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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Up in My Grill – How Much is Too Much for a Sandwich?
I have been known to pay a pretty penny for some good food. And usually, I’m happy to do so (with the exception of a certain South American fusion restaurant in Doha who charged me five bucks for three small bread rolls recently – review coming). But when this story popped up on my Twitter feed today, I did a double take. Peter Gilmore is perhaps the best chef in Australia and his Snow egg has passed into culinary legend. But AUD$22 for a grilled cheese sandwich? Well, that’s another matter. $22 in other terms is QR57 or USD$15 or 10 quid in UK terms. According to Gourmet Traveller it has five Australian cheeses:…
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The Missing Link – Review of BBaba Sausage Sizzle
In Australia you would be hard pressed not to come face-to-face with a sizzling sausage. At any given time, BBQs and grills are being fired up in car parks, sports grounds and even at high end events and links of sausages being prodded and poked all in the name of fundraising. Yes, we Aussies love a sizzling sausage. Sausage sizzles are a fundraising and community event. Consisting of a gathering where a barbequed sausage is served on a slice of white bread or on a bread roll, and may be accompanied by tomato sauce, mustard, and sometimes barbecued onions. All ingredients are usually purchased as cheaply (or donated) as possible, so…
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Southern Comfort – A Cheese Driven Trip to NSW Southern Highlands
My father taught me to drive in our old brown 1984 Commodore which was without the benefit of power steering. I remember once taking a corner rather sharply while on a practice drive with Dad. He still claims to see the look of horror on a fellow driver’s face as I tried to control the brown rank on the Great Western Highway. My father claims my driving has actually regressed since living overseas, yet he sometimes has no choice. While home recently I took my father on a day trip to Robertson on the South Coast of NSW. Well Dad actually wanted to visit nearby Bowral, but I heard the…
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Southern Comfort – Eating My Way Around Melbourne in 36 hours
Australians are more than a little parochial about our cities. I’m from Sydney, and as such I am bred to have a fierce dislike of all things Melbourne – namely AFL. Think of Sydney as Los Angeles and Melbourne as New York. It’s a Sydneysider’s God given right to slag of the Melburnians. And of course we have the better coffee. A good explanation can be found here – Australia’s Greatest Rivalry But I have a secret – I quite like Melbourne. I enjoy the couple of days I spend there each year as Qatar Airways flight direct there from Doha, I use it as my jet lag buffer before…