Author Archives: rmgtravelsandfood

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About rmgtravelsandfood

Maggie and I were both born in the early 1950s and we live in Melbourne, Australia. This blog is mainly devoted to our shared passions for travel and fine dining at home. Recently, I added Australian politics to the scope of the blog, inspired by the election of a Labor Government at a national level. Rick Grounds

In-digest: fortnight ending 17 July 2016

In the southern half of Australia, we are experiencing our most severe winter for several years, with plenty of rain, strong winds and low temperatures. So, while our Weber Q sits idly outdoors, Maggie and I have retreated to a … Continue reading

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French fish frolic

Our latest foray into the recipes from Mastering the art of French cooking took us into unfamiliar territory – poached fish. Not that I’ve never eaten fish that has been poached, I’ve just never thought to try it at home. And … Continue reading

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Election Night triumph for novice Pizza Party candidate

Here in Australia, we’ve just had an election for our national parliament. Despite my best efforts – one vote in each of the two assemblies – it became clear yesterday that the incumbent conservative government has been returned, albeit with … Continue reading

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Dietary dialects: the English languages of cooking

George Bernard Shaw – critic, playwright and practising pedant – once wrote that “England and America are two countries separated by a common language”. He could well have had cooking terminology in mind. Add Australian English into the stock-pot and … Continue reading

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A very special cake

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I was planning to make a ‘Middle Eastern’ orange cake. It goes by this name because this type of cake was brought to the attention of a wide audience in 1968, with … Continue reading

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Mastering the art of Julia Child’s boeuf bourguignon

I wonder how many hundreds of thousands of words have been written about the recipe for ‘boeuf bourguignon’ in Mastering the art of French cooking: many hundreds of articles in newspapers and magazines; cross-references or modified versions in numerous subsequent cookbooks; … Continue reading

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Menu-ready index a recipe for excess?

I established this blog site about six years ago by copying & pasting a small collection of posts that I had written on a previous site which, vexingly, had a dysfunctional host. Most of those posts have been superseded, then … Continue reading

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I’m puffing, but filling up-beet

We buy either spinach or silver beet about twice each month. We also grow it at home from time to time, although we usually struggle to keep it out of the reach of marauding possums! I have cooked with these … Continue reading

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Without almonds, I’d go nuts!

Do you have a favourite nut? Yes, yes, very funny. Maggie says that too. Or a nut that you can’t abide – say, brazil, or the leader of Brazil? No, seriously, I do NOT like brazil nuts. And I’m not … Continue reading

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Naughty ‘nanas … nyum!

I quite enjoy a fresh banana, although I’m a bit choosy about where I buy them – not all bananas are created equal! From time to time, quite regularly actually, I find myself with a surplus of ripe bananas. Perhaps, … Continue reading

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