We win the tourism awards so maybe NOW we can get a sign

You read it here first, that is if you’re reading this at 11.25pm on Friday night, we have won the Queensland tourism awards for best tourism restaurant. I’m not saying that to blow our own horn but simply to point out how ridiculous it has been trying to get a bloody sign on the road pointing to the Spirit House, let me explain:

Local council have threatened, cajoled and bullied us for years about signage and it doesn’t matter how many shows like ‘Getaway’, ‘The Great Outdoors’,'The Great South East’, or any other TV shows that feature us, council won’t let us have a sign because they say we’re not a tourist attraction – But Queensland Tourism now says we are.

The first thing we do on Monday is ask council to put one of those groovy brown and white signs up… which is going to save hundreds of guests wandering into hillbilly country never to be heard from again… except for the wafting sounds of banjo music, cries of Yeeehaaaaw, and ‘Boy, you sure do got a pretty mouth’.

water wastage propoganda

I have a friend who works for the government on our water shortage problem. It turns out that only 8% of water consuption is for domestic use… 92% of our water is consumed by industry. It seems to me that taking shorter showers or drinking recycled waste water isn’t really an answer and just a ploy to get politicians elected and boost ratings for tv news. Water is used in the weirdest ways.

My friend was telling me it takes tens of thousands of litres of water to make a car and coal mining consumes heaps of water. In fact one crisis we face is getting water to our coal mines as the drought takes hold, because without water then coal production stops. Restaurants use heaps of water too… that’s why we have installed new caroma toilets – the basin is on top of the cistern, when you flush, the tap flows allowing you to wash your hands and the waste water drains into the cistern ready for the next flush.

buy your tarantino knife block

When I blogged about this cool knife block it was just a prototype… well they’re now in production and we have 5 sets coming this week. They also include the full set of knives that you see in the picture. For safety I’m told that the knives actually have a clear plastic cover over each blade but you can remove that and get that real Quentin Tarantino knife-block look.

At $155, the price is not too bad when you consider that you get a set of knives with this funky knife block. Now available in the Cooking School shop.

Katrina’s recipes from TVs ‘Escape with ET’

Katrina, one of our cooking school chefs, does a weekly cooking segment for the Spirit House on ‘Escape with ET’ which shows on channel 9. I found the recipes for each episode on ETs website and because it’s a fishing show, they’re all to do with fish. All these recipes are for the BBQ and are quick and easy. Here are just some of the recipes she’s presented on TV:
BARBECUED SPANISH MACKEREL WITH GRILLED TOMATOES AND AVOCADO SALSA
GRILLED FISH BURGER WITH SAMSON FISH
SPANISH MACKEREL WITH FRESH TOMATO AND ANCHOVY BUTTER
MOROCCAN SALAD OF BARBECUED NANNYGAI
MAHI MAHI WITH TOMATO AND CHICKPEA SAUCE
CHINESE STEAMED PEARL PERCH WITH GINGER AND SHALLOT
PARMESAN CRUMBED TREVALLY ‘FISH FINGERS’
PEPPER CRUSTED TUNA WITH AVOCADO AND PICKLED GINGER

The reason why the fish is always on the menu

Fran Boyd emailed us the picture above to explain that she sent it to some friends of hers and, being fish-lovers I guess, they were so impressed that they made a booking to the restaurant. Interestingly the crispy fish in the photo has been on the menu since day one… and with good reason: people talk about it. More interesting than that is it’s the easiest dish to make: especially when you use the Spirit House Tamarind-Chilli Sauce which is available from your nearest Spirit House stockist.

Spirit house Cookbook in London

Deb was in London and found our humble cookbook in Books Etc. in Shepherd’s Bush. Other clients have found our book on sale in Bangkok as well.Spirit house Cookbook