High Tea at The Globe Bar, The Observatory Hotel

When five foxxy females seek to celebrate four November birthdays, a High Tea affair offers the perfect combination of sophistication, conversation and self-indulgent deserved gluttony.Our chosen destination was The Observatory Hotel, a member of the Orient-Express family which, although only built in 1993, attempts to look as if it has been there ever since 1893.The olde world charm is apparent

Sugar frenzy: Holiday Cookie Swap

When you find a good cookie recipe, life is good.It gets better when you start playing around with the ingredients. You can vary the flavours but most importantly this recipe doesn't lose its crisp sugary exterior and soft chewy core.You may remember I recently altered Donna Hay's Double Choc Cookies into my own variation of Coffee Hazelnut Cookies with Dark Chocolate Chunks.For the latest

Chicken salad rice paper rolls

The other night we had Thai Beef Salad for dinner, so tasty and deliciously tempting that I ravenously grabbed my fork instead of the camera.The next day the leftover bunches of mint, basil and coriander beckoned from the fridge with their summery clean freshness. Inspiration struck in the form of a Vietnamese-style chicken salad.Cooked chicken thighs were pulled apart roughly and mixed with a

Tomodachi, Broadway

Deep-fried soft-shell crab sushi $3.50The food court crowd is a tough one.Spinach pide boats jostle with lamb madras curries under the watchful eye of slowly twirling yeeros. The shiny happy salad bar and the sandwich counter beckon your conscience before your attention is diverted by the cake display, the gelato cart and the Chinese greasefest of all-you-can-plate.And then your eyes alight upon

Spice I Am, Surry Hills

It's official.The best green papaya salad is here.Spice I Am.Champion It Is.Green papaya salad (som tam) $7.90If you like your som tum pallid, watery and flavourless you won't like this one.Spice I Am makes their green papaya salad zingy, crisp with plenty of heat. There's a healthy dousing of fish sauce, a wink's worth of lime juice and a chilli kick that gets the adrenalin pumping and the

Thai Food Festival

Who knew that one Sunday could hold so many photos?Thankfully the Thai Food Festival was only down the road from the Spanish Quarter Street Festival. I nipped between the two a number of times throughout the day, interspersing Thai treats with Spanish salsa.Thai sweetsThai videosIt was a gloriously hot day and the buzz of families gave Tumbalong Park a happy carnival atmosphere. Thai families are

Cupcakes on Pitt, Sydney

The tailored suits stride along purposefully, starched white shirt, manicured nails, heels clip-clopping along the pavement with busy urgency. Until suddenly they stop, pause and back-track with reluctance and then growing excitement.Hands pressed onto the glass. Fingers pointing. Squeals of discovery. Sighs of lust.The Power of the Cupcake takes its hold.Behold the girly cupcake. Small, cute and

Birthday Blow-out

The best part about having a birthday is the excuse to eat out.So far there's been a delightful Thai lunch and a delicious Japanese dinner this week with family and friends.Coming up:a picnic with fellow foodies feasting on gourmet delights;a girly high tea at The Observatory;and new gastronomic terrain covered in Iraqi and Laotian cuisine.Yes, I take my birthday celebrations very seriously... or

Spanish Quarter Street Festival: Part III

This is the final post of photos from Sydney's Spanish Quarter Street Festival. To start from the beginning click here.So you're wondering where all the food is. Here's a picture of some churros to keep you going whilst you enjoy the last of the photos from the Spanish Quarter Street Festival.Churros. Like finger food donuts. With extra ridges to catch those sweet granules of cinnamon sugar.And

Spanish Quarter Street Festival: Part II

The bonanza of photos from Sunday's Spanish Quarter Street Festival continues. To start from the beginning, click here.I was transfixed by the colour and joy that accompanied the Peruvian dancers from Te Amo Peru. Their energy was infectious and I was envious of their gorgeous national dress.Two dancers from Latin Motion then took the stage. They rhumba'ed and salsa'd with a sexy fluidity few of

Spanish Quarter Street Festival

The Spanish know how to eat.They know how to drink.And they definitely know how to party.I'm sure that's why the Spanish Quarter Street Festival is such a favourite with Sydneysiders. In the relative infancy of its third year, the flocking crowds consistently surpass organisers' wildest dreams. This was particularly evident last year with suffocating bottlenecks at times and gobsmacking food

