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Scott is in mourning because
mango season is over. I share his pain and yet . . . mangosteen season just started!
My heart fills with joy:
ALL MINE.
Er, um, Scott can have one. If he's good.
Must go. Have a whole bowl of mangosteens to gobble.
Posted by Justine at 20:27, March 5th, 2010 under Food, Sydney/Australia |
After I blogged about
our feast of Turkish cooking, I had a few people demand recipes. To them I strongly recommend getting a copy of Classic Turkish Cookery by Ghillie Başan. We've now tried multiple dishes from it and they've all turned out delicious.
However, there's one recipe that wasn't in that book: muhammara (walnut and roast red capsicum) dip. For that I had to google. I've now made it a bunch of times so this recipe is my take on the half a dozen or more recipes I found online.
5 or 6 big red capsicum (bell peppers)
2 cups of walnuts
approx half to 1 cup bread crumbs (1 pull two ...
Posted by Justine at 3:57, January 1st, 2010 under Food |
This year Scott and me hosted the family xmas at our new digs. This is the first time in my entire life it's been held anywhere but at my parents' place. Made me feel very grown up indeed.
Because of our recent Istanbul sojurn we went with a Turkish feast. Here's me and Scott putting the finishing touches on the main course patates bastisi (potato casserole) and çingene pilavi (gypsy salad) and part of the mezze (first course) haveuç köftesi (carrot rolls with apricots and pine nuts):
And here's the mezze spread on the table. The dishes are aci domates ezmesi (chilli tomato paste), yoghurt with garlic and lemon juice to go with ...
Posted by Justine at 20:36, December 25th, 2009 under Food, Sydney/Australia |
Breakfast is my favourite meal. (Other than lunch and dinner.)
Hope you're having as wonderful and relaxed a day as I am.
Posted by Justine at 0:00, December 20th, 2009 under Food, Sydney/Australia |
I have fallen in love with yet another city. Istanbul is glorious. We have met with our lovely agent here, Asli Ermiş, who took us to meet our publishers, Omer Yenici at
Epsilon (who will be publishing Leviathan) and Ilgin Toydemir at
Artemis (who will be publishing Liar and already publish Midnighters). They in turn took us out for fabulous lunches.
In Istanbul we have eaten.
A lot.
First course at
Borsa restaurant.
A baklava shop, which sells many sweet and wondrous things. Yes, we bought and we ate.
The Egyptian spice market....
Posted by Justine at 5:54, December 11th, 2009 under Excuses, Food, Praising, Publishing business, Travelling |
A while back a bunch of us bonded over
not driving and then about
hating coffee. It was a beautiful thing to be able to share about the annoyingness of our mild oppression. Why is it so many people who love coffee can not cope with those of us who don't and feel the urge to force the stuff upon us?
It's not quite as bad with chocolate. No one feels the urge to force it on me but their horror at my hatred is if anything even more excessive. Chocolate lovers cannot conceive of people who do not share their passion. They look at us as if they have just found out that we enjoy killing babies. They ...
Posted by Justine at 12:47, September 6th, 2009 under Food |
Posted by Justine at 8:43, April 5th, 2009 under Food, New York City/USA, Praising, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 18:47, December 25th, 2008 under Cricket, Food, Praising, Sport, Sydney/Australia |
Posted by Justine at 0:03, December 21st, 2008 under Cricket, Food, Sydney/Australia |
Posted by Justine at 20:28, December 12th, 2008 under Food, Sydney/Australia |
Posted by Justine at 14:35, December 6th, 2008 under Admin, Bloggery, Excuses, Food, Frippery, New York City/USA, Sydney/Australia |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, October 1st, 2008 under 1930s NYC novel, Food, How To Ditch Your Fairy, New York City/USA |
My
imminent tour---I get on a plane to California in a matter of hours---has left me contemplating the one bad thing about book tours: junk food. Sometimes while going from school visit to book shop appearance there's little time for eating and the options available are limited to substances I would rather not eat. ((How do I know this? From accompanying Scott on his tour and from hearing tales of other people's tours.)) I does not like the junk food.
