rice rice baby ...

ok so i had my 1st blog 'moment' last week when i had a person come out in the open and say that they enjoyed reading my blog, i thought only the same 5 people (most related to me by blood) read this thing. k-webb big ups to you!

i figured since all of my posts have painted this picture of steve running off to australia to leave everyone behind to go to concerts, take long hikes, attend wine tastings, and swim at the beach all the time ... i thought i would actually pull back the blinds of my delusional existence of extreme enjoyment and show you the bitter reality of what my life consists of for a majority of the time...

i am writing this right now in the place where i spend most waking hours, fisher library. I am currently staying 'hip' and 'down with it' by carving out a space in the undergrad section near a window that looks out on this glorious fall day in sydney, but I can only observe the day and the care free attitudes that taunt me from outside while I struggle to chip away at my work load.

the project that is consuming me (and that you are about to read about) right now is due on monday and is an event brief (think of an article from the economist) examining and analyzing the sudden increase in the price of thai rice that has been taking place over the past 3 months and hit a record 30% price increase in just one day of trading last week.


the price of thai rice which is used as a de facto global price benchmark was sitting a tad under $400 a metric ton at the turn of the new year. since january the price has for a lack of better words, skyrocketed without looking back. last weeks trading (after the 30% spike) closed at $760 a ton with the projection that it was still heading up with india, the second largest exporter behind thailand, stating that it was going to raise the price of indian rice exports up to $1,000 a ton in hopes to push local producers to sell locally thus ensuring stability in their domestic rice market. this set off a chain reaction with other large exporters (egypt, cambodia, vietnam) placing export tariffs on rice hoping to curb domestic inflation in their rice markets while trying to maintain a social balance for their respective inhabitants who rely so heavily on the staple grain.

'so what steve? the price of my burrito from chipotle and the price of my sushi hasnt gone up, i could care less.'

fair call. and dont worry you wont see chipotle or san sushi too jacking up its prices anytime soon. america is protected by our domestic rice growth. thanks arkansas. but the rising demand for ethanol might force some rice farmers to switch to a ethanol friendly crop, and then i would suggest switching to the fajita burrito or eating more sashimi.

BUT, like most global situations this has a major effect on people we dont think about most of the time. there are 2.5 billion people in the world who rely on rice as a vital building block for their food intake. that means if there is continued inflation in these markets you will see people starving in places like indonesia (population +/- 235 million), bangladesh (pop. +/- 150 million), and the phillipines (pop. +/- 90 million) where the country's consumption far out weighs its production.

This is already been brought to the world's attention when the WFP (UN's World Food Programme) came out 2 weeks ago and said that they are over $500 million short of funds to meet the global demand for food aid, and they have deemed the rising price of grains as a key reason for the budgeting shortfall.

think about it.

2/3rds of the way there and i don't know if i can handle it ...

2/3rds finished what you might ask ...

2/3rds finished your semester? no its only 4 weeks into it.

2/3rds finished a research paper? no i have 2 going that are in the 'research' phase

2/3rds finished a really good book? no, look to your right i am reading 4 good books now, but none are 2/3rds finished.

so what the hell is steve talking about? thats a question for another time, but I am currently 2/3rds of the way finished with my 2008 sydney fall (remember i am in the southern hemi) concert extravaganza!

the first leg of the series kicked off as some of you know last tuesday the 18th with my favorite act, wilco, performing for a second time in less than a year at the enmore theatre. (interesting steve fact: i have only seen wilco in australia) To say the concert was enjoyable would be a gross understatement. In a nutshell jeff tweedy and the band came out and treated the crowd to some cozy, intimate, and vulnerable older wilco songs - then they slowly built up steam with tunes off of their latest album sky blue sky and some fan favorites off of yankee hotel foxtrot, and then culminated with an earthshaking, guitar shredding, fist pumping six encores! wow what a show.

so the second leg of my extravaganza happened last night at the same venue in fact, but instead of wilco i was treated to the best dueling spanish guitar brother and sister combo ever, rodrigo y gabriela. the two hail from mexico city via ireland and the uk and were in town for the east coast blues festival (note: wilco was here for the same reason) and we were lucky enough to score 4th row tickets to their only headlining gig. The show was a vivacious experience to say the least with rodrigo leading the crowd it 'oles!', shouting, jumping, and clapping while his sister repeatedly said 'are you fucking ready to rock?!!!?' in her broken english. it was by far and away the most energetic i have seen an aussie crowd get and it was 100% do to the liveliness emanating from the guitars simply being an extension of these siblings bodies. sydney got a healthy dose of latin culture last night ... we are sooooo lucky to have that culture everywhere in america!

so i am 2/3rds of the way into my extravaganza and have had an awesome time getting there ... only modest mouse at the the big top at luna park (its a freaking circus/carnival/amusement park right under the harbor bridge - mark it would be right up your alley) next thursday night.

its going to be difficult to finish my 2008 sydney fall concert extravaganza strong, but alas i think i will make it out alright - maybe a bit poorer and behind on my international security reading ... but you only get to live in sydney once ... actually twice.


watch this clip ... you are welcome.

