All posts by Christina Soong

Did you ever read The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett? I’ve always been enchanted by the idea of a secret space hidden from regular passer bys, just waiting to be discovered.

The Gardens House is such a space. Situated in the middle of the magnificent Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne, The Gardens House is hidden behind a high, vine-covered fence. I’ve walked past it countless times (I lived in Melbourne for six years) and never really noticed it beyond registering that it was a function centre.

But a few weeks ago we got to peek behind the fence, and enter a hidden space. Before we go in, let’s rewind a little to just outside the church following the wedding ceremony, shall we?

My family and I are in Melbourne for my cousin Mike’s wedding. Mike is my eldest cousin on my dad’s side. A banker who is heavily into judo he’s spent years living in both Kuala Lumpur and Melbourne. Around 18 months ago he started seeing Katherine, and pretty soon after things got serious, culminating in their wedding today at a lovely old church in Kew.

The ceremony was short but sweet. It was the young Minister’s first wedding ceremony and in his sermon he uttered the best line I’ve ever heard in a church:

“Mike. If Katherine doesn’t know what Gangam Style is, don’t get cross and use your Judo moves on her. Just love her.”

Amen to that!

The beautiful bride, Katherine, after the ceremony. We had a family dinner two nights before the wedding and she was easily the most calm and unruffled bride-to-be I’ve ever met. I think Mike has found a good one.

Uh oh. What has my daughter and two of the cute flower girls (my cousin’s kids) been up to?

Meet the newest addition to the family, Zach, my cousin Mark’s son.

My Auntie Rose (my Dad’s sister) with her family, who all travelled to Melbourne from Kuala Lumpur.

My cousin Andy and family, who live in Melbourne. Andy is Mike’s younger brother and was his best man while his daughters were the flowers girls. Isn’t their hair pretty? My clever cousin in law did it herself. The gorgeous flower girl dresses were found at Tutu Du Monde.

Now back to Gardens House at the Royal Botanic Gardens.

Upon arrival at Gardens House we are welcomed with a glass of NV Mitchelton Imprint Sparkling from Goulburn Valley, Victoria. I regret not taking photos of the lovely old two-storey house but I was too busy having a good time while trying to keep an eye on my kids.

Just inside, the Wedding Cake takes pride of place between the two downstairs rooms. Mike and Catherine went for cupcakes in four flavours — chocolate mud cake, white chocolate with coconut, white chocolate with raspberry and citrus — topped with a traditional wedding cake and a very untraditional cake topper all by Ab Fab.

I love the cake topper – perfect for a judo-mad groom and his good-natured bride.

A quick snap of my parents and son with Katherine and then it’s straight onto the canapés.

First up, it’s a Chardonnay pickled beetroot tartlet with white bean and thyme cream. It’s a delicate mouthful and nicely balanced; the beetroot is only mildly pickled so it doesn’t overwhelm the white bean cream.

Next, we enjoy prawn spring roll twisters served with sweet chilli sauce. My kids love these and I go back for seconds but they are gone in a flash. 

We are then offered a minted pea and lamb pie served with mint jelly. For those of us who breakfasted hours ago, this appetizer is very welcome.

Before we move upstairs for the rest of the meal, we’re invited to watch Catherine throw her bouquet in the (private) garden.

Heads up!

The bouquet was caught by Catherine’s bridesmaid, Ruth, who had travelled to Melbourne all the way from Toronto, Canada, to support her friend.

The smallest flowergirl – isn’t she adorable?

We’re then invited to move upstairs to the dining room for the rest of the meal. The dining room fits 48 people so we’re a tight squeeze – I think we’re actually over 50 people with all the kids. For larger parties, the covered balcony can also be used, or a marquee can be set up in the gardens.

Before the meal is served, Mike delivers the traditional Bridegroom’s Speech.

Like many nervous bridegrooms before him Mike has left his carefully prepared speech in a hotel room and has to wing it. So his speech is a little rambly in spots — he thanks his bemused brother three times  — but it’s sincere and heartfelt, especially when he pays tribute to our beloved grandmother who passed away last year.

The kids are then served what we think is their meal but which is actually their entrée: penne and meatballs with a fresh Napoli sauce and basil.

I sneak a bite and then another one – this is a top quality kid’s meal.

Then our entrée arrives.

The Flavours of Spain tasting plate includes a confit chicken and braised leek croquette with smoked paprika aioli, grilled diver scallop with red onion, lime zest and chilli ceviche on cauliflower, roast baby piquillo pepper with salt cod (bacalao) and sauce romesco, and green olive tapenade crostini with white anchovies and smoked tomato jam. The tasty croquette is gone in two quick bites while the scallop combines some of my favourite flavours and is so good I consider trying to distract my cousin Andy so I can swipe his.The saltiness of the bacalao is well matched with the smoky flavours of the pepper while my three year old loves the crostini with anchovies and won’t let me have more than a tiny bite.

The kids’ main courses arrive next – Parmasen crumbed chicken fillets with Italian sugo and cheese (an upmarket version of Chicken Parmigiana) served with fat wedges and a small salad. My kids attack the wedges but only manage a few bites of the Parmis so I help out a bit. I hate seeing food go to waste.

I’m presented with my main – grilled Atlantic salmon on pureed zucchini and basil with a rich tomato sauce that cuts through the richness of the fish.

The other main is a rather magnificent looking roast porterhouse of Angus beef with fondant potatoes, grilled asparagus and Burgundy jus.

Dessert is an individual warm apple, rhubarb and raisin crumble served with toasted cinnamon ice cream. It’s a fantastic combination – comforting and warming yet sophisticated and special, too. Top marks to the Chef.

The kids’ dessert is Eton Mess – white chocolate buds, meringue, sliced strawberries and marshmallows covered with cream. From a kid’s POV this is basically heaven in a bowl.

Then it’s downstairs again for tea, coffee, wedding cake and chocolates. After all that food I’m amazed I can still eat but of course I manage half an excellent chocolate mudcake cupcake. I am nothing if not a dedicated eater.

It’s been a great day in a lovely setting.

Mike and Kat: congratulations on your marriage. I wish you a life full of deliciousness.

Gardens House
Royal Botanic Gardens
Dallas Brooks Drive
South Yarra Victoria 3141
Telephone + 61 3 9825 0092

This is not a Valentine’s Day post. With my current relationship status — recently separated after a nine year relationship/marriage — I feel ill-equipped to gush about heart-shaped biscuits and strawberry milkshakes for two with matching pink and white striped straws.

Frankly, I feel like Ebeneezer Scrooge prior to the visits from the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet To Come. I see young couples in love and can barely restrain myself from shaking my fist and yelling ‘Bah, humbug!’ at them.

In case you’re wondering, no, I’m not anti-love; I love being in love. Being in love is pretty much the best thing you do for your skin, ever, easily trumping $200 jars of face cream and 12-hour sleeps. But I’m just not in that space at the moment and while it makes me a little sad, it also means I have heaps of energy for creative projects that might otherwise never see the light of day. Hence this post, created, written and shot even through my head cold has now moved into my chest and I almost sprained my ribs coughing today.

So while this is not a Valentine’s Day post, this is what I would cook for a romantic dinner for two.

• Oysters or caviar to start, served with Champagne
• This Duck Breast with Plum Sauce & Figs, served with red wine
• Chocolate mousse served with coffee. You don’t want to be falling asleep at this point. (PS ignore the awful photos in my chocolate mousse post – it’s an old post.)

There are certain foods that one associates with sex and oysters and caviar are top of the list. So if your dining companion likes seafood either of these starters should help to set the mood. For the main, I was originally thinking of doing a seafood pasta but then I thought of the bloating factor, so common with gluten products, and not a turn-on in anyone’s books. So I went instead with this Duck with Plum Sauce & Figs.

Duck is one of those meats that nearly all carnivores love, but few try cooking at home. It’s a shame because duck isn’t a tricky meat – sure, you need to be quite precise about your cooking times but that is true of any good cut of meat. The plum sauce is tart and fragrant, and cuts through the richness of the duck, beautifully. The recipe below makes a medium-sized bowl, which will be way more than you will need, but it tastes great the next morning served on pancakes or with muesli and yoghurt, too.

Mashed Potatoes are one of the greatest comfort foods known to humankind and will help smooth over any random awkward moments while the plum sauce and fresh figs crank up the sexiness factor. I haven’t bothered with vegetables beyond a few artfully placed lettuce leaves as I can’t think of one romantic dinner I’ve ever had that involved a lot of vegetables. I know we should eat a balanced diet but this is not the time to be thinking of your health.

To finish this meal all you need are a few spoonfuls of chocolate mousse and an espresso. If your guest says yes to an offered coffee late at night there’s a fair chance that they’re not planning to go to sleep anytime soon.

To serve this meal, chill the Champagne and prepare the chocolate mousse and plum sauce in the morning. Cook the mash and prepare the oysters/caviar and fig and salad garnish an hour before your guest is due to arrive. Open the red wine and let it breathe. Then have a shower, get ready, tidy the house, and do whatever you need to do to feel good and relaxed.

After you’ve served the oysters/caviar and Champagne and had a little breather, put on your sexiest apron and cook the duck breasts. While you’re doing this get your guest to help by heating up the plum sauce and plating up the mash, figs and salad. I find guests generally like helping out in the kitchen and if they don’t, well they’re not the sort of person who deserves to eat this dish anyway.

So, in the spirit of a reformed Ebeneezer Scrooge, may I wish you bon appétit and a successful evening.

