downunder update

I haven’t had a chance yet to investigate Max Brenner, whatever or whoever that superslick marketing bomb is, but I will get onto that quick smart!

However, today I was in the city for a chocolate rendezvous at the revered house of Haigh, followed by an expedition to Richmond to stock up the chocolate pantry.

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Apart from the fine dining in the City Centre of Melbourne, there are eating precincts just minutes from the CBD displaying the variety of food and cooking styles for which Melbourne is acclaimed. Read the rest of this entry »

The most popular way to cook a quince is to bake it. Once you have the little beggars baked you can choose from all sorts of ways to serve this culinary delight but, I implore you, don’t try and take a bite from a quince until it’s cooked!

Let me disclose the secret ingredient in my Great Aunt Bessie’s excellent baked quince slices - sweet wine. Read the rest of this entry »

I saw a quince tree from a train window today. They grew in everyone’s yard when I was a child, next to the lemon tree, as much a part of the landcape as the Hills Hoist. Where are the quince trees of yesteryear?

If you’re lucky you can see an odd Cydonia oblonga here and there, sometimes in an older house down in the country. But I’m afraid they’re on the way out. Cooking a quince takes work and people don’t seem to fancy much of that these days.

For, although a quince looks somewhat like a pear, you can’t eat it like one until you cook it.

A quince is homely in a yellowish sort of way, and looks a little peculiar, rather bumpy and crooked but, when cooked, transforms into something just delightful. Here are a couple of classic recipes from an Australian childhood. Read the rest of this entry »

Do not try this at home!

Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin may have played games with wild creatures but we all know what happened to him in the end.

The point to remember is we don’t encourage close encounters with crocodiles. They musn’t eat us, but we eat them. With lime juice and rich rosemary sauce.

If you ever wonder where those packets of crocodile that turn up in your supermarket freezer come from, or just how you’re supposed to cook them, read on ….. Read the rest of this entry »

Lamingtons are incredibly popular in Australia. So popular that the cakes are a favourite means of raising money and have spawned a new Australian term—Lamington Drive.

This is an organised effort by a school, community group, or charity to make lamingtons in mind-boggling quantities and sell them to the lamington-starved populace in order to raise money. Read the rest of this entry »