Reason 727 why i slove Sydney ...

So let me give you some background on this past weekend. Friday was cloudy and rainy all day. A great time to unwind from completing my 1st essay and my 1st oral presentation as a post grad student. I spent the whole day in a totally introverted and introspective mode reading, listening to heaps of music, and spending time just praying.

The alone time was much needed as was a quick call to the states. But on Saturday the clouds lifted, the sun came out, and well I packed my backpack up with a change of socks , a pair of clear drawers, and some boardies and went for a hike with my house mates - Mike, Andrew, and Adam.

What ensued was one of the best 36 hour periods that I have experienced in Australia. We hiked the Coastal Track of The Royal National Park which is a 26km trail just south of the city. The adventure started with 2 trains, a bus, and a ferry finally delivering the anxious walkers to the shores of the national park at 2:30pm on Saturday afternoon.


The 1st part of the hike was truly amazing. Here we were stomping across the southern bluffs of Sydney with the CBD (central business district) at our backs, the Pacific Ocean to our left, and the sun shining above. I had a couple of thoughts run through my head during the exquisite beginning of our hike, but the most important thought that just kept running through my head was, 'out of all of this there was still time for me?!?!' Humbling and loving at the same time. Life

After the cliffs we descended along the track to the Marley beaches. I am not an experienced hiker by any means, (a couple of camping/hiking excursions with the middle school backpacking club and some 'heady' festival camping in the later part of my life are about all the experience I got)but this was the 1st time I have been hiking on the beach ... a surreal experience, because you don't normally see many people hiking across OC or Fenwick Island for that matter. We stopped for afternoon tea (an apple, a pb&j, granola bar, and some water)on the far side of little Marley beach on a nice overhang of rocks looking east towards ... the US :)


The next section of the hike had us going inland a bit more (the Pacific was never out of sight or sound for that matter)and trampling through some serious brush that was taller than me for the most part. It was a side of OZ that I hadn't been exposed to before and I loved it. The rainfall this past summer has revitalized everything from the parched browns and grays to the vibrant life spewing greens and golds that I saw this weekend.

It started to get dark. We were completely knacker and had to cross a massive stretch of beach at Garrie. It's all good fun at the beginning but when you have already crushed 15km and have another 3km to go before you are going to put up your tent in the dark you tend to kick the sand rather than trend delicately across it. So right when I was feeling like punching someone (Mike seemed like the most likely of targets being that he was super fit, smiling, and was the one who put me in this situation)as I was climbing up what the locals refer to as 'THE HILL' with the palms of my hands held open for any extra strength I could get I looked to the left and was treated with a moon rise over the beach that was the definition of beauty. My how easily I look upon my situation - whether good or bad - with so much focus that I loose sight of the beauty thats all around me. Take the blinders off.

After setting up camp and having dinner (a banana, ham sammie, and another pb&j)there was a great time of laughing and general buffoonery it was off to bed. The next morning I was awoken at 6ish by the international flights coming into Sydney International Airport. Was really fun watching them come in one after another directly over the camp sight. I know the excitement and the anxiety those travelers feel coming to Australia. I also know their fears of what lies ahead as well as their pain of leaving family and loved ones behind. I am one of those passengers - only I was basking in the love and taking comfort in the beauty that was surrounding me in that Park. Take comfort.

Around 9am after breakfast (a bowl of cereal) we were onto the last 8km of the track. This lead us through open fields and up hills and around coves. Following the Ocean once again. The Pacific became our companion through out the whole track and when we turned inland to enter the rain forest it was like saying goodbye to a friend. But we only had to say goodbye for a couple of km, because when we got through the never ending uphill battle that was the rain forest we came out on top of a ridge with and unbelievable look out with a fantastic view of the ocean that helped signal an end to a perfect Easter.

Now where can a guy get a burger in Otford?

Friday ...