P.S. save the dishes for the morning.

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Like most food bloggers, I’m largely self-taught, learning through trial and error.

Making food look appetising and attractive for the camera is not as simple as it seems and I’ve learned a lot along the way; food styling is definitely a skill that can be developed.

Don’t believe me? Check out that top image from my recent Beef Stir Fry post. Now check out this photo from my second ever recipe post – Chicken & Sweetcorn Soup.

That doesn’t look so appetising, does it? *shudders*

While my food styling skills have improved I’ve still got a long way to go. So I was excited to hear that Denise Vivaldo, food stylist extraordinaire, is coming to Australia for an intensive, two-day food styling workshop.

Denise Vivaldo has been in the food business for almost three decades, having began her culinary training at the Ritz Escoffier and La Varenne in Paris, and then graduated Chef de Cuisine from The California Culinary Academy in San Francisco. Denise also spent numerous years as a professor at UCLA’s Culinary Program and The California Culinary Academy.

In 1988, Denise founded Food Fanatics, a catering, recipe-development, and foodstyling firm that has catered events like the Academy Awards’ Governor’s Ball. She also styled food for countless television shows including The Ellen DeGeneres Show and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. In 2012, Denise sold the trademark name Food Fanatics and launched Denise Vivaldo Group, Inc.

Along the way Denise has written eight books, including The Food Stylist’s Handbook. She also founded the Culinary Entrepreneurship Program, which delivers catering and food styling seminars and workshops around the world.

Check out this video of The Food Stylist’s Handbook and The Culinary Entrepreneurship Program.

Denise is coming to Sydney in March for a two-day food styling workshop designed for emerging and professional food stylists, food photographers, food writers, and food bloggers. Chefs, food industry professionals and people that work with food in the media and advertising industries would also find it useful.

The programme is as follows: Continue reading →

Last year I visited Dubai as a guest of Emirates and Dubai Tourism. This is the third post in my continuing Dubai series – you can also check out Dubai by Instagram and Dinner Under the Stars: Dubai Desert Safari.

High Tea at Raffles Hotel, Dubai

When life gets too busy, you need to stop to smell the roses. Luckily, at the Raffles Hotel in Dubai, I’m surrounded by them.

I’m with a group of Australian journalists at Raffles for High Tea, that English tradition of tea, sandwiches and dainty cakes enjoyed mid-late afternoon. It’s not just any High Tea, either; Raffles is currently offering a Fashion High Tea so each of the dishes on offer today have been created to resemble fashion and beauty accessories. It’s a rather brilliant marketing ploy as I’ve yet to meet a woman who didn’t love food or fashion.

Happiness is a triple-tiered dessert platter and a pot of English Breakfast tea.

Even though I want to hit the desserts straight away I start with the savoury dishes. Above we have Mushroom, Caramelized Onion Puff Purse with Salt Crystals, Beetroot Cured Salmon Rain Hat on Rye Bread with Horseradish, Cream & Asparagus Roll Sandwich with Truffle and Quail Egg and a Beetroot & Goats Cheese Sandwich Roll Ring Holder with Poached Pear.

The Mushroom Puff is buttery and flaky and embellished with salt crystals that dance on my tongue while the delicately flavoured smoked salmon is so good I have seconds. I’m not entirely convinced by the Beetroot, Goats Cheese & Pear, however – the flavour combination feel a bit confused.

However, the Chicken and Apricot Sandwich Jewellery Box hits the sweet and savoury notes perfectly while the cream & asparagus sandwich is so good when I return to Australia I make up my own Asparagus, Truffle & Quail Egg Bruschetta as a sincere homage.

Then it’s straight onto the sweets. Hurrah!

On the bottom rung we have the Raspberry Vanilla Club MakeUp Sponge Sandwich, the Winter Honey Praline Stiletto Encrusted with Pearls and the Truffle Log Hat Box. The sponge is fairly innocuous in taste but has an intriguing plastic sponge texture while the stiletto cleverly combines two of my favourite things — shoes and chocolate — with a stylish result. Amidst all this fashion finery, the truffle log hat box seems a little, well, last season, but I still manage two of them.

Next up is the Pistachio Red Fruit Square Corsage, the Walnut Pistachio Caramel Bucket Bag and the Amarena Cherry Lollypop Blusher. Neither of these nut morsels were that appealing to me so I was happy to let others at my table snaffle them up.

From a taste point of view, white chocolate on an already sweet cherry flavoured macaron is probably a step too far. However this macaron, sorry, Amarena Cherry Lollypop Blusher, is just too cute, isn’t it?

For me, the highlight of the Fashion High Tea are the various different types of scones and jam, served with Cornish clotted cream that you dispense yourself from a toothpaste-like metal tube. It is a gimmick but it totally works. In fact, I’m only going to eat cream (on scones with jam) like this from now on.

So it appears my travel bills are going to be rather astronomical in the future. Raffles Dubai, you have a lot to answer for.

Fashion High Tea at Raffles Salon
Sheikh Rashid Road, Wafi
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Tel: +971 4324 8888
Email: dining.dubai@raffles.com

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Lunch at The Pavilion Downtown Dubai

Do you believe in love at first sight?

When it comes to relationships, I don’t. Lust at first sight – definitely. Love at first sight – no.

But when it comes to restaurants, clothes and places, I happily fall head over heels.

The Pavilion Downtown Dubai is like all my favourite things combined together – food, art, books/magazines, computers, and interior design. Everything is gorgeous, as befitting a dual gallery/cafe space, and everyone is beautiful.

The Pavilion Downton Dubai is a not-for-profit contemporary art space showcasing works by local and international artists. The multi-purpose space is designed as a drop in space where people can meet, enjoy some art, grab a bite to eat and hang out.

Check this installation out. Who wouldn’t want a whole room to play remote controlled cars in?

The staff are relaxed and friendly and they encourage you to borrow the gallery’s art, design, fashion and food magazines and periodicals. In other circumstances I could happily spend hours reading and working here. But today we are here to lunch.

What to eat, what to eat…

First up, I try a date and honey milkshake. Why have I never thought of making this gorgeous drink before? You can make this at home by blending some dried dates with yoghurt, milk (or soy, rice or almond milk), honey and perhaps just a teensy sprinkle of cinnamon. Remember to taste your drink before adding any honey as the dates are very sweet already.

One of the journalists in my group orders the cold meze platter, which includes hommous, babaganoush, tabouli and fatoush salad.

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My toddler recently turned three years old so we hosted a little shindig at home to celebrate.

Like my daughter’s birthday party last year, I wanted to have a relaxed do focused around lunch and a few party games. The theme was Lightning McQueen / Thomas the Tank Engine as my son couldn’t make up his mind. So we went with red and blue balloons to suit both

My son is mad about cars and trains so here’s what was on the menu:

• Ham & Pineapple Pizzas
• Sausage Rolls
• Fresh Fruit Skewers
• Car Biscuits with Marshmallow Fondant, an adaptation of this recipe by Nigella
• Racing Car Tim Tams
• Double Chocolate Cake, an adaption of this cake by Sweetapolita
• Stick Shifts (a boy version of these Fairy Wands)
• Winners’ Garlands (Cheerio necklaces)

My ex made these sausage rolls on the morning of the party using puff pastry and good quality sausage mince.

My mum made these fruit skewers – don’t they look pretty? I like skewers because they help keep fingers clean without the need for cutlery.

For the cut out biscuits I  used a set of vehicle cutters I’d been saving up all year so we had car, truck, boat and plane biscuits. The marshmallow fondant tasted so much better than normal icing or fondant and was surprisingly unsweet. I say unsurprisingly because it’s basically melted dyed marshmallows and icing sugar kneaded until soft. The fondant is thicker than I would have liked because I simply could not roll it any thinner – you need serious muscles to be a baker!

Do you like these racing cars? I saw something like this online and thought it was such a simple idea. My kids’ grandmother is visiting from Germany at the moment and she and the kids had a fun time making these the day before, using icing to stick the smarties and cut jellybeans onto the Tim Tams.

The table centrepieces were jewellery trees made by my ex. They were on double duty as I also used them to display the Winners’ Garlands (Cheerio necklaces).

As The Hungry Australian Facebook fans will know, there was some debate about the cake in the days leading up to the party. For months my son has been telling me he wanted a Thomas the Tank Engine cake only to change his mind and declare Lighting McQueen to be his new favourite a few days earlier. At the 11th hour he changed back to Thomas.

My son loves chocolate cake so I made a double chocolate cake with good quality cocoa in the cake and milo in the Swiss meringue buttercream. My daughter made the flags and I attached them to some twine hung between two straws.

Some little fingers have already had a go at the icing!

I gave the trains a good wash in hot soapy water and rinsed them clean before placing them carefully on top of the cake.

Did he like it? Oh yes.

I like to cook a similar menu for my kids’ parties each year so regular readers will notice the similarities between this menu, my daughter’s 6 year old party menu and my daughters 5 year old party menu. Both these posts contain recipes and helpful tips on how to throw a kid’s party without losing your mind.

I have such good memories of my own childhood birthday parties. Each year my parents would throw me a party and my mum would bake me the cake of my choice from the iconic Australian Women’s Weekly Cookbook. It’s a tradition I’m more than happy to pass onto my kids, even if nowadays I’m just as likely to search for menu inspiration online.

I’ve had one of those weeks. You know, when nothing goes quite to plan and everything feels simply impossible.

While not rocking backwards and forwards in the fetal position, this is what I’ve been thinking:

NO ONE UNDERSTANDS ME.

