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TheIt’s hard to go pastOld the Lion’s famous Lion steaks when you’re -after seri-Restaurantthe emulsion that dressed broccolini andReview asparagus certainly livened ously satisfying food. A spontaneous culinary stop late on a weekday the dish up to create something of an accidental palate cleanser night, our corner table looked out over groups of suited business before dessert. The mistake was dealt with graciously by the staff, men, a birthday gathering and a few older couples sipping their way who were clearly lacking in through bottles of good reds. Comfort food also calls for favourtie numbers on a night where wines, and tonight an ordered glass of Rockford Alicante Bouchet folks like us - ‘walk-ins’ to turned into a bottle when the waiter pointed out the mere alloca- those in the industry - and tion of two-and-a-bit glasses per person between us. Nice one. a couple of people off sick had thrown the carefully With my hypochondriac of a dining companion declaring he defi- considered table/waiter nitely needed steak ‘because I’m all pale, I probably have anaemia’ ratio off balance. We we decided that the Coorong Angus MSA Graded Scotch Fillet with were generously offered a Coriole Olive Oil Mash, Beerenberg Tomato and Beetroot Relish and dessert each on the house Peppercorn Sauce would be the best cure for his clearly morbid an- as well as the cost of the nouncement. vegetables deducted from our bill. Nice one. “ ” My favorite animal is ~ steak.Fran Lebowitz I want to have a good body, but not as much as I want Perfectly tender and juicy on the inside, our request for them to be dessert. ~ Jason Love well done was dutifully executed in the most skillful fashion, the fat slightly blackened and crisp. The distinctive Coriole characteristics We finished our evening of the olive oil shone through the mash and the peppercorn sauce with a silky hazelnut truffle was delectably rich and meaty but surprisingly un-peppery for its desert and a tangy lemon name. pudding whose beauti- ful sauce pooled onto the Vegetables are interesting but lack a sense of purpose when unac- plate once the spoon penetrated the centre of the pudding. Once companied by a good cut of meat. ~Fran Lebowitz again the waiters recommendation was spot on, and to their credit they remained helpful and cheerful until we, as the last table, left Unfortunately the arrival of our Asparagus and Brocollini with Sweet the building, content, full, and determined to return soon. Lemon Emulsion a few minutes after we has swept up the last few drops of sauce from our steaks, meant that they probably weren’t enjoyed to their full potential. They were, however, delicious and Hannah Frank F1 Grand Prix: Melbourne & Malaysia Formula One Albert Park, Melbourne (14th- race. Melbourne race winner, Lewis Hamilton 16th of March 2008) only managed fifth. Lewis Hamilton & team Out of 22 cars, only 7 managed to cross mate Heikki Kovalainen were penalized the chequered flag. It was a great race for 5 places down the grid for impeding Nick McLaren, the worst for Ferrari (yes, I am a Heidfeld (BMW) and Fernando Alonso strong Ferrari supporter), despite Ferrari (Renault). However, despite the penalty, fairing real well during winter testing and Heikki drove fantastically to secure third. the build up to the race. The results for He ended up in ninth. Ruben Barrichello Robert Kubica (BMW) was in a league of his qualifying & the final race came as a shock in the Honda came in eight, but he was own as he was 20 seconds behind the race as most (if not many) would have thought disqualified for running the red lights in pits. leader and 20 seconds ahead of third place, that Ferrari would grab pole & of cause take With Ruben’s disqualification, Kimi moved up Heikki. After 2 races, Lewis is leading the the chequered flag. Alas, that was never to eight & scored just 1 point for the race in drivers’ championship by 3 points, with Kimi the case. It was a nail-biting race until the Melbourne. and Nick tied for second place with 11 points very end, in which Lewis Hamilton in the each. As for the constructors’ championship, McLaren Mercedes winning the race with Nick Formula One Sepang, Malaysia (21st-23rd McLaren-Mercedes is leading with 24 points Heidfeld in the BMW coming in second and of March 2008) while BMW is 5 points down from the leader Nico Rosberg in the Williams-Toyota finishing Ferrari did bounce back, but not fully. This and Ferrari is trailing with 11 points. third. With just 4 laps to go, reigning world time, Kimi