

Pretty in pink
"Pink isn't just a colour. It's an attitude too" Miley Cyrus Ten years ago on our last night in Beaucaire we dined in the restaurant of...
Feb 6, 2024


Too many cooks spoil the broth - or - Many hands make light work?
At worst, it is the road to realising you are the sort of person who cares about how others crush garlic." Gwendolyn Smith/The Guardian...
Feb 1, 2024


Then, now, national dishes - Denmark
"Lacking the wild natural surroundings of their northern neighbours in which to climb and hike, the Danes have made eating their...
Jan 7, 2024


Christmas is/was ... stuffing
"any stuffing should be flavoursome enough to eat on its own." Nigel Slater I spent an hour or so this morning stuffing my two turkeys. ...
Dec 26, 2023


Christmas is ... prawns
"When it comes to summer entertaining in Australia there aren't many words that scream 'celebration' more than prawns." Coles Magazine...
Dec 20, 2023


Christmas is ... cherries
"Oddly enough in a world where seasons of fruit and vegetables have broken down completely, where many are available much of the time,...
Dec 19, 2023


Christmas is ... mince pies
"I love a mince pie - that tiny, tender tart that somehow manages to hold the very essence of Christmas in its crust; the flavours,...
Dec 18, 2023


Christmas was, Christmas is ...
"We've reached the most wonderful time of year" Coles Magazine "Christmas magic exists in the little things doesn't it?" Woolworths...
Dec 18, 2023


An unexpected delight
"God bless the French lunch hour." Elizabeth David A lucky dip. Elizabeth David's book of essays and writings from here and there, An...
Nov 5, 2023


My grandchildren didn't eat the sausages
"I live in fear of the phrase "just enough". I regard just enough as nowhere near enough. Just enough means too little. It means one...
Oct 28, 2023


Views, lunch, wine, friends ...
reflections on a day out in Nillumbik Nillumbik is the name of our Shire - the local council area. In the bottom corner is where we are...
Oct 15, 2023


Apples from Winton
"Passing time adds false memories and modifies real ones." Stephen King Eons ago I studied geography as one of my three A-level subjects....
Oct 13, 2023


Venice leeks and what's for dinner tonight?
"Perhaps no one ever gets to know Venice as much as they remember her, recall her from an episode in some other dream." Marlena de Blasi...
Oct 1, 2023


L'apéro
"People who wish to discipline the sexual organs should avoid drinking those artificial concoctions which are called 'aperitifs'"...
Sep 26, 2023


Cabbage rolls from long ago
Once upon a time I sat in this very spot and gazed upon the Mostar bridge. Well I am 90% certain it was in this spot - although, when I...
Sep 20, 2023


Herbes de Provence
"When tidying up your herbs at the end of the summer, cut lots of each, tie them in bundles, dry in a cool, dry, airy place and turn them...
Aug 26, 2023


French in Fitzroy
"the things Melbourne and France value in dining: character, charm, classics executed well and an atmosphere-charged place to take it all...
Jul 26, 2023


Wee drams
Dram "a small amount of a strong alcoholic drink, especially whisky" Cambridge English Dictionary "A pour of alcohol. The amount is...
Jul 24, 2023


A French lunch on Bastille Day
"It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like "What about lunch?" A. A....
Jul 15, 2023


Why do Paris when you can do la France profonde?
"To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a...
Jun 28, 2023

