TIFFINadamus

It’s a new year, a time of new beginnings.  I’ve got a new look and lots of plans and ideas about the year ahead.  It seems every other writer and blogger is making food related predictions for 2013 so I may as well join in and become a soothsayer for TIFFIN in 2013.

New Avatar – apples from a Nat Trust property in Hertfordshire UK

Rise of the Machines
Whilst I love to buy things for others, I rarely buy new kitchen equipment for myself.   I’m not sure why I drag the chain, perhaps it’s storage space.  My Sunbeam Mixmaster currently resides in the bathroom cupboard.  The last big instalment was a fantastic blender, given to me by colleagues when I left my previous job.

I had a very food focused haul at Christmas with several great cookbooks and a couple of tools I’ve been after for ages: A mandolin and a brulee torch.  I was also given a great pasta maker earlier in 2012.  So this year, I’m going to liberate them all from their packaging and start using them on a regular basis.

Expect to see posts about lots of wafer thin veges and caramelised toppings.

Escargot accoutrements of all description – 15e, Paris

Live Below the Line
Could you eat on $2 a day?  Well, I’m going to give it a go for 5 days in May.

$2 is the equivalent of the extreme poverty line in Australia.  With thousands of other Australians, I’m going to raise funds and awareness, to make a meaningful impact in the lives of people living in poverty.  It’ll be tough, but Live Below the Line is a simple way that we can help change the way Australians think about extreme poverty, and also fund educational projects for young people across the Asia-Pacific region.

It would be great if you could join me. You can register your interest here: www.livebelowtheline.com.au
For those of you in Brisbane – perhaps we can pool our resources to improve our spending power.   If you’d prefer to sponsor me, I’ll be posting information about how you can do that as time gets closer.

Expect to see posts about my recipes and progress or, as they like to say on MasterChef, ‘My journey’.

Our host mamma ‘Candelaria’ – Amantini Island, Lake Titicaca  Peru

Field Trips
I’ll be visiting some old haunts and also hoping to discover new horizons.  Already scheduled:
* A week in the Barossa Valley during the Vintage Festival at Easter.  Will Apex Bakery be open I wonder?
* A further week in the Clare Valley and other SA locales
* ‘A day in the Grove’ – harvesting olives near Wivenhoe from the tree I adopted for my Mum
* A week in Darwin and surrounds in June

Later in the year we’re planning a trip to Stanthorpe and the annual Eurovision party provides promise of a trip to Maleny.  Do you have any suggestions about places to visit in SE Qld that may be of interest?  Please let me know in the comments below or via email.

Expect to see bragging posts about the fabulous food I’m eating on my travels and words like artisan and hand crafted.

Local Tuscan produce – Chianti, Italy

Reader Involvement
When I get together with friends, talk invariably turns to food or restaurants or places we have visited.  They often flippantly say, ‘I should write a guest post for TIFFIN’.  ‘Yes, you should’, I say.  But they never do.  Last year, Robert dipped his toe in the water and wrote a post about Rockpool Bar + Grill in Sydney.  It’s proven very popular with 359 hits to date.  It also arrived at a very handy time as I was on holidays so this got me off the hook from my regular post commitment.  Thanks Robert!  Won’t some of my other friends join in and have a go?

Expect to see a short surge in guest posts in the coming months, falling away to a trickle.

I also hope to increase my followers, subscribers and comments this year so I’ll be running a couple of competitions to encourage this.  My loyal readers will also be in the running.  If you only dip in and out of TIFFIN at the moment, I would encourage you to subscribe via email now, to be in the running for some fun prizes.  I post an average of twice a week.

Expect to see lots of pleading and wheedling from me to increase my readers.

A potential winner

Those are my predictions for 2013.  You have been warned!