It was an interesting time to talk to Federal Employment Minister Bill Shorten on 2GB and MTR while filling-in for Chris Smith, given the news that 600 aluminium jobs are at risk at ALCOA’s Geelong smelter.

I was brought up in a town (Kurri Kurri) where aluminium jobs are a vital part of the economy,it’s an issue I strongly relate to.

The company blames the high Australian dollar and other rising costs for the review, but surely the carbon tax isn’t going to help when it is introduced later this year.

Here is the full interview

We’ve had a lot of requests for the Christmas Cake recipe Jackie French described during her Good Tucker segment while I was filling-in for Chris Smith on radio 2GB and MTR.

So here it is:

(Yes, the ingredients are expensive, but trust me- this cake is better than caviar and probably better than any food you can buy. Everyone deserves to eat this cake at least once in their adult lives. NB: you can also make the apple version for the kids, but it is a sophisticated cake, and more suited to adults. )

2 – 4 cups crystalised peaches, finely chopped (can also use crystalised apricots or pineapple or pear
1 cup crystalised cherries, chopped
1 cup sultanas
1 cup currants
2 cups whisky (or very good non alcoholic apple cider, peach juice or ginger cordial)
1 cup sliced almonds
125 gm butter
3 eggs
2 tb golden syrup
half a cup brown sugar
1 level tb instant coffee
1 heaped tb cocoa
3 tb jam or marmalade (I use peach or plum jam; use marmalade if you like a citrus flavour)
1 cup plain flour
1 cup SR flour
Extra
1 cup peeled almonds

Method:

Place fruit in a large bowl. Cover with whisky. Leave overnight or up to three days, securely covered. No need to leave it in the fridge, just make sure the cat can’t get to it. Or the dog. Or the kids.

Line a large tin or several small tins (I use a thick souffle dish, and sometimes make small cakes in thick coffee mugs as gifts) with three layers of baking paper.

Smooth the top of the cake. Press in the whole almonds in an attractive pattern.

Place a thick newspaper in a baking dish. Pour enough water over the paper and dish to wet the paper and leave a finger width of water above it.

Take a saucepan. Melt the butter; stir in the sugar, syrup, coffee and cocoa.

Now mix the eggs into the fruit; add the flours and the butter mix.

Scoop into the tin or tins.

Place tin/ other containers on the wet paper.

Place in an oven at 120 C and bake till the top is firm when you touch it with your finger. This may take 3-4 hours- the smaller the tin, and the shallower, the less time it will take.

DONT HURRY IT- the slow cooking is needed to give a rich flavour and also so that the whisky loses it’s raw burn. The cooking should also evaporate the alcohol from the cake.

If the paper turns dry add another cup of water. You need this water to stop the top of the cake drying out before the inside is cooked, and the layers of papers to stop the sides and bottom of the cake drying out too.

let the cake cool in the tin. It should last for at least six months if well wrapped in alfoil or greased paper in a cool place but is very unlikely to- few can resist several slices.

It’s the best gift I know- and superb for bushwalking or picnics.

One thing I have found during my current stint of co-hosting the Sunday Home Improvements show with Simon Stevenson and 2GB and MTR is that some of the best remedies for cleaning and problem fixing aren’t branded products you buy in the supermarket or hardware store, but simply made remedies.

One in particular that has attracted a huge audience reponse is to do with cleaning windows, particularly external windows.

Our formula came by way of Gil, a professional window cleaner, who rang into the show.

Here it is:

• half a teaspoon of dishwashing detergent
• 1 cup of metholated spirits
• 1 tablespoon of white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon of cloudy ammonia
• add 1 litre of water

The reason Gil said this formula works is because the vinegar acts as a cuttinng agent, the detergent lifts of dirt and the cloudy ammonia helps the solution to dry quickly, avoiding streaking and leaving the window squeaky clean.

If you want more of of the soluitions and advice featured on the Home Improvement Show, have a look at Simon’s Painting Australia website

For most who remember Moving Pictures, it will be through the song, What About Me?, and possibly the album from which it came, Days of Innocence.

Well, to mark the 30th anniversary of the release of that great album which was triple-platinum in the early 80s, the group has reformed for a limited number of performances.

It has been 24 years since any version of Moving Pictures took the the stage, and since 1984 when the full core group of musicians and songwriters were together.

Moving Pictures on stage at the State Theatre, Sydney, July 30, 2011

I got to see the band at the State  Theatre on Saturday, July 30 as part of their reunion. To me it was more than just the music as I had seen the band quiet a few times in their hey days around the pubs and clubs while their were enjoying chart success. So it was a case of reliving youth, as I guess it was for most of the around 2,000 at this gig.

