Some Charmaine classics
"I love cooking but I'm bored stiff by the idea of preparing the same kind of food day in, day out. For me, and I hope for you, the excitement of cooking is to be found in creating new dishes, playing variations of old and familiar ones, and in trying recipes from other countries." Which just about sums up my attitude to cooking too. Particularly the boredom of same old, same old, which was a bit of a thing when my sons were teenagers and I was working. Partly because of t
Sep 3
Boring - but it's Neil Perry!
Neil Perry is one of Australia's earlier celebrity chefs I guess. I don't know whether he still cooks in an actual restaurant or just manages his restaurant and business empire. But he is indeed much admired. However, somehow or other I have never really encountered him through books. Maybe he just doesn't put himself out there like Jamie Oliver, Curtis Stone and the rest. Maybe he just stuck to being a restaurant chef writing the occasional cookbook - and indeed he has
Sep 2
A recipe, Coles and Curtis Stone - this and that
The recipe in question is from Curtis Stone, in the current Coles Magazine - Lemon-garlic fettucine with crisp chickpeas. I started out today thinking I would do a whole post on crisp chickpeas as they seem to be turning up everywhere I look these days, so when they turned up in the Coles Magazine in this very tempting recipe, from a professional chef, such as Curtis Stone - well he does have at least one Michelin star - I'm not sure how many - I thought I might look closely
Aug 23
Tussock Jumper - a label leads to ...
"Jump around the wine world" Last night we had this rather nice - not wow I guess - but very pleasant bottle of wine. We think somebody gave it to us. Thank you whoever you are because it's led me to a rather interesting concept in the wine world. I always look at the back of wine labels - partly to find out what I'm supposed to be tasting because I really don't have a disciminating palate. Our friend Stephen George - a more than reputable winemaker - - in the Adelaide Hi
Aug 8
Some Delia classics
"They are not so much the recipes that people dream over; this is the stuff they actually cook." Nigel Slater Indeed they do - as I did yesterday for my older son's birthday party. I made her Piedmont roasted peppers as part of an antipasti spread. I did cut out the stems - against her advice not to because: "they're not edible, but they do look attractive and they help the pepper halves to keep their shape." Well I was cooking for twelve and had decided to cut my large Au
Aug 3
Why did Louise stop writing?
WTF Do I Eat Tonight? a daily solution to an eternal problem It's a website - WTF Do I Eat Tonight? - now apparently dead. Which is very sad, because it's the kind of website I like to read. Not that I do of course, unless I come across a post here and there. And, because, I think this one, though much more popular than mine, nevertheless was tucked away in an internet corner. It rarely pops up in any of my searches. Actually if it wasn't dead I would subscribe to this o
Jul 30
Subtle and not so subtle advertising - which works best?
"A good advertisement is one which sells the product without drawing attention to itself." David Ogilvy On the left an actual ad albeit Coles promoting itself in its Magazine and on the right what looks like the next recipe(s) it is publishing but which in effect is a page advertising several different things - some in-house, some from suppliers. Yes there is a recipe - and yes this is a discreet section of pages in the magazine. But it is also an ad albeit for a number of
Jul 28
Overbalanced - ads and websites
Time for a website and this is the next one on my list. I looked at it a while ago and wondered why I had it on the list, and actually decided it wasn't worth a look. However, since then I have wondered a bit at why I rejected it as unworthy of a look, but then thought, well it's relatively popular - it often comes up in the first few results in searches that I make. So I need to think more about it. And one thing that is a thing to talk about is the massive number of ads
Jul 18
From the big bang to apple pie
“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.” Carl Sagan Somewhere on this website there is the above quote with a note from me - "which is intriguing but I'm not quite sure I understand it." Well today I found the answer and castigated myself for being so dense and not seeing what was meant. I mean it's pretty obvious if you think about it. The answer came from Yotam Ottolenghi of all people - well he does have a degree in philosoph
Jul 5
A missed opportunity
A couple of days ago, this brochure arrived in our letterbox. Of course I was not excited, but I did think that it might have some information inside that would be useful for a blog. And it did but not in the way I thought it might. I should explain that Woolworths has been undergoing the same renovation process that Coles undertook some time ago, and that I'm sure is happening everywhere, with variable tweaks made according to the physical size of the store and the demogra
Jun 25
For the coffee table or the kitchen? Or both?
