Monthly Archives: October 2012

Hello there! After a fabulous week spent exploring Dubai I’m now back in Adelaide, with a (metaphoric) pile of work on my desk and all the last-minute arrangements for Eat Drink Blog 3 to tackle before the two-day conference this weekend.

On November 3-4, we’ll be introducing 80 food bloggers from nearly every state in Australia to the joys and delights of South Australian food and wine before treating them to a full-day conference featuring expert speakers and presenters, practical workshops and exclusive networking.

I’m proud to be part of the organising committee for the third Australian food blogging conference, working alongside my fellow committee members, Amanda, Kirsty, Erin, Alex, Natasha, and Celeste. EDB3 has grown bigger than any of us could have imagined and alongside it, we’ve grown as a food blogging community, too.

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Hello! I’m typing this from the rather fabulous Jumeirah Creekside Hotel in Dubai. I’ve just arrived for a week’s famil (media trip) hosted by Emirates and Dubai Tourism.

I’m a little tired but not half as tired as I would usually be because the Emirates business class flight last night was so very comfortable.

Chair that turned into a flat bed? Check. Great food and excellent silver service? Check. Bvlgari toiletries bag? Check. Space to stretch out and pretend I was in a space pod while I caught up on all the latest movies? Check.

I can’t wait to blog about all my experiences here but in the meantime, I wanted to share a few photographs with you.

I found these sizable beauties at the Adelaide Showground Farmers’ Market last Sunday for $9.99/dozen unshucked. They looked too good to resist so I bought them home and used them in some recipes for my Australian & New Zealand Food site on About.com.

Have you ever shucked oysters before? I hadn’t but it wasn’t too tricky.

You just insert the tip of the oyster knife into the oyster’s hinge, wriggle it around deeper into the shell and then twist the knife to lever the oyster open. It is a messy business, though, so an apron and gloves is recommended.

I adore oysters – they’e one of nature’s perfect foods.

These natural oysters were dressed with macerated spring onions and freshly ground pepper. Simple but delicious.

I went for some Thai flavours for this dish, dressing natural oysters with fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, coriander and chilli.

For all the recipes check out Australian & New Zealand Food on About.com

By the way, these are my first blog photos taken with my new Nikon D600. I shot with a Panasonic G3 Micro 4/3rds prior to this, and while it was a great camera, I’ve been completely won over by my first full-frame.

So tell me, how do you like to eat your oysters?

PS Why not explore Dubai with me? Follow me on Twitter and Instagram for real-time updates.

Hello my dear readers!

I haven’t forgotten you – it’s just that life has been rushing past at a furious pace lately. Frankly, I’ve been swamped with client projects and Eat Drink Blog 3 conference organisation. I’m going to be posting some new material later this week but in the meantime, I have a fantastic giveaway for you.

Now if you’re reading this blog chances are you love food as much as I do. So you probably enjoy learning about people who make their living by working with food. What really inspires you, though, is when you come across those true foodies, those people who always searching for that elusive perfect meal but accept that it’s the journey that is important, not the destination.

Many years ago, I bought a book randomly at an airport — Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain — and devoured it in one flight. True passion can never be faked – and here was a man who lived, breathed and ate food with such conviction.

It’s partly Anthony’s influence that set me off this path of food blogging some 16 months ago, a journey that has created opportunities that I never would have imagined and paved the way to friendships with food lovers from all over the globe.

So when I was approached to do a giveaway of Anthony’s debut graphic novel, Get Jiro, along with Jiro Dreams of Sushi, a DVD documentary I’d been dying to see, I could only marvel again at the lovely surprises that arrive in my inbox.

Jiro Dreams of Sushi is a documentary about the ultimate sushi chef, Jiro Ono, the ancient owner and head chef of Sukiyabashi Jiro, an underground Tokyo eatery which seats only ten people and has three Michelin stars.

Director David Gelb (A Vision of Blindness) has created an acclaimed documentary that charts the relentless pursuit of perfection by a master chef and the gifted son who waits to take over. It’s the kind of documentary I would watch over and over again, grateful for the chance to observe such skill up close.

Differently, Anthony’s novel, Get Jiro,is a satirical commentary on Western food culture set in a futuristic Los Angeles.

Put these two Jiro-named things together and you have a prize pack that is sure to please the fussiest of food lovers.

