Morsels: Nick O'Leary wins Stodart Trophy, RealChai baby and book, BrodDogs opens

Nick O'Leary wins Stodart Trophy
Canberra's Nick O'Leary has won the Stodart Trophy at the Brisbane Royal Show, a big prize for a young winemaker. The much coveted award is given to the best young red and O'Leary's 2013 shiraz triumphed with judges praising it as a "finer, elegant shiraz" focused on fruit. O'Leary also took home the Best Shiraz and the Best Red. He says this has been a great vintage for the district. "It's probably the best vintage I've seen in the 13 years I've been here," he says. "There's no doubt we're going to see a lot more awards given out to Canberra district wines over the course of the next few months." And while it's a great result for him personally, O'Leary is also quick to point out that the award will be good for the Canberra winemaking region as a whole. He's only produced about 1250 cases of the 2013 shiraz and "pretty much 50 per cent of it is spoken for in just this last week" since the win so you'd better get in quick if you want to sample any of the winning drop. O'Leary's won a following among wine lovers in the district and further afield in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney and the shiraz award can only bring him more fans.

Baby and book break for RealChai
Anthea Cahill, the founder of RealChai, is looking for a chai lover to be the new face of her business. Cahill is expecting her first baby in September and is looking for someone to look after the RealChai stall at the farmers market at Exhibition Park every Saturday, making chai and chatting to customers who've been used to picking up their chai at the stall for the past five years. "I was going to close [the stall] down and focus on baby but I'm not quite ready to do that," she says. So she's putting her feelers out, trying to see who might be interested in taking over the reins at the market stall. Cahill, a former public servant, started up the Canberra based tea company in 2008 and now has a team of staff, an online store and sells chai throughout Australia. She's excited about focusing on baby in the coming months but also admits it's been a bit difficult to let go of running RealChai. "I've had my chai baby for all this time and now there's a real baby, so yes, there are some very mixed emotions," she says. But Cahill will still be keeping busy - she's writing a book drawing on her experiences taking the plunge into business from the safety of the public service. The book, How To Quit Your Job and Do What You Really Want, is self published and is slated for release in August. Cahill says it's designed to help people find low risk, less scary ways to follow their dreams and strike out for themselves with a business idea.

Truffle fest
Culinary maestro Antonio Carluccio is heading to Canberra and this weekend he touches down in the Blue Mountains at the luxury Wolgan Valley Resort and Spa for two days of cooking, storytelling, wine and a gala dinner. Former Food & Wine editor Kirsten Lawson is a guest speaker at the event. Carluccio appears in Canberra on Friday, July 25, at Kamberra Winery for a special dinner: "Fireside Stories with Antonio Carluccio". On Saturday, he'll tour the Capital Region Farmers Market at 8.30am and do a cooking demonstration with Andrew Barr, followed by a sold out special dinner at Grazing in Gundaroo. On Sunday, you can catch him at the Fyshwick markets at 10.45am signing books and doing another cooking demo, followed by a special cooking class (sold out, sorry) at 3 Seeds. See trufflefestival.com.au for more. If you can't catch Carluccio in person, then check out the huge variety of truffle events and special dinners around Canberra. Mezzalira is doing a special black truffle tasting menu with five courses including walnut and buffalo ricotta ravioli, a truffle and mushroom risotto and an Amedei chocolate cake with black truffle gelato ($85 or $110 with matched wines). See mezzalira.com.au.

BrodDogs opens

Brodburger's little red van opens at the Belconnen mall car park on Friday, July 18, from 11am, selling gourmet hot dogs. As we mentioned in Morsels earlier, Joelle and Sascha Brodbeck plan to do lunch and dinner.

Bee movies
Check out a honey-themed movie night on Monday, July 21, with a special screening of the movie Honey Bee Blues, a film about the world's disappearing honeybees and Australian scientist Denis Anderson's efforts to save the bees. You'll get to chat to Dr Anderson himself during a Q&A session after the movie. That's followed by a screening of More Than Honey, a Swiss documentary about the world of beekeepers. It's run by the ACT Beekeepers Association. Entry $10 with all proceeds to support Dr Anderson's research. 7pm, July 21, at the CSIRO Discovery Centre, Acton. See actbeekeepers.asn.au for more.

Wine and cheese at Ainslie Cellars

Cellars is holding a wine and cheese night next week on Wednesday, July 23. The theme is "Winter in France" and will feature wines from Eden Road, accompaniments from The Ainslie Pantry and cheeses picked by the Cheese Culture. Tickets are $80 each. 7 Edgar Street, Ainslie. Call 6230 6622.

Blender babies
We all know someone who begins their day with a smoothie. We might even be that someone, happily whizzing together almond milk, chia seeds, mango, blueberries, strawberries, yoghurt and protein powder. If the sound of a blender first thing in the morning is music to your ears, pick up a copy of The Blender Girl, by Tess Masters. It's about healthy meals – from full-whiz smoothies to proper meals such as vegetable bakes, hearty soups and raw cheeses. The recipes are gluten free and vegan. Random House, $34.99.