3 May, 2011

Mascarpone Hearts for Mum

I’ll never forget the first time I tasted mascarpone, the luscious fresh Italian double-cream cheese made from cow’s milk. It was in the early 1970s at the back of a house in Marrickville, in Sydney’s inner west. An Italian friend of mine had taken me there one Sunday morning to meet his friend, the cheesemaker … Continue reading →
26 April, 2011

Food for Thought

Anyone for leftovers? Now that the  four days of Easter feasting are behind us, what will you do with those leftover hot cross buns, coloured eggs and and roast lamb?  Not to mention all those Easter cakes from other traditions such as the Greek tsoureki and Russian kulich. At a time when the words “frugality” … Continue reading →
19 April, 2011

Easter Feasts

Will it be chocolate Easter eggs for breakfast this Sunday? When my children were little, we would devise an egg hunt for them on Easter Sunday morning: brightly coloured red yellow, green and blue eggs (which had been boiled in coloured dyes) plus a variety of prettily wrapped chocolate ones. Guess which ones they ate … Continue reading →
12 April, 2011

Orange FOOD’s 20th birthday

Dawn is breaking over the city of Orange in central NSW as I wake. From where I lie, a long streak of reddish-gold highlights the horizon, gradually spreading its golden hues into the valley below. We’re staying in one of the stunning new Cider Suites at the far end of Borrodell on the Mount’s heritage … Continue reading →
5 April, 2011

A Six Senses Cooking Class

It’s a warm Thursday afternoon on the island of Con Son, the largest island in the Con Dao archipelago, 230km south-east of Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam. A strong on-shore breeze is blowing, an early precursor of the monsoons which usually arrive later in the year. It’s blown all the guests off the long white … Continue reading →
28 March, 2011

An Ode to Lemon Myrtle

Have you tasted those delicious lemon myrtle macaroons in coffee shops around town? And I mean macaroons, not macarons, the trendy little sweet French ones which Adriano Zumbo has made so famous on MasterChef in Australia. If not, you’re missing out on a real treat. Moist, chewy, and infused with lemon myrtle syrup, they’re to … Continue reading →
8 March, 2011

Flip-flop, it’s Pancake Day

What type of pancake will you be flipping today? A crepe, a flapjack, a buttermilk or basic American pancake, a blini (a Russian yeast-risen buckwheat pancake) – or maybe nockerl (a fluffy Austrian version) or pfannkucken (a puffed-up German pancake)? There’s a whole world of pancakes to choose from and what type of pancake you … Continue reading →