People’s Choice wine to star at the Emporium Hotel’s Cocktail Bar

Emporium Hotel is a chick luxury hotel in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane. It is in the same precinct where the Channel 7 reality series, Conviction Kitchen was filmed.

On Wednesday 29th June, a special one off event will take place at this hotel where its Wine Sommelier Robert Lavelle will guide guests through a blind tasting of twelve carefully selected Premium drops, resulting in a people’s choice taking pride of place on the Cocktail Bar’s wine list.

How it will work: four stations will be arranged around the grand onyx bar, each featuring a different varietal – Pinot Gris, Semillon Sauvignon Blanc, Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon. Each guest will vote for their favourite wine from each station. The wine with the most votes will then be added onto the new Emporium Hotel Cocktail Bar menu.

Delicious tapas will keep the hunger at bay as the “honourary sommeliers” work their way through the selection.

Emporium Hotel’s Wine Tasting Event

Date: Wednesday 29^th June, 2011

Time: 5.30pm – 7.30pm

Where: Emporium Hotel Cocktail Bar

Price: $45 per person – Very limited places available

Includes: Wine tasting, tapas and lucky door prize

RSVP: Lilian Hare at [email protected] or (07) 3253 6999

As if Diwali weren’t colorful and fun enough, The Festival of Lights: A Lift-the-flap Diwali Celebration by Namita Moolani Mehra, illustrated by Darshika Varm, makes it even more fun to read about with flaps and things to lift and pull to see more information or details in the illustrations.

The book is a story about a family getting ready for Diwali and what happens on the different days of the five-day celebration. There’s cleaning, shopping, crafting, food preparation and getting the home altar ready for the big day.

It covers decorating the outside of the house with rangoli, diyas and lanterns, buying sweets to share with family and friends, the sights and scents of the mandir (home temple), getting dressed up in new fancy clothes, the story of Diwali and celebrations with relatives.

Flaps (there are more than 140 in all) give you vocabulary words for different foods and definitions, as well as fun things like what’s inside the shopping basket or where the cat is hanging out. They also help illuminate the story of Diwali, which is the triumph of good over evil as Lord Ram defeated the demon Ravana to save his wife, Sita.

This pretty and colorful book helps kids understand what Diwali is and how it is celebrated, regardless of whether they practice it at home. This would be a nice book to keep in a classroom (it’s rated for kids ages 3-7) or to have at home to teach kids about Diwali even if it’s not something you celebrate. Where I live there are a lot of people from India so we are probably exposed to Diwali more than some other regions of America, but it’s a nice holiday to know about wherever you live.

Combine with the book Diwali and check out some fun lantern crafts and printables for kids to round out your experience.

About the book: 24 pages, hardcover, published 2025 by Wide Eyed Editions. Suggested retail prices $22.99.

Have you read?