I have nothing against anyone else consuming it, but me, I does not want to. My lack of junk food love never used to be a problem back home. But here in the US many people are personally insulted by ...
Posted by Justine at 0:00, September 14th, 2008 under Book tour, Cons & Other Gatherings, Food, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Whingeing |
Posted by Justine at 9:02, July 6th, 2008 under Food, New York City/USA |
Posted by Justine at 12:04, June 14th, 2008 under Bloggery, Food, Liar, New York City/USA |
I would bake a pavlova. And it would be covered in passionfruit and strawberries.
Homesick? Me? Don't know what you're talking about.
Posted by Justine at 13:20, December 13th, 2007 under Food, Sydney/Australia |
That I have contributed to Maud Newton's series of writers' recipes
can be found over there. Is very easy to make and vastly yummy.
Posted by Justine at 8:34, December 4th, 2007 under Bloggery, Food, Sydney/Australia |
So today is a big ole USian holiday where at some point you're all supposed to give thanks for all the stuff that's making you thankful. It's called---wait for it---
Thanksgiving. We have no equivalent in Australia. Though we do have, Australia Day, where we commemorate the successful invasion of Australia by white people. As you can imagine the indigenous population consider it to be a day of mourning. ((I'm one of those weird people who thinks there are things to mourn and celebrate about that day. As in, yes, Australia was invaded and taken over from the people who were already living there. And, yes, the early settlers of Australia were also brave and resilient making new lives for ...
Posted by Justine at 10:31, November 22nd, 2007 under Food, New York City/USA, State of the World, Sydney/Australia |
I've been cooking with pumpkin a lot of late. ((Note for USian readers, Australians do not use the word "squash" to refer to anything pumpkin-like. Squash is a soft vegetable that bears no relationship to any gourd.)) Mostly butternut because I loves it. But also spaghetti cause, well, weird! And I'm starting to experiment with pumpkins I'd never seen before. The US is the land of gourds. But I'm running out of ideas.
Here's the thing though: I do not have a working oven or grill. All I have is gas burners on top of the stove. I can boil, I can steam, I can fry. I cannot bake or grill.
Thus far I've made pumpkin stir fry, pumpkin curry, ...
Posted by Justine at 12:29, November 11th, 2007 under Food, New York City/USA, Sydney/Australia |
Posted by Justine at 20:25, October 13th, 2007 under Book tour, Cons & Other Gatherings, Food, New York City/USA, Toilets, Travelling |
The tomatoes right now are unspeakably good. I went to the Tompkins Square farmers' market this morning and bought eight different kinds. Yum. They're so sweet and flavouresome they don't need dressing. Just salt and pepper and a squeeze of lime and you have the best tomato salad ever.
They also had the first
cape goosberries (husk cherries) of the season. Heaven! And the fresh garlic keeps on. I think I'll do a stir fry tonight of kale, lebanese cukes, garlic and onion. (All bought at the market.)
Even though I'm locked in working my arse off on the UFB and can't remember the last time I talked to a real human being (other than Scott) I'm still eating well! Sometimes ...
Posted by Justine at 13:27, August 12th, 2007 under Food, How To Ditch Your Fairy, New York City/USA, Praising, Whingeing |
Someone just told me I'm wrong about Bring It On being the best movie of all time. Excuse me? If I say it is then it is! This is my personal list of the best movies of all time. I cannot be wrong about it.
I'm not saying there aren't other best movies of all time. There are! The Princess Bride is one. Rififi is another. Not to mention Out of the Past and Lagaan.
I am also not wrong about
mangosteens being the best fruit.
Or The Wire being the best television.
Or Emma and Hellsing and anything by Osamu Tezuka being the best manga.
