We’re raving fans of Dunedin’s food scene. We’ve lavished praise on its scones and soufflés, extolled the virtues of its bagels and bombe Alaska and written sonnets of salivating praise on everything from its dumplings to its degustation dining. But sometimes in our excitement we forget the obvious and inescapable, and in this case, that […] Read more…
Everyone knows that Hokkaido is home to some of Japan’s best sushi and seafood, and given it is just a hop, skip and a halfpipe away from Siberia, some of the country’s best skiing. But what they might not know is that it is also the home of a killer curry, served as soup and […] Read more…
Written in Collaboration with Cruise1st Australia We’re a family of avid cruisers and have sailed far and wide. But one of our all-time favourite ports is busy, buzzy Ho Chi Minh City (the former Saigon). Famous for the pivotal role it played in the end of Vietnam War, the city is now the country’s pulsing […] Read more…
The food of Myanmar is a little more oily and a little less spicy than what we’re used to in Southeast Asia, and it is is not quite as diverse as foodie neighbours Thailand, China and India, but influences from all three mean there is an eclectic variety of flavour packed food. And while undertaking our #escapers17 […] Read more…
Something wicked this way comes. Yep, Halloween is on its way. And though once – Queen of Darkness though I am – I dismissed Halloween as an overly commercial American holiday and rolled my heavily-kohled eyes disparagingly in its general direction, I am now a total convert. My little ghouls on the other dismembered hand were […] Read more…
Once upon a time there was a small martial arts obsessed panda boy who couldn’t stop eating… he ate and ate, practised some kung fu and then he ate some more. So it should come as no surprise that the Kung Fu Panda movies are that very same boy’s favourites, and not only because they’re brilliant movies. It’s because for Raffles, […] Read more…
When Masterfoods recently sent me a basket of goodies along with a copy of their recent Lifting the Lid on Dinnertime report about the social role of food in Australia I was startled by some of the results… It seems that only 35% of respondents ate with family regularly and just 20% of respondents ate a […] Read more…
Halloween is lurking creepily around the corner. And whose fault is that? The Irish! The jolly green giant of a country that gave us leprechauns, U2 and whiskey. Not to mention Guinness, a plethora of uses for the potato, Michael Flatley … and his herds of dead-armed dancers. One of the Emerald Isle’s less impressive exports, […] Read more…
Halloween is on it’s way and the kids are excited. They are so busy prepping for all the ghoulish excitement, they have decided to countdown to the nefarious night of nights with a monstrous movie marathon. All in the name of research, of course! So I’ve whipped them up a bunch of Creepy Crawly Cookies (recipe below) […] Read more…
The first and last time I ate fondue was in Switzerland. I was in my twenties, swanning around lovely Lake Lucerne with my now ex-husband. He annoyed me. I stabbed him with a fondue fork. The rest, as they say, is history. While the company was dubious at best, the fondue was superb. So much […] Read more…
It’s most iconic structure may be a 16th-century shogunate castle that sets Raffles samurai senses tingling, but Osaka is probably better known for its high tech architecture, street eats and many, many stars… Michelin stars, that is. Japan’s undisputed gastronomic capital, it is said that the people of Osaka spend more money on food than on anything else. In fact, the […] Read more…
Raffles has never been what you’d call a fickle child. Loyal, devoted and obsessive yes, but fickle? Never. Sanity is something else he’s rarely accused of. Understandable given that the kid is a nut-job of the highest order. Not that I’m complaining. In fact, I’m quite partial to a little weirdness in my offspring. But […] Read more…