Enter the readers' contest
01 May 2011 - 15 Jun 2011
Who would you have at your table?
This month we launch a new competition for our readers.
All you have to do to win a magical meal for two at the fabulous Jing Jo Thai Restaurant is to let your imagination loose on an interesting concept.
Imagine you are planning to have a dinner party (in your own home) with spouse or partner as co-host and can invite four people to share the table.
You can ask any person you wish to nominate from history or from the world of today.
Gender is irrelevant (all males, all females or any combination of the sexes) that is up to you.
Perhaps you might choose, Colonel Ghaddafi, Mahatma Ghandi, Mother Teresa and Winston Churchill as a group.
Or Benazir Bhutto, Indira Ghandi, Margaret Thatcher and Madame Curie
Or if sport is your go something like, Sir Donald Bradman, Mohammed Ali, Betty Cuthbert and Yvonne Goolagong could be an interesting group.
For those of deeper thought what about Plato, Aristotle, Shakespeare and Rousseau sharing the “nosh up”?
In addition to the names you choose please write a short paragraph of why you have nominated each person to your dinner party and what you were setting out to achieve in the balance. And lastly (apart from your name and contact details) what taste sensations will your guests receive on your menu for a three course dinner?
To give you some inspiration we have sample entries from Rosemary Stanton and “The seasonal chef” two of our Valley Voice columnists.
Who I would ask to dinner
From the seasonal chef
So the brief is to create a three course meal with four guests from the past or present. Hmmm, where do I start?
So many possibilities, who do I invite and what are we eating… where are we at that time? Letting the imagination run wild for a while this is what I came up with.
Picture this… sitting in plush velvet chairs at a long wooden table in a 1400 century castle on the North York moors.
It’s the middle of winter and we have open fires raging the table lit by candlelight while the wine has been flowing. Sitting at my table are four guests that have all been chosen for a specific reason.
Apart from these four guests my family and friends are all sitting around to enjoy this joyous occasion as well. Hey if you can bring people back from the dead I’m sure we can sneak in a few extra people right!
My Guests,
Frank Sinatra
For every great feast you should always have some amazing entertainment. So Old Blue Eyes will be singing for his supper tonight.
Roald Dahl
As well as great music we all need an amazing story teller. To be able to sit down and revisit the stories from my childhood by this author would be priceless.
Heston Blumenthal
Heston is one chef that I really admire for his brilliant work in the culinary field. His food is crazy but delicious and has a real twist. Hopefully he might share some of his journeys and give us an insight into his warped mind.
Leonardo di Vinci
This guest is here to be my Pictionary partner for obvious reasons. Hopefully he may stay around long enough to give me some pointers on sketching as well.
The Menu:
Entrée
Roast wild mushroom soup with chive cream served with sourdough
and freshly churned butter
Main
Suckling pig with garden vegetables, crispy roast potatoes and red wine jus
Dessert
Trio of desserts- crème brulee, hazelnut gelato and sticky date pudding with toffee sauce
Hope you enjoyed the evening as much as me. Goodnight!
Who I would ask for dinner
Rosemary Stanton
As someone who tries to convince people to take action on health, I’d invite some inspirational people who have kept struggling until their commonsense ideas were accepted by the powers of the day.
They include:
Captain James Lind
This Scottish naval surgeon conducted one of the first careful experiments to see how he could prevent scurvy.
Among the remedies commonly believed to be effective, he trialled seawater; cider vinegar; an elixir of vitriol; a mixture of garlic, mustard seed, balsam and gum myrrh; and citrus fruits. Only the fruit worked.
Lind wrote a treatise on the topic in 1753 and after 40 years of persuasion on his part, the government of the day finally accepted it. Captain Cook stuck his neck out and followed Lind’s advice and kept his sailors free from scurvy.
Dr John Snow
A true pioneer, Snow was the eldest of nine children and studied to become a surgeon.
He was one of the first doctors to use ether and chloroform as an anaesthetic and personally gave chloroform to Queen Victoria.
Snow was also sceptical of the idea that cholera was caused by ‘bad air’.
He identified the source of cholera as a public water pump and when the authorities didn’t believe him, he persuaded the local council to remove the handle from the pump.
The epidemic stopped.
Kamal Kar
An Indian man who currently works on the Community-led Total Sanitation (CTLS) project which has improved sanitation in 43 countries by focusing on the behavioural change needed for practical and sustainable improvements.
Mr Kar has raised awareness of sanitation problems at a local community level by enthusing people to develop local and simple solutions so they develop feelings of ownership and sustainability.
I’d sit Kar next to Snow.
Professor Ian Lowe
Ian is currently head of the Australian Conservation Foundation and Professor of Science, Technology and Society.
He is also a leading climate change scientist and produced the first national report on the state of Australia's environment.
Ian is wise, quietly spoken, and always respectful, but solid as a rock in his commitment to change.
I suspect he and Lind would get on well.
The menu
The food would be simple and something that I could prepare ahead of time, so as not to miss the scintillating conversation.
I’d serve some finger foods with drinks instead of a first course – cherry tomatoes stuffed with pesto, a smoky baba ghanoush and an avocado dip with colourful vegetables.
For the main course: Moroccan chicken tagine with chickpeas; green beans with almonds; roasted rosemary potatoes and a salad picked from the garden.
Dessert would be peeled and sliced oranges marinated in Cointreau with caramelised orange peel.
Editor’s note.
My thanks to our two columnists for their interesting and thoughtful submissions with respect to both the choice of guests and the menu for the dinner.
We are now keen to see the range of options and choices that our readers can devise.
Entries by e-mail to thevoice@kangaroovalley.nsw.au or by post to Kangaroo Valley Voice C/- Post Office, Kangaroo Valley. NSW 2577
Entries will be received
up until June 15, 2011
Multiple entries are encouraged
to cater for those who wish to have more than one dinner party.