MIA

It has been a while. I have indeed been missing in action, or more accurately missing action full stop.

Two months to the day after I had my idyllic birthday in Chiang Mai, I was whisked off on a hospital trolley into surgery. To say the last five month has been life changing (in not necessarily a positive way) is an understatement.

But this is a food blog.

What has lured me back?

Truffles!

Or rather to quietly bookmark a simple variation from Evan Kleinman.

For a vegan dark truffle base all you have to do is reduce a cup of stout on high heat until the volume has halved, then stir in 225g of dark glossy chocolate. Chill the mixture and roll in the usual way.

Forget the bacon!

(The laughing buddha may be speaking no evil but I think what he's really saying is life's too short to eat crap chocolate)

In other news, the Significant Eater and I have adopted an adorable Burmese cat.

And the cat and I will be decamping Melbourne mid-year to move to Sydney’s inner west.

Now, go back and talk amongst yourselves.

Australian food on KCRW

There’s a lovely informal chat, which you can watch or listen to online, from a recent edition of KCRW’s “Good Food” all about Aussie food. KCRW is one of the best public radio stations in the world, coming out of California and I podcast the show religiously (long before I was ever interviewed on it).

Evan Kleiman talks to Luke Mangan, Curtis Stone and Mark Olive (as well as some Austrian bloke talking about King Island cheeses). It’s worth a watch, as an Aussie for the in-jokes or for those beyond Australasia who want know more about this odd cuisine Australians call their own. The video shows laid back lads being typically Strine. It would make me homesick, only I actually live here!

Watch the video

PS: What am I doing lounging about watching vodcasts in the middle of the afternoon when I should be doing loftier things? Well, the weather is unbelievably foul, avert your eyes Northern Hemisphere folks, thought it is only 34c it is windy and sticky and most unpleasant. I also managed to find gold in my lunch two days ago, which might have been a good thing in this current economic climate had it not come from my own gold repository aka the crown on one of my molars. I've waited over 50 hours to get in to see my dentist to correct the problem (only 90 minutes to go!) and any distraction from an exposed nerve is gratefully received.