Slider Image 1 Content
Authorities investigating severe food poisoning outbreak at NSW Central Coast hotel | Health
Almost 70 people have been struck down with food poisoning and a kitchen has been closed after an outbreak at a deluxe hotel on the New South Wales Central Coast.
NSW Health and the NSW Food Authority are investigating which food may have been contaminated after illness among many of the 230 people who attended a two-day conference held at the Crown Plaza Terrigal Pacific hotel on 30 November. More than 30 people needed emergency department treatment.
NSW Health executive director of public health, Dr Jeremy McAnulty, said anyone who felt unwell or had concerns after the conference should seek medical care, get in touch with their local public health unit, or contact conference organizers, the Aboriginal Languages Trust.
As a precaution, the hotel voluntarily closed its kitchen, which is also required to do under the Food Act 2003. Of those with symptoms, 27 have confirmed salmonella infections.
NSW Food Authority acting director for food safety, Anthony Zammit, said there was no ongoing risk to health from the venue.
“Our compliance officers have visited the venue to collect samples and the investigation is ongoing,” he said.
Salmonella is usually spread to people through eating food from infected animals such as under-cooked meat and eggs. It can also be spread from person to person, but this type of transmission usually occurs over several weeks.
While most people recover with rest and fluids, some can experience severe infection and may require admission to hospital for rehydration. Those who are immunocompromised are particularly susceptible to more severe complications such as blood infection and inflammation of the blood vessels.
Guardian Australia has contacted the Crown Plaza Terrigal Pacific hotel for comment.
9 Fun Food Events Around DC
Photo courtesy of Jack Rose Dining Saloon.
Mixologists around the city are celebrating DC Cocktail Week through Sunday, December 4. Find special cocktail pairings, and join in on extended happy hours and other events happening throughout the week. Tiki TNT, Jaleo, Andy’s Pizza in NoMa and many more are serving food and beverage combo specials.
Head to Estuary (950 New York Ave., N.W.) at the Conrad Hotel for its Winter at Bay outdoor menu, which is happening until Friday, December 23. Warm up by the fire with holiday cocktails, grilled oysters, hushpuppies, and more. Reservations can be booked here.
In celebration of its two-year anniversary, Pennyroyal Station (3310 Rhode Island Ave., Mount Rainier) is hosting all-day happy hours on Thursday, December 1 and Friday, December 2. Look for $8 beer and shot combos, $5 drafts, and lots of discounts on chef Jesse Miller’s twists on fried tomatoes, mac’ and cheese, and deviled eggs.
Learn to make handmade dan dan noodles with crispy pork at Cookology (4238 Wilson Blvd., Arlington) on Saturday, December 3. Participants in the nighttime social cooking club will also learn to prepare pickled bok choy, egg tarts, and a boozy drink (additional drinks will be available for purchase). The cooking class costs $109 and starts at 6:30 PM. Buy your tickets here
Catch FIFA World Cup action at the Navy Yard location of Atlas Brew Works (1201 Half St., SE) on Saturday, December 3. The brewery opens its doors 10 AM for $5 pints of Bullpen Pilsner and the US/Netherlands game (for other bars showing the game, head here).
Maydān (1346 Florida Ave., N.W.) is putting on a five-year celebration and holiday market on Saturday, December 3. Stop by for shawarmas and spreads from the restaurant, unique wine tastings, and plenty of handmade items from local vendors. The market will run from 10 AM to 2 PM and tickets are $15. Proceeds will benefit the Children of Persia and The Center for Human Rights in Iran.
Capitol Cider House (3930 Georgia Ave., NW) will host Fahrenheit99 & Co. for a candle-making party on Sunday, December 4. Learn to make your own candles while drinking cider and munch on snacks from Sassy Chef’s Kitchen. Tickets are $72 and come with everything you’ll need to make an 8 ounce vegan candle, plus a glass of cider, bites, and an additional gift to take home. The event starts at 2PM.
Jack Rose (2007 18th St., NW) throws its ninth annual Repeal Day event on Sunday, December 4. It’ll feature a vintage spirits tasting, bottomless Champagne specials, and deals on prohibition-era cocktails. From 4:30 to 6:30 PM, owner Bill Thomas will host a ticketed tasting of rare bottles of whiskey, rum, and Armagnac dating back to the 1930s. The celebrations and food specials will run from 7 to 10 PM; the spirits tasting will cost $110 and include two welcome cocktails and snacks.