Raikkonen drove superbly to take champion, Kimi Raikkonen in the Ferrari had the chequered flag while team mate Felipe Goldy Yong a spun & hence did not complete the race. Massa suffered a spin & did not finish the On Dit 76.3 37 *DO@M<OPM@ #?DOJMNGD>D<+JM<R <I?!JIIJM-^ MD@I Whilst he does not write in a kind of therapeutic way, Bill speaks of writing as Interestingly, unlike most writers Bill’s work a means of self-discovery: “I like the idea has taken him on a voyage to the Antarctic. of the poem as something that you write in After receiving an invite through the Artists order to find out stuff that you didn’t know For those of you who aren’t savvy to the to the Antarctic Programme, he had the you knew…that idea of exploring your way world of contemporary literature, Bill surreal experience of travelling to the South into the unknown…but I do think that for Manhire is a modern day poet. Yes, real poets Pole. Bill has also had the privilege of having poets especially, maybe not for novelists, do still exist, and you should forget here any had one of his poems, Erebus Voices, read by you do have to be willing to sort of access a lame archetypes of English wankers and self Sir Edmund Hillary at Scott Base in Antarctica few of the areas of weirdness inside yourself important, self destructive artists you might to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the and that can be a bit disconcerting, all this have picked up in more pretentious English Erebus plane crash disaster. He identifies the bizarre stuff at the back of your brain…but courses. You should also forget the expression highest point in his career as having his first if you’re not prepared to go and look down ‘Drunk as a poet on pay day,’ for whilst he did book published and “seeing this thing that at that and pull some of it up it can be very spend his childhood growing up in the pubs had physical weight in the world.” boring and banal.” of Invercargill, New Zealand as the son of a publican, Bill Manhire is a poet of a different Bill’s career has also seen him take up the Bill’s advice to his students is to ‘Write what breed and appears to be quite a respectable post of Director of the International Institute you know and write what you don’t know.’ man. In addition to being an accomplished of Modern Letters, a coveted creative writing He explains, “Everybody feels alright with writer, becoming a poet laureate and winning programme. But is writing really a process what you know. I think I’ve always felt that the NZ Book Awards four times, he is also a that can be taught? “I think you’re just kind writing what you don’t know is much more professor of English at the Uni of Wellington. of fostering a process and speeding stuff up interesting.” He rejects the idea of writing Some of his more recent works include for some talented people,” he explains. as a meticulously planned and managed Lifted, Collected Poems and What to Call activity, drawing on the words of E M Forster, Your Child. Bill manages to evade the air of pretension who said, “How do I know what I think until I that sometimes wafts around literary events. see what I say?” Quizzed on his unusual pub upbringing Bill He is wary of the adoption of a high cultural says “I think that everybody thinks that view of poetry and is also uneasy about The conclusion to be drawn is that writing is their childhood is weird and everybody else’s literary criticism. He states, “Whatever our an explorative venture: “The writing process is normal.” But he concedes, “I think it belief system we seem to want proof from is alive with its own sense of discovery and probably was a weird childhood in retrospect, the wisest people…I think it’s a bit dangerous the words are the instruments of discovery. but a good weird childhood.” when society starts turning the poets and They’ve got that sort of functional power… the novelists into the wisest people…they’re they’re not simply just a tape recorder to Whilst he cannot pinpoint exactly when he not any wiser than anyone else.” So does be turned on after you’ve worked out what discovered that he was a poet, Bill expresses his attitude towards literary criticism clash you think. They’ll make imagery somehow…I that he always wrote, albeit “really badly.” with his position as a Professor of English? “It think that’s what I think.” He likens the process of learning to write to does a little bit. In fact our creative writing “learning to speak when you’re a child.” He programme is separate from the English Dayna states, “You sort of copy the voices around Department now.