You would think, that at the ages of 14 and 10, my children would have lost their fear of pumpkin (AKA buttkin, punkfart and orange-you-gonna-cook-me-some-potatoes-instead?), and I'd have been able to leave this recipe back in 2010 where it belongs. But, as discussed previously, they're still coming to terms with healthy eating, something I'm assured... Continue Reading →
I remember looking at my son's barber - you know how they all are now, wearing tailored tweed pants and button-down collars, mustachioed, hair somehow simultaneously pouffed, parted and slicked, bedecked in aprons that look like they should be worn by a 1940s stableboy or butcher - and thinking "I wish my meatsmith looked like... Continue Reading →
We're lucky in Australia - pears are in season for most of the year, you've just got to be clever about which variety you choose. Right now, we're nearing the end for William pears, which are the ones we probably know the best. Officially this variety is in season until May, but it's been very... Continue Reading →
I love eating ripe pears straight out of the fruit bowl, but I always seem to miss the perfect eating window. They’re rock-hard and green for ages, and then it always seems that while I'm asleep, it's the time they become slightly soft, intensely fragrant, full of juice and ready to eat all the way... Continue Reading →
2pm on my most recent Christmas day: Prawn cocktails scoffed, martini glasses in the sink, painted with scraped remainders of Marie Rose. Cat fishing at shells and tails in the bin, being chased out in in a whirlwind of fur and snarls by sir barkypants. Brussels sprouts baconised and just finishing their charring on the... Continue Reading →
I first heard about qvevri in about 1999. I was sitting next to a young winemaker at a Jacobs Creek premium wine launch, just returned from an educational sojourn in Georgia. All I remember of the story was that he was fairly impressed with the winemaking, but had lived in something about as fancy as... Continue Reading →
These must be in season because I just bought them at the local grocer for $1 a kilogram. Sweet potatoes don't often grow well immediately around Melbourne (they hate frost), but still thrive in warmer parts of northern Victoria, so even though we're not strictly local here, you'll still find them in a local seasonal... Continue Reading →
I'm sure I'm the only person in the world who has children who don't eat their school lunches. All other children open their compartmentalized lunch boxes each day, and ravenously partake of carrot and cucumber crudites, cherry tomatoes, maybe a little hummus mopped up with some wholegrain sourdough, then olives for the gourmets and chorizo... Continue Reading →
It all started when I bought this by accident. I didn't know it won best wine in show at the 2017 ICCWS. I didn't really notice that it was single vineyard wine, nor that it was from the Warramate foothills, a stone's throw from greats like Yarra Yering, Levantine Hill and Oakridge. To be honest,... Continue Reading →
