It’s low tide and I’m sitting on the end of the jetty. The life of a war chalker. I have a faint signal from somebody over the river that comes and goes with the tide. Right now oysters are exposed but my signal is fading. For most of this break my blogging is intermittent as [...]
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Sometimes I pine for a white Christmas. We snuggled in front of my mother’s 900 year old fireplace (big enough to park a cart horse) while roasting chestnuts. Or if the parents were at church toasting crumpets between the buttocks of a younger child. Now, however, I’m in Australia. To be precise bang smack in [...]
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Spanner crabs Christmas day is usually about the three Ps. We are not talking marketing jargon here buut Prawns, Prawns and Prawns. Christmas Eve therefore is about an 8am visit to Peter’s Fish Market. Already it is crazy with a rough looking fishy bouncer on the door. But I don’t reckon his chances with the [...]
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Forget Coles or Woolies. This Christmas Eve get down early to the St Kilda Farmers Market. This is possibly the best inner city farmers market in Australia. The veggies and fruit are as fresh as you will ever get and well priced. To say nothing of the fish. At the last market we picked up [...]
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Arrogant it may be. But Pearl’s (631-633 Church St, Richmond, Vic 3121 03 9421 4599) reputation is deserved at breakfast or supper – or at the bar for a simple snack. Asahi on tap in those wonderful frosted glasses that we’ve already discussed. The crisp vietnamese rice paper rolls are just that and not too [...]
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Could 2006 be the year that the local foodblog community seriously starts to challenge traditional media? Predictions are a dangerous thing. But I’m prepared to put my neck on the line about the growth of food blogging’s in popularity in Australia. There are currently 49 local food blogs, about 80 per cent of them regularly [...]
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Okay 10pm Tuesday 31st feb one more: Food for thought. I’ve updated the figures. Here is my February update, all from melbourne so far. the apprentice patissier, eat.drink.write., We do chew our food. That means I’ve identified 53 local bloggers, 24 coming from Melbourne. Any omissions let me know in comments. Okay, Melbourne is now [...]
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Sure Asahi isn’t the cheapest beer on Tap. But that is more than compensated by the stylish frosted glass that this beer comes in. We’ve just popped in to recently refurbished Espy, (The Esplanade Hotel, 11 The Esplanade St Kilda 3183 +61 3 9534 0211) for a quick beer. For those of you not in [...]
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I find wine labels pretty exciting and this Wine Blogging Wednesday #16 even more so. I once worked in a marketing type job and was involved in some brand development. The idea was to imagine what the bottle’s label would have been like, say, a couple of hundred years previously. With that in mind we [...]
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Who looks the plonker: the whisky bore who drinks the oldest single malt within reach or the person who likes it with a splash of coke? Well here’s a thing. The guys who make the world’s whisky when down the pub have a choice of mixer on the bar: a jug of water or a [...]
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Three years ago I went on a boozy winery tour with a busload of artist mates. Somehow along the way I managed not only to buy two small olive trees, but also two magnificent French oak wine barrels to plant…
There’s a rumour that Melbourne hospitals lay on extra staff in the Emergency Department at this time of year. Yes, it's tomato season and given our vast migrant population, there will invariably be a few home-bottling and canning disasters. Every Italian…
Making yoghurt at home is really simple and doesn't take much science. Here we make two different styles of yoghurt using both cows' and goats' milk.
It took four hours of a Saturday afternoon to construct this gigantic pie.
The recipes available are all pretty similar, three different types of pork with herbs and spices surrounded by jelly and encased in a hot water pastry. This one…
There's a lot of meat and fat in a pork pie including the hot crust pastry which is made with lard and butter.
I bought a whole tub of dripping, which is basically like lard (pig fat) but from beef, as…
Five days later and the bacon is cured. Salty and sweet, with a hint of juniper and sage, it was worth it.
Nothing is ever easy for me. Frustrated by the poor quality of filling and pastry in local pork…
Recent journalismWe don't see much innovation in cookbooks nowadays but The Family Meal: Home Cooking with Ferran Adria is as you'd expect from one of the world's most innovative chefs.
What most…
Consult a financial adviser before drinking from a Riedel.
Dishwasher tablets erode your glasses and crockery. Use liquid instead.
Decant heavier reds at least 8 hours before drinking.
If you want to drink…
Three years ago I went on a boozy winery tour with a busload of artist mates. Somehow along the way I managed not only to buy two small olive trees,…
There’s a rumour that Melbourne hospitals lay on extra staff in the Emergency Department at this time of year. Yes, it's tomato season and given our vast migrant population, there…
Making yoghurt at home is really simple and doesn't take much science. Here we make two different styles of yoghurt using both cows' and goats' milk.
One of the most exciting chefs to be in town for the Sydney International Food Festival was the witty and erudite David Thompson. If you aren't familiar with Thompson, the…
I recently had a non-brush with death while eating what turned out not to be my last meal.
It made me think of all the meals I'd wasted. A bad…
Neil Perry (left), Thomas Keller and Heston Blumenthal (bald). Courtesy of the Melbourne Wine and Food Festival.
On the SBS Food site you can see my story on meeting Thomas Keller…
Typical. Just as the world peaked Paul Levi, the man who had no small part in bringing us the slightly dubious word “Foodie”, launches the Gastrosexual, a man with more…
With thanks to the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival.
It's 3.50 on a Friday afternoon. I've just finished a great meal cooked by Scott Pickett at The Point in Albert Park…
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