Salon Culinaire

Over the next two days, CPIT’s School of Food & Hospitality is host to the South Island’s prestigious food and hospitality service industry competition: Salon Culinaire. Spectators can watch chefs, baristas and waiters battle to win awards in 39 different categories, ranging from the Moffat South Island Restaurant of the Year award, to events for Danish pastries, curry dishes, and innovative vegetarian cuisine. Barista competitions are being held in the Atrium, so stop by to show your support to competing CPIT students.  A formal awards ceremony takes place at 7pm on Wednesday 30th June at Visions restaurant. 

If Salon Culinaire has got you inspired to improve your culinary skills, why not take a look at the Library’s food and hospitality resources. We have lots of cookery books to suit all levels of skill and ability, including those from celebrity chefs such as Nigella Lawson, Jamie Oliver and Heston Blumenthal, as well as more advanced titles (Professional Chef and On Cooking), and books on a variety of cuisines from all around the world.

If you’d rather someone else did the cooking (and the washing up!), you can read up on the latest restaurant reviews on the DineOut website, or try the magazines Cuisine and Cafe for other suggestions.

Let it snow…

With Mt Hutt already open, and several other Canterbury ski-fields opening this weekend, it’s time to dig out your board or skis and head for the hills! The Library has lots of resources to help you plan for a good season. We have books to help you brush up your technique (including ‘The all-mountain skier : the way to expert skiing’) and online magazines (such as ‘Transworld Snowboarding’ and ‘Skiing’) if you want to check out the latest gear. Perhaps, you’d like to improve your fitness before taking to the snow? Have a look at the ACC’s free online training tool Snowsmart, which has helpful tips on developing fitness for skiing and snowboarding, as well as advice on avoiding injuries on the snow.

Don’t want to get caught in a blizzard? Make sure you check MetService for the latest weather forecasts.

Happy boarding (and skiing)!

Last chance to see Samoan artworks

As part of Samoan Language Week, we featured 4 artworks by Samoan artists from the CPIT Artwork Collection. These are coming down on Friday 11th June, so make sure you stop in to see them! You’ll find the display just inside the entrance to the library. In addition to works by brothers Sheyne & Michel Tuffrey, we also have 2 screenprints by Fatu Feu’u, including Taula Aitu (pictured above). Car Sheriff (2008) by Sheyne Tuffery recently featured in the Another New Zealand, Another United States exhibition at CoCA, which showcased the work of eleven NZ and eleven American artists. This CoCA exhibition was produced in association with Michael Reed and the Faculty of Creative Industries at CPIT.

If you’d like to know more about these artists or Samoan art, we have a number of books in the library, including: “Samoan art & artists“, “Pacific art Niu Sila: the Pacific dimension of contemporary New Zealand arts” and “Samoacontemporary: 17 New Zealand Samoan Artists“.

CPIT Library loses the shoosh! (temporarily)

Live Music in the CPIT Library (to celebrate NZ Music Month) went ahead as planned and was a great success.  All perfomances were by students from CPIT’s Bachelor of Musical Arts programme.

First up was Tara Walsh on vocals, Alice Steele on vocals & trumpet  and Michael Koefman on guitar.  They performed a number of covers including Calfornia Dreamin by the Mamas and Papas and a very nice version of Fat Freddy Drop’s “Wandering Eye”.

Spring featuring Alice-Louise Barker on vocals and Brooke Abbott on keyboards were meant to play next but they had a technical hitch involving the keyboard that no amount of duct tape could fix.  Instead we had a spontaneous ensemble of Alice-Louise Barker on vocals, Alice Steele on trumpet and Harry Knight on guitar (seen perfoming below on a clip we have posted to You Tube).  Harry had only come to watch but was prepared to play .  This just goes to show how versatile and talented CPIT’s Jazz School students really are.

A huge thanks also needs to be extended to Marcus from the CPSA who missed his lunch to help us out at the last moment, and for the loan of the gear, and for setting it up, and for twiddling the nobs.  Thanks also to Lindsay (our man in AV) for his support and for Cameron Pearce from the CPIT Jazz School for giving us access to his students.  Cheers to Visions On Campus Restaurant for the coffee vouchers and the CPIT Marketing team for the T-Shirts. 

More clips of the event will be posted on You Tube soon.