eggplant

Well that’s the first time I’ve written 2017 on the blog and it makes you pause for thought. This year is full of promise and excitement as I hurtle towards a milestone birthday. ‘It’s beginning to look a lot like 50’. As we had such a huge Exteno Unveil house party with family and friends… Read more

Last week Mr Tiffin told me that his boss still made, on a regular basis, the recipe I had given her years ago for Tomato Kasundi. That sent me into the depths of the recipe basket to hunt it out. I couldn’t even recall how I had first encountered kasundi or came across a recipe… Read more

Hard to believe that it’s May in this part of the world. Officially the third month of Autumn, I only moved into a cardie last week and even today, with a full blast of wind straight from the Arctic, it’s sunny and still 22c degrees. Beautiful Brisbane! Meanwhile, the temperatures are lot cooler in other… Read more

In my October kitchen is……the first shallot I have ever grown. Actually, it’s a spring onion or eschallot but in Australia, we call them shallots.  Confusingly, we call real shallots, shallots too! I picked up a couple of seedlings at Crop Swap earlier in the year and planted them in amongst the herbs. It was… Read more

I’m very excited to see the first flowers on my eggplant (aubergine) bush.  I lovingly tended this plant from seed, to seedling, to small bush. Now, the first flowers!  Let’s hope the fruit sets. These eggplants are an heirloom variety that I bought when I went along to an Heirloom Vegetable workshop late last year. … Read more

Earlier in the year, a cute little avatar popped up on Twitter – a smiling gyoza dumpling Hai! This heralded the impending opening of Harajuku Gyoza in Fortitude Valley.  Finally, after months of  ‘it’s on the list’, it was our turn to visit this dumpling bar on our way to a night out with former… Read more

I love eggplant in all its glorious guises. In Asian style stir fries, baked or grilled with toppings and fillings, Moroccan tagines, Middle Eastern dips, barbecued, in Moussaka and in one of my favourites discoveries of the year in Bali, thin slices dipped in batter and fried to crispy puffs served with caramelised onions and… Read more

You’re never too old to learn about new cultures, foods and destinations. So, what do we know about Azerbaijan? The capital is Baku, they have huge oil reserves that have made them lots of ‘new money’ and they don’t like Armenia much.  Oh, and they won Eurovision last year. Cath drew Azerbaijan out of the… Read more

I always buy eggplants, full of good intentions and at the end of the week, they are often still sitting in the crisper. Eggplants are one of my faves but they do take some time to cook.  Most Mediterranean or Middle Eastern dishes need a longer cooking time to bring out their best. I don’t… Read more

*** THIS VENUE HAS NOW CLOSED *** I tell you I don’t review restaurants that often and here I am again, reviewing another.  A recent trip to Melbourne allowed me to tick another restaurant off the list using my ‘solo dining’ theory.  ‘Golden Fields’ conjures up a vision of a rosy cheeked Chinese peasant in… Read more