Posts from 2010

Posted on Sat, 02/01/2010

We are back into restaurant matters today. Rick's just headed out on the bike for an hour or so, having been up to the berry farm, and got all sorts of other stuff organised over at the restaurant. The boys have been prepping...>>>

Posted on Sat, 02/01/2010

This link is to a TV programme in the States featuring Eric Ripert from Le Bernardin. In this particular episode he explores a garden affiliated with a restaurant in California, and I found it inspiring listening to 2 chefs...>>>

Posted on Mon, 04/01/2010

I'm not especially a fan of New Years Resolutions, but Chris sent me thru this little annotation at the weekend, and I decided it wouldn't be too bad a philosophy to attempt to adhere too over the coming year...   TWO...>>>

Posted on Wed, 06/01/2010

It is a glorious day - sunny and still. We went up the Mount this morning, and came home to breakfast at the out side table, far from the maddening crowds at the Mount. There doesn't appear to be any visual sign of the holiday...>>>

Posted on Wed, 06/01/2010

I've always admired Jancis Robinsons ability to call it the way she sees it - so many supposed critics are little more than PR mouthpieces, with no original grunt.  This lady has always struck me as been made of sterner...>>>

Posted on Wed, 06/01/2010

A customer of ours, who we knew well - he and his family came to France with us a few years back - died last year from motor neuron disease. A disease that came on very suddenly about 18 months ago, and which processed inexorably...>>>

Posted on Sun, 10/01/2010

I mentioned in the electronic version of the newsletter which went out last nite ( the hard copy one takes a little longer to get out there - I'll be doing the envelopes for it,  for the rest of today, and Simpson Print...>>>

Posted on Mon, 11/01/2010

I get daily emails from  tizwine.com, which is a roundup of news from anywhere in the world relating to the wine industry, and usually makes for interesting reading. This link is to a US based article, predicting the...>>>

Posted on Mon, 11/01/2010

Years ago - honestly can't remember exactly when, but would be at least 10 I'd say - Rick featured on Peta Matias'   Taste NZ series. It was a fascinating experience to watch the filming process - I have photos...>>>

Posted on Thu, 14/01/2010

We have history with people. We have that becos we've been here for nearly 24 years, and seen alot of people over a lot of time, and theres been an awful lot of living go on over that period. Without any doubt, I can state...>>>

Posted on Thu, 14/01/2010

We've had a really good nite in the restaurant, and I've flicked back over to the house feeling nice and mellow, to watch the finish of the Elite National Road Cycling Championships. Tonite was the male race, and its always...>>>

Posted on Sat, 16/01/2010

I mentioned in the latest newsletter ( the hard copy of which will be posted tomorrow, and the electronic copy has already gone - theres a copy on the website),  that our field of reference for what we do here at Somerset...>>>

Posted on Tue, 19/01/2010

I have been approached by someone who is doing a research project on the history of restaurants in NZ, and who was especially interested at my time at Bonapartes - a restaurant that I worked in in the late 70's when I was...>>>

Posted on Wed, 20/01/2010

The arrival of this book was impeccably timed, becos it made perfect reading for my here and now. Kenny Shopsin and his wife Eve started out with a corner grocery store in New York over 35 years ago, and when the landlord...>>>

Posted on Sun, 24/01/2010

Well, well, well. I dipped into this book almost reluctantly, becos I've never been taken by Heston Blumenthal when I've happened to catch him on TV. But John, one of our sous chefs,  had brought the book in to show...>>>

Posted on Tue, 26/01/2010

This link is to a Michael Ruhlman blog on the subject of salt - one of those vexatious issues that get brought up a lot in cookschools, becos Rick uses salt in his cooking, since he believes firmly that it improves, enhances...>>>

Posted on Thu, 28/01/2010

I am no computer buff, but I do enjoy the daily updates I get on American politics from the Daily Beast, and this afternoon becos I had nothing else to do, I'd gone to flick thru the updates, and by fortuitous timing caught...>>>

Posted on Thu, 28/01/2010

Tonite is very quiet in the restaurant, so I've been over, had a discussion with Rhonda about the setup for the cookschool in the morning - we have our first one in the series due to start - tasted the cherry icecream which...>>>

Posted on Sat, 30/01/2010

I never knew that each snowflake has a unique and quite beautiful formation. Not living with snow, and seldom having ever handled it, its just not something I needed to think about. But this link shows some how truly exquisite ...>>>

Posted on Sat, 30/01/2010

Rick has a love for boiled dishes, and I usually try and discourage him when he wants to put some sort of poached meat on the menu. Pot au feu may be much loved in France and Bollito misto is recognised as a classic in Italy,...>>>