bbq jumbo quail marinated with lemon, thyme & walnuts 

While I try to not play favourites with the seasons, I must admit that Summer does hold a special place in my heart. Long balmy evenings, beautiful light, bountiful stone fruit, frosty glasses of crisp crisp Riesling, luscious tropical fruit (how good were the mangoes this year?), not to mention the berries, or the humble tomato, long lazy holidays, beach sand between your toes, bikinis & sarongs, that reassuring warmth of sun on naked skin. What’s not to love? Read the rest of this entry »

the detoxing gal’s beverage of  choice

OK. So I know that the idea of doing some sort of detox or cleanse after the excesses of the silly season, Christmas and New Years isn’t exactly original. But just because something is cliché doesn’t mean that it isn’t a good idea. There’s usually a very good reason why a movement is adopted by the masses. And really when you get down to it, sometime a girl just needs to give her liver a rest. Read the rest of this entry »

bbq chorizo with slow roasted tomatoes & braised lentils
Until recently, I’d forgotten about a game that my ex-husband and I used to play. Over the 11-odd years that we were together, we shared countless pleasurable meals across five continents, and as you can imagine came to know each other’s food preferences and peccadillos intimately. During this time we developed a kind of restaurant game where we’d both peruse the menu and then try and guess what the other was going to order. Read the rest of this entry »

Ok so it’s not secret that I’m a big spice fan and love dabbling with them, but my friends, I do have a confession to make. Until a couple of weeks ago, I didn’t grind my own spices. Shocking that someone like me who has read countless times just how flavourful and amazing freshly ground spices can be has never bothered to actually try it out for herself…. I know…I know…Herbie would not be proud. Read the rest of this entry »

oxtail ravioli with gremolata 

It’s amazing how intertwined food and travel can be and how one can inspire the other. In my own past pretty much every trip has been inspired by the desire to eat or drink and in the future no doubt this will continue. (Although with my recent rejection from the el bulli reservation lottery that trip to Spain and Morocco might just have to wait another year.) But what is really special to see is when someone is so captured by the food they experience on holiday that they embrace it on their return home. Read the rest of this entry »

turducken with cranberry & ginger sauce 

Casually drop the word Turducken into conversation and I can guarantee that the average person will respond by looking at you in a quizzical manner and saying ‘a tur-what?’ I remember asking the exact same question on my first encounter with the tri-bird concept. It was Autumn in Northern California and I was working for a rather large Sonoma county winery. One lunchtime we were sitting around chatting and somehow the conversation turned to all things turkey. At first I was certain that my colleagues were having a lend of me. Surely it couldn’t be true. Stuffing a chicken inside a duck and then the duck inside a turkey? Nooo way. Many more minutes of lunchtime banter later and the revelation that you need to debone the birds first and I began to believe in the possibility. But to be honest, really, the whole thing didn’t exactly ingnite my imagination and I went back to work that afternoon letting the whole Turducken thing fall to the back of my mind as I focused on barrels and wine. Read the rest of this entry »