5 February, 2017

Kong Hee Fatt Choy!

I was running late for my appointment with Carol SelvaRajah, one of Australia’s leading exponents of Nonya and Malaysian cooking. When I arrived, she was on the phone to her brother in Kuala Lumpur, Dr Abel Arumugam. She opened the front door, waving me in, while continuing with the instructions for chicken rendang. “After you’ve … Continue reading →
28 January, 2017

The Best Summer Birthday Cake Ever

It’s been a long hot summer Down Under. In fact it’s been the hottest month of January ever recorded. One night, a couple of weeks ago, was the warmest January night in Sydney ever (records for the city go back to 1858). And right in the middle of the month one of my grand-daughters turned … Continue reading →
3 November, 2016

Endangered Cuisines: Yogyakarta’s Gudeg

Food is a wonderful vehicle for discovering a country and learning about history, culture, and the always-evolving relationship between the edible elements of the landscape and the development of local identities. As the Sumatran-born food and cookery writer Sri Owen points out in her informative book Indonesian Regional Food & Cookery, ‘To write about food is … Continue reading →