy posts about how busy I’ve been and how I should be posting more but am too tired/lazy/incontinent and how I’ve also been recovering from surgery, mourning my cat that just died, and trying to fix my broken computer… I thought I’d just go back and revisit the month that was September, and a few of the more meaningful events that happened. As always, in pictoral form… because we all know that a pictures worth a thousand words (unless of course you’re an editor, then they’re worth bugger all).

Corrigin Wildflowers

It was back to the country to help my parents out at the 2007 Corrigin Agricultural Society Show. The bouncy castle was getting a severe workout, the arts and crafts and tractor rides were in fine form, and in a little tent on the corner of the football oval, we had a mobile cafe set up churning out countless coffee’s and delectable treats to locals and visiting dignitary’s (Nicky Windmar and (Federal MP and all round hard head) Wilson Tuckey).

After the hectic pace of the show, we took a little time to relax and enjoy the peaceful nothingness that is the wheatbelt in the springtime. A short trip out of town to the dog cemetary for some sombre reflection, before checking out the wildflower drive, which had Sharon nearly hyperventilating in a state of flower induced frenzy.

Birthday Partays

Then it was back to big smoke for party shenanigans. Sharon and I have birthdays which are two days apart. So a semi tradition is forming whereby we group all of our friends into one big basket, and force them to pretend to get along while I drunkenly mingle my way around everyone. This seems to work out pretty well most years, and this year was no different. A great turn out of friends new and old came down to Must Wine Bar (the only wine bar in Perth I would consistently rate) and had a great night of food and drinks and laughs and the occasional puff on a Davidoff cigarillo.

Pre-drinks eating was done at the one and only Suraj, the simplest and best Indian I’ve had the pleasure of partaking in a long time (If you haven’t been there before, go soon, he’ll be closing down soon), before moving a few doors down to Must for Yering Station Pinot (thanks Manda), Pandalowie Tempranillo (cheers Christretto), Armagnac (what were you thinking Ben ??), and who knows what else…

Thanks to all the lovely people who came out and made it a great night for both Sharon and I. Boo’s and Hisses to anyone who bailed :)

In other news I may have had another coffee article in the Spring edition of the excellent Spice Magazine (which was in fact excellent before I started writing for it, and I’m not just saying that now because I am, although I’m sure it doesn’t hurt). It’s about the transition from instant coffee drinker, to espresso aficionado. If that kind of thing sounds interesting, please go and pick up a copy, or even better, buy a subscription !

Oh, and I also joined a gym… food blogging is not without it’s pit falls.

Spice Mag Launch

I was lucky enough to score an invite to the launch of Perth’s newest magazine, Spice, by the ever charismatic Anthony of Spice Blog.

So Sharon and I dolled up and swaggered down to see what all the commotion was about.
Having no idea what to expect, we were a little suprised to see so many people. Upon entering we were given our ticket for the door prize (no, we didn’t win… I don’t think anyone ever does), and then processed to taste and sip every little tasty freebie on offer.

It was really well set up, with all of the main advertisers in the first issue having a stand of their produce. Wine, beer, olive oil, lamb, prawns, wood fired pizza, turkish bread, and various other little tasty goodies.

The event was held at the office/kitchen of Comestibles, a catering company in Perth that also runs cooking classes and events. They’ve got a great setup in there and we were all invited to wander through the kitchens and watch the chef’s at work. So roughly 50 people at a time packed themselves into the kitchen and filed around past more tables of goodies to get a taste of seared trout and mushroom crepes. Which all went down very well with the 2nd or 3rd glass of wine i was onto.

It was in the kitchen where we got to meet Mr Spice Blog himself (and his lovely wife Toni), keeping the party rolling by cutting up loaves of bread… (he may have been replicating fish as well, but this is yet to be confirmed). After a quick chat, we wandered around some more, ran into Corey and Ben of Core Espresso and Coffee Geek fame, and generally stuffed ourselves with as many little tid bits as was possible without looking like pigs.

(Nb: It’s always advantageous to bring a girl along for these purposes as they never get suspected)

So all in all it was a lovely event. Great to see so many foodies in Perth turning up, and great to see so much support for what looks like a really great magazine. The first issue has a lot of really nice articles in there, and the production quality is top notch, so congratulations to the team for doing such a good job.

Looking forward to picking up issue 2 !