Niall

This is good stuff that should be compulsory reading for vegans everywhere.

I always just eat the good stuff our local butcher has; I assume it's all australian. Usually I get a few loin chops. Unfortunately my girlfriend is a heathen who doesn't like lamb, but when I'm at home without her I eat well. The best lamb I have ever tasted though was before I left Ireland; I had a girlfriend whose parents owned a farm, and the spring lamb there was amazing. Very juicy and succulent and yummy.

I agree completely. There's two in Sydney and neither are good. I'd probably go a bit further and say that if the place moves, the food will probably be bad. I've never had good food on a boat trip or airplane either. But then I haven't flown first class or cruised on the QE2.

Another good article. We have a freezer full of beef and chicken stock and regularly use it to make Asian style soups with noodles, wontons (also made in batches and frozen) and veggies....

If you regularly visit wineries you like, ask them. At a place we buy 5 or so cases a year direct, we asked them about half bottles. They already produced a quantity or their Syrah in 375ml bottles for restaurants, and they sold us 2 cases of that.

A custard apple is a completely different fruit to either a paw paw or papaya; Here is some custard apple info. And here is some good info for Papaya/ Paw Paw. I have been told that Paw Paw and Papaya are different fruits; but have yet to find anything on the web that explains this, and I eat them so rarely that I haven't noticed any difference. EDIT: Just found a website that lists them as different fruit, although as adam said, it does mention that Australians (and therefore probably Donna Hay) use Paw Paw as a name for Papaya.

We've bought plants from a couple of places in Sydney; a small place in Waverton and a big Garden Centre in St Ives, and in both places its been called Vietnamese Coriander; according to my vietnamese girlfriend it only us whities that call it that; any asian grocery will call it mint.

I'm not sure about the US, but it's certainly used commonly in Australia.

I definitely prefer the curry laksa.. There is a Where to get Laksa in a thread on the Australian board You may also find Vietnamese mint being referred to as Vietnamese Coriander in some places.

Bangles was good, although I preferred Bombay Palace on Jalan Tun Razak.

Quickes Cheddar Grana Parma Mimolet Vielle

The city is pretty dead at the weekend; head out to Bills2 on crown st in Surrey hills for their corn fritters. Get a train to Waverton and try out the corn and bacon frittata or the Scrambled eggs at finks.n Just across the harbour, under the bridge (get a ferry to Milsons point) is Ripples. A bit further out, breakfast at Watermark or Bathers Pavillion at balmoral beach is always excellent. If you want a late breakfast/ Brunch, try Yum cha at Kam Fook in Market City in Chinatown. For something a bit differnt, hit the rocks markets at the weekend and get some freshly cooked buttered corn on the cob. At circular Quay, avoid all of the eateries under the train station or on the ferry wharves. I haven't eaten breakfast much down that way, but some of the cafe's on the walk down to the opera house do reasonable snack food.

Smiths Crisps in Australia has recently released Meat Pie and Heinz ketchup flavoured crisps. Aswell as Pepper steak flavour. I tried some, and they do taste sort of like meat pie and ketchup; not much meat flavour at all.

Pineapple & strawberry, and Apple and ginger are our regulars..

and the Guinness served in the UK is nothing like what is served in Ireland. I can't comment on the US, but guinness in Australia tastes pretty bad.

While shopping for an oven thermometer at the weekend I came across something branded "Kitchen thermometer". Its scale started at 0 degrees celsius and finished at 100. Other than seeing how close to boiling water is, I couldn't really see any use for it. While I don't own it, it would have to rate as a useless gadget. I too love my microplane, oxo peeler and others, but my most used gadget is our Braun Multiquick with chopper, blender and whisk.

Ahh thousand island dressing...

try Rocket Mayo; 1 cup rocket, 1 cup mayo, squeeze of lemon juice. Stick in blender or food processor until smooth. A variation is to put garlic, basil or parsley in aswell.

I like some roast squishy garlic with my steak.

Bartenders don't generally get tipped; unless of course they have done you a service not normally expected of them. Taxi drivers get small change; usually rounding up to the nearest dollar fo fares under $10 and the tip never exceeds $3 no matter what the fare. In most restaurants, if we are happy with the service we generally tip about 5-10%. Bad service does not get tipped. Like in NZ, tipping is not necessary anywhere. Exception service may get tipped up to 15%, but rarely.

I had an '88 Zind Humbrecht Pinot blanc the other week.. it was still drinking fantastically; I served it with a chicken consomme served with chive crepe. They went well together. Edit:Spelt blanc currect.

the GPO cheeseroom at Martin Place and Simon Johnson (piermont, Woolahra, Castlecrag) are pretty good places for cheese in Sydney.

I ate here over a year ago and was impressed to find a restaurant of quality so close to the mediocrity that is Lygon st.. it was fantastic. Another good french place to go in Melbourne is Soupierre, it's a great little place; not as good as Vue de Monde, but still very good.

I really like thye Vavasour Marlborough SB. The 2002 Australian Adelaide Hills wines are suprub also; try the Tower Estate or the Shaw and Smith if you can get them. Also good from NZ are Huia, Giesen, Wairau River, Goldwater, Montana Reserve from Marlborough and Neudorf and Rippon from the rest. I haven't tried the Wither Hills at all though I've heard its good.

I am in the use and sand when needed camp. Just don't sand it in the house. I have one. I use it for pretty much everything. If you don't want to sand it in a years time you can probably even get a nice new top for it. The only thing to be careful of is leaving it wet. Because then it will warp and get ugly.