I wanted to give everyone an update on the funds going towards the victims of Agent Orange.
In December Bruce Montgomery and an Australian contingent made the trip to Vietnam….and David’s commentary can be found below
On December 1 2011 the Trust handed over another 35 cows to families in the Hong Trung commune in A Luoi district west of Hue. It brings to 150 the number of cows that we have bought with money raised since 2007. Before that, we had delivered 30 wheelchairs to Agent Orange victims in and around A Luoi. Altogether now we have helped people in five communes.
Twelve donors travelled from Australia for the latest handover ceremony. We were joined by researchers from the School of Agricultural Science at the University of Tasmania and the Department of Animal Sciences at the University of Hue. They have a joint interest in the breed of cattle that the Trust uses, yellow cattle (but which we refer to as Orange Cows).
This time the cattle arrived in three small trucks, which was better logistically in terms of getting them offloaded than one big truck as in the past. Usually we have sourced cattle from North Vietnam and that has involved a long drive to the communes. These were locally sourced.
As usual, the local people’s commune, this time at Hong Trung, selected the families to receive cows. At 9.30 am, when we arrived from Hue and after a round of speeches, the recipients drew lots to determine which of the 35 cows they received. The cows were then offloaded, one by one. It is less than perfect. The cows are tense after the truck journey; there is no cattle ramp; the villagers have only a halter to try to control their animal. It would be preferable for the cattle to arrive ahead of time, be corralled together and then distributed. The infrastructure for doing that does not exist in any of the communes so far, but it is one of the many issues on which we will take advice, particularly from Professor Ba at the University of Hue and Dr David Parsons from the University of Tasmania.
We also have to ensure that the training the recipients receive beforehand is comprehensive and Professor Ba has offered his help with that.
It is appropriate that we evaluate the success of the program to date. We will do that by surveying the communes where we have delivered the cows over the past years, using animal science students to interview recipients to find out what has happened since the arrival of their cows. We want a clear picture of the success and any issues. Weather here is an issue and it is vital that the cattle have ongoing clean, dry shelter and that they have the right fodder, access to water, etc.
We hope to be able to start the survey sometime after March. We will use the findings to optimise the way we manage and monitor projects in the future.
We are delighted that The Essential Ingredient is now selling our tabletopBBQs. I’m sure you know that The Essential Ingredient is a culinary icon and we’d encourage you to check out their stores in the lead up to Christmas.
Necessity may well be the mother of invention but in this case it may have been something else. Dave, my good friend and partner in Vietnam, has invented the “Bike Barbie”. Check out this video. Fast Tube by Casper
The world needs bike barbies and i’m on a mission.
Ok here’s the youtube video i promised Cooking with your tabletopBBQ which shows you what’s in the box, how to light the charcoal, cooking some eyefillet and a banana/chocolate recipe tip for those sweet needs. I hope this takes the mystery out of what to do and if you have any questions please feel free to leave a comment and i’ll be right back to you.
Great news this week. Our good friends at Essential Ingredient in Prahran will soon be stocking the tabletopBBQ. Also i started the tabletopBBQ twitter so feel free to follow and join in with recipes, ideas, questions and general chat. I’ve posted a bunch of photos too on twitpics and flickr. Many of the photos are the same..there are more on flickr.
Last week i went along to the Cleanskinkitcheware’s TabletopBBQ cooking class held by Susie Riggall in Cowes on Phillip Island. Over twenty people paid to attend and it was a great session. One lady told me she’d bought a tabletop BBQ after seeing it in the Herald Sun, in January, but had no idea what to do when she opened up the box and so hadn’t used it.
So to remedy this i’m going to post an “opening up the box and firing up the tabletopBBQ ” video on youtube using my newly purchased flip video camera which i highly recommend. I’ll let you know when its posted.
There are now three new places to buy Tabletop BBQs. Cleanskin Kitchenware in Lilydale, Cowes and Wonthaggi have them instore. Full details are listed below in “Where can i buy one and what do they cost?” below. John from Cleanskin Kitchenware told me that several people came into his Lilydale store asking for a tabletop bbq. He checked out our site contacted me and hey presto he’s now a stockist. Easy as that.
Cleanskin in Cowes is running a Table top BBQ cooking class on 20th September between 3-5pm. Each class accommodates 30 people and costs $30. If you’d like to sign up please contact either Michele or John on 03 59592 3494
I was lucky enough to be interviewed by Steve and Jane (pictured above) on 3AW’s Saturday morning gardening show last weekend. Great show, lovely people and a real pleasure. Here’s our chat tabletopbbq-segment-200609 it runs for 5 minutes.
I’ve just been restocking my retailers as the phones have been running hot.
If you would like to stock them please let me know by commenting on this post and i’ll get back to you.
The table top BBQ breaks new ground…bringing the blokes and the ladies together, designed to be the centre of attention on the table.
Perfect for unit-dwellers who might be spatially challenged or just for those more intimate BBQ moments.
All the rage, in Viet Nam, one table top BBQ can cook for four people.
Entire restaurants are dedicated to these little beauties. The idea is for each person to cook a few morsels at any one time similar to fondues. The trick is to prepare your strips of chicken, beef, calamari, vegetables etc. ahead of time, to be grilled over charcoal, along with special fried rice and authentic Vietnamese dipping sauces. Enjoy.
Better Homes & Gardens magazine will be featuring them in their February “BBQ-special” issue hitting the street on 9th January.
We are delighted that The Essential Ingredient is now selling our tabletopBBQs. I’m sure you know that The Essential Ingredient is a culinary icon and we’d encourage you to check out their stores in the lead up to Christmas.
