Author: Ed

journalism

Hunter gatherer

From The Herald Sun, Citystyle By ED CHARLES ED CHARLES meets a chef bringing world-class culinary innovations to a regional kitchen IT’S 7am. Chef Dan Hunter is collecting baby carrots, herbs and flowers from the garden at the Royal Mail Hotel in Dunkeld. Later, in the kitchen of the southern Grampians getaway, he picks tiny blue flowers from rosemary, ready to be used in a dish plainly called “lamb rump, hazelnut, sheep’s milk, rosemary”. Hunter is going back to the […]

journalism

Arabic bazaar

From The Australian. Indulgence: Brunswick, Melbourne: Most visitors to this neighbourhood venture no further up Sydney Road than the Brunswick institution Mediterranean Wholesalers, which stocks more types of anchovy, tuna, cheeses, cured meats and olives than you could poke a salami at. But it is worth pressing on. Sydney Road may look downtrodden and the Lebanese influence may have been diluted but there are still old-school butchers and bakeries to be found among the newcomers. Signs in Arabic script read […]

journalism

Chips are down on magnetic strips

From The Australian, Wealth: CONSUMER NEWS: Your credit card might not work overseas, Ed Charles reports | September 19, 2007 AUSTRALIANS may be enjoying the Rugby World Cup in Europe but many may find that they will have trouble spending any money on their credit cards. The problem is that in Britain and Europe, credit cards that contain microchips and require a PIN rather than a signature have become the norm. Through ignorance, many merchants are now rejecting cards with […]

journalism

The world of long working hours

From The Australian, Entrepreneur: The independence flowing from having your own business can come at a high price, Ed Charles discovers | August 31, 2007 MEN work longer hours than women, and self-employed men work longer still. The problem for the entrepreneur is to take control of the hours worked. “The self-employed just work a lot more and are a lot more likely to work long hours than the non-self-employed,” says Mark Wooden, professorial research fellow and deputy director of […]

journalism

Interactive beats static

From The Australian, Entrepreneur: Blogs save time and energy, writes Ed Charles | July 27, 2007 THE hype over blogs focuses on gossip and radical politics. What many people miss is the power of the blog as a marketing tool for small business and an alternative to e-newsletters.  BUSINESS BLOGS • workingsolo.com.au • blog.completepotential.com • trevorcook.typepad.com • www.benjaminchristie.com • www.nobledentist.com.au/blog/index.php • www.frankteam.com.au/blog • blog.nowhiring.com.au • www.barrett.com.au/blogs/suebarrett • lukegoodwin.blogspot.com Blogs offer superior features to static websites, sometimes cost nothing and are […]

journalism

Biofuel for thought the way to go

From The Australian, Entrepreneur: Travel broadened the mind for an adventurer who is into cleaner motoring, writes Ed Charles | July 27, 2007 IN starting a business or achieving anything in life, timing and chance play as large a part as passion. For Daniel Epstein, a lifelong environmentalist who recently returned to Melbourne after living in San Francisco and then Byron Bay, all three came together earlier this year. First, global warming and the environment reached the political agenda and […]

journalism

Getting the lowdown on low-docs

From The Australian, Wealth: Ed Charles | August 29, 2007 Investors with low-doc loans should reassess them, MORTGAGE brokers are warning property investors to be careful which low-doc and non-conforming lenders they choose to ensure they don’t face interest rate increases over the market rate charged by mainstream banks. The combined effect of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s August rate rise of 0.25 per cent and the knock-on effect of the US sub-prime mortgage crisis means funding costs for non-bank […]

Eat streets

The great Ortiz Anchovy swindle

Or should I say rip-off. Yves has just commented that Ortiz Anchovies cost in Europe about 8.5 Euros a 90g tin. In Australia Ortiz Anchovies are imported by wholesaler Simon Johnson who charges $14.95 for a 47.5g tin. That’s a 100 per cent mark-up. What a clever man growing fat on his these sorts of mark-ups. I wonder if the mark-ups on other products are as large?

journalism

Shuffle the deck for benefits

From The Australian, Wealth: Ed Charles | August 22, 2007 THERE is a trade off on credit cards between ones that charge an annual fee and offer rewards, travel insurance and other benefits, and cards that cost little or nothing and are cheap to use abroad. The equation isn’t an easy one to work out. Harry Senlitonga, financial analyst with financial information company Cannex, says the company has analysed when it becomes worth upgrading to gold and platinum cards. Cannex’s […]