Category Archives: Cooking

Citrus Drizzle Cake

Posted on November 12, 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 May 15, 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 May 6, 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 May 4, 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 April 20, 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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Undercooked

Posted on February 23, 2015 by

In the course of a once-in-a-lifetime family reunion for our parents Golden Wedding Anniversary, many well-known and oft-repeated tales,  some gospel, many apocryphal, came out of the closet for yet another airing. In light of the fact that many of those present … Continue reading →

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The Power of Pasta

Posted on June 11, 2014 by

  “Life is a combination of magic and pasta.” ~ Federico Fellini, Italian film producer I love that quote. As an Anglo-Australian, pasta was never a significant part of my culinary upbringing – we were more of a meat and … Continue reading →

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A Fragrant Outdoor Kitchen

Posted on March 6, 2014 by

‘An Indian kitchen is a fragrant kitchen’    ~ Ragini Dey  My favourite new Indian cookbook, ‘Spice Kitchen,’ by Indian-Australian restaurateur Ragini Dey, describes Indian food as ‘vibrant, colourful and richly flavoured… yet devilishly sly as its spices lie in wait … Continue reading →

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Creating a Cuisine from Scratch

Posted on January 9, 2014 by

Cuisine.  As it is in the Philippines, so it is in Australia: difficult to define. And like the Philippines, it comes in two parts: Before and After Colonization.  In the beginning there was a vast southern continent on which dwelt … Continue reading →

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Yasmin Newman: author, chef and cultural attaché

Posted on December 12, 2013 by

As a food writer and a foreigner in the Philippines, I have really tried to get to know the local cuisine. Quite different from any other South East Asian or pacific island cuisine I have come across, I knew very … Continue reading →

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