I CAN’T DO THIS ANYMORE.

WHERE DID ALL THE CHOCOLATE GO?

All these cheery thoughts have been playing in high rotation, spiralling out of control until I get my period. Wham! Suddenly sanity returns.

Too much information? Sorry. But you know what? Hormones can be a bitch so I’m going straight back on the pill to tame mine.

Now when life feels impossible there is comfort in domesticity. So it’s a perfect time to bake…. wait for it…. an Impossible Pie.

You didn’t see that one coming, did you?

Impossible Pie is one of those great Australian desserts that is regularly trotted out at dinner parties, picnics, church socials and barbecues. My mother has been making this for years so when Sweet Adventures Tropical Paradise rolled around I knew it’s time had come.

For those new readers, Sweet Adventures is a group of Aussie foodbloggers – 84th & 3rd, The Capers of the Kitchen Crusader, Dining With a Stud, and I, The Hungry Australian, who host a monthly, dessert-themed blog hop. You can visit the other blogs taking part in our hops via the thumbnails at the bottom of each post.

Previously, we have hosted: Sweets for Santa (December 2012), Cake and Three Veg (November 2012); High Tea (October 2012); Feeling Saucy (September 2012); Berry Nice to Meet You! (August 2012); Nuts About Sweets (July 2012); Sweet as Pie (June 2012); What’s Your Cup of Tea? (May 2012); Lemons (April 2012); Layer upon Layer (March 2012); Love at First Bite (February 2012); Death by Chocolate (January 2012); Festive Favourites (December 2011); and Great Australian Pavlova (November 2011).

This month, Nic from Dining with a Stud was our lovely host and she opted for a tropical theme. You can check out her post on how to join in this hop.

Now go eat some pie. There, don’t you feel better now? :D

Print

Ingredients

• ½ cup softened butter
• ½ cup plain flour
• ¾ cup caster sugar
• 1½ cups milk
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup desiccated coconut
• 2 teaspoons vanilla essence or paste

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Spray a 10 inch pie plate with baking spray (I find this so much better than butter/margarine).
3. Beat together all ingredients until thoroughly combined and then pour into pie plate.
4. Bake for one hour or until set (use a skewer to test).
5. Leave in pie plate to cool.
6. Dust with icing sugar and serve with thick cream.

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In my family, my dad is the Noodle King.

Born in Penang, home to the mighty Asam Laksa, my dad came out to Australia in the 60s as a high school student. Back then, there was only one or two Asian restaurants in Adelaide and both were Chinese. So if dad wanted to eat the hawker dishes of his childhood like Char Kway Teow (fried rice noodles), Asam Laksa (sour fish noodle soup), Curry Laksa, Har Mee (prawn noodle soup), Sar Hor Fun (‘wet’ fried rice noodles) and Sambal Udang (prawn sambal), he had to learn to cook them himself.

And so he did.

Asian street food devotees may argue that you can never truly recreate the taste of a hawker dish in a domestic kitchen: they say that the wok doesn’t get hot enough and the ingredients are not the same. They say too, that it’s about the atmosphere – the sheer satisfaction of eating a bowl of $AUD2 noodles on a plastic stool underneath a furiously spinning fan at your favourite hawker restaurant can never truly be replicated.

That may be true but why should we not try to reach for those moments? After all, a little bit of love is better than none, isn’t it?

When my grandmother was alive she would cook her Asam Laksa paste and her Sambal Hebi (dried shrimp sambal) each time we visited Malaysia. We would freeze them in plastic bags and wrap them in old newspaper to bring home to Australia. Later, when I was working overseas, my parents brought me these precious parcels and whenever I was homesick I would use them as the base to create the dishes from my childhood. It made me feel connected and loved.

I’m working with Bertolli at the moment, developing Asian-style dishes for them using their light olive oil. The first recipe I made for them was a Beef Stir Fry and recently, I made this Lobster Noodle Stir Fry, based on my dad’s recipe. It’s not a dish he ate growing up, rather, it’s a dish that he makes for special occasions that the whole family enjoys. To watch my three year old niece slurp up these noodles is to witness pure joy.

Eat the love.

Tell me, dear reader, what are your most cherished family recipes?

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One thing I love about being a food blogger, writer  and recipe developer is that every eating experience can be considered ‘research.’ In the name of ‘research’ I’ve eaten six meals a day and spent countless hours (and money) in produce markets, restaurants and cafes like The Acland Cake Shop in St Kilda, Victoria — see above — which we visited last week.

But probably the thing I love most about being a food blogger is that this blog brings me into contact with all sorts of amazing and inspiring people who are passionate about food.

Last year I met Dianne Jacob, noted American food writing coach, when she visited Australia to deliver the keynote speech at Eat Drink Blog 3, the 3rd Australian Food Bloggers Conference. Dianne has had a long and distinguished career as a food writer, editor, author and coach and her book, Will Write for Food, is considered by many food bloggers as essential reading.

Not all writers are good conversationalists but in person Dianne was warm and gracious and a wonderful storyteller. We had a group dinner and then a lunch together and I enjoyed hearing about Dianne’s life and her adventures in the food writing world.

I’m always looking to improve the way I write about food so I was thrilled when Dianne agreed to be interviewed for this blog.

Q&A with Dianne Jacob

Christina: What are three simple things anyone can do to improve their food writing?

Dianne: Use fewer adjectives, connect the food to a story, and incorporate action verbs.

C: What is editing and how important is it?

D: Editing comes into play once you get your thoughts down in a draft. Your piece needs to be organized in a logical way, with all extraneous material deleted. Cutting is paramount. It’s how you focus your piece tightly, where it comes together as a whole and every paragraph works towards the whole. You also want to  make sure the beginning grabs people, and the ending sums up the piece in some way and doesn’t just trail off. Then you tighten each sentence by making every word count. Editing is the most time consuming part of writing.

C: What do great food writers have in common?

D: The ability to evoke emotions by creating scenes based on the senses. The best writers know how to make writers feel like they were there, actively engaged in the scene, rather than just sitting by passively. Readers can smell, taste and see the food, and the story around it evokes memories or responses.

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Summer = ice cream in my house. We’re eating it pretty much non-stop at the moment, stopping only for meals, which is when my kids say that they’re not hungry and push away their plates.

I can see this ice cream habit spinning out of control so I’m glad we’re off to Melbourne tomorrow – it’ll give us an enforced break. However, this will be my kids’ first big road trip, so “are we there yet?” will no doubt be repeated hundreds of times before we get there.

We’re going to Melbourne for my cousin’s wedding on Saturday and I’ve also planned lots of catchups with friends.

I’ve lived in Melbourne twice now, for three years each time, and it’s a city I love and know well. However, it’s been a good two years since I lived there and I know how quickly things can change.

This is a problem because in my haste to do everything I needed to do before we hit the road tomorrow I’ve done very little research about where we should be eating in Melbourne. I have had some great suggestions  from Celeste, Winston and Ashley but the more options the better.

So tell me, dear food lovers, where should I eat in Melbourne? Share your favourite Melbourne restaurants, cafes and bars below and I’ll see how many I can get to. And if you haven’t visited Melbourne before, feel free to share your suggestions of how to keep my kids quiet and happy in the car. 

PS do you like the look of this luscious Berry and Toasted Almond Ice Cream? Head over to Amazing Almonds for the recipe.

Regular readers will know that I was one of the organisers of Eat Drink Blog 3 (EDB3), the third Australian Food Bloggers Conference which happened in November in Adelaide, South Australia.

Eat Drink Blog began in Melbourne in 2010, when a group of food bloggers decided it was time to hold a national, community-focused, food blogging conference to bring Australian food bloggers together. You can check out the minutes of the first meeting and the programme if you like.

Eat Drink Blog 2 took place in Sydney in November 2011 and I was lucky enough to attend. It was a fantastic day full of learning, inspiration and networking – you can see details of the Eat Drink Blog 2 organising committee and the final programme here.

I was so grateful to be part of Eat Drink Blog 2 I made a point of thanking each of the organisers personally on the day. I told them that I had an events background and could see just how much work had gone into the conference, and that if they needed a hand with Eat Drink Blog 3, to give me a call.

Little did I imagine that six months later they would do just that.

Now I’m sure all the other EDB3 committee members would agree that EDB3 turned out much bigger than we originally anticipated, and there were many unexpected twists and turns along the way. However, the two day conference was a resounding success on a number of levels and I’m glad to have been part of it.

The 2013 committee are now looking ahead to 2013 and we have recently advised that expressions of interest are open for a new (volunteer) team to take on the organisation of EDB4.

So while we’re in this transition mode, I wanted to take this opportunity to discuss the concept and legacy of Eat Drink Blog, what I believe needs to be retained and where it may go from here. I’d love to hear what you think, too, and welcome respectful debate in the comments below.

To start with, Eat Drink Blog was conceived as a community event. It belongs to all Australian food bloggers and is managed by a team from within that community.

My personal opinion is that the organisers of Eat Drink Blog have no more ownership over the concept or event than any other Australian food blogger. People that take on the organising job must understand that Eat Drink Blog has to be representative of the Australian food blogging community. Yes, organising EDB is a leadership role but it’s a care-taking role, not a star-making one. The community’s interests have to come first.

As one of EBD3’s caretakers, I do feel, and I’m sure many of the other current and past committee members feel, quite protective of Eat Drink Blog. I want its legacy to continue in a way that is representative and inclusive of as many Australian food bloggers as possible. But my time on its organising committee is ending, and after we handover to the new committee, I and the rest of the EDB3 committee will step back and let them get on with the job of organising Eat Drink Blog 4.

