More on Wine, Foodography and Winter Classes
For the last few weeks I have been travelling around NZ running a series of Wine Tasting Competitions for the NZ Sommeliers and Wine Professionals for which I am chair. It's been fun putting together a selection of 40 classic wines and preparing sets of questions to test our teams of winelovers.
We have used Kahoot! which has been enormously successful as a electronic quiz platform in these Covid times. It adds the results instantly and takes away the risk of calculation errors plus the backend provides detailed analytics on who got the answers to how many seconds it took to answer correctly. We know that of the 24 teams the highest scores were 75% correct with over 8 teams achieved above 68% correct. I can see we will use this platform for sometime!
It seems that interest in wines and spirits programmes is also bounding upwards and we have had record enrolments for all our wine classes including WSET Wine and Spirit Education Trust from UK.
This week I had the results of the latest WSET Level 2 Certificate in Wine and with a class of 20 students, 60% gained distinction, a pass of over 85%. Exciting.
Our NZQA Certificate in NZ Wine Micro-Credential is also going for strength to strength and we are about to start offering Corporate & Team Building wine options so that you can get together a group of 8 people and we will run a private programme.
New Zealand wines are much more diverse that most people imagine and it's a great thrill to be able to share lesser-known wineries and underrated regions with our participants as they taste through the wine selection. For more information, email admin@foodandwine.co.nz.
Coming up we have the Winter Forage with Riki Bennett which provides an opportunity to explore our native flora along with innovation around urban hāngi kai-cookery techniques. The FOODOGRAPHY Dinner is back and this year our theme is a Midwinter Christmas Dinner. Both events are part of Auckland's Elemental Festival.
On Sunday 1st August, we host the NZ Sommelier of the Year Awards along with wine tasting events and a Gastronomic Dinner prepared by Chef Finn and our students.
Ngā mihi,
Celia Hay
Six tips for improving security around your home
1) Improve outdoor lighting
Ensure that streets, driveways, and front yards are well-lit. Motion-sensor lights around homes deter trespassers by reducing hiding spots and illuminating their movements.
2) Trim your trees
Overgrown shrubs and trees provide cover for intruders. Keeping them well-trimmed around windows and doors improves visibility and reduces potential hiding spots.
3) Secure Entry Points
Ensure doors, windows, and gates are always closed when you are away from the house. Upgrade to more secure locks, deadbolts, or even smart locks for added protection.
4) Add a security camera
Place security cameras in the main entry points to your home. Doorbell cameras are also relatively cheap and a great way to keep track of who is visiting your home when you aren't there.
5) Start a Neighborhood Watch Program
You could reach out to members on Neighbourly to form a group of neighbors who can regularly keep an eye out for suspicious activity and report it. You could also check with Neighbourhood Support to see what is existing in your area.
6) Introduce yourself to your neighbours
The closer you are to your neighbors, the more likely they’ll notice when something unusual or suspicious is happening around your property
Feel free to share anything that you do around your area to deter crime.
Today’s riddle: For all the curious minds next door!
My thunder comes before the lightning.
My lightning comes before the clouds.
My rain dries all the land it touches.
What am I?
Do you think you know the answer to our daily riddle? Don't spoil it for your neighbours! Simply 'Like' this post and we'll post the answer in the comments below at 2pm.
Want to stop seeing riddles in your newsfeed?
Head here and hover on the Following button on the top right of the page (and it will show Unfollow) and then click it. If it is giving you the option to Follow, then you've successfully unfollowed the Riddles page.
Poll: Is dumping an issue in your neighbourhood?
There's nothing worse than strolling around the streets in your neighbourhood and seeing dumped rubbish.
Have you noticed this in your area? What could we do to combat this around the country?
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43.4% Yes, I've seen some illegal dumping
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56% No, our neighbourhood is pretty good
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0.6% Other - I'll share below
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