Arrr! Ahoy me matey! Ye behold nay the tomb of some maggot o’ a sea cap’n, nor this be a marker for some hidden pirate booty. Nay!

Would ya be wanting to know what this is? Listen close matey, for thar shall be a yarn to be spun; a tale of adventuring uncharted waters, hardship, failure and many a curse to be had. Read more »

You know, sometimes curiosity gets the better of me. It’s not always a bad thing. Not always. Actually, in this case it worked out to be rather satisfying. I mean, consider the following.

When it comes to making dulce de leche, that sublime, silky smooth milk caramel, ever wondered which brand produces the best results? Whether you can substitute for a skim milk product? Will a tube work just as well, if not better, than a can? It’s just something I had to find out. Read more »

The Daring Cooks Challenge for September 2009 was hosted by Debyi from The Healthy Vegan Kitchen. The challenge she selected was Indian Dosas, or at least it’s meant to be. However, what you see pictured above is neither Indian nor dosa. You’ll see what I’m getting at when you read on.

Before I begin the post in earnest, I feel it necessary to confess a strong food-related intolerance that I have, as it influences the direction and tone of this post relative to others you may read. You’ll notice as you read on that within the post, I choose to use gluten-free flour for my dosas. However, I do not suffer from celiac disease, and thusly, gluten is not the something I have an intolerance for. My food-related intolerance is that of veganism. Read more »

Picture this.

You’re in the eastern suburbs of Sydney. It’s lunch time. You have an hour (less travel time) to grab a bite to eat and unwind as much as much of the morning’s stresses as you can before you head back into the fray. Given such a scenario, I often fall back to a small handful of tried-and-true favourites. Ichiban Boshi in Bondi Junction just happens to be one of them.

Ramen is pretty much the main thing that Ichiban Boshi is known for. In case of the one pictured above, negi miso ramen. This is one of my more favoured ramen sold at Ichiban Boshi, with the favourite being either the very hot (geki-kara) ramen or the aburi chashu ramen, depending on my mood. Read more »

Bruschetta. This oft mispronounced dish (audio) is one that I usually find myself having when the mood arises to go produce shopping. I don’t mean your usual weekly trip to a shopping mall or supermarket. What I’m talking about is when the mood strikes to spend a little extra time, a little extra money and travel a little further afield to get your hands on good quality ingredients from specialist vendors. For me, this comes up around once every 3-4 weeks.

Of course, bruschetta is something that could be had far more often than every 3-4 weeks and a lot of the ingredients are readily available at any supermarket. After all, all it consists of bread, tomatoes, bocconcini cheese, basil & garlic. However, for a simple dish such as this, or for any simple dish really, the key I find to make something special of it is to use the best quality ingredients you can get your hands on.

So where do I source my ingredients for my bruschetta? Read more »