So with this in mind, here are my thoughts and suggestions for your consideration.

1) Country-wide hosting and representation

As the national food blogging conference I believe that each state of Australia should have the opportunity to host Eat Drink Blog. Similarly, each year there should be good mix of delegates from each of the states, roughly in line with the relative populations of each state. I also think that bloggers from rural areas should be given preference.

2) Format

Each Eat Drink Blog has been slightly different in terms of format. Eat Drink Blog 1 was  a one-day conference of workshops and talks with drinks afterwards at a bar. Eat Drink Blog 2 was a one-day conference of talks, workshops, masterclasses, demonstrations and dinner. Eat Drink Blog 3 was a two-day event comprising a market tour, tours to different wine regions, a dinner on the first day and then a conference of talks and workshops next day.

There is no requirement to duplicate or expand on the previous year’s conference. The Eat Drink Blog 4 committee may choose to revert back to a one-day format, re-introduce cooking masterclasses and demonstrations, remove sections and/or introduce new components.

3) Cost

Most food bloggers make little or no money from blogging and many don’t wish to; their blog is truly a labour of love. So to encourage the largest possible participation rate I think the cost of attending EDB should be kept as low as possible.

4) Sponsorship and grants

Sponsorship is a contentious subject amongst the food blogging community; some bloggers like engaging with brands, companies and organisations while others don’t.

In the past, Eat Drink Blog has been free for delegates to attend (delegates have paid for their own flights, accommodation and expenses) because of sponsorship secured by the organising committee to cover numerous expenses including refreshments, the venue, printing & signage, AV and sound, documentation and so on. Sponsorship has also been secured to provide gifts for (Australian) presenters who are not paid and do not receive any compensation for travel expenses.

I used to work full-time in fundraising for large not-for-profits so I believe that sponsorship can be a win/win situation. When sponsorship works well, it’s because both parties are respectful of the value that the other party is bringing to the table, mindful of the boundaries and clear about each other’s expectations and responsibilities.

I know some bloggers disagree with the whole notion of sponsorship and that’s fine. The reality is that Eat Drink Blog is a very attractive event for sponsors. If future committees wish to pursue the sponsorship path, they will never be short of takers. However, it will be the committee’s responsibility to ensure that a balance is maintained between sponsors’ wishes and the philosophy and integrity of Eat Drink Blog.

If future committees decide they do not want to have any sponsors they will have to find alternative sources of income (e.g. attendance fees) to cover conference expenses.

5) Number of delegates and future capacity 

I personally believe that any Australian food bloggers who wishes to attend Eat Drink Blog should be able to. However, each year the number of attendees has naturally been restricted by the venue.

In 2012 we found ourself in the unprecendented position of being over-subscribed by 55% for 80 positions. While on one hand this was a clear demonstration of the need and popularity of the event, this meant that a lot of food bloggers missed out.

To those that did miss out, let me say this: we hated having to pick and choose amongst our peers and we agonised over filling those 80 delegates spots (maximum capacity). Eat Drink Blog is all about inclusion so we really disliked having to turn away bloggers who wanted to be part of it. However, we had to find a way to manage the oversubscription and so we did the best we could to make the process fair and transparent.

For future committees, you should be prepared to face a similar situation. Unless, of course, you can secure a 200-seat venue.

One thing that we did not do, but which might be possible in the future, is to get permission from each of the presenters to bundle all their slides and papers into one large document that was then freely available for any Australian food blogger to download.

Alternatively, perhaps some live streaming of selected sessions could be achieved or non-attending delegates could participate by asking presenters questions in real-time via Twitter a.k.a. Qanda.

I certainly think that in the future there will be opportunities to expand the scope and reach of Eat Drink Blog far beyond the physical venue.

6) EDB spin-off group

One thing I loved about EDB2 is how much it inspired me, how I met so many different bloggers and how it meant I instantly had a circle of blogging friends throughout Australia. (Ironically, this year I was either too busy, preoccupied or tired to enjoy much interaction with most of the delegates. *Sad face.*)

I’m not the only one who felt so inspired after EDB either.  After each EDB there has been discussion about setting up some kind of an Eat Drink Blog spin-off group or association to help food bloggers stay in touch with each other and share useful information in the periods between the conferences.

A few years ago the Australian Food Bloggers Group on Google was a good way to share information but nowadays that group is largely inactive. So over the years, alternative possible models have been discussed. However, for various reasons — legal, financial, philosophical, administrative and ethical — the idea of an Eat Drink Blog spin-off group or association has never gotten off the ground, and I appreciate the reasons why.

Bloggers are a diverse bunch with a variety of different styles, motivations, ethical standpoints and philosophies. This is a good thing, no, a great thing. The beauty of blogging is that you don’t have to blog by anyone else’s rules – you are King or Queen of your own domain. So coming up with a model that would please everyone is quite possibly unachievable. (By the way, I am aware of a number of other groups for Australian food bloggers but none of these are associated with or reflect the philosophy of Eat Drink Blog.)

(Edit: I should say, “fully reflect the philosophy of Eat Drink Blog”. Many groups have a similar community philosophy and feel but each group is different in some small but significant way).

In any case, the EDB3 committee discussed the idea of a spin-off group in EDB3 committee meetings earlier this year and the idea of a closed Facebook group was proposed. However, we didn’t take this any further because we decided it could wait until after the conference and we agreed that the Australian food blogging community had to be consulted. If the group was for the Australian food blogging community and would be in some ways representative of it, the group had to be owned by the community and established with its goodwill.

The model we discussed was open access — if you were an Australian food blogger you could join — and democratic — anyone would be able to post messages to the wider group. The only moderation done would be to ensure that the person seeking to join was actually an Australian food blogger and not someone seeking to use the group to promote commercial interests.

For various reasons, including other work commitments, the EDB3 committee will now not be undertaking this consultation. However, the path is clear for any future EDB committees and the wider Australian food blogging community to continue discussing whether the community needs or desires such a group or association.

To end this post, I’d like to thank a few people:

(c) All photos by KK of Parc Studio.

Have you attended EDB or a similar food blogging conference before? If you’re an Australian food blogger, what would you like to see at future Eat Drink Blogs? As I’ve said, I welcome debate as long as its respectful.

Happy New Year everyone!

We spent the last day of 2012 cockling at Goolwa Beach and it reminded me of this story I wrote three years ago about my childhood cockling trips. So I thought I’d share it with you today. I hope you like it and I’d love to hear about your favourite childhood food memories via the comments. 

The photos were taken yesterday at the beach (Iphone and DSLR) and today at my parent’s house.

Christina xx

Cockling at Goolwa Beach

When I was a young girl the summer holidays stretched out endlessly.

We spent most of the long, lazy days in our salt-water swimming pool. We picked nectarines, peaches and loquats straight from our own trees when we wanted a snack and most nights we ate barbeque dinners outside on our patio, going to bed with full tummies and sun-warmed skin. It was a blissfully uneventful time.

However, nothing made me happier than my Dad saying five simple words: “kids, we’re going cockling tomorrow.”

Cockles or pippis are a type of clam, a mollusc. Related to the oyster and mussel they taste not unlike a razor clam. Encased in a simply hinged triangular shaped shell that ranges in colour from the palest white through to apricot and then to dark grey, they were then known in Australia primarily as fish bait.

We, being cunning Asians, knew better. Stir-fried with a handful of choice ingredients, the humble cockle was superb. Added to fried noodles or a fiery coconut laksa, they added a savoury flavour that was at once distinctive and complementary. But best of all, they were free, ours for the taking from their home underneath the sands of Australia’s public beaches.

The beach we always went to, Goolwa Beach, was about an hour’s drive from Adelaide down the Southern coast. Known more as a surfer’s beach, it stood on the edge of the town of Goolwa. Once a thriving Riverport Goolwa was now an easy-going township popular with fisherman and boating enthusiasts.

Having decided what day to go, Dad would then ‘phone up our friends to join us. Having come originally to Australia as students in the late 60s, gaining citizenship in the early 70s, my parents’ friends were a mixture of chums from university, fellow migrants from Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore, people from church and neighbours. So accompanying us tomorrow will be the Birds, Chongs, Fittocks, and Wees: 10 adults and 12 kids in total.

The next morning we rise early, excited as if it were Christmas. My brother and I help our parents find bathers, towels, buckets and spades, sunscreen, hats and thongs. Mum packs drinks, snacks and utensils into the eski while Dad fries some mee hoon — delicious rice noodles with strips of meat, bean sprouts and garlic — in his battered wok.

A convoy of cars filled with our friends follows us from Adelaide down to Goolwa. We pass highways, forests, small country towns, cows and horses in fields. We kids sing songs at the top of our voices until the adults beg for mercy, play endless games of I Spy and yell ‘tractor’ every time we spot one.

Soon we arrive at the small town of Goolwa. Bypassing the main street, dotted with cafes and galleries, we head straight for the beach. The beach car park is always full of tall, bronzed boys with sun-bleached hair watching the waves from the hoods of their cars, their wetsuits pulled down around their snake-liike hips. Young girls in bikinis and shorts lie on the sand and work on their tans, while out in their water the surfers bob up and down on their boards, untiring in their search for the perfect wave.

