Morsels: Batlow Cider Festival, coffee lessons and Tweenhills chestnuts

More nuts
And more chestnuts news. Tweenhills chestnut farm will be at the Fyshwick markets on May 17 with a cart of winter roast chestnuts.

It’s juicy
Autolyse’s new cold pressed juice cafe has opened on Lonsdale Street, just two doors down from the bakery. We’ve sampled the “Radiant Green” juice - celery, cucumber, spinach, lettuce and pear, and it was pretty refreshing. This is the third cold pressed venture to start up in recent months in Canberra, behind The Fix and Local Press cafe.

Cider house
The Canberra Environment Centre's series of Locavore food workshops continues this month with an apple cider making class. It's on May 17 and is run by Harry Watson. The workshop costs $80 and includes ingredients and the finished cider to take home. Bookings are required on 6248 0885 or on ecoaction.com.au

Cider festival
The Batlow Cider Festival is on again this year in the country town famous for its apples. Batlow's just about 3 hours from Canberra and the festival promises to bring some of Australia's best ciders together in one place. It's on May 17. See batlowciderfest.com.au for more.

Save the bears
If you're an animal lover as well as a foodie, you might like this unusual new cookbook. Vegetarian Recipes You Can Bear is a cookbook from the Animals Asia Foundation ACT support group. It's got simple photography and pleasing recipes for meat-free dishes such as lasagne and winter soups. Plus cute photos of bears because the book is a fundraiser to help the moon bear. The bear is often kept in cruel conditions because its bile is much prized in China. Animals Asia rescue the bears and care for them in sanctuaries. The cookbook is launched May 23 at Dymocks in the Canberra Centre at 6pm. It’s on sale at Dymocks for $30 or $25 direct from animalsasia.org.

Coffee lessons
Curtin cafe Red Brick Espresso will teach you how to get the perfect cup of coffee. The introductory course shows how the cafe roasts and brews its coffee and explains how to get the most of your cuppa at home. It's on May 24 - the two hour course starts at 1pm. Email redbrickespresso@gmail.com for bookings.

Shiraz showcase
Dan Murphy's is holding a shiraz showcase tomorrow at their shop in Phillip. Tickets are $30 and are available from danmurphys.com.au/list/shirazshowcase.

Rum Tuesdays
The Rum Bar is now opening on Tuesdays for your cocktail pleasure.

Oh dear
Last week in Morsels I mentioned the Camp Quality Supper Club fundraising dinner which is being supported by restaurants across Canberra. And, in a rather awkward slip, I managed to give Aubergine owner Ben Willis the surname of his business partner Chris Darragh. Apologies to both. Willis’s support for Camp Quality stems from his mum and the Supper Club is being held this Thursday.