Bloggers aren't always quick off the mark. Heavens! It took Melbourne's community a whole evening and maybe a night to document the second Bloggers' Banquet. Ella and Furry had a lovely venue for a bayside gathering and we listened to the parrots, breathed sea air and, um, cried through the wood-fired oven smoke. Another successful bloggers' event for Melbourne!

Busy, busy, busy. That's been the past few months. Some of the activity has been on a new site, some on a few tweaks to Syrup & Tang, and a whole pile of unfoodieness has been keeping me away from food and cookbooks. This must stop! Here's a small update for the curious.

Just a quick heads-up to anyone who hasn't seen mention on other blogs around town. On Saturday, 5th April the next Bloggers' Banquet will take place.

The Melbourne Food and Wine Festival held its first 'Out of the Frying Pan' talkfest last year and has repeated the event in 2008. It's goal is to bring together industry and media to talk about issues (which can be interpreted in many ways). This sort of thing can be a mixed bag when there are so many not-quite-overlapping points of interest and last year's was an odd mix of industry discussion and wannabe cookbook writers. This year there seemed to be more media representatives but less industry (chefs, producers, PR people) and though the focus was better, perhaps, the format rather undid it.

Gourmands and gourmets, look at me! After a month of rest and relaxation slaving over CSS and HTML and swearing at Photoshop, Syrup & Tang has a very new look. Less pastel and more Melbourne-style black. Tell me what you think.

At Syrup & Tang I've been buoyed by the enthusiasm of my readers and encouraged to continue this project. Most of it has been fun. Here's a quick rundown on some facts about 2007 at Syrup & Tang and some questions for 2008.

The last breath of 2007 has been exhaled. As well as wishing all a wonderful 2008, I think it's time to clean out all the pieces of deliciousness which I didn't get around to writing up properly. Think of this as being the end-of-year/start-of-year food porn clearance.

Time for some Christmas greetings… step inside!

Last night (12 Nov) saw a get-together of some of the Melbourne foodblogging population. What a lovely bunch! Click through to read a little more and see a yummy pic of my contribution to the banquet.

A few weeks ago I was 'tagged' by Amelita at Squishyness to list seven food facts about me. Here, at last, is a list of tidbits. It's all here — hoarding, allergies, disappointment and substance abuse as a toddler! You never know, it might raise an eyebrow, if not a chuckle…