The boys were as tight as ever and it was particularly great to see them reunited with Gary Frost – after all he wrote What About Me. Lead singer Alex Smith is still very much the showman and seemed to be at times a bit overwhelmed by the audience’s reaction and memory, even for the lyrics of the album tracks.

A great night!

As far as red-carpet movie premiere’s in Sydney, this is by far the most biggest I’ve been too in terms of the number of fans who turned out and the shear length of the carpet at 300 metres.

That doesn’t mean it was the classiest movie premiere I’ve been too but that isn’t a reflection on the movie itself, just the hysteria given the teen-fan factor surrounding Twilight star Robert Pattison. There was a similar phenomenon when Zac Efron was in town last year for Charlie St. Cloud.

The class and experience of Reese Witherspoon showed through in handling the media and the onstage component of the May 6 event at the State Theatre  – Pattison was generous with his time with fans outside of the event and with was a good performer with media interviews but didn’t have much to say while introducing the movie.

The movie is great entertainment as a romantic drama set in the golden era of the travelling circus, a tale of two lost souls who are drawn to the circus and the exploitation of a tyrannical owner who was also the husband of Witherspoon’s character.

The elephant Rosie is brought to the circus as a star attraction and the animal’s abuse is key to the two central characters realising their love.

A movie truly worth watching!

Michael Bublé performed three concerts in Sydney in February as part of his 2011 Australian tour. We were lucky enough not only to see the concert on Feburary 14, but also to briefly meet Buble backstage.

His reputation as a personable larrikin was something he lived up to both on and off the stage. We were a group of about 20 people who were invited to meet with him about three hours before he performed at Acer Arena. It was a short encounter, but worthwhile. As it happened the date was not only Valentines Day but also the day he won his latest Grammy Award, about which he seemed decidely underwhelmed, joking that it would be available on Ebay in a couple of hours.

Warren Moore and Warren's wife Kristie with Michael Bublé

After he chatted to the group for about five minutes it was time for some quick snaps before we waited for the gig.

I tell you what was one of the great things about the night and that was the support act. Naturally 7 are the best opening act I have seen and one of the very few that would ever get a standing ovation. They are a full accapella group, including simulating instruments through voice. We will definitely be off to see them on their own Australian tour. They are playing at Sydney’s State Theatre on April 29.

Bublé was all that you would expect, spending a sizeable amount of his 105 minutes on stage chatting and joking with the audience and giving the crows exactly what they wanted, his own mix of standards and original material wonderfully performed.

It was the first night in years my wife and I didn’t enjoy a romantic Valentines evening with just the two of us, but definitely worth it!

The resilience of Australians has been so well documented in the aftermath of the Queensland floods, however the floods have also brought into focus another character attribute; geographical ignorance.

I am lucky enough to be spending the weekend at Palm Cove, just outside Cairns, and the tourism industry is really doing it tough here, in part because the coverage of the floods has resulted in people steering clear of the state without realizing how big this place is and that what has happened in the southeast is a world away- this is a seriously big state.

Our transfer from Cairns Airport to the Peppers Resort (we are here for a wedding) was full of passengers showing they had no idea how far they had flown from Sydney and how far we were from Brisbane or even Rockhampton.

The waters at the beach here are a bit muddy at the moment.

“That must be from Rockhampton!” exclaimed one passenger.

Well, that would mean we truly are in a global disaster seeing Rockhampton is hundreds of kilometres away.

Anyway, the weather is gorgeous here and it is business as usual minus most the customers, although they are keeping a keen eye on Cyclone Anthony lurking off the coast.

Gotta love mother nature.

UPDATE: little did I know when I wrote this that Cyclone Yasi was only a couple of days away.

When it comes to truly Australian cars, there seems to be only one, the Lightburn Zeta!

Now Holden and Ford fans are sure to disagree as the two brands have developed loyal and passionate followers for the models from these manufacturers that are designed for the Australian market and made in Australia.

But when it comes to defining a car as Australian only if it was designed in Australia and made in Australia by an Australian owned company, it seems the Lighburn Zeta stands alone.

The topic has come up on the early morning talkback program I was hosting on radio stations 2GB and MTR.

Most of the information here was put forward by listeners and then we did some research to determine if indeed the information did match up as the cars being Australian.

Most see the birth of the Australian automotive industry being when the Federal Government backed General Motors Holden to make the first Australian designed car, resulting in the FX in 1949 and then the more popular FJ in the 1950s. Not to undermine the significance to Australia of Holdens, but the company had been owned by Americans since 1931. Likewise Ford had always been owned by a United States parent company.

Lightburn Zeta sedan

The Lightburn Zeta however was designed, made and manufactured by Australia appliance company Lightburn. It isn’t a common vehicle and in fact it wasn’t a commercial success, eventually being largely responsible for the company going out of business.

