From SBS Food Sure Alba has it’s gothic towers dating back to the 12th century. Yes, there really isn’t anything else than can match the easy European charm of the town, some 75km south or Turin in Piedmont, with it’s wonderful rustic food, wines and cobbled ancient streets. But really the whole point of Alba is its white truffles, the white tuber magnatum pico or Alba truffle, the magnificantly musky, earthy scented tuber that is harvested from October to December […]
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Enjoy the blood sport of criticism while they take a pound of your flesh
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVaZwJn-ZcM] It’s a mistake when visiting the UK not to enjoy the country’s media while munching on Melton Mowbray Pork Pie, potted shrimps on toast and home made blackberry and (scrumped) apple pies – especially its critics and attack dog journalists. At the top of the tree are Jeremy Paxman, AA Gill, the god Jeremy Clarkson and that rude cunt of a restaurant reviewer Giles Coren. Many Australians won’t be familiar with Paxman, the presenter of Newsnight who makes an […]
Follow your nose to Neal’s Yard Dairy
And you might well follow your nose to my mum’s house where you’ll sometimes find a Stinking Bishop in the corner of her garden. She’ll let it into the house when we are eating but otherwise the smelly and runny cheese from Gloucestershire isn’t welcome near the house. I actually looked for the Neal’s yard dairy in Neal’s Yard, Covent Garden. Of course there are only healthy restaurants and shops that sell beads there. It was only on the way […]
Phenomenal Pho
From SBS Food Phununication Do not say foe Do not say foo And especially don’t Say the word which describes a “number two” Start with an fff To be followed by an urgh Once it become un-Pho-gettable You’ll get with the slue. An extract from Phonunication courtesey, Katie Nguyen from the I Love Pho booklet. Anyone whose origins are Vietnamese has a story about pho, the beefy, spicy nutricious Vietnamese noodle soup. And pho, the national dish of Vietnam, is […]
Putting out the garbage
From The Australian, Entrepreneur An online questionnaire can help employers sort the chaff from the grain when it comes to recruiting workers, writes Ed Charles Article from: The Australian THE internet is a wonderful thing for job hunters. Once an online resume is created, it can be sent almost effortlessly to as many potential employers as the applicant wishes. The SME recruiter, however, is fast becoming overwhelmed by resumes — many from people who are inappropriate for the job. According […]
Keeping feet on the floor in the hospitality industry
From The Australian, Entrepreneur THE hospitality business in Australia is huge. It is jam packed full of small entrepreneurial businesses with over 40,000 restaurants, cafes and caterers alone turning over $15 billion. And they all have one massive problem: finding and retaining the correct staff. And that means it is more important than ever to retain the best. The industry employs 242,000 people but it is short of another 55,000 staff, with the biggest problem being finding chefs, cooks, waiters […]
Wake up and reinvent the coffee
From The Australian, Entrepreneur Accountant Ramez Abdulnour has calculated how to make a quid on the morning brew, reports Ed Charles YOU’D think the coffee business was about selecting and suppling the product as in any food and beverage business. But in reality it has more in common with the mobile phone business, where handsets are supplied in exchange for spending lots on phone calls. The difference in the coffee business is that the old school coffee roasters tie cafes […]
Fishy Essex agro at The Company Shed
If you want good cheap fish then you need to head to the coast in England. My mum living in Saffron Walden in north Essex, it is a short hours drive to the Island of Mersea in the muddy estuary of the River Colne, near Colchester. Australians don’t appreciate properly this kind of muddy coastline preferring golden sands. But this is coast with sole and bloody amazing native oysters. Perhaps my health is returning or I draw the strength from […]
Finally a decent flat white (and a young model)
My old office used to look out over Berwick St, with its wonderful but little known fruit and veg market. “3 figs 1 pound” the sign reads. And they used to at least have some wonderfully arranged displays. The “models” are still up a staircase next to the fish and chip shop where we lusted over the girl with a fine layer of chip fat over her skin and the giant hoop earrings. Once the “models” used to be French, […]