Grab Your Diary

THURSDAY 30 JUNE 2005End of Month Eggs on Toast Extravaganza #7Cook a goog and send it to Jeanne. And it looks like this month's theme is "short dramatic works", or as Jeanne suggests, "One flew over the chicken's nest. Layer Cake. Cluck back in anger."Does My Blog Look Good in This #7The foodporniest winners are announced by Meg today at I Heart BaconFRIDAY 1 JULY 2005Omnivoribus Australia NEW!

Snapped: Water boy

Snapped at the Primo Italiano Festival, 5 June 2005A poignant appreciation for nature's most precious resource, especially given Australia's current drought crisis and Sydney's precariously low dam levels.

Orange Grove Markets safe for now

After a tense week of uncertainty, it appears that the organic food stalls at the popular Orange Grove Markets are safe to continue trading. Reports in the Sunday papers of 19 June 2005 indicated that the booming 100-stall market contravened the original Development Application for 60 stalls only, and that the food stalls (whose leases expire at the end of June) would be forced to relocate to

Primo Italiano, Stanley Street Festival

In an barely concealed jibe at Sydney's "other" Little Italy, Leichhardt, the recent Primo Italiano festival attempted to adamantly reinforce the reputation of East Sydney's Stanley Street as Sydney's "first" Little Italy. It was in Stanley Street where Italian immigrants first began to cluster socially, gradually building more and more delicatessens, restaurants, bars and cardhouses until the

IMBB #16: Tortilla Espanola

Tortilla Espanola. You may as well substitute the word tapas, just as yum cha = the ubiquitous har gow.Soft cooked potato flavoured sweetly with onions and set by a soothing blanket of egg. How can you not be transported to a lazy afternoon in sun-drenched Seville with every mouthful?So when eggs were set as the key ingredient for Is My Blog Burning #16, the flamenco had already begun.Tortilla

Upcoming events

FRIDAY 24 JUNE 2005Is My Blog Burning #15: EggsGet your eggs-quisite works of art to Seattle Bon Vivant anytime from Friday 24 June to Sunday 26 June.SATURDAY 25 JUNE 2005Bankstown Bites Food FestivalBankstown City Plaza (near Bankstown train station)10.00am-4.00pmFree one-hour food tours on noodles, tea and Asian, Lebanese and European delights will be conducted on the hour. Book in on the

Nhat Tan, Marrickville

Former home to a strong Greek community, these days Marrickville is home to a melting pot of Greeks, Lebanese, Vietnamese, Chinese and Africans.On Illawarra Road--one of the main shopping streets--Asian groceries, Greek bakeries, bubble tea cafes and Vietnamese restaurants jostle one other for over five blocks.We only had eyes for one thing though: Good pho. We were hungry. And we needed it

Haigh's, Sydney

So it seems my information sources were wrong and Haigh's actually opened today!We ducked up at lunchtime and were impressed by the efficient but friendly staff in crisp white uniforms, the goodie filled windows and, of course, the chocolate heaven inside.I didn't realise that Haigh's are the only chocolatiers in Australia who start with raw (imported) cacao beans: roasting, grinding and then

Five Favorite (Cook) Books Meme

Reid tagged me for this meme over a week ago and I've only just gotten around the answering this now. Guilty of procrastination as charged! It's certainly been enlightening reading everyone else's cookbook/cooking memes currently going around at the moment. We know what people are eating, and we know what people are photographing, but memes give an added dimension to my fellow floggers' lives and

SHF #9: Jamaican choko tarts

After making my banana caramel macadamia tarts, I was still itchy to do some more baking. And besides, aren't tarts all about wanton excess?I got the idea for these after flicking through my glittery copy of The Cook's Companion by Stephanie Alexander, the foodie bible for every Australian homecook. Stephanie says her choko tart recipe was sourced from an old collection of Caribbean recipes, and

Banoffee pie

Yes, this month's Sugar High Friday entry is not for the faint-hearted.This diabetic nightmare takes inspiration from my beloved memories of the English banoffee pie--the English may be guilty of soggy chips, but their supermarket bakeries had me loitering every time.What is a banoffee pie? Think biscuit base, with a thick blanket of caramel, layered with slices of fresh banana and smothered in

Pier 26, Darling Harbour

I know, I know. I'm a little obsessed with this place, but can you blame me, when the food looks like this?Add them up and what do you get?Pan-fried pork chop with sage and lemon risotto with spinach jus and crackling $16.00Macadamia crusted salmon with spiced peaches, rocket and kipfler potatoes $20.00I had the salmon which was magnifique! The salmon was perhaps a tad over-cooked for my liking,

Upcoming events

I'm most excited about next week's opening of Haigh's at The Strand. I first discovered Haigh's hand-made delights on my last trip to Melbourne and, like, yum! The 100sqm outlet will be Haigh's biggest store (apart from the Adelaide Visitors' Centre) and is the first in Sydney (there are six stores in Adelaide and five in Melbourne). About time we got one!The other drool-worthy news for

