March 2006

Wine’s doomed. We’re doomed

by Ed

While most of Europe and the Hunter Valley doomed by global warming in the next few decades (this could be a good thing. For the most part the Hunter’s quite ugly and there are only a handful of wines worth drinking there. ), other parts of this red and dusty land may just about outlive [...]

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Broad shouldered, macho and the smell of saddle. All the bull

by Ed

Cosme Palacio y Hermanos 2002 is a perfectly good rioja. Its traditional label is inviting. A tall bottle, it’s everything you’d expect from a rioja. And the taste has all that leather/tack room nostalgia. But wait. There’s more! At least with the Bodegas Palacio reserva especial 1995. Also a rioja, first is the bottle. It’s [...]

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The confronting choice: Knives or chopsticks?

by Ed

What do you prefer to eat with? Sometimes I just want to rip in their with my hands. Take a shrimp/prawn. Am I really going to piss around peeling it with a knife and fork? Aren’t I going to rip that rustic sour dough and dip it in the olive oil? Tiny lamp chops make [...]

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Weekend grape glut

by Ed

Inspired but humbled, I drive back to Melbourne. We’ve been staying in the gold fields in Bendigo for M’s wedding. The art museum exhibits Cecil Beaton’s portraiture. His grasp on light, iconography and semiotics is astonishing, saying more about the subject that their own likenesses. Bruised, we roar through the apple capital of Victoria, Harcourt [...]

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Not the Barri Gòtic

by Ed

There’s something about those dark back alleys that get to me. My first taste for it was in Europe, the alleyways of ancient Italian towns. The south of France. And who can resist the pull of Barcelona’s Barri Gòtic. And so it is with Melbourne a city that hides laneways off laneways, among jumbled warehouses [...]

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Destination Vietnam. Tips wanted.

by Ed

On the spur of the moment I’ve booked 17 days in Vietnam. I’ve got the Lonely Planet guidebook but seeing as the writers don’t actually get to stay or eat in 90 per cent of the places they write about I’d love some inside tips on places to stay and eat and even cooking classes. [...]

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À la recherche du banane perdu

by Ed

Australian Prime Minister John Howard pronounces on ABC local radio on the banana shortage: “We will not relax the quaranteen regulations for the importation of bananas…There will be a shortage of bananas. The price of bananas will go up.” The supermarket chain Woolworths claims that it is attempting to stabilise the banana price – currently [...]

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Yes, we have no bananas

by Ed

I came to Australia because of the bananas. Now with Cyclone Larry has gone and totally flattened most of the country’s banana crop. I should explain that I married an Australian because that J could grow bananas in her back yard made her seem very exotic. By the time I discovered that every Australian has [...]

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Weekend herb dogging

by Ed

Now I’ve caught Tsuki eating the basil and I know why supplies of pesto are running dangeruosly low. Wonder why she keeps away from the chillis? More Weekend Herb Blogging over at Kalyn’s Kitchen and Weekend Dog Blogging with Sweetnicks. WHB, WHB#24, weekend herb blogging, weekend dog blogging, basil, Melbourne, Australia, Food, Food+Drink

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Pommy bashing season opens with watery beer

by Ed

Only four alcoholic drinks can be bought by each person. I didn’t persuade the crowd from toasting the All Blacks despite the raw sewage nectar served up to 50,000 at the Commonwealth Games Rugby 7s at the Telstra Dome. Mistake #1 Buying a burger. I should have picked-up that crust I saw on the street. [...]

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Insects by mail

by Ed

Wow! A package from South Korea. This is an exciting Proust-like Madeleine popping moment as I rummage through all these exciting, mystifying and quite worrying contents. Stuff that cliché Since a tiny child I’ve always been fascinated by all that stuff in continental supermarkets. From Oaxaca to Positano, I’ve trousered those strangely names brightly coloured [...]

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Feast with the eyes

by Ed

Few, I crept into the top ten in the Does My Blog Look Good in This #2 2006. The hot winner was Eating in Asia. Check out the results, in reverse order, at Love Sicily. This month’s edition is hosted by babetabulous Cooking Diva in Panama who just won a Bloggy as the best Latin [...]

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The future is foie gras

by Ed

Why should a duck symbolise Melbourne or Australia? You may be wondering this if you caught the opening of the Commonwealth Games on TV. And Michael Leunig didn’t divulge what he knows. The truth is that Australia is secretly the largest producer of some of the best duck foie gras you’ll find in the southern [...]

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Best chocolate in Melbourne

by Ed

Monsieur Truffe found my heart with darkness. His rich dark truffles are the best in Melbourne. Artisan chocolate shops are multiplying like rabbits but all of them are to fancy and too sweet in what they serve. Monsieur Truffe is very dark and very sinful. He recommends one single truffe a day. I find it [...]