However we have not come here to surf. Leaving the main car park, our convoy continues on down a narrow road running parallel to the beach until we reach the car park of a national park, some ten kilometres away. There, we leave the cars and unload our gear before walking three kilometres over gently sloping sand dunes encrusted with salt and shells. The sun beats down on our heads and we begin to sweat. Our bare feet crunch as we walk on the broken shells, quickening our pace as the roar of the ocean becomes louder.

As we reach the crest of the last sand dune the Great Southern Ocean is a stunning sight – miles and miles of pristine golden sand being continually pounded by churning blue waters. There is hardly anyone else on this strip of beach, just a couple of families with kids, an older couple walking hand in hand, and a few loners meandering up and down, scanning the sand for possible treasure.

While the adults proceed at a more dignified pace, we kids dump our towels, kick off our thongs and hastily strip down to bathers. Impatient for the water, we run full-pelt down the beach towards the breaking waves, the sand burning hot beneath our feet.

We go in. The water is heart-stoppingly cold. We shriek and exclaim, splashing each other and flinging sand about. But there is serious work to do and we soon settle down, taking up our positions along the beach.

We scrabble around on our hands and knees in the shallow surf while digging into the wet sand with our fingers and toes. The cockles are usually buried 5-20 centimetres beneath and we wriggle our toes deeper in the sand. The tide works with us as it sucks the waves in and out, taking the sand with it.

Soon… success! I can feel something smooth, hard and unyielding between my toes. Dropping down to all fours, I dig with my hands until I uncover a fat, plump cockle. It’s a good size, at least six centimetres long. There is a minimum legal length of three and half centimetres so this one is well over.

I feel around where the cockle was buried as you can often find a cluster buried together. My diligence is rewarded as I unearth another three good-sized cockles. I examine them carefully for chips or cracks before stowing them safely away in a plastic net bag that once held a kilo of oranges.

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Spice Souk

“You want spice?”

“Where you from?”

“Ni hao!” (‘Hello’ in Chinese lol.)

I’m in the Spice Souk in Dubai and smiling stallholders are trying to persuade me to check out their wares.

As if I needed any encouragement. I’m mesmerised by the exoticness of the spices surrounding me. I marvel at the colours and shapes while dozens of unknown fragrances waft up gently in the warm air.

I’m visiting Dubai with a group of Australian journalists but they’re walking through the Spice Souk too quickly for me; I keep stopping to take photographs. I lose sight of my group and eventually, Lara my patient tour leader returns to find me and tells me that they’ll meet me at the entrance in half an hour.

I’m glad of this time alone; I’m a woman on a mission to explore.

Dubai’s famous Spice Souk is surprisingly small, comprising two main alleyways of shops selling spices, incense, sheeshas (otherwise known as hookas, a water pipe used to smoke flavoured tobacco), kids’ toys and souvenirs.

Some spices, like cinnamon sticks, are immediately recognisable. I love using cinnamon in recipes like Chai rice pudding and roasted Chai flavoured almonds.

These delightful rose buds can be used in tea although I can picture them perched daintily atop some vanilla cupcakes iced with Swiss meringue buttercream.

Do you like herbal tea? The Spice Souk sells all kinds of dried flowers that can be used for brewing tea including chrysanthemum, lavender and hibiscus.

I love hibiscus tea – it’s full of Vitamin C and anti-oxidants.

Could this be cassia bark? It’s a spice similar to cinnamon which I use to make pho (Vietnamese beef noodle soup).

These dried lemons are used for flavouring stews and tagines. I popped one in a Middle Eastern inspired chicken dish I made the other day and it was lovely. The lemon was rock hard so I pierced its skin with a knife so that the cooking stock could easily enter it.

In Australia whole vanilla pods are usually sold individually in neat cellophane pickets – they’re around $AUD3.50 each so I buy them only on special occasions. In Dubai I’m presented with a container full of gorgeously sticky whole vanilla pods. I want to take them all home but restrain myself to just a few – they work out about $AUD2 each.

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It’s three days until Christmas and I have not sent a single Christmas card or bought one present.

GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

OK. I feel better now.

It’s not that I’m disorganised – it’s just that I’ve been preoccupied with work and life. Actually, maybe that means I am disorganised.

So here’s my last-minute shopping list for Christmas gifts.

1) Gift for my laid-back dad who you can never find anything for because he has everything already

Does your dad like chilli like mine does? Get him a basket full of 8-10 different chilli sauces. He’ll love you for indulging his inner hot freak and for not giving him another CD of love songs from his youth. Or the latest John Grisham or Patricia Cornwall thriller.

2) Gift for my mum who has a sweet tooth but has to watch her sugar intake for health reasons.

Tickets to a great concert or theatre show. OK this is not really food, but you haven’t seen her house – it’s like a candy store with chocolate and sweets spread over every available surface. So I’m actually doing the right thing in buying her concert tickets.

3) Gift for my brother who is insufferably bossy but nearly always right, dammit.

The biggest box of the stickiest, chewiest toffee I can find. If I can’t shut him up maybe I can at least slow him down a bit.

4) Gift for my lovely sister in law who puts up with my brother and is therefore a saint

Haigh’s Chocolates because it is her drug of choice. And while we should say no to drugs we should never say no to chocolate.

5) Gift for my toddler who requests chocolate for breakfast every morning 

Chocolate cars. His two favourite things in the world combined – bazinga!

6) Gift for my six year old daughter who seems to be going through some horrifying hormonal teenage years flash-forward and keeps stealing my lipgloss

The Adventures of the Little Chef by Sydney food blogger Mark Yeow. This book is about a little girl who has to learn how to cook to keep the two monsters under her bed from eating her and her family. Apart from being a great story, all proceeds go to the Fred Hollows Foundation for treating glaucoma, cataracts and other nasty eye-illnesses in countries around the world. Buy it here.

7) Gifts for guests on Christmas Day

Jars of the home-made festive trail mix above and my caramelised onion and chilli jam.

So that’s my Christina shopping list sorted. Now I just have to find the time to get to the shops…

Merry Christmas all! Have a wonderful day full of love, laughter and deliciousness!

Christina xx

* The Adventures of Little Chef was sent to me for my consideration by the author. 

Can you believe it’s only one week until Christmas?

Nope, I can’t believe it, either. This year has flo-o-o-wn by.

I love this time of year. It’s a time to remember what’s important and to spend time with those we care about. It’s a time to give thanks. It’s a time to reflect on the ups and downs of the year and to look to the future with hope and energy.

And of course it’s also a time to eat and indulge one’s sweet tooth! :D

So welcome to Sweet Adventures’ Sweets for Santa Blog Hop.

For those new readers, Sweet Adventures is a group of Aussie foodbloggers – 84th & 3rd, The Capers of the Kitchen Crusader, Delicieux, Dining With a Stud, and I, The Hungry Australian, who host a monthly, dessert-themed blog hop. You can visit the other blogs taking part in our hops via the thumbnails at the bottom of each post.

Previously, we have hosted: Cake and Three Veg (November 2012); High Tea (October 2012); Feeling Saucy (September 2012); Berry Nice to Meet You! (August 2012); Nuts About Sweets (July 2012); Sweet as Pie (June 2012); What’s Your Cup of Tea? (May 2012); Lemons (April 2012); Layer upon Layer (March 2012); Love at First Bite (February 2012); Death by Chocolate (January 2012); Festive Favourites (December 2011); and Great Australian Pavlova (November 2011).

This month, it was my turn to host again and of course I went with a festive theme.

This Fig, Raspberry & Ginger Ice Cream Cake combines some of my favourite Summer flavours. Figs are at their most luscious now, while the raspberry and ginger help create the ‘wow’ factor.

Merry Christmas everybody. May you all enjoy a day filled with love, laughter and deliciousness!

Sweet Adventures Blog Hop: Sweets for Santa

If you blog about food we’d love you to join this hop. We encourage you to be as creative as you like – the only rule is that your recipe must be something in keeping with the festive theme.

Simply follow the steps below and join the fun!

1. Publish your Sweets for Santa post on your blog sometime between Monday 17 December 2012 – Australian Eastern Standard Time [AEST: Sydney] and will 1:59pm Monday 24 December 2012 AEST. Entries are linked in order of submission and only new festive recipe posts are eligible.
2. Click here for the Link Code. Copy the code and add it to the bottom of your Sweets for Santa post (you will need to do this in HTML view). Adding the code will create the thumbnail gallery of all the other entries and let visitors hop from other blogs to your blog and vice versa. If you are on wordpress.com (i.e. not self hosted) the list will not show on your blog so please create a text link back to this post instead.
3. Grab the Sweets for Santa badge from here and add it to your post. Just right click on the image, ‘save as’, upload to your site and add it to your post. Link the badge or a line of text to this page so that others can view the instructions on how to join.
4. Click here to Enter the Hop. This is really important! The badge and thumbnail list are on your post so make sure to enter the hop so that you appear in the list. For question 1: add the URL of your Sweets for Santa post, not your homepage. For question 2: for caption/title add the name of your dessert. For question 3: for ‘your name’ please enter your blog name. For question 4: your entry is automatically submitted when you click ‘crop’.
5. Your linked post WILL NOT appear straight away in the blog hop thumbnail list as this is a moderated hop. Your post will be visible in the list after approval.
6. Hop around to all the other entries in the blog hop, sharing the comment love.
7. If you are on Twitter use the #SABH to tell the world about your Sweets for Santa post. Follow us @SweetAdvBlogHop or like us on Facebook for new hop announcements and general deliciousness.

If you aren’t sure how to do something please leave a comment or get in touch.

It’s funny how you always want what you don’t have.

