Spices at Herbies

Today Jane and I did a Spice Appreciation Class at Herbies (see http://www.herbies.com.au/). This was my Christmas present to Jane. The course was at Herbies in Rozelle and presented by Jacqui Newling (who has worked at Herbies and has done a Masters in Gastronomy with a thesis on on food in the first (European) settlement of New South Wales).

The course was held in the back shed where there were several nice wooden tables and a very aromatic atmosphere. We were given a general introduction to spices and then a run through of Saffron (best from Kashmir), Cinnamon and its cousin Cassia and Black, White and Pink pepper.

We then tasted four blends of spices (on chicken) and discussed their main components – lemon myrtle in the Native Barbeque blend; sumac in the Greek seasoning, Ras el Hannout (top of the shelf spice mixture and the various Paprika’s – in Smokey Barbeque seasoning.

We finished off with a coffee and Nutmeg cake. Yum!

All this was really inspiring stuff and we had a great time. It is well worth going to if you have the time.

At Work in Chikuho (14th February 2009)

This page hopefully gives some idea of the inspection work and the team doing the work. On the right we are inspecting a canal used for coal barges.

Dinu.Bumbaru turns his back on a steam engine (below). We visited many sites and Museums and worked to a fairly tight schedule. There was a lot to see.

The team from Kagoshima Prefecture are being briefed about coal mining locations at one of the coal mining museums (above).

Barry and Koko discuss matters while the others listen or try and find where we are on a map. Mike checks out an archaeological point (switch) lever.

At the end of the day we all began to fade.

Don’t leave Poo

We have this problem on our walks around Exile Bay, some dog owners seem reluctant, embarrassed or squeamish about picking up their dog’s poo. I found some signs in Kagoshima that this problem might not be confined to Concord.

Or as on a more happy note

If only Canada Bay Council would be as cute with any notices it might put up, although I doubt whether simple notices would help it requires a sense of community.

Pick up your Bloody Poos!

The Nagasaki Hammerhead Crane (again)

I am posting another picture of the crane because the one earlier taken from Glover Garden (グラバー園) house was during a rainstorm and required quite a bit of Photoshoping to get clear.

This photo is clearer but suffers from being taken from inside the shipyard so it was difficult to get far enough away to get a good shot. The rain didn't help either.

The Mitsubishi Shipyard didn't seem to worry all that much about us wandering around.

There is also an excellent Museum on site which was well worth visiting.

Temporary Page

Blogger is so difficult to format so I am trying out a MS product although I am quite suspicious about it. So is Maud our cat.

I am not sure how to to wrap the text around this picture but clicking on it allowed its properties to changed.

Maud is cute isn't she??

Flickr Tags: Maud,cat

Ships and Cranes

The Mitsubshi shipyards were an important industry in the Nagasaki area. They were established as the Nagasaki Ironworks in 1857 with help from Dutch naval engineers as a government facility. However after the Mejii restoration the shipyards were run by Mitsubshi-sha headed by Yanosuke Iwasaki.


There is an excellent museum on the site in the former wood-pattern shop. This contains a number of pieces of important machinery and documents relating to ship construction.

Of course the discovery of a 1909 Hammerhead Crane by William Arrol still working in the Mitsubishi shipyards was a plus as was the fact that we could go in and photograph it.

Knacked in Nagasaki - part 2

This is the slip at Kosuge (left) and below is a display of a cow excavated at the former Dutch enclave at Dejima. This is the artificial island on which a small Dutch trading post was established and remained through the period when foreigners were excluded from Japan.

This site therefore is of some importance although it has been rtotally rebuilt and reconstructed there is still a considerable archaeological resource there.