by Kate on November 24, 2011
A pretty collection of books for food lovers has been released by Penguin Books, giving makeovers to some of the world’s top food lit.
A Dissertation upon Roast Pig and Other Essays by Charles Lamb and Claudia Roden’s A Middle Eastern Feast can fill in the gaps of your foodie library. I’ve been told only certain types of women read cookbooks in bed, so I’ve taken to reading these instead. Agnes Jekyll’s A Little Dinner Before the Play extols the merits of a cheerful breakfast tray, and conjures up a winter picnic of figs and mulled wine. Frankly it’s divine.
I open, randomly, the chapter Meatless Meals:
“Here is a breakfast or high-tea notion for a busy worker on a long winter’s day, when time and thoughts race too quickly for more deliberate nourishment: A crumpet with lots of butter and salt; on it an egg, or maybe two, perfectly fried, the pepper-mill just going out of action, and all served piping hot in a warmed muffin dish. This is moderate cost, simple in preparation, nourishing and nice.”
To any dietary cookbook author, I plead you take this route instead of the joyous and manic “isn’t exercise fun” one. In her chapter For the Too Fat, Jekyll writes this.
“We are reminded in Scripture that ‘All flesh is grass,’ but, as a great artist once added reassuringly, ‘We cannot be sufficiently thankful that all grass is not flesh.’ No one likes to be fat; it is unbecoming, fatiguing, and impairs efficiency. And although the condition is often the result of defective metabolism than of undue or indiscriminate appetite, still the experience of the war years, with their scarcity of the flesh-making foods, shows that weight can be reduced by a diminished consumption of dairy produce, sugar, and starchy foods. Unfortunately, all the nicer things are on a weights and measures black list, and the annual advice of an eminent financial authority to ‘spend less’ must be paraphrased into a diminished consumption of all nourishment for those who would grow thinner…
“If that insidious enemy, soup, be held indispensable at dinner, at least avoid the vegetable purees and bisques made with cream, butter, root vegetables, and rich fish, also the savoury potage in which milk and flour figure.”
Penguin has made a large part of the collection available in Australia, and at the top of the pile on my bedside now is Buffalo Cake and Indian Pudding by Dr A.W.Chase. The author, a travelling physician, salesman, author and self-made man, traipsed around America in the late nineteenth Century collecting recipes and domestic tips from people along the way. There’s a recipe for Kansas Puffs and for Love Knots for Tea, which are little cakes folded over in the shape of “love knots”, to have with tea.
Elizabeth David is there too, of course, in A Taste of the Sun. These words you don’t realise you’re reading, but instead you travel with her and pour over a Lasagne Verdi, “large strips of pasta coloured green with spinach”. It’s enough to send a food writer’s heart aflutter.
Taken as a bite of one book or a whole feast of food writing, this is a collection of delicious writing.
by Kate on December 10, 2010
Kangaroo Island is not just about kangaroo and other cuddly things, a new culinary world is burgeoning as enterprising islanders take on pursuits other than the traditional wool farming. Abalone and marron farming, samphire pickling, rare breed farming and Ligurian beekeeping are bringing travellers across from the mainland as epicurean adventurists. First stop off the ferry from Adelaide is Penneshaw, where we find the best fish and chips on the island.
Sue Pearson’s Fish attracts tourist buses and locals for her whiting fillet in a beer batter. She also does more intricate local marron with a lamb chorizo risotto when I am there. Here are some pics, including the view opposite of the Adelaide ferry coming in.
by Kate on August 10, 2010
I have a little slip dress. It’s black with a pearly trim detail at the top, and the straps are barely there. Nor is the dress really, and I have to either be wearing too much underwear, that won’t show any lines, or virtually none at all, that won’t show any lines. But I have to think about who I might see when I wear it, what gusts of winds might come my way, and whether it’s appropriate to be wearing such a tiny piece of cloth in public. It’s Fleur Wood. So really I can wear it whenever the hell I like because frankly it’s darling. And in fact I’m going to get it out now, it goes well with my new book. I wish my life went with my new book.
Oh well, I might just spend the weekend eating coconut ice and sitting under a bare naked tree adorned with bouquets of bright balloons. If I want. No, Food Fashion Friends is not real life. It is not real life at all. It is not even the fashion industry’s real world, reality just isn’t this pretty. But oh so pretty this fabricated world is, and I might spend much of my reality delving in to it, pouring over pages where models eat sugar and cream-turned-into-cakes. It would take several days to prepare such an extravagant diabetes-ridden feast as presented here. But this is not reality. And Fleur Wood knows this. She’s telling us to just pose, and see that this beautiful, original and make believe world – or elements of it – can be recreated in our real lives. I like it. I like the offering of fantasy and the imaginary. It’s the rabbit hole and the fashion world, but with pictures of cakes and with recipes. This is the grown-up-girl’s latest release Barbie House, but better.
Fleur Wood, and she’s an Australian fashion designer don’t you know, has included style guides for perfect dinner parties. She shows us how to go all out, with cottonwool-made clouds hanging above a table and silver stars painted on to the walls, for example, or how to tone it down while keeping it fabulous. There is the extreme fantasy in the book, and there is extreme elegance.
