Category Archives: Cooking

“Strange Vegetables”

Posted on 9 February 2021 by

‘’His hard-pressed father’s cooking and the pie-and-chips regime of his student days could not have prepared him for the strange vegetables – the aubergines, green and red peppers, courgettes and mange touts – that came regularly before him.’ ~ Ian … Continue reading →

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Paella with a Pinch

Posted on 21 October 2019 by

Moments away from packing our bags and heading home to Australia, we first needed to fulfill a promise made in Rome over two years ago, to meet our dear friends in the south of Spain. Airbnb provided a super little … Continue reading →

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Burnt Toast

Posted on 26 August 2019 by

‘My mother burns toast as surely as the sun rises each morning… I am nine now and I have never seen butter without black bits in it.’ ~ Nigel Slater The Other Palace is a terrific little theatre only a … Continue reading →

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Don’t Count Your Chickens or Cooking Your Chook

Posted on 29 August 2018 by

The first time I watched a hen’s demise for culinary purposes was in Nepal. We were staying in a remote rural village, being treated like royalty, when our hosts offered us chicken for dinner. At the time, we didn’t recognize … Continue reading →

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Eating Peaches

Posted on 4 June 2018 by

I grow old … I grow old … I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled. Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach? I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the … Continue reading →

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Citrus Drizzle Cake

Posted on 12 November 2017 by

Its mid-October and the sun is getting lazy, rising reluctantly well after eight o’clock. Yet, way down south on the toenail of Spain, there is still heat in that slothful sun. Andalucia. Vejer de la Frontera. A sprawling hilltop town … Continue reading →

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Dream Kitchen

Posted on 15 May 2016 by

“…But the kitchen will not come into its own again until it ceases to be a status symbol and becomes again a workshop… [and] you and I will know it chiefly by its fragrances and its clutter. It won’t be … Continue reading →

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The Dinner Party

Posted on 6 May 2016 by

“Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all.”  – Harriet Van Horne,  journalist Since the genesis of shows like Master Chef and the rise of Jamie, Nigella, Gordon and Curtis, who amongst you has … Continue reading →

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Sashimi: a Japanese Cooking Philiosophy

Posted on 4 May 2015 by

As a rule, the philosophy of cooking aims at the creation of new tastes that do not exist naturally… but Japanese cooking methods are antithetical to this philosophy. The ideal of Japanese cooking is to retain the natural tastes of … Continue reading →

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Seducing the Soup

Posted on 20 April 2015 by

Turkey, like the Philippines, is located at a geographical and cultural crossroads between east and west, right on the cusp of Europe and Asia. Turkish cuisine is a synthesis of centuries of cultural and culinary fusion: a patchwork of Mediterranean … Continue reading →

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