Occasional stories, food and travel inspiration
A little secret about dinner parties: while the food and wine you offer your guests is important, they're not nearly as important as the mood you set. As a dinner party veteran I've hosted plent
I'm dating a man who is racist against salad and most fruit. His deep and abiding hatred is incomprehensible to me because I happily eat both every day. "It's the texture and feel of them," he s
Last year, my lovely friend Sky asked me if I'd be interested in doing a shoot with Aspire, the excellent lifestyle magazine that she edits. "What did you have in mind?" I asked. "How about you
Over the years I've learned that regular exercise is not an indulgence but a necessity for both my physical and mental health. So every week I practise hot yoga, a type of yoga based on Hatha and
I had just dropped my son at childcare and was driving my daughter to school. "Book Week is coming up again," my 7YO told me. "This year I want to dress as Sleeping Beauty." "Sleeping Beauty?
In my last post I blogged about taking professional and creative risks and working outside of my comfort zone. My culinary comfort zone, so to speak, is modern Australian food with an empha
Smoked salmon and I have had a long and regular love affair. I like it with scrambled or soft boiled eggs and freshly steamed asparagus spears, in a bagel with cream cheese, capers and cornichons, or
I'm feeling good. A new yoga studio has opened up two minutes from my house and I am loving downward dogging it regularly again. I've been swimming at least every other day and on Wednesdays I practi
It's crazy hot in Adelaide, South Australia, at the moment. This week it's going to hit 40+ degrees Celsius (104+ degrees Fahrenheit) five days in a row. That's five days of sweltering sun, plants cr
It's less than a week until Christmas and as usual at this time of year, I am feeling tired, unprepared and over-full. I'm tired because I'm doing my usual work/family juggling act while also tryi
It was a balmy 27 degrees Celsius yesterday morning. Then in the late afternoon a storm blew up and heavy rain and winds lashed the windows as we ate dinner. But that's Spring for you - inconstant, un
I had this argument with my husband a few years ago. “There are so many things about you that just drive me crazy,” he began. “For instance, you never shut the refrigerator door properly;
Each time before I go food shopping I write out a list - it's the only way I can possibly remember what I've run out of and what I need to buy for client and blog projects. 50% of the time I end up le
My brother recently did some sorting out in my parent's garage. Over the years it had become both a repository and a dumping ground - it was a place for all those odds and ends that were important eno
Welcome to the second recipe in my 5 Minute Eats series, which features my favourite recipes that can be made in five minutes or less. I've made this gorgeous Tomato & Bocconcini Salad many tim
I adore figs. I love their colour, their flavour, and their texture. I die for their sensual shape and the way their demure green and purple exterior splits open to reveal a striking red and gold
I'm excited to be guest posting for Kristy Bernado at The Wicked Noodle this week. Kristy began cooking seven years ago after her children were born and she had to adjust from a life of DINK (Doubl
After paying homage to the Vietnamese pork roll in my last post about Mini Vietnamese Pork Buns, it's now time to honour the simple and delicious Vietnamese Chicken Salad (Goi Ga). Vietnamese salad
My dear friend Eli once cooked me a delicious rice salad when we were both living in London in the early 2000s. As an Australian-born Chinese, I've eaten a lot of rice. I've had it steamed, fried,
If you're a chilli addict like me, you'll love this dish. For this is no ordinary cucumber salad. This dish was inspired by the 'hot salad' we used to buy from the Xinjiang restaurant opposite our
I've never cooked with baby octopus before. And truthfully, I still haven't. You see this dish was created by Mr Hungry Australian. Sunday morning we were down at the Torrens Island Markets when
