Imagine surviving thirteen nights of durian pong, collecting valuable fruit identification info from a durian seller, and then discovering you failed to write it all down for one's readers' pleasure! I bring you tales of stinkiness with added (incomplete) interesting information, plus news of mangosteen and jackfruit.

I feel myself drawn inexorably to baking projects that have no end, just a rocky path of discoveries, flops, experiments, successes, flops… Not content with macarons and pasteis de nata to add girth and grey hairs to my existence, I started playing with canelés de Bordeaux about a year ago. Why? Why? The lure of something that absolutely required expensive copper moulds and beeswax must have clinched the deal.

Woolworths clearly weren't satisfied with selling imported "artisan" bread all the way from the other side of the Pacific, but also have a diverse range of pastries from Europe. They've been selling them for at least a few months, but I've been slow to write about it.

For lovers of food knowledge, the Larousse Gastronomique is an indispensable book… and I recently slaved over a feature for The Gastronomer's Bookshelf about the new edition and the history of the various versions. Meanwhile, co-editor Mark has prepared a Year-end Countdown with a pile of interesting books you might like to know about, starting with baking and Christmas.

Everyone who knows me well enough to welcome me into their home on my travels knows that I eat one thing for breakfast. It verges on religion. If I stray from the one true breakfast, I am punished with bad moods and heavy stomach (or growling hunger). What's more, perhaps unusually for something so mundane, I'm quite faithful to one brand…

A delicious pairing of whole roasted hazelnuts with sweet, buttery hazelnut shortbread and the lovely tingle of salt crystals. Even people who aren't enthusiastic about hazelnuts might find themselves longing for more. It's just a pity these sablés noisette are a bit tricky to make.

There's a bit of a backlog of things to post about, not helped by 18 days without the internet at home. It wasn't fun. So let's start with a rundown of the reviews that have appeared at The Gastronomer's Bookshelf in the last two or three months! It's been an interesting mix of new books and some serious classics, alongside one book that some of us think never deserved to see the light of day. Read on…

Many Australians are aware that the US behemoth Costco, bulk retailer extraordinaire, opened its first warehouse in Melbourne recently. Costco has received more than a bucket of free promotion through all the media attention it got (and I guess I'm not helping). I've been to Costco in the US and wanted to see what the Australian experience would be like. It's striking how a novelty in one context (me being a tourist in the US) feels so different and unwelcome on my home turf.

Nut pastries involving layers of thin pastry and ground nuts are eaten all the way from Greece through the Middle East to Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia and beyond, typically known as baklava/baklawa. Rather than making one of the many recipes I have, I combined the essence of a number of traditions, using spices and scents typical of much of the cuisine of that very broad region.

Every contestant in Masterchef Australia episode 61 had crunchy macarons. (Ok, except Andre, who didn't have macarons at all.) The microphones captured the powdery crunch. It should never have been like that. I think I know why it might have happened. NOW UPDATED with extra stupid stuff.