So what are you waiting for? Enter the competition below and you could win one of three Jiro packs.

Good luck!

Christina xx

Win one of three Jiro packs!

Thanks to Bill at Gryphon Entertainment, I have three (3) Jiro packs to giveaway containing a ‘Jiro Dreams of Sushi’ DVD and Anthony Bourdain’s graphic novel ‘Get Jiro’.

1. This competition is open to Australian residents only. 
2. Log in to enter using the entry form below and click on each task to view the instructions.
3. You will receive one (1) entry for each task you complete below. For example, if you leave a comment below you receive one entry. If you leave a comment and ‘like’ The Hungry Australian on Facebook you will receive two entries. If you leave a comment, ‘like’ The Hungry Australian on Facebook and subscribe to The Hungry Australian updates you will receive five entries.
4. For each of the tasks below click on the +1 Do It button to follow the entry instructions and record your entry. *** Don’t forget to do this for each task you complete otherwise your entry will NOT be counted! *** 
5. The more times you enter the greater your chances of winning.
6. Three lucky winners will be chosen at random.
7. Thanks for entering and good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hello! I’m knee deep in client projects and Eat Drink Blog 3 conference organisation at the moment, working on getting everything done before I head to the Australian Almond Conference in the Barossa Valley on Wednesday, the ProBlogger Conference in Melbourne on Friday and Saturday and to Dubai next Friday for a one-week famil.

Thankfully, my dear friend Cheng Lei (a super dynamic Chinese-Australian television journalist working in Beijing) has come up with another mouth-watering guest post. Her last post was a glorious tribute to Singapore’s local breakfast culture. This post, however, is an ode of joy to Shandong’s fabulous street food, and in particular, the wonderful Bing. Enjoy!

The State of Bing

Autumn is the harvest season and on crisp fall mornings, the bounty at a Shandong street market is magnificent.  Crash-dieters, stay away.  Carb-freaks, rejoice.  Shandong, in eastern China, aside from being the birthplace of Confucius, is also the country’s grain belt and veggie basket.

The produce here is — like Shandong people and their appetites, extra large.  Eggplants like footballs.  Peaches you need both hands to hold.

Novelty-seekers, checkout the silkworm larvae (to be deep-fried into a crunchy appetiser) and hawthorn fruit (most often made into toffee fruit on a stick).

Thanks to the agricultural bent and abundance of wheat, the province is a state of Bing — the Chinese version of bread.  It is the sturdier cousin to the fluffy “bao” or steamed bun of the South that yum-cha afficionadoes are familiar with.

In Shandong, where being means bing, there is a bewildering array of the stuff — the sesame sprinkled shallots filled carpet sized “you bing”, “majiang shaobing” with their crunchy shells housing multiple soft folds of sesame paste, or the “jianbing guozi” — a popular crepe creation jammed with dough fritter, egg, chopped coriander and pickles. Elsewhere, Muslim vendors serve queues of breakfasters the piping hot “niurou huoshao” — a Chinese version of the “Reuben” sandwich consisting of oven-fresh crusty bread packed with tender stewed beef seeping delicious gravy.

Locals wash down their bing with fresh soymilk (BYOB — bring your own beans) and tofu soup, or a peppery broth called “hu la tang” or a bowl of “tian mo” — an unlikely sounding concotion made with peanuts, tofu, noodles and spinach.

Prices are dirt cheap, so come with pocket change.  Bring pocket-sized hand disinfectant if you’re that way inclined, hold your toilet urges, forget calories.  It’s a small price to pay for simple and honest street food that will be the stuff of hungry dreams for years to come.

Words and images by Cheng Lei. 

1) Dreaming of Dubai

A few weeks ago an email popped into my inbox inviting me on a one-week famil (media trip) to Dubai, hosted by Dubai Tourism and Emirates. My reaction went something like this: Wow. Yes. Definitely yes.

Why the invitation? Well, Emirates will begin thrice-weekly flights from Adelaide to Dubai in November, and daily flights from Adelaide from February next year. So they are keen to show Australian media and bloggers just what makes Dubai such an exciting holiday (or work) destination.