When I was growing up in Australia, I wanted to be Oliva Newton-John in Grease. I practised singing like her in front of the mirror, my t-shirt hoiked down over my shoulders to create an off-the-shoulder top like she wore when she sang ‘You’re the One That I Want.’

It was the same with food, too. I craved the simple, plain food my Aussie friends typically ate for dinner. Tuna Mornay, in particular, sent shivers of ecstasy running down my spine.

But Tuna Mornay was not held in the same regard by my friend Megan.

“We call it Tuna Flop, Drop or Slop at my house,” she said cheerfully. “Because it does one of those when it hits the plate.”

Megan and all my Aussie school friends loved having dinner at my house. To them, it was like eating at a Chinese restaurant – they tried all kinds of dishes their parents would never have cooked at home.

Nowadays, most Aussies can manage a simple stir fry or some noodles at home and know the difference between bok choy and bean sprouts.

Still, I love cooking Asian food for people. I love seeing the expression on their face when they try something new and unfamiliar, and fall in love. Or when they discover for themselves how quick and easy a lot of Chinese dishes are to make at home. Best of all, though, is when I get an approving nod from someone who knows what a dish should taste like.

This recipe, Beef Stir Fry, developed recently for Bertolli Olive Oil, is perfect for a quick after-work dinner. Assuming you steam some rice and marinate the beef in advance, dinner can be on the table in ten minutes.

Even my beloved tuna mornay can’t compete with that kind of speedy deliciousness.

Tell me, dear reader, what did you eat at home when you were growing up and what type of food did you wish you were eating?

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Whenever I mentioned I was going to Dubai at the end of October the response was always the same.

“Dubai? Wow. Hey, you can do Sex and the City 2. Camels! Caftans!”

I’m happy to report I managed to experience two out of three during Arabian Adventures Sundowner Desert Safari – I rode on a camel and stylish Paula Joye, who was part of my media group, wore not one but two gorgeous caftans to our dinner under the stars.

I had fantasised about riding a camel in a caftan or long flowing dress in the desert but on the day practicality ruled and I wore jeans. And that’s why I’m a food blogger, not a fashion blogger.

So here’s how it went.

We were picked up from our hotel — Media One — at 3pm and driven out to the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve, in the heart of the desert.

First up, a falconry demonstration.

Trained falcons have been used for hunting in the Middle East for around 18 centuries; ancient Bedouin tribes used them to provide meat for their families during the winter months. They would trap a young bird in the autumn, hunt with them throughout winter and then release them at the end of the hunting season so that the bird could migrate to cooler climates. Nowadays, thanks to air-conditioning, falcons can be kept all year around.

The bird above has a helmet covering its eyes and ears. According to the falcon’s handler this sensory deprivation was designed to help the bird remain relaxed — off-line, if you like — before a flight. Once the helmet was removed the bird went into attack — or online mode — with all its senses at their most acute.

While the handler explained some of the bird’s hunting habits he played out a long rope that he’d attached some raw meat to, swinging it higher and higher in the air. The falcon circled and then swooped, time and time again, with the handler deftly swinging it just out of reach.

At the end of the demonstration, he let the bird catch the bait and then further rewarded him with some extra meat.

See that antenna on the falcon’s back? No, it’s not a remote control device but a GPS tracker. So if the falcon decides to make an unscheduled flight over the border to “visit his girlfriend”, as his handler put it, his handler knows where to find him.

It was then onto the dune bashing.

We’d previously been warned to let the guides know if we had bad backs or were pregnant as dune bashing can be quite a bumpy experience. Now I hate any kind of turbulence but I found dune bashing mostly fine, with just a few hairy moments. So I think most people should be OK with it.

I tried to take photos/video using my DSLR but quickly realised I was in danger of breaking my new camera. So here’s a photo and video taken on my Iphone.

This video was taken during the relatively flat part of the drive. During the bumpy parts I was too busy hanging on for dear life to worry about filming!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMRXNPkojdI

We stopped for a break just in time to catch the sunset.

The obligatory ‘here I am in the desert’ shot.

After that we drove straight onto the Bedouin-style camp. Upon arrival, we had the option to enjoy a short camel ride. This was my camel and my rather glum looking guide. I was hoping for a line like, “Madam, your camel awaits” but all I got was,”hold on tight” lol.

After the short ride, it was really quite dark so I headed straight into the camp to explore. At the entrance was this lovely display of herbs and spices – it smelled so wonderfully exotic.

Usually, the camp hosts around 300 people each trip and a belly dancer provides the entertainment after dinner. The evening we visited alcohol was not allowed due to Eid being the next day so there was less than 100 of us and no bellydancer, which was a shame.

Still, we had a great time. Before dinner we went to get henna tattoos done.

It’s funny how different men and women are. Men go for fierce and/or tough tattoos.

While women go for pretty tattoos.

Then it was time for dinner. Seated under the stars we enjoyed a feast of Middle Eastern grilled meats, breads, rices and fresh salads, including hummous, tabouli, and bean salad.

After dinner we chatted and wandered around the camp. You could buy some sand art — see below — or enjoy a shisa (waterpipe).

Then it was time for dessert: fresh fruit, and a flaky pistachio and honey dessert, very similar to baklava.

Being in the desert was a novel experience, and one that I’ll remember for many years to come.

On the way home, one of my travel companions remarked that she’d wished we’d been able to camp overnight. I agreed. Arabian Adventures offer overnight stays at very reasonable prices, and I’ll definitely do this next time I visit.

Arabian Adventures ‘Sundownder’ Desert Safari
AED 360 per adult / AED 300 dirhams per child
Book here. 

You might also be interested in my previous post — Dubai by Instagram.

Christina Soong-Kroeger travelled to Dubai as a guest of Emirates and Dubai Tourism. All flights, meals, accomodation, tours and transfers were courtesy of the hosts. 

I love feeding people.

Maybe it’s the Chinese mother in me but I often express my affections through food. So if you’re in my good books, I’m going to want to feed you.

So every year when Christmas rolls around, my daughter and I make an edible Christmas present for our special friends.

Last year we made this Sweet & Salty Chocolate Bark and the two years before that we made snickerdoodles, those sugar and cinnamon-crusted biscuits. She was only three years old the first time so she just dipped the cookie dough into the sugar and cinnamon mixture and then licked her fingers all over.

This year we haven’t decided what to cook yet. I have a gorgeous new KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer thanks to the lovely people at Filtered Media and KitchenAid so I’m definitely going to be making something with it.

Maybe we should make a few different batches of home-made ice cream and serve it like this delightful dish at Press Food & Wine that I enjoyed a little while ago. Christmas Day is bound to be hot here in Australia so ice cream could be just the thing.

Alternatively, I have some cute Christmas-themed cookie cutters so we could make festive biscuits with a marshmallow fondant. My daughter and my toddler son should be able to manage helping with the cut outs and pressing on the fondant. They’ll be extremely good at helping to eat them, too.

There’s also Christmas Day lunch to consider, and this year I think I’m going to make some kind of show-stopping cake. Christmas is a great excuse to whip up something rather special, isn’t it?

So why all this talk about Christmas, I hear you ask?

Well, this month it’s my honour to be hosting Sweet Adventures’ Sweets for Santa Blog Hop.

For those new readers, Sweet Adventures is a group of Aussie foodbloggers – 84th & 3rd, The Capers of the Kitchen Crusader, Delicieux, Dining With a Stud, and I, The Hungry Australian, who host a monthly, dessert-themed blog hop.

Previously, we have hosted:

• Cake and Three Veg (November 2012)
• High Tea (October 2012)
• Feeling Saucy (September 2012)
• Berry Nice to Meet You! (August 2012)
• Nuts About Sweets (July 2012)
• Sweet as Pie (June 2012)
• Tea (May 2012)
• Lemons (April 2012)
• Layer upon Layer (March 2012)
• Love at First Bite (February 2012)
• Death by Chocolate (January 2012)
• Festive Favourites (December 2011)
• Australian Pavlova (November 2011)

Continue reading →

Sometimes food is swoon-worthy.

You know what I mean.

Your teeth sink into a dish and the minute the food reaches your tastebuds you see shooting stars. Your pulse quickens, and you forget your name. The conversation fades away, the lights dim and the world is reduced to the food in your mouth.

Every sense — sight, sound, hearing, taste, smell — is focused only on your object of desire.

You breathe deeply, savouring the exquisite fleetingness of culinary bliss. You nod slowly and thoughtfully, all at once grateful and humbled. And you lick your lips, whimpering just a little.

It’s a bit like falling in love.

Now readers of my last post will know that I recently visited Dubai and enjoyed high tea at Raffles there. One of the sandwiches was a rolled white bread sandwich with a quail egg, a baby sprig of asparagus and a dash of truffle oil. The combination was so sublime I couldn’t contain a spontaneous groan of pleasure and I immediately noted it down in my ‘Things to Cook’ list on my Ipad.

The other day while shopping at the Adelaide Central Market I spotted some quail eggs.

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I can’t believe it was only a month ago that I visited Dubai – life is so busy at the moment that it feels like it was a year ago. I’m going to blog a series of weekly posts on Dubai over the next month but to kick us off, I thought I’d try something different. So here are some of my favourite (unedited) Dubai Instagrams.

The top Instagram was taken in the foyer of Raffles Dubai – lots of gold, lots of Egyptian motifs, lots of heavenly dark red roses.

