The guys from Rooftop Honey are bringing bees back into the city. Why? to help pollination in a growing urban environment. I’ve found they’re great on Twitter, and seem to get a write up in every online blog/journal. And you can buy the local honey to reduce your food miles – taste the difference between Northcote honey compared to West Melbourne! Would love to do a bee garden design with them

http://rooftophoney.com.au/

I had the pleasure and privilege of hosting a dinner for a few friends in the fabulous common room – this was the inaugral ‘Dinner for Humanity,’ and hopefully will be a repeat effort.

On a wintry Saturday night in Melbourne, we shared a south-east asian inspired meal to fundraise for the upcoming Habitat for Humanity build trip in Cambodia. Starting with appetisers of duck and tamarind salad and prawn and viet herb salad, we progressed to a dinner of roast pork belly with caramel vinegar and coconut rice, finishing with pulut hitam, all with wines to match. 11 of us enjoyed a briefing on what Habitat for Humanity does, and how their giving will be used.

I must say that I was touched by the generosity of the amazing company I’m lucky to have around me – a total of $587 was raised! So much encouragement – huge thanks to those who came, those who gave, those that helped. There will definitely be another one of these.

And here are some visuals to entice the ones that couldn’t make it, and to whet your appetite of things to come soon.

-Esther xo

And the inevitable clean up

Inspired by the Loft Project, London, who hold a dinner party around a communal table for 18 select guests featuring a master chef in their private home, I’ve just hosted a unique dinner party of my own. A combination of raising funds for the upcoming build trip as part of Habitat for Humanity, I had 10 people join me for a 2 course dinner with wines and appetisers in my new Fitzroy pad. Better still – these townhouses have a common room available for residents to use. Heated in winter by the warmth of the pool next door, we dined by candlelight, and contributed to a worthy cause. Photos and final tally to come, but time will tell me that this will be a repeat venture!

So this is a collaborative project between Westfield and architects Carmody Groake in London to revolutionise East London. They have created a cultural centre there in preparation for the 2012 Olympics there, and one of the projects is a 3 week pop up dining restaurant. Westfield have pumped in $200,000 for this, and the architects have designed a series of private dining rooms with directed views using materials found on the Olympic building site.

So, given dineBYdesign didn’t quite get launched, I wonder which venues over summer might play a part in a pop up dining exercise? I’m looking into options now – whom might I collaborate with to get this off the ground?

Going to Edible Tapestry Tales next week – perhaps this is the start of the pop-up dining exercise…