So on October 19 I’ll be flying business class to Dubai where I’ll spend a week checking out the city’s food, art and fashion (my trip happens to coincide with Dubai Fashion Week). I’m beyond excited and can’t wait to share my experience with you all so make sure you’re following me on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook for updates. A big thank you to my hosts.

2)  My new crush – the Nikon D600

Since November last year I’ve been shooting with a Panasonic G3, a compact micro four thirds camera, which has served me well. Now, in preparation for my upcoming trip to Dubai and various client projects, I’d been considering buying a faster lens for my G3 or upgrading my entire kit. So I chatted with multi-award winning pro photographer Grant Nowell — incidentally, a speaker at our upcoming Eat Drink Blog 3 conference — who had lots of great advice.

Grant suggested Nikon’s newly released D600, the lightest and most compact full-frame DSLR on the market today. So I did a lot of research and then had a very long play with the D600 at Camera House at the Adelaide Central Market before I decided to buy it. It’s early days yet but I am LOVING it so far. I also bought the kit lens — the 25-85mm — and the Nikon 60mm macro lens as well. My Pan G3 is now my back up.

3) Eat Drink Blog 3 photography & writing competitions

Australian food blogger? You MUST enter Eat Drink Blog 3’s photography and writing competitions.

There’s a swag of cool prizes up for grabs — including a KitchenAid Stand Mixer. a $1000 Visa card, Profiline baking sets, Dolce Gusto Melody coffee machine, and books from Harper Collins and Wakefield Press — plus you’ll be showered with glory if you win.

Both competitions close Monday October 8 so get your entries in quick.

4) Now that’s what I call a prawn cocktail!

I’ve blogged about the Spencer Gulf and West Coast Prawn Association before, when they hosted a lunch to celebrate their MSC certification of sustainability.

Now 80kg of their prawns will be used to create the Copper Coast Prawn Cocktail, Australia’s Biggest Prawn Cocktail, served during a special four-course dinner on Saturday October 6^th at the Wallaroo Marina Coopers Ale House. The dinner includes matched wines selected by Barossa Valley winemaker, Mark Jamieson. Tickets fare just $45 each and can be booked via the Wallaroo Marina Coopers Ale House on Tel: 08 8823 2488.

5) I heart Kamambo

My friend, Victoria Goodyear, is an award-winning filmmaker. I was actually a runner on her very first short film, shot back in the early 2000s when we were studying together.

She’s come a long way since then though, wining Best Australian Screenwriter at the 18th World of Women (WOW) Film Festival 2012. One of her more recent short films, the incredibly powerful and touching Kamambo (Butterfly), won the Panavision Best Graduate Diploma Production 2010 at the VCA Premiere Awards, Best Film at the Melbourne International Student Film Festival 2012 and Best Film voted by Audience at Comfortable Shorts 2012 in Melbourne. It’s been a finalist at international film festivals too numerous to mention here, too.

Kamambo is playing at the Mercury Cinema in Adelaide on Saturday 13 October at 7.30pm so if you fancy yourself a cinephile you won’t want to miss this gem about Papua New Guinean refugees trying to make a better life in Australia. Check out the details here.

6) Contemplating an Archean Land

My sister in law’s mum, Alvena Hall, is a very talented textile artist. She was a 2012 Waterhouse finalist and her vase sculpture made of lace, crafted to replicate charnia fossils uncovered in the Flinders Ranges, was the exhibition’s key media image.

Alvena now has a new, joint exhibition, Contemplating an Archean Land, at the Prospect Gallery this month. Details here.

7) A Fox at the Adelaide Central Market

I had the pleasure of meeting Richard Fox, a passionate, tall and very down to earth British food waste expert, on the Tasting Australia famil (media trip) back in May.

Richard is returning to Adelaide this month to hold an industry forum and conduct some cooking demonstrations for OzHarvest. Catch Richard and OzHarvest founder Ronni Kahn as they demonstrate what to do with leftovers to make them into something worth eating on Friday 19th October at the Adelaide Central Market demonstration kitchen. Sessions run from 12pm-2pm and 6-8pm. Details here.

8) Credit must go to…

A final shout out to my family, who will be looking after my kids this month while I visit Dubai and also Melbourne next week for the ProBlogger Conference. This year has been a big year of change for all of us and I want you to know how much I appreciate your help and support. I couldn’t be doing what I do without you. Thanks and big love, always.