rjdj.blogspot.com

I'm moving my blog back to:

rjdj.blogspot.com

This is so I can use all the new bells and wistles of blogger.

Renee

Next time you sip a latte, look beyond the feel-good choice

Coffee is my thing. If I can't have my daily coffee by about 10am I am just stroppy and the day doesn't seem to go well. I've never been big into this whole Fair Trade coffee thing, and today's Age had an interesting opinion piece about it, which basically says its an idealistic marketina campaign that doesn't work:

Go here to see the whole thing

Fair trade may be hindering not helping growers in developing countries.

JUST how fair is fair trade? Mass market retailers from Safeway to Starbucks now sell us coffee that is supposed to quench our thirst and appease our conscience, but there is more to fair trade than feel-good marketing and social justice.

Individual farms are unable to achieve certification by themselves — the fair trade organisation will only approve co-operatives that can contain hundreds of farms. This practice reduces entrepreneurship and competition between producers, eliminating the benefits of innovative farming techniques. And in some regions, the fair trade system encourages farmers to grow in less climatically favourable areas, depressing the quality of the coffee beans.

Nevertheless, the fair trade marketing machine is extraordinarily powerful, and the brand has revealed an eager base of socially aware consumers.

The fair trade system is more than our preferences in the supermarket. At best, fair trade has an ambiguous effect on the economic wellbeing of coffee growers in the developing world; at worst, it may actually be holding them back.

Phillip Island

For three nights before Pyramid Mon and I went camping at Phillip Island. We just lounged around, went down to Cowes and op shopped and went for long romantic walks on the beach.

The best pizza combination we have seen: The Red Wolf. Tandoori chicken, potato wedges, tzaki, mango chutney.

San Remo harbour.

The Nobbies on Phillip Island. The signs promised that I would see seals frollicking. I looked everywhere but couldn't see any seals frollicking or even swimming around!

Pyramid Rock Festival 2007/2008

Sunrise on the 30th over the massive campsite!

The main stage.

The Audreys set.

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Random people. Monica ran after them to get a photo

Christmas Lunch

I couldn't let Mum and Dad go off to Bali without an early Christmas lunch! Yummy yummy lamb racks, ham, and pavlova to follow. Then we had to have a nap to sleep it off in good Christmas tradition.

Work Christmas Party

So every year my work tries to out do the Christmas party from last year. This year we flew to King Island for a decandant and very long lunch (we were supposed to do some other stuff too, but due to the extreme storms in the arvo we had to fly home early afternoon). It was pretty cool!

Our plane to King Island....

I've never been on a plane with this much room!

The view flying over Melbourne out to King Island.

My super successful and decandant pavlova: A pav (my first one was an absolute disaster...the crust was only about 1mm thick and when I put the topping on there was a landslide) topped with chocolate cream and balsamic cherries.

More Christmas baking...semi successful spiral shortbreads.