Long time NQN readers will know that I have a bit of a thing for garlic. I’ve written about it before and whenever I see Australian grown garlic I get rather excited even bringing it back on a plane to use back home. Most people know that the cheap garlic that you buy in supermarkets for 5 bulbs for $1-$2 is in fact bleached garlic and the taste leaves a lot to be desired. Even the supermarkets who are a bit slow on picking up trends realise that we don’t want that the bleached garlic but instead import it from South America adding food miles  and exposing us to older stock.

Former model, TV presenter and author Patrice Newell  grows her own biodynamic garlic in Elmswood in the Hunter Valley. She has a legion of fans for her garlic, in fact I missed out on getting the garlic one year as it was so popular and is a summer crop. Like you’d buy fruit in season, you need to get your garlic now (there’s only a few weeks to go!). Damien Pignolet, Kylie Kwong and Tony Bilson are all ardent fans of her beautiful, large clove purple garlic.

This garlic with big cloves is the hardest to grow. It bruises easily and farmers prefer to grow smaller bulbs with the only exception to the rule being Russian garlic, sometimes called elephant garlic which is really a leek which they don’t grow. Patrice specialises in purple hard neck varieties that are planted, weeded, pulled and cured by hand. No chemicals are used at all. Not all Australian garlic’s are equal too – regular Australian garlic is sprayed more than once during the growing season with herbicides and fungicides.  I love cooking with her garlic not just for the taste but because practically speaking the bigger cloves are easy to peel and slice-I’m a practical gal and if you’ve ever made a garlic rich sauce, it can be annoying peeling a dozen mini cloves!

Patrice says “We set up doing direct deliveries so we’d feel closer to our customers and they get to know the farmer that feeds them. I’ve become obsessed about garlic and want to ensure our genetic strains are kept. We’ve just had 18 year old Subaru here from Hokkaido, learning about biodynamics, he wants to be a farmer in Japan and he now knows all about garlic!”

Well after all of that I just need to let some lucky winners try this garlic don’t I? Thanks to the lovely Patrice Newell, three lucky Not Quite Nigella readers will each win a 1 kilo gift box of Patrice Newell’s premium garlic delivered to their door to get a chance to try it for themselves! For a chance to win this all you have to do is tell me what’s the most exciting thing about getting a box of garlic delivered to your home? Simply add your answer as a comment to the story. The competition ends at midnight AEST 13th March, 2011. Yep this is a shorter giveaway as she wants to send you garlic when it is at its peak! This is open to people within Qld, NSW, ACT or Victoria. Sorry, other states have quarantine restrictions!

***The winners are:

Vicki L. of NSW

Joanne G. of Qld

Rebecca L. of NSW

***

Or if you can’t wait, you can buy it here.

Best of luck!

Lots of love,

Lorraine

xxx

This is a sponsored giveaway

I have an affinity with the Park Hyatt Hotels. For one, the Sydney Park Hyatt was the place that Mr NQN and I stayed on our wedding night and we loved the seamless and deferential service and the spacious spectacular rooms plus of course the incredible views. I was eager to see what the Melbourne Park Hyatt was like so when I travelled down to Melbourne for the launch of the new Cornetto campaign Mr NQN and I were lucky enough to stay a couple of nights there.

The driveway is long and imposingly grand. Unfortunately the porter didn’t help us with our luggage although he did see us struggling with many bags which wasn’t a great first impression. Thankfully things go up from there and we enter the lobby where it’s all shiny polished enamelled woods and chrome with a beautiful ceiling in the centre of the room. Although we’re unexpectedly early for check in, our room is ready and we make our way up to the 19th floor which is a club room which comes with access to an adjoining club lounge where snacks are served throughout the day.

We called this the “Time Travel Machine” or the Teleporter

Our room is very spacious and spotlessly clean and a noticeably large 48 square metres (space must be a key point of Park Hyatts as the Sydney room was spacious too). There are sliding doors partitioning off the bathroom and a Carrie Bradshaw friendly sized wardrobe. Out the window is a view of the cathedral and park. The Italian marble bathroom has a spa bath and what is that I see? Yay ! It’s a television next to the bathtub-so you can either stare outside at the views or at the television (and they have excellent cable tv channel selection, as a tv addict this is important to me). The shower has non fogging shaving mirrors inside it and the toiletries range is extensive.

There is a his and hers sink, soft touch lights all with dimmers, plenty of towels and a nice leather work chair. I have to admit to a slightly strange prejudice against fabric desk chairs in hotel rooms as I always wonder if someone has sat naked on one the night before and leather is easier to clean off. See, I told you it was strange! There is also a delicious box of welcome chocolates in three flavours: hazelnut & pop rocks, cherry & coconut and coffee. The cherry and coconut is a firm favourite although they are all extremely scoffable. There is also a 24 hour gym in case you get the urge to do “gym things” at odd hours. As well there is a his and hers sauna and a spa and pool (where Mr NQN spotted a famous, very good looking Melbourne chef and his family! ). As for me, I won’t be working in the gym but working out with these chocolates below. I’m thinking that I like my home away from home for the next two days!

Le view from le room

After settling in, I meet my afternoon tea dining companion Nic for a spot of afternoon tea downstairs at the Radii restaurant. Mr NQN always begs off afternoon tea dismissing it as “tiny bits where I go hungry” and Nic is only too happy to take his place. We enter Radii which is quite an arresting sight. There are lit up floors, blue lights, glowingly warm lights and giraffe spotted cut outs snaking around two thick pillars. The first thing I think of is Las Vegas. We’re shown through the large multi layered restaurant past the chefs preparing the food in the open kitchen to our table. We take a seat at a table next to the private dining room ( which we get glimpses of-very chic!).

Our waiter explains the high tea to us. He tells us that we have a choice of English Breakfast tea or coffee and we start with a glass of NV Perrier Jouet. Afternoon tea here is $60 with the champagne or $50 without it. When I ask if there is a menu where I can see the selection (just to save me writing it down) there is a slight misunderstanding and he tells me that I can’t pick and choose what I want to order. I try and explain and they later bring us a printed out menu. We are also later offered a choice of teas as I don’t want English Breakfast and I want Earl Grey.

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