Also worthy of mention amongst the almost forgotten ranks of Australian cars is the Hartnett. These vehicles were made by Laurence Hartnett. He had a couple of attempts at manufacturing automobiles in Australia, but the reason we can’t call them Australian in the purest sense if that while his company was Australia – a point of difference with Holden and Ford – his designs were based on previously existing vehicles from Germany or France.

The Hartnett

None the less, the story and contribution of Laurence Hartnett in the Australian car industry can’t be under-estimated. He saved Holden from financial ruin in the lead-up to their first Australian designed cars and after his short-lived own attempts at vehicle manufacture he was pivotal in first important Datsuns in Australia – the first time Japanese cars were brought in to the country – and then later geting Datsun/Nissan to assemble cars in Australia.

Some other names of cars put forward by listeners were the Australis, the Bonde and the Negarni, but we haven’t been able to find any trace of these. If you know more drop me a line.

Federal Greens leader BOB BROWN has announced his party will formally oppose the merger (or takeover depending on your interpretation) of the Singapore Stock Exchange with the Australian Stock Exchange.

 Now, given we are talking about control of our financial markets, the Greens won’t be alone in their opposition. Already I have spoken to the Ausbuy people who are worried it will make the transparency, or the lack of transparency, about take-overs of Australian companies and brand names even worse.

 There are the worries about the makeup of the new entity having Singorpean control of key positions and that there is the issue of competition.

 On the positive side the argument is it will make us more a part of the Asian economy.

 Where your own opinion lies in all that debate is up to you and they are points worthy of debate, particularly when this still has to get the tick of approval from the Federal Government.

But back to the Greens, this is another issue which shows so clearly how this party has an inability to focus on clear policy priorities and more to the point practicalities of the real world.

 One of the reasons put forward for the Greens opposition to this merger harks back to history. One point made by Senator Brown was that 30 years ago former Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew dubbed Australia as ‘the poor white trash of asia’.

 He also harked back to the execution of Australian drug trafficker Van Nyughen a few years ago.

 Capital punishment is wrong and so therefore Singapore was wrong to execute Van Nyughan and surely I don’t even have to tell you my opinion about the former Prime Minister of Singapore’s comments.

 But that was 30 years ago… Just think how much Australia’s opinion of Asia has changed in 30 years…

 What’s more, Bob Brown has taken one comment and tried to make out as if that is what Singapore thinks of Australia. I can tell you, when you go to Singapore and the locals know you are Australian, there is a lot of good will that harks back to World War II.

 Imagine how peeved of we would be if another country made policy decisions based on outdated ideas from another generation.

 If Bob Brown wants to oppose this merger of the ASX with Singapore, who should stick to well thought out financial reasons of the real world, not some ideological miss informed garbage out of a history textbook.

San Francisco has the now dated reputation of being the city of ‘free love, of ‘flower power’ and of alternative lifestyle. As an Australian visiting for the first time it is these ideologies from the 1960s and images of cable cars, the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz that filled my expectations. To most Americans, particularly those from California that would seem probably very naïve, and now with just four days in the Bay city under my belt, even I feel embarrassed by my preconceptions.

So here are some of the events that changed my view and can maybe provide a few tips for those also visiting San Francisco for the first time. My visit took place from February 25 to March 1, 2010 as I flew in from New York having attended a conference on behalf of New Holland Publishers. I did have some work to do while in the city as a representative of the company lives there, but mostly I had the time to myself.

One thing that become very apparent  once in the city is that of all the places I have visited overseas, San Francisco is the most like where I live in Sydney, Australia. There are there inevitable difference between the United States and Australia, but both cities are dominated by the water on their doorstep, the bay for SF and the harbor for Sydney and both cities have a relatively relaxed feel for locations that our home to millions of people.

My exploration of the city was via  a small amount of escorting by my colleague, three bus tours and of course the cable car system.

Firstly on the subject of transport, San Francisco is blessed with a great public transport system; however the taxi industry is amongst the worst I have found in an English speaking western country. The contrast with New York, from where I had just arrived, could not have been greater. New York has a highly regulated system where as the quality of cabs in San Francisco is variable, some were simply dirty, there is a reluctance to provide proper receipts and more than once I was overcharged by being taken intentionally in an indirect route.

From the airport I went directly to my hotel, The Argonaut at Fisherman’s Wharf. This area of the city is a buzz of tourist activity including its proximity to the aura of the bay and boat tours to the Golden Gate and Alcatraz, however I wouldn’t recommend it as a place to stay. To get a better feel for the real San Francisco you would be much better served by staying downtown. The hotel was pleasant enough if not more than a little tacky with its maritime theme, including a pillow on the bed in the shape of a ships steering wheel or helm to be precise and staff dressed in uniforms as merchant seamen.

