Writer, Eater
So here I am with a new (but old) kitchen which includes a mid-2000s dishwasher. Except for a short period ten years ago, I've never lived with a dishwasher and harbour some suspicion of them. How does one best enjoy a dishwasher?
Keeping your knives sharp
One of my greatest fears when someone asks me to cook with them is the prospect of blunt knives in their kitchen. I hate being asked to finely slice an onion or trim a piece of meat with a large dull-edged kitchen knife. Ugh. I believe I've once successfully nagged a friend into getting some decently sharp knives.
OMG I can still make macarons!
Ten months after I last donned my patissier gear and squeezed out a few hundred macarons, I returned to the piping bags for a brief baking blitz. My back hurt for two weeks. So then I made a cake instead.
Mint ice-cream, and ice-cream machines
Have you ever met one of those people who looks ascance at you when you suggest having an ice-cream in winter? "But it's 8 degrees and raining!" they exclaim. So bloody what? Of courrrrrrrrrrse you should eat it all year round. So here we are at the winter solstice (in the southern hemisphere) and I decided to do a flavour that straddles ideas of cold and wishes for warmer weather.
Kitchen scales redux
You might already have read about my travails with kitchen scales. It's time to write a bit more, this time testing out a model submitted to me for review. The Soehnle Cuisina proves to be worthy of interest if you're in the market for new scales, though not outdoing my favourite IKEA scales for accuracy.
TASTY PRESERVES
Daring Bakers: éclairs
Another month has flown by and it's time for the August Daring Bakers' Challenge. Pierre Hermé's chocolate éclairs were flavour of the month (from his Chocolate Desserts book with Dorie Greenspan). I love éclairs but rarely eat them. Often they're a bit rubbery after...
Read more Sun 31 Aug, 2008Can the honest reputation of foodblogs survive the PR-foodblogger relationship?
It seems foodblogging has matured far enough to be entwined in a pretty tiresome game of cat and mouse with restaurateurs and public relations (PR) companies, egos, money and more. It's worth contemplating what the fallout will be. This article has been brewing for a few months, as I tried to reconcile my opinions about freedoms, community, advertising and blogging with some of the changes that have been happening in Melbourne's foodblogosphere.
Read more Sun 17 Oct, 2010Travel 2008 — Córdoba (Spain)
Córdoba is the first port of call in Andalucía. It's famous for what would have been the world's largest mosque (the Christians buggered that up), and for a smooth gazpacho. It is absolutely crawling with tourists. A pleasant place to visit and, perhaps, to eat.
Read more Thu 15 May, 2008Beef short ribs cause ecstacy
Last year I came across a recipe for Korean-style oven-browned short ribs in one of my favourite meat books. It sounded very tasty, braising tasty beef with ginger, garlic and other flavourings to produce something deeply delicious. The outcome was nothing short of heaven. Fatty heaven, but...
Read more Mon 10 May, 2010La Macaronicité 5: macawrongs and macarights, macarons day and night
This has been my month of macarons... La Macaronicité at Syrup & Tang, as I dubbed it. Time to squidge everything together with scrummydumtious fillings and go on a picnic. I report on some who joined in...
Read more Sat 29 Dec, 2007