Or zombies being the best monsters.
And cricket absolutely is the best sport.
So nyer!
Though, of course, I reserve the ...
Posted by Justine at 17:23, August 1st, 2007 under Food, Mangosteens, Ranting, Reading, Viewing, Zombies |
I just found out what
ambrosia salad is.
I will NEVER understand this country.
I think I'm going to be ill.
Posted by Justine at 8:34, July 16th, 2007 under Food, New York City/USA |
Anyone know where I can buy preserved lemons (Morrocan style)? (Yes, I know I can get them online, but I like to shop in real life with actual people. I also know I could make 'em but I ain't in the mood for sterilising jars.)
I'm also looking for Thai herbs like pak chii farang and pandanus leaf. And, yes, I've tried Chinatown. Couldn't see 'em anywhere and no one knew what I was talking about.
And how about plain old chervil? (The places round here haven't even heard of chervil. Is there some strange USian word for chervil I don't know about? I googled and came up with chervil being chervil. So how come no one knows what it is?)
I'm ...
Posted by Justine at 12:28, June 23rd, 2007 under Food, New York City/USA, Ranting, Sydney/Australia, Whingeing |
Pt wants to know how to cope with jetlag. I have but two pearls of wisdom:
1) Be very very rich and fly first class. On those rare occasions I've been upgraded to business class I've recovered from jetlag many days earlier than when I fly cattle class. I can only imagine how much faster the whole thing would be in first class. Or in your own private jet. Or if you could teleport. I would not say no to a door between Sydney and New York either . . .
2) Don't fly anywhere. You get no jetlag and the environment will thank you.
Little Willow asks what my favourite fruits are and gets extra points for being an American and ...
Posted by Justine at 0:06, January 25th, 2007 under Bloggery, Cons & Other Gatherings, Food, Frippery, Mangosteens, Ranting, Travelling, Writing life |
Posted by Justine at 14:25, January 10th, 2007 under Food, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Liquids, Listening, Praising, Sydney/Australia, Viewing, Writing goals & milestones |
There's a bunch of kids playing loudly next door and one of them just yelled out, "I am the ruler of the universe!" I'm thinking that's not a bad resolution, but a tricky one to follow through on. The kid next door did not succeed, because now all the kids are yelling that they are the ruler of the universe. Scott included.
I like the idea of resolutions. I like the idea of trying to better or test yourself in some small concrete way. And I especially like the idea of lots of folks all over the place all resolving to do stuff at the same time. But like most everyone else I'm usually crap at sticking to them.
I was ...
Posted by Justine at 13:40, December 30th, 2006 under Excuses, Food, Frippery |
Posted by Justine at 13:38, November 10th, 2006 under Food, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Magic or Madness trilogy, Mangosteens, Scott's books, Travelling, Writing goals & milestones |
I just realised that coffee, chocolate, gin, tonic water and licorice are the only foods or drinks I cannot imbibe without having to spit 'em out. There are no savoury foods I hate. I'm down with much that revolts other folks: anchovies, sweet breads, liver, blood sausage. All of them are mucho yummo. I loves me some offal! Hell, I love all food that wobbles! ((Unless it's been contaminated by the aforementioned five dread substances.))
I think of myself as an unafraid eater who'll find something to eat no matter what situation I'm thrown into. I only get into trouble at dessert which is no big deal.
But there's got to be people out there who truly will eat everything. ((And ...
Posted by Justine at 20:19, September 24th, 2006 under Food |
Am I the only person in the US who knows what these are? Every time I buy them at a farmers' market I become the husk cherries go-to girl, explaining to folks how you eat them, when they're in season, and what they taste like. If there's a husk cherries grower's association I want my spruiker's fee.
They are in season here in the US right now. If they've got them at your local farmers' market get 'em! They are delicious eaten on on their own or thrown into a salad.
Here's what they look like.
