Editor's letter

In our final edition for the year, Adam Liaw offers Christmas recipes for those who need it quick and easy – turkey with his favourite childhood orange and Cointreau glaze, a pavlova that he promises is foolproof (and which is covered in white chocolate cream – you should only use the expensive white chocolate here), and oysters with gin and tonic.

He’s a great talent and very funny, and I always think of him as the Guy Sebastian of food – one making his name through MasterChef, the other through Australian Idol but both so right in the spotlight.

Also this week, Diana Lampe offers a really delicious rice pudding, with whipped cream folded through, giving it a gorgeous lightness, almonds inside and a cherry sauce. This is a luxurious celebratory dish which I’ll be making over Christmas.

Robbie Howard offers cheese biscuits to have with drinks, and pickled vegetables which go brilliantly with leftover meat in your Boxing Day sandwich.

Food and Wine resumes on January 15. In the meantime, I’ll be fishing in the Marlborough Sounds, barbecuing in Marlborough wine country, and camping in Martinborough wine country. All of which will be fun, but the thing I love best about every day over Christmas and the New Year is dinner. So much celebrating to do.

Happy eating, and we’ll talk again in the new year.

Morsels

What's open

It’s the old Canberra dilemma: where to eat over the Christmas break? The restaurant shutdown is especially troublesome when you have relatives in town and want to show them what the city has to offer, and you’ve got time to eat out as well. This year, like others, most places are closed, many until January 14, but all is not lost. Some open earlier, and thanks to the growing number of decent hotel-attached eateries, there are options.

Jamie’s Italian is open every day except Christmas Day (closing early on Christmas Eve). A. Baker in New Acton is closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, but otherwise it’s open throughout. Ox Eatery in Kingston is closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, then open for a week, including on New Year’s Eve, closing again until January 6.

At Bungendore, Le Tres Bon is also open most days, closed only on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Waters Edge is closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, but otherwise open for normal trading. Courgette in the city is also closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, but otherwise largely open.

Mocan and Green Grout closes from December 21, reopening on January 2 (but will run daytime hours on December 28 and 29).

In Barton, Malamay is open on December 27 and 28, then closes till January 15. Its sister restaurant at the Campbell shops, Lanterne Rooms, is closed right through.

In the city, Italian and Sons is closed from December 22, but opens a week earlier than many others, trading again from January 6. It’s the same for Eighty-Six just up the road in Lonsdale Street.

Sage, in Gorman House reopens on January 3.

Schmidt joins wine institute

Nobel laureate Brian Schmidt appears to have the capacity to live many lives at once, seemingly on a never-ending plane flight around the world while at the same time making wine and looking after a budding trufferie at Sutton, where he still fires up the pizza oven on weekends, keeps a bread starter alive, and does plenty of family cooking. Plus he works as an astrophysicist at the ANU (where he tweeted after the latest Australian Research Council funding round: “For all those AUS scientists who missed out in the @arc_gov_au round, if it provides consolation, I liked my proposal that didn't get up too”, which seems extraordinary). Among his posts, Schmidt also serves on three government advisory boards. Now, he’s added another job to the list, joining the board of the Australian Wine Research Institute. He brings to the board “a unique combination of scientific excellence, wine industry knowledge and relevant board experience”, chairman Peter Dawson says, and that about sums it up.

Urban Food liquidation

The Urban Food store in the New Acton precinct has gone into liquidation, closing its doors a fortnight ago. Liquidator Deloitte is looking to sell the business, which is both cafe and mini-supermarket. This was always a handy place to buy stuff when we lived on campus, and it was big on organics, but it seemed one of the more expensive places to do your shopping. It was also handy for wine - especially as Mocan and Green Grout a couple of doors down is BYO only, but Molonglo Group food and beverage manager Michael Gray says both A. Baker and Hotel Hotel in the precinct are licensed to sell alcohol to takeaway - and A. Baker does a retail discount off its wine list prices. The Urban Food leased the space from the Molonglo Group.

Sweet treats

The Boat House by the Lake gained some national recognition recently, when Gourmet Traveller's Canberra reviewer, Gareth Meyer, named its pumpkin cheesecake ice cream his favourite dish of the year. The ice cream comes with black sesame custard, goat’s cheese ‘‘panna cotta’’ and salted honey popcorn, he says, and is the outcome of giving ‘‘a troop of siphon-wielding young chefs’’ carte blanche to overhaul a tired kitchen. The Boat House is managed by James Souter, who has taken over the business from his father. The executive chef is John Leverink. The magazine's food editor, Pat Nourse, nominated Sydney’s Cafe Paci as the biggest news in Sydney food this year, in the hands of former Marque chef Pasi Petanen. He, too, nominated a dessert – carrot in yoghurt mousse with salted liquorice. Canberra’s Eighty-six would also have been happy with the attention of Gourmet Traveller, with its caramel popcorn sundae making the magazine’s cover earlier in the year.

New Year’s Eve

A Baker is putting on a New Year’s Eve party, offering a 10-course ‘‘grazing menu’’, with the likes of rabbit rillettes with beetroot; pickled Eden mackerel with brioche; asparagus with goat’s curd; local mushrooms with a 63C egg and polenta; spaghettini with cured and smoked lamb’s liver and egg yolk, silverbeet and parmesan; and black forest cake with kirsch panna cotta. On the drinks list, local wines, and cocktails using Australian spirits, among them a whisky sour using Melbourne Starward whisky, and a cocktail made with Tasmanian 666 Vodka, pear schnapps, lime and cranberry. You’re free to roam the venue, ordering what you want and when, with live music in both courtyards and in the basement bar. 7pm-1am, $160, hello@abaker.com.au. The Hyatt also has New Year’s Eve events – a dinner buffet in the Promenade Cafe (adults $110, children $55), and a party in the tea lounge and garden with music ($180).

Giveaways

The winner of our Kitchen Garden giveaway of Don Burke’s new book on herbs was Michael McDevitt, of Gordon. The winner of our Trentham hamper giveaway was Peter Fakan.