I have a particularly over articulated life. I write and communicate for living. So it always comes as a shock when I am lost for words. It has happened twice recently. Once when I tried to verbalize just how awful Fifty Shades of Grey the movie was. The second time was last week, when someone asked me what “Contemporary Australian Cuisine” was. Australia has one of those truly unique culinary scenes which draws on a myriad of influences – European, our Asian neighbors, influences from the Middle East and beyond thanks to immigration and of course our traditional Aboriginal owners. To borrow a phrase, it’s “eclectic”. For the next few weeks,…
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Party On – How to Be a “Grate” Host
You’ll always find me in the kitchen at parties, especially my own. I have inherited my mother’s love of cooking for a crowd. I have also inherited her love of reality TV, but that’s another story. But everyone can hone their skills especially in this ‘Post Post Emily Post Era’, and the great people at King Island Dairy have produced a free guide for the perfect dinner party and cheese plate. The Perfect Dinner Party is free to download and a wealth of foodie information. http://www.perfectdinnerparty.com.au There is some great a advice in here – like balance your ambitions with your abilities. I for one have been waaay too ambitious…
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Hard to Brie-sist
Many of my American and British friends believe much of the Australian vernacular is made up. They allege they are just jumbles of ridiculous sounding vowels meant to bamboozle non-Australians, that it’s one big in-joke at the expense of other lesser nationalities. “That is NOT a real word,” my friend Alicia exclaimed once, upon hearing the place name “Wharoongha”. Fair suck of the sav indeed. This post came to be thanks to my friend Brooke who recently hosted a gaggle of women, a lot of wine and a slew of Australian cheese. Much was discussed over cheese and wine in her “Secret Garden”, including sport, men and bad bad boyfriends.…
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Sydney Cheese Theft – Will They Gouda to Prison?
Seems like a waste of good cheese to me. But I didn’t know that people in Sydney’s West – my natural habitat – were so predisposed to cheese. Sydney police destroy 150kg of cheese seized from back of car
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Amongst Gouda Friends
Sometimes a gal just needs a home cooked meal. And thanks to my friend Ruth, I enjoyed a little taste of that when she whipped up a spicy treat of Chilli Crab and a Prawn Curry last night. But my end of the bargain, as always, was to bring the cheese. No wonder I get invited to a lot of dinners…hmmmm Still working my way through the cheese accumulated from my European trip, I brought along a Gouda from my friends at Wijngaard and Reypenaer in Amsterdam. This was from their specialty cheese range, which infuses other ingredients like herbs and truffles. The Affiné Zontomaat Bieslook (Affiné Cheese with Sun-Dried…
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At Grate Heights – Cheese at 30,000 Feet
As someone who loves to travel, I have had some good and very average meals in the air. Whoever invented the Hot Pocket should be reported to the UN Human Rights Tribunal – it is an implement of torture. When I am lucky, and flush, enough to travel at the pointy end of the plane, I always opt for the cheese plate on the menu. Which had me thinking about how cheese manages to taste so good at altitude. When we fly, our taste buds simply don’t work properly. The low humidity dries out our nasal passages, and the air pressure desensitizes our taste buds, which is why airline often…
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Down by the River – a Cheesy Tour of Western Australia
Here’s the thing about Australia – it’s bloody big. So big that many Australians are more likely to have seen Bali than say, Perth. Although that may have more to do with the strong Aussie dollar.I am almost ashamed to admit I have seen more of Eastern Europe than my homeland. On my recent yearly trip home to Australia, my occasional travel partner suggested a trip to Western Australia to ample the vineyards. After a couple of days eating my way around Melbourne (Qatar Airways main gateway into Australia, I duly booked a ticket westward ho and in July we were soon tooling around the vineyards of the Margaret River,…
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Cheesed Off – Food Snobs Show True Colors
Cheesed Off – Food Snobs Show True Colors A quick survey of my fridge will tell you I am not a food snob of any description. I am also quite partial to a wedge of supermarket bought cheese. Which is why this article made me giggle. People take food so seriously, especially in Australia, that it appears unless you have the right pedigree (think milk gently caressed from the udders of cows who have grazed in organic pastures and listen only to Chopin), then it must be low class, or not legitimate. Good for Aldi for keeping it real and affordable.