You just tear the papery husk away and inside is what looks like a teeny tiny tomato. (They're prolly related, but like I could ...
Posted by Justine at 16:56, September 20th, 2006 under Food |
You are correct that I have not been blogging much or responding to comments like I usually do or even responding to email a whole lot.
The reason is that I'm on a deadline (yes, the same one, yes, it was moved again, yes I really have to meet this one) and am working my arse off. (Oh, how I miss my arse!)
In the meantime I think you lot should entertain me. Here are some questions:
Does anyone have any recs for best brunch place in NYC?
Who's going to be the first Australian to win the Tour de France (no, it doesn't have to be this year)?
What's the best book you've read lately?
I just read
Out by Natuso Kirino. Loved it. ...
Posted by Justine at 11:18, July 16th, 2006 under Basketball, Bloggery, Excuses, Fashion, Food, Frippery, Magic or Madness trilogy, New York City/USA, Praising, Reading, Sport, Tour de France |
In less than twenty-four hours we'll be on a plane to NYC. And while I think NYC is a bloody excellent city, and I have many wonderful friends there I can't wait to see, I'm sad about it. For the last few years I haven't been anywhere for more than three months straight. And that place was San Miguel de Allende, not Sydney. And while San Miguel is also completely ace I'm dying to spend an uninterrupted LONG stretch of time in my hometown.
Scott says I always get like this just before we leave anywhere (San Miguel, Dunedin, Buenos Aires, NYC). He says I always say that I want to stay. Maybe. But I feel it even worse when it's ...
Posted by Justine at 18:27, May 21st, 2006 under Food, Liquids, Sydney/Australia, Travelling, Whingeing |
Here is where you'll find me at WisCon (and just before):
"A Feminist Utopia in Madison? Global Communities, Science Fiction and Women"
Wednesday 24 May, 2006, 7:30 pm
Wisconsin Historical Society Auditorium, 816 State Street.
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
Open to the public, free of charge
Panelists:
Elizabeth Bear,
Karen Joy Fowler,
Nalo Hopkinson, Justine Larbalestier (moderator),
Meghan McCarron
Food in SF&F (Reading SF&F)
Saturday, 1:00-2:15 p.m. Saturday, 1:00-2:15 p.m.
Melissa Scott, Justine Larbalestier, Janet Lafler, Mary Kay Kare, Nora Jemison
Literary History of Women in Science Fiction. (Feminism, Sex, and Gender)
Saturday, 2:30-3:45 p.m. Saturday, 2:30-3:45 p.m.
Pamela Sargent, Justine Larbalestier, Andrea D. Hairston, Janice Marie Bogstad, Brian Attebery
Banned & Challenged Books (Reading SF&F)
Saturday, 9:00-10:15 p.m. Saturday, 9:00-10:15 p.m.
Deborah Stone, Veronica L. Schanoes, Anne Marie Redalen ...
Posted by Justine at 17:26, April 19th, 2006 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Daughters of Earth, Feminism, Food |
I will never understand all the Melbournites who despise Sydney, some of them folks who've never even been here. Seriously, I've met Melbournites who sneer with disdain at the mere thought of stepping foot in Sydney. The horror they say!
Me, I'm from Sydney. I love it, but I also have a whole lot of time for Melbourne. Melbourne has better licensing laws and thus
better bars than Sydney, a better art and live music scene, and (mostly) better clothes shopping. Melbourne has
trams. And what is not to love about trams? But Melbourne has little of Sydney's
breath-taking physical beauty, doesn't have her
beaches, or
national parks, or
fairies, er, I mean
ferries, ...
Posted by Justine at 10:27, February 5th, 2006 under Cricket, Fashion, Food, Liquids, New York City/USA, Ranting, Sport, State of the World, Sydney/Australia, Whingeing |
Shana tagged me and I
didn't even know it.
