Just beet it

I have previously expressed my love and admiration for Bill's Beetroot Relish. One of my favourite Tassie products.

But after picking up a bunch of beetroots from the Hobart farmers' market I decided to give it a whirl myself. Tasty as. You just try it too. Go on...

3 medium-large beets, trimmed

1 large onion, grated or finely chopped

1 large Granny Smith apple - peeled, cored and grated

1 cup of balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup of OJ and a piece of orange peel

1 to 1 1/2 cups of raw sugar

Few cloves

cinnamon stick

couple of rosemary sprigs

Rub the beets in salt, pepper and olive oil. Wrap in foil and roast for up to an hour and a half in 180 degree oven until cooked through. Cool, peel, and grate.

Chuck everything in a saucepan, bring to boil and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Cool, remove peel and rosemary & cloves and store in a container.

To be enjoyed on sandwiches, with steak or mixed through salads... any which way you can.

Now beet it.

Tunnel of Love

It's not often you get a chance to dine underground.

After attending an all-day wine and food event at Seppelt in Victoria's Great Western I can tick that off my list.

The winery sits above a three-kilometre labyrinth of tunnels, and the finale of the event was a three-course dinner matched with a selection of wines and served up in one of the tunnels. If that doesn't sound like enough atmosphere, the tunnel ceilings are covered in a black fungus (transported from France back in the day) that resembles a gothic fairy floss.

The food was nothing to write home about - with the entree of Asian-flavoured sticky pork belly the highlight. It was all overshadowed by wines that included some un-released and museum.

The pick of those were: 1988 Drumborg Riesling, 1998 St Peters Shiraz and the 2004 Show Sparkling Shiraz.

Before dinner, we worked up an appetite by:

- Disgorging bottles of wine - using gas stored in a bottle to pop out the yeast lees that has been concentrated in the neck by riddling. I know, I know: mumbo jumbo talk. But it all made sense under the tutelage of winemakers Jo Marsh and Kelly Healey.

- Trying to mix a range of different wines to match the one we were given to taste. (Aftermath of that experimentation pictured above.)

- Tasting wines at their 'base' and 'tirage' stages to compare to the finished product. The 96 Salinger tirage was so good I drank the whole taster.

And back to the start of the day, we slurped on some 2006 Salinger Sparkling and Original Sparkling and ate a tapas luncheon. Which was all over delicious. (See below.)

Makes me want to go to more wine events - especially if they're in weird places.

Full of beans

A new city means finding new caffeine dens.

After a couple of weeks of trial and error, my top three for Hobart are:

3. Villino. For the serious coffee aficionado. (Clearly not me - I drink mochas).

2. Oomp Coffee. I went in there on stress free day and they were wearing flannelet pyjamas. Noice. Drinks are yummy too.

1. Dr Coffee. It's closest to my work (metres count when it's winter), the coffee is always excellent, they are always baking something scrumptious when I walk in there, and the baristas are good looking.