Announcing September

Artist Liam Benson as featured on the cover of the magazine runway

Spring has finally arrived - the kind of climate change we don't mind. Already Sydneysiders are coming out of hibernation, shaking off the winter chills and getting primed for another long Aussie summer. With the onset of longer days and warmer weather, it's the perfect time to head outdoors for drinks and dinner with friends - not that we don't spend the whole year 'round basically eating together and getting pissed! So, on Sunday night, we are hosting September's De Bortoli dinner on the roof top of Drew and Daniel's Potts Point apartment with social networking Queen, the Divine Miss White (AKA Daniel's mum Catherine, who we've been angling to invite since she returned in August from months of living in New York) and the equally divine performance/photo artist Liam Benson. Daniel, Drew and Liam go way back together; the most recent evidence of their artistic alliance is that Daniel wrote the cover feature essay on Liam's work in an art mag called runway (pictured above).

The recipe this month is Jim Keenan's elegant dish Pan Fried Trout Fillets with Fennel, Potatoes, Marjoram and Capers served with De Bortoli's Emeri Sparkling Pinot Grigio. Tim Keenan is the Executive Chef at De Bortoli's Yarra Valley restuarant Locale, so not surprisingly, the level of difficulty has just gone all Masterchef on us! There are a number of steps involved with this recipe, not least of all pin-boning six fillets of trout. Rachel and Drew are going to tackle it together so that they can blame one another if they stuff things up. In which case, it will be... um, ordering a trout pizza?