the end was just the beginning
Farmers Direct sent me 10 pears last week and I was determined to turn them into something before they, well, turned (like the lettuce and grapes did). So I made two pear crumbles. One for dessert last night with friends, one for dessert tonight with family. Ironically, the pears weren't quite ripe, so they were a... Continue Reading →
I fell in love with Kevin Bacon when I was 16. Footloose blew my tiny mind. All that sweaty dancing and teen angst crammed into such tight, high-waisted jeans ... enthralling. (I've always been a low-art girl. Your high-art girl would probably nominate A Clockwork Orange or Annie Hall as her first life-altering cinematic experience, mine were Can't Stop The Music and The... Continue Reading →
I'm dishing more celebrity advice over at Kidspot. This week I've got Scout Willis (Demi and Bruce's daughter) on the couch and I'm talking her through her recent arrest for underaged drinking and using a false ID. It's also a great chance for me to repeat all the awful things people have been saying about her ... which I'm feeling... Continue Reading →
I spent yesterday at Taronga Zoo with 100 six-year-olds and wasn't inclined to do anything but drink wine last night. I'd hoped something blogworthy would happen on the school excursion, but aside from a kid dropping a stuffed toy into the lizard enclosure, it was uneventful and exhausting. Husband, bless him, sent me an article about America's most popular baby names for 2011 that he thought I'd find amusing. So, just... Continue Reading →
When I'm entertaining, I like to theme things. Last weekend it was a Spanish BBQ. Chorizo, olives, bread and Manchego cheese to start. Marinated steaks, cous cous salad and aioli potatoes for main. Flourless mandarin cake for dessert (for recipe click here). I rubbed my hands together in glee, imagining the awesome food blog I would write.... Continue Reading →
I've been a print journalist since I was 17. It's all I know, it's everything I love. But I'm a realist. I know newspapers and magazines are on borrowed time in their current format. Ten years, 15 at most. The thing that bothers me about print media's transition to the digital age - aside from all the journalists... Continue Reading →
I discovered the secret to great guacamole while dining at a Mexican restaurant called Dos Caminos. The restaurant's snazzy trick was having the waiter made the guacamole at your table. He mashed all the ingredients together with a big mortar and pestle. And I noticed he used lots of salt and lemon juice, or was it lime... Continue Reading →
Husband and I have been arguing about our next overseas holiday destination. God knows why because the only places we can afford to visit are spare bedrooms within a driving radius of Sydney. Husband is mad-keen to take the Sprogs to Siem Reap. As in Cambodia. He's been there. Says it's absolutely amazing. So do lots of other people. That's lovely, but I don't want... Continue Reading →
Play hide-the-veggies with your kids using this sweet recipe. The muffins are especially good served warm from the oven. Sprog 2 helped me make a batch on the weekend, but refused to try them because she knew the secret ingredient. Sprog 1, on the other hand, has been hoovering them up. For more muffin recipes, check out my latest blog at Village Voices. It's called "3 fast and fruity muffins" and you can... Continue Reading →
I've led a charmed life. Despite being born the year Neil Armstrong walked on the Moon, my sex has never been an impediment. I grew up believing I was man's equal. My dad's attitude to foreigners sometimes gives me pause, but he's certainly not sexist. He was delighted to have two daughters and no sons. At school, my left-handedness caused far more consternation than my gender. I spent 20 years working at an organisation primarily staffed... Continue Reading →
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