- Link January Newsletter
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What I like about Steve Jobs
Having just finished Steve’s biography by Walter Issacson, after a couple of false starts, I now feel a great admiration for what he has accomplished.
Under pressure from my son Oliver, I dumped my Toshiba laptop for a MacBook pro three years ago after a virus wiped my hard-drive the day before I left on a trip to Europe.
I was forced to learn how to use it while stuck in a plane and it is fair to say that I have struggled to off-load nearly 20 years of Microsoft idiosyncrasies for the so-called “simpler” methods of the Mac. Things that would drive me mad were getting used to the short cut keys – Command P (print) or Command C (copy) that we had dropped with the click and point of the mouse - originally an Apple innovation. Remembering when to do a four- finger scroll or two finger scroll has taken persistence. Sorting out my folders in a Mac world is another story.
What I found out, when reading Steve’s biography was the background behind so many of these innovations. For instance, I had never thought about it, but a Mac does not have a fan. For my last two laptops, the incessant hum of the fan would upset my equilibrium – starting up and stopping for no apparent reason; not switching off at night so I would wake to find my computer overheated in the morning.
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Celia profiled in NZ Herald - life & earthquakes
Canterbury’s February earthquake has resulted in a move north for Celia Hay and her School of Food & Wine.
The lingering aroma of stale rubbish is a potent reminder to Celia Hay of the day she and her teenage boys, Oliver and Daniel, swooped into their earthquake-ravaged apartment to collect as many valuables as they could carry after the Christchurch earthquake on February 22. The stale smell still taints the family car; a less than pretty aromatic reminder of a bag of rubbish they also took out with them.
Within minutes, the earthquake had destroyed not only their home but also their restaurant, Hay’s, and the NZQA-registered food and wine school Hay began in 1995.
Read more here.
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Dining at Arzak in October
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Arzak, ranked 8th of the World’s top 50 restaurants, is located in the Basque seaside town of San Sebastian. I dined here in October, with my former student, Barbara Siblikova.
For me, dining in a restaurant where the chef-patron walks around during the service, greeting guests or discussing the menu is a special treat. This personalized involvement in a guest’s dining experience may not be realistic or indeed practical for many owners but it certainly makes it memorable.
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Recipes for Christmas Day dining
Here are some suggestions for you to consider - when thinking what to cook for Christmas..?
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Celia’s Special Brunch - Podoplaza - Seoul, South Korea
Celia’s braised beef pie with red wine and mushrooms served with seasonal greens and Airborne honey vinaigrette
Saturday 3 December
- Venue : Barn Bake Studio & Café
- 4th fl., Podo Plaza, 634-1, Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Korea
- Operation hours : 10am-11:30pm / 12pm-1:30pm / 2pm-3:30pm
- Number of guests : 30 PAX
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Celia’s Luncheon at Podoplaza - Seoul, South Korea
Come to our lunch!
Broth of Greenshell mussels infused with NZ Sauvignon Blanc bok choy
Clos Henri Sauvignon Blanc 2010Seared New Zealand beef with roast autumn vegetables, beef jus infused with NZ Pinot Noir
Clos Henri Pinot Noir
Sticky lemon and Airborne honey pudding with poached pears
Pegasus Bay Aria 2008http://closhenri.com
http://pegasusbay.comFriday 2 December
- Venue: Tsuji (culinary academy in podo plaza)
- Number of students : 10 PAX.
- Lecture time: 11am-1pm
- Cost: KW 100,000
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Robert Parker’s Magical 20 tasting - Part 1
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Just mention the name, Robert Parker, and most people in the wine world, seem to have an opinion -both good and bad.
When offered the opportunity to attend a tasting lead by Parker at Wine Future Hong Kong, I jumped at the chance. While he is primarily regarded as a wine critic, in being so, he is also inspirational as a communicator and educator.
At this tasting labeled, “Parker’s “Magical 20,” we tasted the Bordeaux wines that Parker described as forming the next tier below the famed first growth wines of Chateaux Lafite, Margaux et al.
A tasting of this magnitude for 1000 winelovers, required 20,000 glasses, 1400 bottles and 45 sommeliers to open them! As well, many of the Chateau had flown to Hong Kong just to be part of tasting and support their wines.
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Robert Parker’s Magical 20 Bordeaux tasting at Wine Future.
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Fundraising Dinner in NZ Listener
From Lauraine Jacobs in the New Zealand Listener.
Celia Hay started her New Zealand School of Food & Wine in Christchurch more than 16 years ago to train local and international students in culinary skills and wine appreciation, and provide a course that gave them commercially recognised qualifications. The school, housed in a building in central Christchruch, awaits decisions about how the city rebuilds and restructures itself after the earthquakes. In the meantime, Hay has moved the business to Auckland, where she recently organised a dinner to raise funds to give a number of Christchurch children a break.
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