A long time between drinks

Forgive the above title, it's colloquial and catchy but aside from that complete bullshit. Our self-assigned mission to visit all the cellar doors in the Canberra region has meant that casa notional has been awash with local vino for more than 12 months.

What it has been a long time between, is fresh posts - something I'm aiming to rectify very soon. In the meantime, I've noticed Bryan Martin, winemaker at Ravensworth and Clonakilla, is now blogging a selection of his Canberra Times food columns and it's well worth a look. Finally, if you're after thoughtful wine reviews and reports* then Chris Shanahan's site is the one to bookmark.




*On the other hand, if you enjoy too many footnotes and weak jokes, then head straight to our notional archives.

A message from John Hartigan on behalf of Aussie journalism

Then there are the bloggers.

In return for their free content, we pretty much get what we’ve paid for - something of such limited intellectual value as to be barely discernible from massive ignorance.

News Limited Chairman and CEO John Hartigan in a speech to the National Press Club on 1 July, text via Crikey.


Consider yourself warned. Now go out and buy a print copy of The Australian, you digital backsliders. And no smartarse questions about what The Punch most resembles either.

Tags:
Canberra, John Hartigan,bloggers, journalism.

Blue and green easily seen

Christine Wallace of the ever handy Breakfast Politics took these shots of blue green algae in Lake Curly Gherkin. Gotta feel sorry for the swans...

Tags:
Canberra, Lake Burley Griffith,blue green algae, Breakfast Politics.

Much ado about nutting

When we first arrived in our notional capital it was April and one thing we noticed, apart from the birds, were the small, light tan, capped nuts that carpeted some of the footpaths around Kingston and the inner south.

After correctly identifying them as acorns (using a childhood template apparently furnished by Warner Bros), my next thought was whether they were edible.

I had a vague recollection indians native Americans used them as a foodstuff and that was about it. I forgot about acorns for another 12 months until I saw an old bloke in our street gathering them up as though it was a gardening chore, and then stowing them into a sack, which looked more like discreet harvesting. ‘A Pig,’ I thought at the time, ‘maybe he’s feeding the acorns to a pig.’

Now, another acorn season has come (and just about gone) and thanks to Angela over at Exotic Produce, Forgotten Basics and Gatherings I know all about acorns, including how to prepare them (questions answered with minimal effort... ain’t the interwebs grand).

And that means more time to watch educational cartoons.

Tags:
Canberra, acorns,Exotic Produce, Forgotten Basics and Gatherings, Canberra blogs.

Pinching a phrase

I stumbled across the neatly named The Berra Circular while trawling for Canberra info.

Miss Andrea writes a good post and has a habit of calling a prominent ACT water feature Lake Curly-Gherkin which made me haha face* immediately.

In the spirit of the interwebs, I intend to steal this phrase and use it as if it was my own. Must also start a definitive list of current Canberra blogs and buy some milk.

*Our Notional Capital equivalent to LOL or a smiley :)

Tags:
Canberra, Lake Curly-Gherkin,The Berra Circular, Canberra blogs.