Sydney
Good Food Month launch
Australia's largest food festival, The Sydney Morning Herald's Good Food Month, kicked off with an abundance of food and beverages at Merivale's Coogee Pavilion.
Lucie Vigar and Nina Svraka at the Good Food Month launch party at Coogee Pavilion. Photo: Sahlan Hayes
Australia's largest food festival, The Sydney Morning Herald's Good Food Month, kicked off with an abundance of food and beverages at Merivale's Coogee Pavilion. It was like a roving feast as foodies circled the floor of the revamped historic building to sample an array of canapes, pizza, hot from the wood-fired oven, freshly shucked oysters, scampi, prawns, scallops, deliciously light lobster rolls, roast sirloin, pork and miniature ice-cream sandwiches while chit-chatting about what masterclass they'll be signing up for and of course, the return of the ever-popular Night Noodle Markets.
Party people: October 3
From the launch of Good Food Month to awards, here's a rundown of last week's events in and around Sydney and Melbourne Photo: Christopher Pearce
Polo in the Paddock at Scone
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Scone Polo Club's inaugural Polo in the Paddock event featuring The Dougal Archibald Cup drew an equine-loving crowd from near and far. The Voice's Holly Tapp travelled from Byron Bay to catch up with her family, dad Joe, mum Judith and sister Saphia, who have been travelling and staying in their gooseneck horse trailer on a road trip adventure from their home, King River Station, south of Katherine in the Northern Territory. Teens, tweens and pretty much all of the chaps at the Gundy polo fields were chuffed to see Holly make an appearance.
Cancer Council Pink Ribbon Launch
The pink carpet was rolled out as Cancer Council NSW launched its Pink Ribbon campaign at Criniti's Woolloomooloo. Spring had certainly sprung with the sun shining and the harbour sparkling as plenty of pink decor and outfits ensured Pink Ribbon was never far from the mind. Pink Ribbon raises funds and awareness of breast and gynaecological cancers and for important services for all women going through the cancer journey.
The Botanist Spring Dinner
Chef Timo Vogel hosted an intimate gathering at The Botanist in Kirribilli to showcase the venue's delicious spring menu. Guests dined on three courses with matching wines. Dessert caused the biggest 'wow' ��� what looked like an edible plant served in a flower pot was sponge cake, lemon curd, black sesame seeds with chocolate 'soil' and grass.
14th Annual Bartender Magazine Bar Awards
On an unusually warm September day, the best place to be for a cleansing ale was Bartender Magazine's Bar Awards. Dubbed the 'Oscars' of the bar industry, it was a night of toasts and clinking glasses at Doltone House at Jones Bay Wharf, Pyrmont as gongs were handed out to industry standouts. A six-piece brass ensemble, aptly named the Brassholes, got the party swinging ��� along with the cocktails served on the deck ��� before guests were ushered into the dining room for the bar barons' night of nights.
Cloudy Bay First of the Season
Biota Dining owner/chef James Viles and his team headed from Bowral to The Blacksmith's Workshop at Eveleigh Market to celebrate the arrival of Cloudy Bay's 2014 vintage of Sauvignon Blanc. An 'inspired' and interactive market day lunch was created by James Viles from two-hatted Biota Dining for 50 guests. The first cases of Cloudy Bay arrived on the back of a vintage farmer's truck to the sounds of local Redfern folk group The Cope Street Parade. The menu included smoked roe with Cloudy Bay clams, lamb with caramel (guests were invited to handpick lichen from the hanging branches above to add to their main course) and the afternoon finished off with James Viles' Mum's Roses ��� a tantalising dessert using roses from his mum's garden in Bowral and served using liquid nitrogen.
Melbourne
Kookai spring racing preview, The Stables of Como
The gardens at The Stables of Como doubled for race-day greenery on Tuesday as natural born beauties, and some hot-house flowers, gathered to preview the Kookai Spring Racing and Tropeziens collection.
We asked Kookai's co-founder and creative director, Danielle Vagner , to share her advice on dressing for the spring racing carnival. "Black and white is always iconic for spring racing and then you've got pop colours, raspberries, prints, and beautiful silks and textures. It's very much about utilising different textures on top of one another."
What about shapes for the body? "Everything is longer length, so if it's a thinner skirt or a pencil skirt we've done it to the knee. Or we've done a bell shape. We haven't done any maxi-dresses; we've done jumpsuits because you can wear that to the races. What we wanted to do was something colourful, fun, girly, feminine but really glamorous and wearable. It's not just for the races; summer has more occasion-dressing than any other time in the year."
The carnival can be a very romantic time, lawns and marquees crackling with pheromones, that frisson of excitement, do you have any tips for romance? "I think it's a time when anything is possible," Vagner said. "I've been a member since I was 10 and there wasn't the Birdcage and there wasn't the social opportunity that it is now, so I think it's whatever may go."
Bar Schweppes preview, Le Bon Ton
Bar Schweppes is Birdcage-bound again for this year's Melbourne Cup Carnival. At the Bar's preview at Le Bon Ton on Wednesday night the mandatory drink was the Flemington Fling, a mix of vodka, lime juice, mint leaves and Agrum Blood Orange.
A signature cocktail is all very well, but what do you think should be mandatory in every bar in Australia? "Those flamingo lawn thingos with sticks in the bottom," Em Rusciano said. "And gold palm trees," Lyndon McGauchie added. "Basically we want all bars to look like Liberace's Hogwarts, alright?" Rusciano said. So when a new bar opens you'll send them a starter pack? "Yes, everything has got to be wipeable and washable," McGauchie declared. Rusciano was specific: "I'll send a sequined zebra head to hang on the wall, the flamingos to stick out the front and a big, neon, ponyskin rug."
Carly Duckworth decided the must-have in every bar is . . . Kristian Klein . What would he bring to the experience? "Not much," she laughed. Do you have anything to add Kristian? "No, you usually will find me in most bars."
VRC and Yellowglen millinery workshop, Flower Temple
Whatever was inside Kerrie Stanley 's head, we wanted it. On Tuesday at Flower Temple at QV, the VRC and Yellowglen hosted a millinery workshop led by Stanley, so that what was inside her head, her knowledge, her insight, could be used to create something for the top of ours.
Our craftsmanship or lack thereof aside, we wanted to know about the looks that should be decorating heads this spring racing carnival. "Lots of textures, let's get away from the flat surfaces, from the standard millinery materials, think textured lace, textured leathers," Stanley said. And shapes? "Lots of crown shapes, but moving away from the flower crowns, more tiara-like shapes, "perchers" - button shapes, the ones that kind of sit to the front of your head, and teardrop shapes. Clean."
Fashions-on-the-field regular, and former winner, Angela Menz , was laissez-faire: "Go for the one that you fall in love with, don't pretend you're going to wear it again and pick the sensible black option. Go to town; pick the one that you love because that's the one that will make you happy."