Author Archives: sheg4184

Café Culture

So here I sit in my favourite coffee spot in Manila, contemplating my coffee cup as palm trees flutter and spotless azure skies belie the approaching winter. I am intensely grateful for the air-conditioning that is dispersing the cloying humidity … Continue reading

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Of Llamas and Lighthouses

“…I didn’t really think through what a lighthouse keeper actually did. I was attracted by the romantic notion of sitting on a rock, writing haikus and dashing off the occasional watercolor.”  ~ ‘Stargazing: Memoirs of a Young Lighthouse Keeper,’  by … Continue reading

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Coming Home

October. Manila. Home at last to my own bed, my own bathroom, my own aromas. My bruised and battered suitcase unpacked after weeks on the road, my portable wardrobe tossed onto the laundry floor. A glass of wine waiting. From … Continue reading

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A Long and Winding Road to Foodie Heaven

Adelaide, South Australia, where the Adelaide plains stretch like starched sheets north and south along the eastern edge of the Gulf of St Vincent. Fifteen kilometers inland they start to wrinkle into the foothills of the Mount Lofty Ranges, which … Continue reading

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Train Tracks

Last night, over dinner, we were discussing past and potential train trips around Australia, which reminded me about a piece I wrote last year about a journey from Sydney to Canberra.. A train broods menacingly beside the platform swarming with perspiring … Continue reading

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Lunching in North Melbourne

While Internet access has been intermittent these past couple of weeks, eating experiences have not. So where to start? Let’s begin at the beginning, in Melbourne… As a witty friend couldn’t resist commenting on Facebook, it’s amazing what you will … Continue reading

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Pomelo, Prawns and Peppercorns

I have adored Thai food since we landed in Bangkok in the early 90s. Fresh, flirty and brimming with flavour, it has long been a favoured Asian cuisine globally. People’s Palace has been our family’s favourite restaurant since we landed … Continue reading

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Introducing Sicily

This weekend we were invited to L’Opera, Paolo Nesi’s flagship restaurant in The Fort, to make a new acquaintance: Sicily. Now in its 21st year, L’Opera is a stalwart on the Manila restaurant scene, consistently serving up deliciously authentic Italian … Continue reading

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A Modern Fairytale or Cycling Down Memory Lane

Once upon a time, in a country far, far away – a country as wet as the Philippines but colder – a tall, dark, handsome prince arrived with his fair princess in the land of the leprechauns in search of … Continue reading

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Prego!

The City of Dreams, the latest casino in Manila’s growing Armada, had a soft opening in Paranaque last December, amongst all the usual pre-Christmas chaos, and is now up, up and away. Spend money to make money seems to be … Continue reading

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