"now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy."

jesus

mmmmmm ... a double shot of sustainability

So I don't have classes on Mondays and the normal routine is to stay on the north side of the bridge (ie: not take the train to campus), head to the local coffee shop for a double shot latte or a long black (cafe americano for all those americanos), and then saunter over to the town library nursing my caffeine fix for some quiet school reading.

Well today I decided to break routine, and I am glad I did. It started out like every other Monday, except the vibe in the coffee shop was warm, inviting, and just bright if you can understand that, so I said to myself, "why not just plop down at one of the tables and do my reading here." Oh man, best decision ever! Not only did I get around 75 pages read for my Politics of the Global Economy class, but I also got to have a brilliant chat with the manager of the cafe.

Her name escapes me now, but she started a little conversation with me after most of her customers had come and gone from the shop over a 2 hour period and I remained steadfastly underlining, reading, and highlighting a seriously over sized 700 page bound collection of articles pertaining to politics, the global economy, and necessary for success in school.

She apologized for interrupting, but wanted to know what I was studying. I told her I was studying IR and Global Government so that I could join the Foreign Service and/or promote development, interdependence, and well just plain old common courtesy and good will in the ever growing global village. She was fascinated and asked if I knew anything about 'fair trade'. I told her what I knew and she then proceeded to launch into all the things that this small coffee shop and its sister cafe was doing to help promote global development, sustainable coffee farming, fair wages, compensation, and living conditions for the coffee producers (the lowest people on the coffee food chain).

It was amazing to see this woman so passionate about something so simple and a bit idealistic, but at the same time totally noble and totally worth while. She explained to me all about The Rainforest Alliance and how her shop's blend of beans consisted of 50-60% Allicance 'stamped' beans in their 2 shops and were hoping by 2009 to raise it 70%.

If that wasn't enough to get me inspired and excited to order another coffee, she told me about how the owner and herself are looking into going into coffee farming/development in Ethiopia to help at an organic/grassroots level put in place training systems to help get the coffee producers on track to bring a fair trade quality coffee product on the market for export. Amazing stuff!

I applaud Pablo's & Rusty's (the coffee shop). They have earned my business for the remainder of my time here. They have also earned my respect for launching a campaign of integrity in and industry and a developed world where that word is lost and almost archaic. Good on ya' all the P&Rs of the world!

NPR does it again ...

I might have to start donating money to public radio if they keep up the awesome work! Actually 2007 was the first time I forked over some cash to public radio, and I'd like to think of the past 2 shows that I have posted as more than my money's worth. Its your turn to give to public radio.

MMJ

This is My Morning Jacket's concert from the much celebrated, blogged, and loved South By South West (SXSW). I believe there are 8 tracks from their upcoming album.

Listen and enjoy!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Mom,

I love you, care for you, and greatly appreciate you! Happy birthday!

Love,

your #2 son

Good Wine Good Food Good Weather Good Living

This past Sunday provided this ex-pat an awesome opportunity to trek down into the city to stroll through Hyde Park and partake in The Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Living Cellar Door Wine Festival. The Good Living Cellar Door Festival was the corner stone and kick off event of this year’s New South Wales wine week. Seeing how I have dedicated my 2008 to exploring and learning about more wine, it was not an option of missing out on this event.
Pretty unexpectedly I was flying solo for this opening round of wine exploration. I know a couple of you back home would have had my back, but alas I’m here and you are there. So the weather: sunny and about 80 degrees. The atmosphere: vibrant, family oriented, and full of people with gigantic smiles on their faces. My outfit: bright colored shorts, tropical print Reyn Spooner shirt, and a wicked pair of TOMS (I was going for the relaxed but subtly sophisticated summery look … needless to say I pulled off perfectly). My objective: to taste 10 wines all grown, produced, bottled, and sold right here in the wonderful state of New South Wales.
So I won’t keep you waiting, let’s pop the cork (or more likely in an eco-conscientious Australia let’s unscrew the cap) and talk about that beloved grape drink.

As mentioned above the sun was out in full effect and the walk from the station to the festival was not too long, but was not too brief either. The walk was actual just perfect to work up a quick thirst for some refreshing white varieties.
So with the thirst on my mind I as so excited when I came upon the festival and saw wine stall after wine stall stocked with bottle upon bottle of locally produced wines. Glass and tasting tickets were purchased in record time as I set off on my NSW wine odyssey.