The double storey carousel as part of the Pier 39 development

Having arrived about lunchtime on a Thursday, I spent the first afternoon exploring the area immediately around the hotel, including the re-developed Pier 39, which was about two blocks away. This area is full of tourist type shops, a double storey merry-go-round plus a plethora of bars, restaurants and seafood stops for which the precinct is famous. I don’t eat seafood but judged in the queues for the crab and other goodies on offer it must have been pretty good! By night, a met up with my colleague and off for a bite to eat at Fog City Diner, still on the waterfront area but a couple of kilometers to the east of Fisherman’s Wharf. A very well presented diner with basic food.

Friday was primarily a work day with the exception of a great dinner at a restaurant with the best pasta I have ever had, including in Italy.  Trattoria Contadina is divine and that is reflected in its popularity with locals. This showed the benefit of having a local to advice and we were a bit hopeful in turning up without a reservation. However, been from overseas and there for only a short period of time, the staff accommodated us to eat at the bar and it was a great night. Trattoria Contadina is a 1800 Mason Street.

Approaching Alcatraz by ferry

On the Saturday it was time to explore the water, firstly with a trip to Alcatraz. Now the only tour offered that actually land at this infamous prison island are those by the National Parks Service from Pier 33. Now the reputation of these tours is that you have to book well in advance but I was lucky enough in late February just to turn up and to get on board a tour within half an hour. The cost was $US26 but if you are going to San Francisco it is something you simply must do.

The physical size of Alcatraz does not match t the size of its reputation and having seen pretty much all there was to see it only took about three hours including the return ferry ride. However, you have to actually go there to appreciate how daunting it would have been for these hardened criminals to be in such a fortress and yet able to here the celebrations that took place in the city. The visit also served to dispel a couple of month; despite what the movies tell you it is possible to swim from Alcatraz to the mainland (there is in fact an annual event) and the birdman from Alcatraz as played by Burt Lancaster is nothing like reality. The real Birdman was a murderous dangerous man.

San Francisco's cable cars

There was enough time left over in the day after visiting Alcatraz that I also managed a separate cruise on the bay to sail under the Golden Gate and managed a cable car ride from near the hotel to downtown’s Union Square and return. It is worth looking at the packages offered by the SFMTA as a single one-way trip on a cable car is $5 ($10 return). The cable car is fuller of tourists than locals but it is a great way to see the hilly residential streetscapes featured in so many movies and television shows.

The Saturday night co-incidentally was Chinese New Year, so it was off to Chinatown. A great night, but I have to say once you have been to one China town in a major western city; you have been pretty much to them all. Getting a cab back to Fisherman’s Wharf was near impossible in the early hours and it is a scary walk, and a heck of a long one from Chinatown back to Argonaut.

By Sunday I only had a bit over a day and a half left so I bought a 24 hour pass with City Sightseeing for their bus trips and was able to use the $US50 ticket for three trips.

Firstly was the downtown tour which takes you from Fisherman’s Wharf along towards the Bay Bridge where you see the magnificent Ferry Building and many other landmarks before arriving at Union Square. The return journey takes you via the Bank of America building which provided the exterior shots for the Towering Inferno film, and Lombard Street, the landmark crooked street featured in so many movies and travelogues.

That evening it was time for the night tour which is a safe way to see the city and takes in a much a route much further to the east to incorporate the financial district, Bay Bridge and also a thrilling ride in a bus down one of the steepest straight streets; California Street. I did this in a cable car as well, but the bus trip made it intentionally scary!

Buildings and parklands from the 1915 World Fair

The third tour took place on my last day, the Monday, and was City Sightseeing’s Golden Gate and Sausalito tour. A trip via the wonderful gardens from the 1915 World Expo, the Presidio (former military centre and now partly a movie studio for George Lucas), to the car park on the northern side of the bridge for a photo opportunity and onto the village of Sauslito.

It was during this trip I can up against one of the disadvantages of being in a group. A couple of stupid girl from Texas were way overdue for our departure from the Golden Gate Bridge stop and that meant we were only in Sausalito for about 20 minutes. Don’t you hate that!

Anyway, the trip over the bay gave me a taste for how much more there is to explore in the bay area including the Naper Valley.

In between my coach trips I also went on a street car ride and another cable car ride and visited the cable car museum. This is well worth a short visit. There is only a small tourist component with most of the building the actual engine room that drives all of the cables for the cable cars.

After four and a bit days in San Francisco, I feel that was long enough for the city itself. Sure, there was plenty more to see, but there are also so many other places in the world to visit.
San Francisco is an enjoyable but much the same as any other large western city. It points of difference are its geography with the bay and hills and earthquake history and its relatively laid back feel.

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