I've spent much of the last week limply scrolling the trackball of my nifty mouse, trying to conquer the number of posts in my feed reader. As I reached a milestone in scrolling, a timely gift made life just a little rosier.

If you missed the news elsewhere, there's a meeting of foodbloggers on 26 July in Abbotsford.

The cauldron of ethical, responsible eating has been bubbling away for a while. Advocates of various issues throw in their own chunk of passion while others try to package this pot au feu in a pastry case, as if consumers could carry it around as a dish of good conscience. I wonder if it serves to do more than confuse and alienate those people who need help and encouragement.

Phew! I've just finished making my Solstice 2008 cake, and not a moment too soon. Sunset is in nine minutes and Another Outspoken Female has demanded that all entries in her baking meme be in by sunset! Of course, it helps if I check my calendar better… I've just realised I'm a day early for the deadline. Don't you just hate it when you bust a gut prematurely?!

The relationship between mainstream media publications and the online world is strange in Australia. A new media of blogs, independent commentators, expert forums and the like has burgeoned in cyberspace. Despite this, the mainstream media is often strikingly silent about the new media contribution to knowledge and debate. The food community online knows only too well in what poor regard they're held by some. Perhaps it's time to consider the threat it poses to old media interests.

All I want for my birthday is …

Deliciousness.

I'm not asking for much.

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.