Newtown Festival

Ok. You know you're getting just a little bit obsessed when, faced with the choice of three festivals on a sunny Sydney Sunday, you choose to attend not one, not two, but all three of them.I started off with the Newtown Festival in the morning, before heading into town for the Spanish Quarter Street Festival and then the Thai Food Fair.Crazy? Yes. But I'm a sucker for festivals. You should know

Banana Walnut Bread

Banana bread is so easy to make it's criminal. Which is why I'm always aghast whenever I see banana loaves for sale at exhorbitant prices.The reason why it's usually pricey is because good banana bread is made with real banana, not flavourings. The spidery flecks guarantee a banana party, but to have your own, all you need is one hand (of bananas - haha).The best banana bread comes from really

Lamrock Cafe, Bondi

In a deja vu repeat of last year's day out at Sculpture by the Sea, we somehow ended up at Lamrock Cafe again for lunch before we made the trek by the sea.The weather was perfect today. Hot but not humid, and not a cloud to be seen in the cerulean skies.In beachside Bondi, boardshorts and bikinis are the uniform for the masses. Outdoor cafes spill over with golden tanned bodies. Oversized dark

Sculpture by the Sea

Sculpture by the Sea is Australia's biggest outdoor exhibition of modern sculpture. Exhibits from around the world are installed along the dramatic clifftop walk from Bondi to Tamarama beaches.The paths tend to get congested by families, kids, tourists and shutterbugs on the weekend, but at the same time it's pretty cool that this event a) exists and b) is so popular. Modern art seems to be less

Recipe: Rhubarb Crumble

I picked up two bunches of gorgeous rhubarb at the Growers Markets on Saturday morning. After lugging them through the Snapper, Spice and Rice festival and then dozing off on the train on the way home, any wistful intentions to make shortcrust pastry for rhubarb pie that evening went straight out the window.I'm a lazy cook at the best of times which is why any rhubarb I purchase inevitably ends

Snapper, Spice and Rice

Red snapper mouselline steamed in banana leaf cupsAustralia is built on a nation of immigrants. From the first colonial invaders to Gold Rush entrepreneurs to the post-war waves of refugees, Australia wouldn't be Australia without its multicultural melting pot (which still hisses and sizzles occasionally).In recognition of the South-East Asian voyages taken to reach our shores, a Snapper, Spice &

Cafe Ottimo, Ultimo

Veal schnitzel with salad $5.00Sometimes you just need a good dose of fried with a smattering of salad. And a $5 outlay helps your meal go down better as well.We headed to cosy Cafe Ottimo again for a quick lunch the other day.Plenty of office workers and students were crowding this modest cafe but we were quick to grab a table and peruse the extensive blackboard menu. The lure of deep-fried

Pyrmont Growers' Market

Young garlic $1.50 per stalkYou'd think that my eighth visit to Pyrmont Growers Market this year would be ho-hum. But nay. Each month there are new foodstuffs revealed, celebrities to spot and plenty of people-watching to indulge in.The young garlic pictured above was the most exciting thing I spotted this month. I used to always watch Jamie Oliver use this in his cooking with envy and

Narita Teppanyaki, Haymarket

EDIT 20/11/07: Narita Teppanyaki is now closedDespite our eyebrow-punctuated trillings about the wonders of teppanyaki, Miss Six was still clamouring for McDonalds across the road."But teppanyaki is fun! You'll get to watch him cook in front of you," we exclaimed."...And he'll throw things in the air like Tom Cruise in... nevermind."Miss Six countered: "But I want chips! And a toy! Do they give

Mother Chu's Taiwanese Gourmet, Haymarket

Chicken fillet with stir-fried noodle $7.50There's something about Mother Chu's that always fascinates me. For a start there are the dumpling dames.A huddle of women in the open kitchen work constantly as tourists and students on Dixon Street pass on by. Hour after hour the women knead their dough; they roll out perfect circles, and then, within a blink of an eye, a dumpling is made and the next

DMBLGiT winners

Head over to Chubby Hubby to check out all the winners of DMBLGiT #10.Wha..? A mouthful of random letters to make the casual reader feel ostracised and alienated?No, it merely stands for Does My Blog Look Good in This, a monthly web gallery of tempting food porn from bloggers around the globe.Check out all the entries for this month here.Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to all the

Macchiato, Sydney

Daily specialPorchetta, mushrooms, fetta and capsicumA one-hour lunchtime rendezvous is always a tricky endeavour. Although Sydney isn't as spread out as, say London or New York, finding a convenient classy venue for foodie friends is an onerous task indeed.Inevitably we end up at Macchiato on the corner of Pitt and Liverpool Streets. It's central, snazzy and service is snappy. It's also