"Tamar Food"

Featuring in hilbarn fresh produce boxes this week are perfectly formed, organic baby beet from Claire and Bruce at Yorktown. By sheer coincidence, Hil's Saturday lunch choice at Daniel Alps at Strathlynn was (at left, snapped) venison with broad beans and baby beet from (you guessed it) Claire and Bruce!
You know when your dining partner's plate arrives and sometimes you wish you'd chosen their dish instead of yours? Well, this wasn't one of those times. Wonderful contrasting colours and a jus that made you salivate like a pet dog. You might have spotted the glowing review of Strathlynn in one of the national weekend papers ("Terroir Tamar" by John Lethlean Weekend Australian Magazine Dec 5-6, 2009 p. 52)? Lethlean's comments on Daniel's approach to food resonate with hilbarn:
"Alps' food is a testament to his growers....A daily changing menu using seasonal local produce, organic in many cases... it's not 'look at me' stuff but reflects what his winemaker colleagues call terroir - that sense of place. Fish, game, meats, fruit and veg from this lovely valley."
Not something ever to be taken for granted, and always something to be shared.