It's a tricky meme, I'm not saying I'm not weird and all, it's just that pretty much all the weirdnesses I'd be willing to tell you about---how much I hate socks etc. a) have already appeared on many other people's lists (and thus how weird can it really be?) and b) I just don't think that's weird. Frankly, it's the people who like socks that I worry about.
So here are the weirdnesses I'm okay with you knowing about (oh, and family of mine and close friends---you do not have permission to post comments):
1) I don't like anything with caffeine in it. Not coffee, chocolate, coke, tea, not anything. This is ...
Posted by Justine at 7:09, January 20th, 2006 under Bloggery, Food, Frippery |
I hope everyone who celebrates today or any of the cluster of days around it---or who's just enjoying the days off work or school---has a most excellent end of the year. I plan to.
I'd like to adopt the USian custom of giving thanks (yeah, yeah, I know they do it on a different day---whatever!). Here's what I'm thankful for:
That I'm home in Sydney living in the best place ever:
Flying foxes at dusk! Huge decks! Huge bath tub!
Views! Amazing
pubs,
cafes &
restaurants within spitting distance! Southerly breezes!
That I'm home in the land of continuous cricket coverage! Of beautiful beaches! And the best avocadoes (yes,
Mely, you need to move here, not smelly ...
Posted by Justine at 10:57, December 25th, 2005 under Cricket, Food, Liquids, Listening, Praising, Sport, Sydney/Australia |
Last night I tried fresh
yuba for the very first time and it were sublime.
photo swiped from
this site
I also ate the best edamame I've ever had (fresh and smoky), sake (unfiltered milky goodness), and chestnut icecream (words fail me).
The meal ended twelve hours ago, but I'm still in heaven just remembering all the flavours: eel stuffed with fresh tofu, skirt steak cooked in miso with enoki mushrooms, black sesame ice cream.
Food is good. Life is good.
Posted by Justine at 10:31, October 28th, 2005 under Food, Liquids, New York City/USA |
Marrije asks what a mangosteen is. No words can convey the glory of the mangosteen. Instead I offer you this photograph:
which I swiped from dunnowhere ages ago stupidly forgetting to get the photographer's name. Whoever took this: it's © you.
Posted by Justine at 18:04, October 25th, 2005 under Food, Mangosteens |
Posted by Justine at 13:43, October 20th, 2005 under Basketball, Cons & Other Gatherings, Cricket, Food, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Liquids, Listening, Magic or Madness trilogy, New York City/USA, Scott's books, Sport, Travelling, Words & Language, Young Adult literature |
Still having fun, still writing up a storm. I believe I'm now a third of the way into Magic or Madness III (and, yes, I have my fingers crossed that, finally, one of the trilogy will have the preferred title: Magic! Magic! Magic! Oi! Oi! Oi!). Being a third in works out well as we're now a third of the way into our stay here. How bout that?
Was me birthday last week and Luz's lovely sister baked me a cake:
It was dead good. Champagne was drunk. Poker was played. Excellent presents were received. Not to mention all the wonderful birthday calls. And I wrote a bunch of words. Yay, me.
Also, just to add to the birthday celebrations 'twas ...
Posted by Justine at 21:37, September 26th, 2005 under Food, Liquids, Magic or Madness trilogy, Sport, Travelling |
In the vein of fiddling while Rome burns I read Ruth Reichl's decadent account of being the restaurant critic for The New York Times in one gulp last night. Could not put Garlic and Sapphires down, no matter how hungry I got, how desperate to run out of the house and find the incredible food, and wine she describes.
I defy you not to get very very hungry reading prose like this, even if you just ate:
I took a bite and immediately forgot his knee. I forgot everything but what was going on in my mouth, the fish doing a little tango with crunchy strips of artichoke. The softness of the fish was sandwiched between layers of crunch---the artichoke on ...