• 1st wine was a 2005 Riesling from Blickling Estate located in the New England region of the state. Oh was it delicious! A very light and mellow rather than crisp fruity blend of cold climate grapes that are grown in a very high climate and have an extended ripening process as a result of the altitude. Any thoughts that this might not be an awesome afternoon were tossed out the window as I continued on sauntering down the grassy aisle of the Cellar Door sipping my wine while searching for what I would drink next.

• The 2nd wine of the day was a 2006 sparkling wine (‘bubbles’ as Aussies lovingly refer to their own take on champagne) from what seemed like a young and innovative wine maker name Peter Logan hailing from Orange which is over the Blue Mountains and about 4 hours west of Sydney. Mmmmmm. Its was served rather chilly which made this mild smelling sparkling rather crisp to the palate which helped bring the light peachy fruit taste out in the wine. The bottles of this Logan ‘champagne’ were going for 28 bucks which seemed like a steal. I see myself popping some Logan in the future!

• So I started working up an appetite with all this walking, traveling into town and drinking, so I decided to check out one of the local food stalls in the area that highlighted the Mudgee region of the state. What more could a guy ask for than a venison steak sandwich with poached pear, spinach, and caramelized red onion from Mandagery Creek Venison Farm?!?! With sandwich in hand I went to the booth next door for my 3rd tasting glass of the day, a Cab Sav from Huntington Estate hailing from the Mudgee area as well. Parked myself on the curb in the shade right off the main thoroughfare only to be serenaded by a 5 piece band playing some Gershwin on this amazing Sunday afternoon. As far as lunch went the sandwich was the main highlight by far, followed closely by the Gershwin, and then trailing heavily behind was the overly peaty Huntington Estate red. Well 2 out of 3 ain’t bad.

• With red wine on the brain and my sandwich destroyed in a matter of seconds it seemed I made the decision to head from the western regions of the states to the nation’s capital Canberra. It was while in the capital region that I had my 4th wine a 2007 Shiraz from Mount Majura Vineyards. I was told it was a spicy yet earthy Shiraz and that lady was spot on in her description. This wine was very peppery and full of either blueberries or blackberries and highlighted with a metallic earthy flavor. A different Shiraz for sure but very tastie!

• My 5th wine that marked my half way point was a surprising wine to say the least. What I had was advertised heavily as ‘one of the rarest wines in the world’ hailing from the Southern Highlands region of New South Wales. My midpoint wine was a 2006 Arneis that was very flowery not fruity with hints of honey to accent a light but sweet wine. I enjoyed it very much and was told that the ‘secret’ was in the partial barrel fermentation process – whatever that meant.

• With my last 5 tasting tickets I decided to head to the largest wine producing region of New South Wales, the Hunter Valley. The Hunter area was massive and had huge wine producers like Tempus Two and Scarbourough Wines there, but I decided that I would pass the big boys and try some wines from places I had not heard of which lead me to the Hope Estate tent for my 6th wine, a glass of their 2006 Merlot. I didn’t like it, and I always thought I was someone who liked Merlot in spite of Paul Giamotti’s now famous whiney comment about Merlot from Sideways. I simply feel that Merlot should come from a wetter climate like South Australia or California, not the Blue Mountains of New South Wales.

• Moving through the Hunter I came across what would be my 7th wine and my favorite of the day, a 2006 Pinot Noir from Hungerford Hill. My generous pour of this wine was pleasing to smell hinting at a complex nature and was even more pleasing to my taste. It was mild and almost buttery in its smoothness leaving a pleasant coating on my tongue that made me think of velvet. Like most Pinots it was mild and didn’t pack a huge punch, but was subtly earthy, a touch fruity, and fatty in a very good way. Hungerford Hill will be getting a visit from me sometime this year for sure!

• After my 7th tasting I knew I was not going to be getting much better, plus I was getting a little um lets say ‘happy’. My notes started getting a little sloppy and I had a birthday party to get to which meant I was short on time and had to walk back to the train station to catch my ride home. So what ensued was what I would like to call the big Red blitz of the Hunter. 8th wine was a Cab Sav that had grapes hailing from Orange and was produced in the Hunter by Pepper Tree. 9th wine was a Cab Sav from Allen Dale Winery. And the last wine, the 10th of the day was a 100% Hunter Shiraz from Brokenwood that I remember being quite fond of – then again who isn’t fond of their 10th wine of the afternoon.

Needless to say I had an awesome time at The Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Living Cellar Door wine festival, and am happy to report that 2008, the year of more wine culture for this guy is shaping up to be a wonderful year.