This was possibly the best creme brûlée of my life – the taste, texture, and mouthfeel was superb. It was the culinary equivalent of sinking into a pile of satin sheets and I ate it in the Emirates lounge at Melbourne Airport. A most unexpected and delightful surprise.

This is the view from the 2nd most expensive suite at the Burj Al Arab, billed as the word’s most luxurious hotel. Yes, that’s right, that’s The World – those man-made islands shaped to resemble the continents of the world. If you want to experience waking up to that view — and it was jaw-dropping — it’ll set you back a cool 60,000 dirhams.

This was the fashion & beauty-themed high tea at Raffles Dubai. How adorable is that shoe? We were each given an extra shoe to take home, too, just like Cinderella in reverse!

I visited the Dubai Mall three times in all, the final time at 11pm at night – it was the beginning of Eid so the mall was open 24 hours/day and it was jumping. Whilst navigating the miles of shops, I stumbled across Ladurée, which had recently opened in Australia (Sydney).

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Sometime last year I came across another Adelaide blog called A Kitchen for Friends, as it’s publisher — one Justin Chai — had written a post in which he said some nice things about this blog.

Later, Justin and his lovely girlfriend, Janice, came along to an Adelaide Food Bloggers Group meet up at the Adelaide Showgrounds Farmers Market. Justin (and Janice) were exactly as they came across in Justin’s blog – friendly, down-to-earth, enthusiastic and passionate about food.

Since that early meeting Justin and Janice have started catering parties and are even doing the canapés for a wedding in December. It started innocently enough — Justin offered to throw a work colleagues’ daughter a 3-course 21st birthday dinner — but then other people started asking them to cater their gatherings and who knows where it will end. It’s all very exciting and I’m thrilled for them.

So when I knew I was going to be having a very busy October/November, I asked Justin if he’d like to do a guest post for The Hungry Australian. It’s a little later than we both expected (sorry Justin!) but I’m delighted to hand him the reins so he can share some memories of his recent trip to Venice and a very interesting pasta dish with us.

Welcome Justin!

PS Scroll to the bottom of the post for a cute photo of Justin and Janice (centre) and friends eating this dish.
PPS You can also head over to Justin’s blog for great step-by-step photographs to illustrate each step of his recipe.

Spaghetti al Nero di Seppia

From traditional eateries nestled within its coastal towns to unassuming trattorias hidden away in the maze of alleyways sprawled out across its bustling cities, almost every food stop we made in Italy left us with déjà vu of other blissful culinary experiences.

The Venetian island of Burano houses more than just its iconic rainbow-coloured buildings and beautiful laces. Populated by a tightly knit community which continues to live of the cornucopia of ocean bounty, it is of no surprise that the locals here treat their seafood with the utmost care and respect.

But one particular Venetian food establishment and the humble creation it birthed from the confines of its age-old kitchen well-deserves a written piece of its own.

The Trattoria da Romano is a perfect example of such a culture. Even Anthony Bourdain himself sings its praises in one of the many travel destinations he covers on his No Reservations television series. Of course we ordered the highly recommended “Go” fish risotto: perfectly cooked rice grains in a milky white broth which seemed to just burst with heavenly flavours of the sea!

But if the risotto was analogous to yin, may I then introduce you to its yang, its black brotha’ from another motha’…

Friends, meet the Spaghetti al Nero di Seppia!

So what exactly is it? Well, do you remember the last time you saw a David Attenborough documentary on sea creatures? Remember seeing a squid doing what looked like an underwater fart – releasing black clouds all over a poor shark which just wanted lunch? That’s right people, we ate all of that black goo…

…And boy was it good! As I licked my fork, spoon, plate, fingers – well, just about anything which came into contact with that rather unflattering yet simply delectable pasta – I looked around the table to my travel companions and knew right away that our thoughts were as coherent as ever.

How could we possibly go back to Australian pasta after eating this?!!!

It was presented in such a simple manner yet it was so rich in flavour! It somewhat frustrated me because I just could not comprehend how they could make it taste so good when there seemed to be so little ingredients on display. But that dish at Burano left me inspired and determined to reproduce what I ate there with Australia’s very own produce. It also taught me that food does not always have to be elaborate to taste good.

So here’s my amateur take on producing simplicity on a plate!

Spaghetti del Nero di Seppi

 

Author: Justin Chai, A Kitchen for Friends

Recipe type: Main

Prep time:  20 mins

Cook time:  30 mins

Total time:  30 mins

Print

Pasta with squid ink - a goth looking pasta with all the flavours of the sea!

Ingredients

• 5 garlic cloves
• 1 red onion
• ½ bunch flat leaf parsley leaves
• 2 bird’s eye chillies
• 400g whole prawns (raw)
• 500g whole squid
• Squid ink (from ink sac)
• EVOO
• 1 cup of dry white wine
• 3 tbsp tomato paste
• 400g tomato puree
• 500g cooked spaghetti

Instructions

1. Finely dice the garlic cloves, red onion and parsley leaves.
2. De-seed the birds-eye chillies and finely dice them as well
3. De-shell and de-vein the fresh prawns.
4. Place the prawn shells and heads in small pot, fill it with just enough water to cover the shells and bring it to a gentle boil. Once the stock begins to boil, lower the gas and allow it to simmer for 20-30 minutes.
5. Now on to the daunting (and messy!) task of cleaning, prepping – well basically, giving a total make-over to one of the cephalopod family’s many ugly members. We’re going to try keeping the task as clean as possible, but don’t test your luck – you might want to replace that white t-shirt pronto.
6. Start off by pulling the head and tentacles portion off from the body.
7. Now, carefully remove the ink sac in one piece from innards.
8. Bring the sac to the kitchen sink (trust me on this one), gently puncture the sac and empty the ink into a small bowl filled with 20ml of water.
9. Beware of sneaky squirts! Squeeze and squeeze with all your might people, because we will need every drop of that blackish goodness to give our pasta some character!
10. Cut across the head, separating the tentacles as a whole. Discard those horrid looking eyeballs and any innards you may find.
11. Using a sharp knife, slice through the wings and separate them from the body.
12. Slide your finger underneath the purplish skin lining its body and wings, peel it off and discard.
13. Remove backbone from the tube.
14. Using a long spoon, scrape and discard more gooey innards out of the tube.
15. Give all the different squid parts a thorough wash.
16. Slice the tubular body into 1 cm rings, the wings and tentacles in bite-sized pieces and set aside.
17. With all the prep work done, time to bring on the heat!
18. Start off by lining a pan with a few splashes of extra virgin olive oil over low to medium heat.
19. Sauté the combination of finely diced onions and garlic until the onions appear translucent – releasing that inviting aroma we all love.
20. Turn up the gas to medium and deglaze the pan with a cup of dry white wine.
21. Allow things to simmer, eventually reducing the liquid down to ⅓ of the original amount.
22. Now, add approximately 400ml of the prawn stock you made earlier to the pan followed by the finely diced chilies, tomato paste and puree.
23. Next comes the squid pieces and all that sea goodness from its ink!
24. Mix everything around to incorporate.
25. Bring the liquid up to a gentle simmer and then allow it to reduce to a viscous consistency. Patience is key here. You don’t want the sauce to be too runny. Rather, the task here is to rid of at least ⅔ of the sauce’s water content - retaining the essence of flavour in the medium which will coat our pasta. You’ll thank me later.
26. Once the right consistency has been achieved, add in the prawns - being really careful not to overcook them. 1-2 minutes should suffice.
27. Throw in half the chopped up parsley leaves, reserving the rest when you plate up.
28. Season with sea salt and black pepper (although you shouldn’t have to do much of it because the natural seafood flavours from the prawn and squid will be sure to boldly make themselves known to your palate.)
29. Now all that’s left is to mix it all up with your favourite pasta (good ol’ spaghetti will suit it pretty well) and serve it up to your soon to be goth-looking friends!

2.2.8

(c) All photos and text by Justin Chai, A Kitchen for Friends.

Having a Chinese mother is like having your most loyal champion and your fiercest enemy somehow spliced together in an unfortunate science experiment.

She sees you at your best and she sees you at your worst.

For Chinese mothers there are no sense of boundaries, no ‘no-go’ zones where advice is not appropriate or allowed. My mother regularly tells me what she thinks about every aspect of my life and she pulls no punches.

She has extremely high expectations of my brother and I, too, and isn’t afraid to share them. When admonished, she merely says, “I know how much you’re capable of.”

I can’t help but admire that sense of certainty. I’m sure my parents’ unwavering belief in us is partly the reason why I’m never afraid to try new things and why I’m not scared to fail. I accept that making mistakes is an essential part of life; if I’m not making any mistakes I’m probably not trying hard enough.

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I’ve been popping up in all kinds of places lately. Read on for details of Eat Drink Blog 3, a new recipe site, two great recipe e-books, a fab food blogger hop, new client news and recent press clippings.

Eat Drink Blog 3

I’ve been enjoying reading all the lovely, thoughtful and thought-provoking posts about the 3rd Australian Food Bloggers Conference, which concluded Sunday night. The two-day event, which saw 80 food bloggers from nearly every state in Australia visit Adelaide last week, was managed by a volunteer committee of Adelaide food bloggers, who worked countless hours to ensure a successful, bar-raising weekend. So high fives to Amanda, Kirsty, Erin, Alex, Natasha, and Celeste – we did good.

Edit: here’s a pic of us at the beginning of the weekend courtesy of Simon Leong from Simon Food Favourites. Thanks Simon! And can I also say a heartfelt THANK YOU to the genius who invented concealer? You would never guess I was completely loopy-loo from a combination of jet-lag and 4+ hours/sleep a night for the week leading up to the conference.

