Category Archives: Cooking

The Dinner Party

Posted on 6 May 2016 by sheg4184

“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 sheg4184

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 sheg4184

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 23 February 2015 by sheg4184

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 11 June 2014 by sheg4184

  “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 6 March 2014 by sheg4184

‘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 9 January 2014 by sheg4184

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 12 December 2013 by sheg4184

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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Cooking with Frieda

Posted on 25 April 2013 by sheg4184

Since I arrived in the Philippines almost two and a half years ago, finding someone to teach me Filipino cooking has been like an endless game of hunt-the-thimble, but I have finally found the treasure: an everyday Filipino cooking class … Continue reading →

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The Burnt Offering

Posted on 29 October 2012 by sheg4184

“The smell of gas was there, and of burning chops when he opened the door. He said, “I’ve got some chops going.” ~ Patrick White, The Eye of the Storm. What do I miss most in Manila? From our 32 … Continue reading →

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