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
Food delivery - a sort of boy kibble postscript
"Australians are now spending billions of dollars every year on food delivery apps." Australian Financial Review There were a couple of kind of related items in yesterday's AFR weekend and they both sort of connected to the boy kibble thing - and in addition, coincidentally, an item in my Happy Foodie (Penguin's cookbook publishing) newsletter this morning also fed into the whole thing. So herewith a few rambles around GenZ and Millenials, their eating habits and the way of
Mar 1
Preserving with 'Pam the Jam'
"they waste not, so we want not" Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall This is a first recipe book and I have come to a boxed set I bought at some bargain price ages ago - because I was interested in the River Cottage vibe. It was a bit of a mistake really because it is heavily British. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and his River Cottage come and go team are very much into foraging, and so most of what he forages is British - and not available here. I think I can say that really the
Feb 27
'Yada yada' or indeed blah, blah, blah?
"I found page after page after page celebrating the passion the purveyors of ingredients have for their product … before finally finding a recipe." Lisa Hill/ANZ LitLovers Time to tackle this book which has been sitting around for me to (a) read and then (b) sort of review. I thought it was just me in not recognising how wonderful it is - and it is in a way that I shall come to - but honestly most of the food did not really appeal - but that I think is just me - as I am not
Feb 15
Toblerone
" Finally, the recipe is quite simple, but paradoxically will never be equaled ... obvious ingredients, inimitable mixture" Eugénie Rousak/Now Village You may or may not remember, but quite a long time ago now, on one of my walks I decided to photograph everything with a link to food. I think so far I have tackled one, maybe two of those. Today I'm on to this one - Toblerone. A wrapper tossed away by a walker or from a car, on a semi busy road. I don't think that's a bit
Feb 11
Picking apart a quote
"The reality is that the best way to become a better cook is through failure, and learning from it to tweak the dish for next time. If you are going to take chances in life, cooking at home should be one of them. There's no feeling in the world like the one that comes from making something delicious by pure instinct - like you stepped up to the podium without writing a speech and delivered the monologue of a lifetime." David Chang I confess I almost am tempted to say - "if
Feb 5
Legends are never quite true - prawns Cipriani
"Legends are material to be moulded, and not facts to be recorded." Hervey Allen It's first recipe time - this book and a recipe called Prawns Cipriani. I thought it was going to be fairly straightforward - a recipe to look into and some stories about this particular book which is one of my all-time favourites. Then I found that it was a known dish - not one that Beverley Sutherland Smith had made up - and then that there was an association with Guiseppe Cipriani and Venice
Jan 25
Self-soothing meatballs?
"any shovel-handed buffoon can roll a gob of mince into a rustic ball." Bunny Banyai So I said I would return to the meatball book and here it is - Around the World in 80 Meatballs by a lady called Bunny Banyai. A strange name - well the surname - and hard to pin down an origin, but I think somewhere in the book she mentioned Russia or Ukraine as an ancestral connection. Even stranger, however, is why this particular lady is writing a cookbook, for although she is indeed a
Jan 24