Thanks must also go to our fantastic sponsors, and most importantly, our major sponsor, the South Australian Tourism Commission, and to Michele D’Aloia, Caitlin Jones and Barbara Storey.

Sadly, I hardly got to chat with any of the delegates properly and missed most of the sessions. Oh well – I’ll just have to read everybody else’s blog posts and look forward to attending next year’s event as a regular delegate!

New recipe site

A few months ago I was commissioned to develop a new recipe site — Amazing Almonds — for the Almond Board of Australia to showcase almonds. We launched last month with some great recipes and articles about almonds, and each month I’ll be adding more recipes — like the Almond & Parmasen Crusted Fish above — interviews and helpful articles.

So if you love almonds, head on over to Amazing Almonds. I’d love to know what you think so any feedback via the site’s comments section would be much appreciated.

New Recipe E-Books

Love recipes? Of course you do if you’re reading this blog!

Two of my recipes have been included in two new e-books that are now available.

Firstly, Ocean Spray commissioned two recipes using their cranberry products for a new e-book featuring Australian food bloggers. I made a Warm Duck Salad (see above) and a crowd-pleasing Berry Trifle – you can download the Ocean Spray recipe e-book free here.

Secondly, a couple of months ago Lauren from Corridor Kitchen asked if I’d like to be involved in an e-book of blogger recipes she was producing called The Potluck Club with all proceeds going to Foodbank, Australia’s largest food relief organisation. We were asked to contribute a low-cost but full flavour recipe and I chose my mother’s Feel Good Fish & Eggplant Curry (see above).

You can download The Potluck Club e-book for $5.95 here and then pat yourself on the back for being both generous and clever in sourcing a great recipe e-book. For more information about the e-book click here.

Cake & Three Veg – this months’ Sweet Adventures blog hop

As regular readers will know, I’m one of the hostesses of Sweet Adventures monthly dessert blog hops. Sadly I had to miss last month’s hop due to a hectic work schedule so I’m doubly pleased to be able to make this hop.

This month, the lovely JJ at 84th & 3rd is hosting Cake & Three Veg, so we’re inviting food bloggers everywhere to post their favourite vegie dessert recipes and join in the fun. The hop opens on Monday 19th November and will remain open for a week for you to link up your post. For more information check out JJ’s post.

New clients & New Projects

This month, apart from my regular gigs with Amazing Almonds, About.com, and Honest Cooking, I’m excited to be working on new projects for the #1 olive oil worldwide, Bertolli (recipe development, food styling and photography), She Knows (recipe development, food styling, photography + writing) and Hardie Grant Publishing (freelance writing).

Thanks to all for the opportunity to work with you. I love the variety of the freelance life!

Press Clippings

I’ve been honoured by some recent press. You may have seen me popping up in Adelaide Matters with some of my fellow Eat Drink Blog committee members, in In Daily with my Grandmother’s prawn sambal recipe or on the ABC website holding a bowl of almonds.

It’s very odd being at the receiving end of a camera for a change – next time I’m calling in hair and makeup!

Christina xx 

PS all photos by moi except the top two taken by the talented KK from ParcStudio

Wow, I had no idea blogging the words ‘going off the grid’ would provoke such a flurry of concerned emails and phone messages.

Thank you to those of you who understood and allowed me some space to breathe.

I’m fine, really. I just needed time to regroup after an exceptionally busy couple of months with new clients and new projects, a trip to Dubai and last weekend’s mammoth 3rd Australian Food Bloggers Conference weekend that I helped to organise.

One thing about being a consultant/freelancer is that you’re never really off-duty. I work odd hours of the day and night, seven days a week. And I actually don’t mind it because I love my work. I’m so incredibly grateful that I have a job that I love that I can do flexibly from home.

Unfortunately, the downside to the consulting/freelance life is that you are constantly in danger of overdoing it and putting yourself last as you say yes to all the opportunities and requests that come your way.

This type of pace is fantastic for short-term growth, but untenable in the long-run. So ‘going off the grid’ was my way of saying ‘Woah. Time out.’

And I’m glad I did it. I played with my kids, pottered around the house, went to bed early, and got a massage.

Similarly, I’m also happy that I’ve started saying ‘no’ to things. Well, actually, I’ve always said no to 95% of the pitches and advertising proposals that landed in my inbox. But now I’ve started saying no to invitations, opportunities and requests I would have said yes to three months ago. Because each request requires time and work on my part and there are only so many hours in the day. So I’m learning to prioritise. This feels good, too.

Anyway, thanks for reading. I’ll be back to my normal blog programming with my next post. I have lots of great recipes, photographs and stories to share with you!

Christina xx

Thanks for all the lovely feedback about Eat Drink Blog 3.

I’m ‘off the grid’ at the moment, taking a break from emails, ‘phone calls and social media. Unless you’re a paying client, natch.

But if you are wondering how Eat Drink Blog 3 went, you can check out this fantastic video by Simon Leong from Simon Food Favourites. Thanks Simon!

Edit:prefer old-school blog posts over video? Click here for the latest EDB3 posts.

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.

Simon Bryant — a.k.a The Chef to Maggie Beer’s Cook on ABC’s successful TV series — has just compared me to a punk rocker and I kinda like it.

We’ve been talking about the rise of food blogging and food bloggers in general. Unlike some high-profile chefs, Simon is a big fan.

“I love you guys. You’re out there, writing about food, photographing it. You guys are like the punk rockers of today.”

Come again?

“Well, in the 60s and 70s, musicians that couldn’t get a look-in from the major labels just went ahead and put out their own albums. They didn’t wait for permission. They just went ahead and did it. Same thing happened with publishing. You don’t have to wait around for a (record or book) deal anymore – you can just do your own thing.”

He’s right, although I’ve never thought of it like this before.

I mention that there are certain circles who are a bit snobby about food bloggers and the fact that many lack formal qualifications.

“To say you have to be qualified to be a good cook or writer or photographer is ridiculous,” Simon scoffs. “Maggie Beer isn’t trained yet she could cook most of us under the table. And look at bloggers like What Katie Ate (Katie Quinn Davies’ blog). She does fantastic work.”

I’m glad Simon is so keen on food bloggers because he’s going to be speaking to a whole bunch of them — 80 in total — at the upcoming 3rd Australian Food Bloggers Conference that I am helping to organise. Simon is going to be talking about restaurants that use local and seasonal produce, the implications and what reviewers should consider when writing up their meal.

It’s a subject he knows a lot about as Simon was Executive Chef at the Hilton Adelaide for 10 years. Now, post The Cook and The Chef, he wears any number of hats, acting as patron or ambassador for various good causes (including Animal Welfare League SA, Animals Asia Foundation and the Adelaide Showgrounds Farmers Market’s ‘Kids Club’) and working as a consulting chef, recipe developer and freelance writer. He also contributes a column to SA’s food magazine, Sumptuous).

Simon has been a champion for local and seasonal food and sustainability for the longest time. It’s a passion that has led him to set up his new company, Dirty Inc, which sells kabuli chickpeas, red nugget lentils, red nipper lentils and Tasmanian wakame (seaweed).

So how did it all come about, Simon?

“By accident,” he laughs. “Chefs often get access to unusual products that the public can’t buy. I came across these producers selling amazing, unusual chickpeas and lentils for export and I wanted to use them so I asked them what was the minimum amount that I would have to buy.”

And from such a casual question a new company was born.

If you haven’t already twigged, Simon is incredibly down-to earth and warm-hearted. His food – captured so beautifully in his new cookbook, Vegies — is the same, honest and unpretentious. It looks incredible, yes, but it looks like food you want to eat, not admire. Photographer Alan Benson has done a superb job, as has the design team.

I’ve made Simon’s Pickled Cabbage and Soybean Stir-Fry twice now — see the top of this post — and I love it. It’s such a simple dish but so breathtakingly good. In Adelaide, it’s known as a BBC – Beancurd, soyBeans and Cabbage – and is on the menu of many of our popular Gouger Street restaurants.

So how did the cookbook happen, Simon?

“It was Maggie Beer,” he says. “She’d been telling me for ages that I should write a cookbook but I just hadn’t got started. So one day she comes over, pulls out the laptop and sits me down to write it.”

How lucky Simon is to have such a great friend in his life.

Later, the talk turns to vegetables and I ask Simon — a long-time vegetarian — how to get my two kids to eat more vegies.

“Kids like eating food that they’ve grown,” he says. “Get them growing some vegies and they’ll eat them.”

He’s right. My kids love eating vegies picked from my parent’s garden or fruit picked directly from the tree or plant when we go fruit picking.

Simon Bryant has inspired me yet again. And I – and my kids – will eat better for it.

Vegies (Penguin/Lantern) is currently available at all good book stores.

Win Vegies by Simon Bryant!

Thanks to Simon and Penguin/Lantern, I have one (1) copy of Vegies to give away.

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 three (3) bonus entries, login to Pinterest, follow The Hungry Australian, pin the book cover above and then Pin two of the photos from this post. Once your Pinterest board is complete return here and click the +1 Do It option for the Pinterest Board Entry Option and then enter the link to your Pinterest board. If you aren’t currently signed up to Pinterest email me at info@hungryaustralian.com with ‘Pinterest please’ as the subject line and I can send you an invitation to join.
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6. The more times you enter the greater your chances of winning.
7. One lucky winner will be chosen at random.
8. Thanks for entering and good luck!

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