Morsels from the editor's desk

It’s always irritating being given so much advice before Christmas on how to avoid putting on weight over the break; for me the holidays are all about the food, and I am happy to report that not a night went by when we didn’t down at least one pudding and, with every meal a celebration, not one was booze- free. Sometimes we did sprint repeats afterwards, but that was more the bravado of vino talking than any plan to work off dinner.

But the year churns into action, and after a month of plenty you get the urge to purge a little. Which is why we’ve been experimenting with detox juices, having become the owners of even more appliances over the break – a George Foreman smoothie maker, and a Sodastream. How did we live without it? Bubbly water at the press of a button. The only weird thing about them is that you’re only allowed one gas cylinder and you’ve got to return it before you can buy another (not cheap). Which presumably means they can be stockpiled and used for nefarious purposes – I’m yet to work out what.

Smoothie recipes soon. This week, it’s all about Chinese New Year, with recipes from Diana Lampe and Kylie Kwong that you can easily achieve at home.

Also, we talk to four entrants in the Canberra Show. We had our first-hand experience of the show last year when a daughter decorated a centenary cake, and we’ve sworn off – the stress of cake decorating is compounded by a deadline and the transport issue. If you do this, our tip is to take some cake gear for last-minute repairs after the car trip to Exhibition Park.

Casual and in season

Chris Darragh and Ben Willis finished the fitout on their new restaurant, Temporada, last week, and hope to open about February 11. Darragh has worked with Willis at Aubergine for four years and will be head chef at Temporada. Aubergine sommelier Josh Donnelly will help out on the floor for the start-up, and Willis will be on hand too. Which all bodes very well for this more casual incarnation for a talented team. Darragh says they will be open from noon to midnight, probably Tuesday to Saturday, offering one menu throughout the day. The menu won’t be an entree-main structure, but a list of plates, from bar snacks to shared plates, with the pair keen to encourage people to visit not only for lunch and dinner, but also for drinks and snacks. This is the way of the new places popping up everywhere, and although a good look, relaxed feeling and appealing drinks lists can help you open with a buzz, getting the food right is the key to longevity. This should be assured at Temporada, given the pedigree of the owners.

Local talk and taste fest

Fergus McGhie, of Mount Majura winery, has put together a regular Meet the Locals wine night at the East Hotel, to run on Friday nights through February. Seven local wineries are taking part in what McGhie plans as a relaxed social way to taste wine – peddling their wares ‘‘the old-fashioned way: taste and talk’’, as he describes it. As well as the wine, there will be food tastings from Poacher’s Pantry, the Essential Ingredients and Ox Eatery, the hotel’s bar and restaurant (pictured), with a live DJ. It’s a good venue and sounds like a great way to meet winemakers, with wine for sale too. The wineries are Four Winds, Capital Wines, Mount Majura, Eden Road, Collector, Wily Trout and Lerida Estate. Starting February 7, 5.30pm. Tickets $22.45, at meetthelocalsateast.iwannaticket.com.au or at the door.

Beyond MasterChef

So many MasterChef contestants have been roaming this land since the show began five years ago and they are popping up everywhere. Three former contestants will be in Canberra from February 14 to 16, leading masterclasses at a Canberra food expo at the National Convention Centre. Among them will be Justine Schofield (pictured), one of the originals, a top-four contestant in the first series, who now hosts television show Everyday Gourmet. Courtney Roulston, from series 2, and Alice Zaslavsky, from series 4, who is about to begin hosting a children’s television show and is writing a children’s book about wholefoods, are also on stage during the expo. Clement Chauvin, the French chef who heads Waters Edge restaurant on the lakefront, will be in the celebrity kitchen too. $20 a day ($15 on Friday), $10 for masterclasses, foodandwineexpo.com.au

Pick of the plums

The Queensland Government has developed what they say is an obesity-combating plum, now in its first commercial harvest. The queen garnet plum has up to five times the levels of anthocyanins – anti-inflammatory agents – of normal plums, says University of Southern Queensland professor of biomedical sciences Lindsay Brown, who tested the plum on rats. Obesity is a chronic, low-intensity inflammatory disorder, he says, and the results of tests were ‘‘amazingly positive’’. The rats were fed a high-carbohydrate, high-fat diet, gaining abdominal weight and developing health problems, including high blood pressure, fatty liver and blood-sugar issues. ‘‘We then intervened with the purple plum juice, which began to reverse those problems,’’ he says. Brown has discovered similar benefits from olive-leaf extract and purple carrots. Intriguing, a Queensland government summary of the queen garnet plum says, ‘‘The antioxidant levels in this plum are significantly high, which has led the department to believe that when converted to vitamin C equivalents, a 100-gram edible portion is similar to 160 millilitres of tea (about 1 cup) or 180 millilitres of red wine (two small glasses) for its antioxidant content’’. So take your pick, perhaps.

Takeaway vibe

Lonsdale Street is home to yet another eatery, with the opening of a take-out or eat-in place called Chez Frederic. The owner is Sara Poguet, who takes her cue from the Chez Frederic opened by her father at Cottesloe beach in Perth about 15 years ago. Her father has long since sold, but Sara Poguet worked for some years in his takeaway and has now moved to Canberra, where she lived as a teenager, and opened her own version. The takeaway vibe is emphasised in the way food is presented in takeaway containers, in the bins where you deposit your rubbish after eating, and in the biodegradable cutlery and plates. Poguet has a short wine list – the booze is served in jam jars – and in the fortnight since they opened, it has been about 50-50 eat in and take away. The menu includes lamb shanks ($22), pork spare ribs ($19), beef bourguignon ($19) and vegetarian crepes ($17). There are also handmade pastas (about $15): lasagne, bolognese, meat balls, duck ravioli, and a seafood risotto. 14 Lonsdale Street, lunch Monday to Friday, dinner seven days 5pm-9pm, chezfrederic.com.au