"it cannot be called merely a cookbook but perhaps more appropriately referred to as a work of art." Gail Cooke/Goodreads It's time to 'review' this book that I acquired some time ago now in a kind of opshop in country Victoria. I 'read' it and put it on my desk to write about some day, and here I am. It is indeed gorgeous as a book. Gail Cooke, who wrote in Goodreads went on to say: "It is among the most beautiful books I've seen with a flower and food bedecked cover so
Jun 17
Rediscovering Valli Little
"our sincere thanks to a woman who changed the landscape of Australian food." Jane de Graaf/Nine On Saturday I'm doing lunch for our lunching friends. We take it in turns to cook lunch every month or so. So I am in early planning mode, and have started looking for inspiration. I decided my starting point would be winter and so I began with Delia and Diana Henry - as I mentioned yesterday. Diana was a bit of a disappointment and Delia did have a couple of things I thought
Jun 3
Variety
Variety - "a number of different types of things, especially ones in the same general category." Dictionary.com "Variety is the spice of life" It's late in the day so, in spite of the fact that a blog entitled Variety might actually be a quite an interesting idea, today I'm just doing a bits and pieces kind of post. A variety of things - recipes, information, disvcoveries ... But isn't it interesting how many proverbs and sayings are food related? The above rather gloriou
May 19
What am I to do with David Chang?
Today is the day I finish with this book which has been sitting on my desktop for a long time now, with lots of yellow stickers pointing out of it. Only two remain, and so it's decision time after a last post. Do I keep it, pass it on to my daughter-in-law who may find a use for it or put it in the street library? I think I'll eliminate that last option. It's too good for that. Because really my indecision comes down to just two things. First - I confess I am not hugely i
May 16
Who is/was the Saucy Gander?
"Hey guys I made stuff, Hey guys I saw stuff - Stuff - the stuff of legends and food blogs." Saucy Gander This began as a post about a food blog that had caught my eye - Saucy Gander - and, of course, it has morphed into a ramble around the net and its tiny corners, as well as a 'review' of a food blog. In my little Ideas notebook sitting on my desk I have one section devoted to blogs that have caught my eye for one reason or another. Some of them are huge with millions of
May 5
Neil Perry's examples of what we eat
"Whatever is modern Australian food." Neil Perry I suspect that Neil Perry doesn't do that much restaurant cooking these days. He's more of a businessman I would think. I may be wrong of course, and he certainly keeps on putting out new cookbooks. This one is actually not that new - 2016 - which is doubtless why it turned up on Readings bargain table. I bought it because although I, of course, know of Neil Perry and how much he is admired by the foodie community, I do no
Apr 30
A farewell with finger sandwiches and dainty teacups
Two days ago I went to a funeral of this lovely lady here. Her name is Shell and she was a member of my 'old ladies book group'. I hope they do not mind the name but we are indeed all old. Shell was one of the oldest - she was I think 94 when she died. This is her on her ninetieth birthday I believe. This is the book group I joined, maybe a year after we arrived in Australia, maybe 1970 - before children for us all. Of course the members have changed over the years. She
Apr 29
Stunningly and simply beautiful or pretentious?
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." By now you will have realised that I am a sucker for beautiful things. Appearance is sometimes all. But of course, what I think is beautiful is not necessarily what you think is beautiful. So that's one thing to bear in mind as I launch into today's musings. The second thing you will have realised by now is that I am an ardent admirer of the work of Nigel Slater - both as a recipe creator and foodie inspirer and also as a writer. A
Mar 13
Rick Stein and British food
"It shouldn’t work, but, like most of his work, a bumbling anti-charm somehow wins through." John Merrick/Vittles I've never really been a follower of Rick Stein. I once watched a very short extract of the series in which he was floating down the Canal du Midi in France and I was somewhat underwhelmed. But I did buy this book recently - from Readings bargain table because I thought it was about time I discovered what all the fuss was about. Is he just good at promoting hi
Mar 11
A Mediterranean Dish coincidence
“I think that is the key [-] the monotony of showing up every day and owning a niche and sticking with it." Suzy Karadsheh It's a website post today - but before I get to talking about this particular website - just look at this - the most recent recipe - 'updated March 3 2026' - i.e. yesterday - the same day that I was writing about fish finger sandwiches - The best crispy fried fish sandwich (Egyptian style) . There it was on the Home Page of the next website on my list
Mar 4