So, Will asked me to keep the weekend before my birthday free and to pack an overnight bag. A weather report was my only clue as to where we were going – “Sunny with a chance of shower”. On the same day we left Sydney, there’d be news reports of flash-floods later that evening. We […]
La Cocotte, Paris Here’s a short how-did-you-meet story that takes place over two years and involves a bookstore in Paris. In early 2008, I wore out my shoe-soles in that famous French city, tracking down the places I’d spent too much time over-researching before my holiday. One such spot was La Cocotte, a cute bookshop […]
There’s always going to be buzz and build-up when you discover one of your favourite eateries has opened a new joint. Long-time breakfast favourite Cafe Ish in Surry Hills now has a (not-so-identical) twin. The name’s the same, yes, and the location’s only a few blocks away, but this kid has a later curfew, is […]
The Pond in Darlinghurst has reinvented itself as The Commons. The beer sponsorship is past tense and now the team is running the show entirely on its own whims. I like the look of the (almost-ready) downstairs Even Books library – venue manager Bob says you’ll need to contribute two books to join, and then […]
When she’s not busy fitting XS-sized wonders into matchboxes and leaving them city-wide for people to find, ultra-talented Sonya Gee is juggling a million creative projects. The latest one will benefit Cafe Giulia’s caffeine devotees (and draw out their inner art-collectors). Sonya has hand-decorated six sets of cups with everything from baby buntings to fake […]
Sometimes you can’t reduce why you like something down to one particular reason. Often, you end up overcrowding your explanation with lots of adjectives – the same way you do when justifying a crush to friends (where you talk someone up as “funny, smart, cute, talented, thoughtful” etc etc, piling on the praise until your […]
Merry Christmas! I hope your day is full of giftwrap-tearing fun, excellent food and A-grade company (and, if it’s enforced company, I hope it’s of the likeable and non-judgmental sort, the kind that don’t ask questions about marital status/career direction/house-buying likelihood/baby forecasts). I’m not sure how sugar got so highly linked with Christmas but, in […]
Somehow, in the last fortnight, I’ve become a marshmallow trafficker. A return trip to Sweetness: The Patisserie in Epping involves four train-changes and I’ve found myself repeating this State-Rail-reliant schedule a few times. (The pay-off is worth battling public transport for.) Today I came back with three gift boxes (a delivery for Will) and more […]
Photographs by Jenni Carter Benja Harney is the only person who could make cardboard flavours an attractive thing. He’s an amazing Sydney paper artist and, last month, his work appeared as part of the Topshop Window Project at the Incu boutique in Paddington. The display included a high tea stand and another food scene, as […]
Black Star Pastry Seeing as everyone has gone list-mad, I thought I’d join in on the craziness. For the year’s last segment on Anna Burns’ Weekend Lunch show (on FBI 94.5FM), I gathered a few favourite picks from some food-savvy people to read on-air. The idea was to spotlight the best places that had opened […]