Posted by Justine at 17:46, September 2nd, 2005 under Food, Liquids, New York City/USA, Reading |
We're in Glasgow. It's gorgeous and fun and you just can't get bored by
Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
Trip so far:
London: great (though bloody expensive) food (
Niki and
Lauren &
Andrew have been most excellent guides), brilliant markets, cheap clothes (bought the most gorgeous 15 pound skirt). It's not the city I remember, though I did get some awe-inspiring rudeness---so it hasn't completely changed. Best restaurant was David Thompson's Thai one in Soho (I forget the name). Thompson's Australia's guru of Thai food. Was wonderful watching Lauren and Andrew's delight in finally trying decent Thai food. I also gave them their very first mangosteens. Heavenly!
Glasgow: gorgeous, love all the Rennie Mackintosh everywhere. Had the most brilliant black ...
Posted by Justine at 9:31, August 4th, 2005 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Cricket, Excuses, Food, Liquids, Mangosteens, Sport, Travelling |
Georgette Heyer books remain most excellent on the umpteenth reread. On this occasion Venetia, Frederica, and Sylvester. Am unable to decide which I like better: Venetia or Sylvester. Right now am tilting towards Sylvester on account of authoress Phoebe's roman a clef, the hero, Sylvester's attempt to "mount" the heroine, and the truly appalling Sir Nugent Fotherby. But the sexy talk between Venetia and her Wicked Duke Damerel is hard to go past.
Can't stop listening to Missy Elliot's latest The Cookbook. Current fave: "We run this".
The latest New Yorker has a gorgeous account of just how much
Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) drank in a day:
At about ten o'clock, he would have his "morning draft"---usually "small" (or weak) beer, but ...
Posted by Justine at 20:12, July 26th, 2005 under Food, Liquids, Listening, Reading |
I've written 1,500 words today. Bloody fine words, too. Or at least so they seem in the first flush of having written them. Yay first flush!
And Scott just threw together a late lunch of fresh baked rye caraway bread supporting the weight of manchego cheese, sliced perfectly ripe heirloom tomato lightly sprinkled with salt, and a sour pickled tomato. For dessert: two perfect majool dates. Have I mentioned my love of
Russ & Daughters?
Now I and my happy palate will write more words.
Posted by Justine at 18:05, July 16th, 2005 under Food |
Mely has a
lovely post detailing the future she's sad we haven't wound up with yet. Hint, it's not the oft-touted Gernsback one. I'm with her on almost everything except immortality, which Scott has convinced me is a
profoundly bad idea. Just imagine if certain world leaders never ever died.
I'd also really love a working transmat beam, because while I'm always saying I love travelling, I really, really, really, don't. What I love is being
somewhere else. If I could skip the whole many, many hours in a plane or whatever on the way to the somewhere else, I'd be dead happy.
Also I'd be very happy with food in patch or tablet form. I hate it ...
Posted by Justine at 15:54, July 14th, 2005 under Bloggery, Food, Reading, State of the World |
Some of my regular readers and friends (and not just the non-Australian ones) have tentatively suggested that I might want, perhaps, to refrain from writing yet another one of my
yay-I'm-back-home-in-Australia musings. They're tired of my overly rose-coloured view of my home country and wish for me to start dishing the dirt. As one of them put it: "Australia's not perfect, you know. Nowhere is. Not even your precious Sydney. Write something critical for a change. I'm bored."
Their wish is my command. Here are my trivial (not in the mood for being serious) objections to my homeland:
I was back home for less than two days before I heard an ABBA song. Did you ...
Posted by Justine at 0:57, November 26th, 2004 under Food, Musings, Sydney/Australia |
and other excuses
Posted by Justine at 0:39, September 20th, 2004 under Basketball, Food, Magic or Madness trilogy, Musings, New York City/USA, Praising, Scott's books, Sport, Whingeing |
Seven Days in San Miguel de Allende
Posted by Justine at 22:12, December 8th, 2003 under Food, Musings, New York City/USA, Travelling |