My father made a very amusing comment about the book, while acknowledging it was incredible: “You shouldn’t have to agent orange a tree and cover it with balloons in order to have a picnic.” Having said that, Fleur Wood also offers simple ways make remarkable things – I love her idea of Ricotta Panna Cotta with Espresso Caramel, or a heart-shaped Salmon Mousse with Croutons.
Recipes include Crab Burgers; Aioli; Peach and Ginger Punch; Lemon Thyme Mushrooms, Ham Croquettes; Baked Eggs; tiny individual Marble Cakes and Iced Chocolate Cookies. Fleur Wood sets Menus for certain occasions, such as the aforementioned High Tea. Citrus Tea; Coconut Ice (yes really!), Prosecco with Watermelon Sorbet; Lobster Sandwiches. I love it all. I love the romance and the attitude and the idea of cutting pate sandwiches into the shape of butterflies. This world is dreamy, and I’m going to borrow it as my own.
Food Fashion Friends, by Fleur Wood, is published by Penguin ($59.95).
by Kate on August 3, 2010
The contents and layout of your fridge can affect how you eat, how you feel about eating, and obviously how much waste there is. After writing The Thrifty Kitchen, and researching how the way the coolest part of the house is laid out impacts what we eat, I put together this shortlist of tricks.
- Furry cheese, shrivelled carrots, leftovers with a now greenish hue… The number one trick for keeping the fridge smelling nice is to avoid leaving food in there for too long. Your fridge should have a fast turnaround. If it doesn’t, chances are you’re buying too much, or the wrong things – or you’re not using up leftovers.
- If you’ve cleaned it out and you want to freshen up the fridge anyway, try an orange spiked with cloves, or a cotton wool ball soaked in vanilla essence (left in a little dish or egg cup). Some also swear by the value in keeping a natural sponge in your salad drawer to keep fruit and vegies fresh longer.
- Wipe the insides of the fridge down with 1 tablespoon bicarbonate of soda dissolved in 1 litre of warm water – about weekly.
- Store cheese in an airtight box with a sugar cube in to keep it fresh.
- Store eggs pointy side down – it makes them last longer.
- Store milk and eggs in the fridge body instead of the door as it’s colder.
- Raw meat, poultry and fish should be stored wrapped in paper or in a sealed (not plastic) container so it won’t drip on other food.
A fun touch for a cookbook or any book collection. Use the pig silhouette to divide your books on terrines from your vegetarian cookbooks! Slip them in between books for organisation or just as a whimsical accent. You can buy these little dudes online.
Newspapers, double-shot soy lattes, honey on toast, a boiled egg, sun streaming through the window on to white linen sheets. Ahhh the day begins with so many lovely things. There might be nothing better than waking up next the person you love and planning a day together, really. And so in a tribute to all these things, I wanted to scribble-tap about breakfast and all its inspirations.
I’ve discovered these Belvoir cordials, my favourite being the Ginger and Lemon variety, which I have instead of tea (after coffee), using hot water on these cooler days. I am sure that’s how I’ve staved off a cold so far.
Not a fan of alarms full stop, but this Font Clock from Eden & Eden is so cool I wouldn’t mind rolling over to turn it off in the morning. A day should start with such good design no?
1. Egg Cube: Bone china egg holder with spoon, $38 from Eden & Eden. Made in England. 2. A Day at elBulli: new book from Penguin. 3. The Font Clock. Designed by Sebastian Wrong, a 21st century take on the British 24 hour clock design icon – $420 from Eden & Eden. 4. Honey bee from Delight. 5. Belvoir Fruit Farms cordial is available from good food and organic produce stores. 6. The Breakfast Club. Not breakfast really, but so so inspiring and uber cool for a whole generation.
by Kate on March 24, 2010
Christine Manfield of Universal fame last night created an incredible menu in her restaurant pulled from and inspired by my book The Thrifty Kitchen. Meatloaf at Universal? Yes! Check out the menu below.. Thank you Chris, what an incredible evening. Absolutely humbling.
The meatloaf with green beans was nothing like they dreamed up in the ’50s. The meatloaf’s curry flavours, served with crisp beans in a wasabi dressing made this simple dish truly modern. As Chris herself said last night – she’s never served meatloaf at Universal before, she’d be more likely to play Meatloaf. Thanks too to my mumsie, who let me, encouraged me, to write this book with her. x
by Kate on December 6, 2009
The Thrifty Kitchen, my cookbook with Penguin, is now on the shelves (horray!). Written with my mother Suzanne Gibbs, the book is an offering to those who want to be more economical in the kitchen, but still eat supremely well. We write about how to entertain on a budget, while still maintaining an elegance, serving up gorgeous offerings that don’t leave you scrimping for weeks afterwards.
You can buy The Thrifty Kitchen here on Cookbooks.com.au or in any good book store.
by Kate on November 7, 2009
Much done since I last wrote. A book, The Thrifty Kitchen, was published and has been on the shelves for two weeks. Exciting and wonderful, and strange to see in the actual shops. I was in the Mornington Peninsula, south of Melbourne, today and saw it there, stacked up and surrounded by the likes of David Thompson and Stephanie, and M Fulton. Great fun. So now, to do another?