Join a pizza-making class at In Bocca Al Lupo (2400 Wisconsin Ave., N.W.) on Monday, December 5. During the one-hour session, participants will learn to make Roman and Neapolitan pizzas from start to finish. After, sit down with your classmates for a glass of Italian wine and a few slices. The class costs $75 per person and you can purchase tickets here.
Everything You Can Eat and Drink
“Does Dolly like the banana pudding?”
I’m on the phone with Nathaniel, one of the concierges from Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and he’s walking me through the menu options for a personalized dinner that I’ll be eating on her tour bus.
The classic menu features dishes like bacon-wrapped shrimp and mesquite-smoked brisket, and I notice three different dessert options. While they all sound appealing, I really just want to know what Dolly likes. I’m assured she does, in fact, love the banana pudding. And what’s good enough for Dolly is good enough for me.
The five-course dinner is included in a stay on Suite 1986, otherwise known as Dolly Parton’s tour bus. The superstar and philanthropist spent over a decade crossing North America on the custom Prevost tour bus, en route to concerts and award shows. The bus is outfitted with a bedazzled bedroom (complete with a hand-painted vanity, microwave, and wig closet) and a kitchen with a full-sized fridge that required the removal of the bus’s front window to install.
Courtesy of The Dollywood Company
The tour bus was retired and permanently docked in the same spot, it was parked whenever Parton would visit DreamMore. Now superfans can book the Dolly Tour Bus Experience. Starting at $10,000, it includes two nights on the bus for two guests, a suite inside the resort for up to four additional people, a welcome amenity, plenty of fun swag (plush bathrobes, signature Dolly perfume), and a highly-customized private dinner cooked by the resort’s chef, Tiffany Hicks. (Proceeds are donated to Parton’s Dollywood Foundation.)
RELATED: I Tried to Eat Everything at Dollywood in One Day
Courtesy of The Dollywood Company
Days before arriving for your stay, a concierge calls to hammer out the dinner menu so it’s exactly what you want. While the standard menu is full of Dolly’s favorites like biscuits, smoked ribs slathered in Cola barbecue sauce, and that banana pudding, Hicks says guests can choose their own adventure.
“We’ll tailor it to you — your preferences, the flavors you like,” says the chef. “If you want something else, by all means, we’re here to help you enjoy it. That’s what Dolly gets — whatever she wants.” It’s just part of an experience that, for a few magical, thrilling days, channels the country music legend’s life.
The first thing I noticed when we stepped onto the bus — besides the walls splashed in hand-painted murals of travelers and crystal balls, and the glossy faux-wood kitchen table where I imagined Parton drinking her morning coffee — was a cheese board. It’s overflowing with cheddar and blue cheese and fruit. Apparently, it’s the same spread the singer gets whenever she arrives at DreamMore. (According to the staff, she loves cheese, which is just one of the many things that makes the icon so relatable.) The full-sized fridge is filled with bottles of water, coke, and root beer, too.
Courtesy of The Dollywood Company
RELATED: Dolly Parton’s Popular Ice Cream Flavor Is Coming Back
While you’re staying on the bus, you can visit Dollywood and look out for some of the theme park’s most popular treats, including the funnel cake and iced cinnamon bread. But the made-to-order dinner, each course named for one of Parton’s songs or albums and paired with wine, is only available for Suite 1986 guests.
When it’s time for our dinner, we make our way to the Song & Hearth restaurant inside the hotel, and are led to a cozy banquet in a secluded section of the dining room. On each place setting is a rock imprinted with words like “blessed” and “grateful” along with wooden spoons tied with a recipe for Dolly’s famous Stone Soup as a souvenir.
Courtesy of The Dollywood Company
Chef Tiffany greets us and explains the first course: a cup of duck confit and dumpling soup, with a rich, turmeric-laced broth. It’s a riff on the Southern staple chicken and dumplings. “Turmeric is good for the soul,” Hicks says. “At least that’s what my great-grandma told me.”
RELATED: Dolly Parton Is Releasing Her Own Cake Mixes with Duncan Hines
Next up is a plate of cheddar biscuits sitting alongside a ramekin of roasted garlic and rosemary-whipped butter. (Biscuits are another Dolly favorite.) There’s fresh burrata with tomatoes that the chef cooks with brown sugar and finishes with a drizzle of balsamic reduced with honey.
Course three is bacon-wrapped shrimp and andouille sausage over yellow grits that the chef makes with smoked Gouda. And the fourth and final savory course is a feast unto itself. The procession of mains includes pan-seared catfish, crispy fried chicken, brisket, slow-smoked for 11 hours, pulled pork that’s been smoked for 12 hours, and — the star of the show — five-hour smoked ribs coated in