Occasional stories, food and travel inspiration
Sometimes one bite is all it takes for you to fall in love. I should know. I fell head over heels the first time I tasted Floating Islands or île flottante. I first experienced the delect
I never imagined that I'd be the type of person to make jam. People that make jam have immaculately kept gardens, submit their tax return on time, never lose library books, and never turn up at the
Silky Chinese Chicken was inspired by a dish my dad once made when I was still living at home. I made it recently for our Chinese New Year family dinner and it was received with surprise and delight
I adore figs. I love their colour, their flavour, and their texture. I die for their sensual shape and the way their demure green and purple exterior splits open to reveal a striking red and gold
My children love ice cream. In this hot weather, they're having it at least once a day, usually twice, and sometimes even before breakfast. (Shhh! Don't tell grandma!) So I was thrilled to discover
I'm excited to be guest posting for Kristy Bernado at The Wicked Noodle this week. Kristy began cooking seven years ago after her children were born and she had to adjust from a life of DINK (Doubl
It's hot and I'm bothered. I want instant refreshment, instant karma (calmer). I need something to cool me down. But what? Let's see: I have Greek yoghurt in the fridge and an unopened bo
I was recently chuffed to be contacted by The Hoopla to provide a canapé and drink recipe for their Happy Hour section. I immediately knew that I wanted to do my Mini Vietnamese Pork Buns, which
There are times when a little restraint is called for. After all, too much of a good thing can get you into all kinds of trouble. Happily, this is not one of those times. For too much of a very g
For The Hungry Australian's first guest post, I'm delighted to hand the reigns over to JJ from 84th & 3rd. I knew JJ's delightful blog before I met her in person at Eat Drink Blog, the second A
Fish and eggplant may sound like a bizarre combination, but trust me, this curry is fantastic. When our daughter was due to arrive my mother came to stay with us in Shanghai. Every day she did the
Happy New Year! As 2012 dawns I'm feeling optimistic. Onwards and upwards will be my mantra this year. However, I am a realist: I understand that we don't get the highs without the lows. Moreove
After paying homage to the Vietnamese pork roll in my last post about Mini Vietnamese Pork Buns, it's now time to honour the simple and delicious Vietnamese Chicken Salad (Goi Ga). Vietnamese salad
I adore Vietnamese food. The combination of Asian ingredients and cooking styles with French influences and fresh herbs makes it one of my all-time favourite cuisines. Some of my ultimate Vietnames
I've been meaning to make chocolate bark ever since I saw Chocome's deluxe version at the Adelaide Good Food & Wine Show back in October. Then Amy from Amy's Town made some lovely 'Chose Your O
My brother likes buying things. Like most males, he doesn't buy a lot of things but when he does shop, he buys big-ticket items. A windsurfer. A vintage electric keyboard or guitar. A top-of-the-ra
We always have a big lunch on Christmas Day with around two dozen family and friends. It's always a joyful day, with incredible food (everybody brings a dish), plenty of merry-making and lots of kids
There is an easy way and a hard way to do anything. According to my mother, I always pick the hard way. It's just one of my charming personality traits. The other day I spent what felt like six
We have this amazing smallgoods producer in South Australia called Standom, who make all kinds of smoked and preserved meat products. How good are they? Well, put it this way: my Bavarian-born, Ham
'Tis the season to be jolly, tra la la la la, la la la la. Regular readers will know that we had a rather spectacular Great Australian Pavlova Blog Hop last month, featuring 36 amazing pavlovas ma
Welcome to The Great Australian Pavlova Blog Hop! This post should really be called How Not To Make a Pavlova. Let me explain. A few weeks ago I was chatting with some Aussie food bloggers abou
I miss Shanghai. It's a big, brash, frontier city where buildings go up seemingly overnight, hundreds of new restaurants open every week and you can buy virtually anything at 9pm at night. Want a f
Every year I cook something as a Christmas gift for family and friends. My daughter usually helps, and we spend a fun couple of hours baking and wrapping. Last year we made snickerdoodles, those lovel
My dear friend Eli once cooked me a delicious rice salad when we were both living in London in the early 2000s. As an Australian-born Chinese, I've eaten a lot of rice. I've had it steamed, fried,
Are you a food blogger? Do you love pavlova, that iconic Australian meringue and cream dessert? Have you ever been curious about making one? Well, we'd love you to join us for The Great Australian Pa
My dad's friend, Barry, is an amazing gardener, growing all kinds of vegetables, fruits and flowers. He is generous with his crop, too, always giving away bags of lemons, tomatoes and whatever else is
When we were recently in Malaysia we ate the most amazing sui gao (dumplings) at my Grandmother's house, bought from the local hawker stall. So this is my attempt to recreate them back home in Austral
Char Kway Teow (Fried Noodles) is one of the ultimate Malaysian hawker dishes. When I was holidaying in Malaysia in August, I ate Char Kway Teow nearly every day, mostly for supper at 10pm. I'd wan
Posting a recipe for guacamole seems odd in a way. It's a bit like posting a recipe for making a ham and cheese toastie - it seems like such a simple thing to that no recipe is required. However, I
I have my Dad to thank for a lot of things. For my love of reading. For forcing us to go with him to see Tom Clancy's The Hunt for Red October, in which a much younger Alec Baldwin proves indisputa
