This month's Daring Bakers challenge comes to you in stereo on Syrup&Tang. My Parisian correspondent, Harry, has taken up the Daring Bakers cause and baked his little heart out. Alas, he lacks a blog, so he's posting here alongside me. What did we make? Caramel Cake with Caramelised Butter Icing. If your favourite bloggers have mysteriously gone offline, it might be due to the sugar-induced coma of following the recipe to the letter.
Favourite dishes you don't serve to guests
Although most of the food I cook is quite definitely suitable for guests, there are one or two dishes which fall into a sort of 'private comfort' zone. People I've lived with have eaten them by force of commune, but I don't feel comfortable sharing these dishes with guests. I reveal one here and ask you to do the same…
Paper Chef: beetroot and ginger kuih with apple purée
I've been following the monthly Paper Chef event for quite a while now. You are given four primary ingredients with which to create a dish. This month's ingredients involved some bold flavours which could go in both savoury and sweet directions. In the preparation of my dish, I think I consumed enough beetroot to change my complexion!
TASTY PRESERVES
London 2007

It's three years since I was last in Britain and I was curious to see what might have changed in the food scene. It wasn't hard to miss the popularity of gastropubs, the growth of decent...
Read more Fri 24 Aug, 2007Wrap hazelnut shortbread around a whole hazelnut. Swoon.
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...
Read more Mon 05 Oct, 2009Mainstream and new media incompatible? (or: Does The Age Epicure censor bloggers?)
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.
Read more Wed 18 Jun, 2008A local writer ignores the local blogging scene?

Over at Australia's SBS Food site there's an article about blogging called Everyone's a Critic, published on Oct 7. I'm not sure how you find it if you don't already know it's there. When you do find it, there's a surprise. It's all about...
Read more Fri 17 Oct, 2008Luxuriously fragrant baklava

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...
Read more Tue 04 Aug, 2009
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