Steve Eats It, so we don't have to

Woohoo. Steve has finally posted volume 8 of his ever-popular Steve, Don't Eat It series.This time Steve brews and consumes prison wine to an authentic recipe, an episode filled with the usual moments of slack-jawed disbelief alternating with hysteric laughter.For those who aren't familiar with the pioneering Steve, I urge you to check out all the episodes now. If the contents of the post don't

Autumn in Sydney

"Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn." ~Elizabeth LawrenceExplosion of red in a suburban Sydney streetTrees turning in Sydney City's Hyde Park.Even though we technically moved into winter as of June 1st, the trees are still a slow-motion sunset of russet reds, burnt oranges and mustard yellows.I do like autumn. The last final bursts of vibrant colours are definitely how I

Greek Islands Taverna, Earlwood

Earlwood, a sleepy suburb in Sydney's inner west, has always had strong Greek connections. The general public probably best know Earlwood for not only giving us Alex Dimitriades, but John Howard as well.Greek Islands Taverna, on the other hand, has no such high profile aspirations. Its entrance is via a tiny alley off Homer Street, with sweeping views of a council carpark; the windows are

Caffeine AND calcium

Pinkcocoa has a lot to answer for!And yes, it was good.

Diesel @ the Campsie Food Festival

Diesel rocked on last weekend at the Campsie Food Festival. A slightly incongruous sight (Diesel? In Campsie?!?), Diesel entertained an appreciative throng of inner west foodies as he promoted his latest album Singled Out.Of course I hung out "backstage" afterwards, and Mark (can I call you Mark?) obliged with a photo. Awww...

Upcoming events

Yay! It's the long weekend! Alas there doesn't seem to much going on food festival-wise this long weekend, although you might already be busy catching the Sydney Film Festival (10-25 June) or the Darling Harbour Jazz Festival (11-13 June).FRIDAY 10 JUNE - MONDAY 13 JUNE 2005If you are desperately after a convivial foodie atmosphere, you could of course make your way over to the small but slowly

WBW #10: White Pinot

The theme for the tenth edition of Wine Blogging Wednesday is white Pinot, including Pinot Grigio, Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc.What to choose? I headed to wine-lover's heaven, Amato's in Leichhardt for a browse...Amato's almost feels like a wine department store. Wines are sorted by country; Australian wines are sorted by state. There's an enormous walk-in fridge of beer slabs, a whole wall of

Campsie Food Festival

Often affectionately known as Sydney's "Little Korea", Campsie offers more than just kimchee, incorporating a gastronomic melting pot of Indian, Lebanese, Fijian, Samoan, Turkish, Vietnamese and Chinese shops and restaurants.This year's Campsie Festival was bigger than last year's, appearing more organised and better planned. Food stalls were moved from Anzac Mall and out along Beamish Street,

Iron Chef

In my over-excited watercooler chats, I've noticed that people are either huge Iron Chef fans, or they just don't get it. But what's not to get? Over-excited Japanese gameshow, slow motion wok tossing, extreme competitiveness under a guise of humble modesty... not to mention pagodas carved out of carrots and the hilarious voiceovers! Oh, when oh when, are they going to bring this series out on

Italian National Day, Wharf 8

As posted, I did spend much of last weekend at the Sydney Writers' Festival. In-between literary illumination and bookish ebullience, we did manage to nip down the road to Wharf 8 to check out the Italian National Day celebrations. Unfortunately it was a case of shoot and run as time ticked on. We were disappointed that most of the food seemed to be sausage sizzles and spaghetti napoletana,

Upcoming events

FRIDAY 3 JUNE 2005Paper Chef #7An online "Iron Chef"-style challenge, this round's theme ingredients could include star anise, chestnut paste, egg, brown sugar, red wine, cream, cheddar cheese, buttermilk, quinoa, mejdool dates or honey! Bang a gong, we are on!Feast - 7.30pm-8.00pm on SBSSATURDAY 4 JUNE 2005Manly Food Festival: A Taste of Manly (thanks Tian!)Ocean beachfront (5min walk along The

Cyril's, Haymarket

Merely approaching Cyril's and catching sight of the goodie-laden baskets outside, is enough to quicken my step and tantalise my tastebuds whenever I'm in the area.This quaint and traditional European deli has been on Hay Street since 1956. Its owner, Cyril Vincenc, is a permanent fixture behind the counter, offering advice to customers in English, Russian, Polish and Czech. Back in the 1970s,

Sydney Writers' Festival

So I spent much of last weekend at the Sydney Writers' Festival. The weather was that perfect mix of crisp autumn--cold enough to require jackets, but with enough sunshine to warm the face and toes.I only ended up going to a handful of events in which I was particularly interested. Augusten Burroughs was much less neurotic than I imagined (considering his childhood of bible dips, toilet