A little catch up

I'm not dead yet. You'd think with all this loitering palely on the couch that I'd have plenty of time to blog, but somehow it hasn't worked. I have got an Internet Salmagundi on the back burner, but mostly I've been playing pattern matching games on shockwave and arcadetown.

Here's a couple of things that have happened that I meant to post earlier.

My Canberra Times connection is continuing. Although the regular reviewer who I was replacing is now back, I am still going to do a review now and then. The Wednesday Food & Wine section has gone larger and glossy, and there's a new Saturday food section in the back of Panorama. I'm now writing a column, called "The Find", for that section. It's about good things that can be eaten in the cafes and takeaways of the Canberra region. I've done porridge and pies so far. All suggestions gratefully received! What's your favourite cafe, and why?

In town, there's now two specialty tea shops in the Canberra Centre, now there's a T2 outlet upstairs in the older part near Socrates. And sadly, Zambrero didn't last in Civic. I'm not surprised, it always seemed to be empty. The one in Braddon opposite Debacle is still open, though.

I have added a new find to my blog list. I think I have a recipe for that... is another food blog written by a Canberran. Excellent! The more of us, the better. Welcome, Krissy!

I'm still not cooking much, though I am planning a macaroni & cauliflower cheese for tonight. I started making it on Friday, but had to go lie down after I got the pasta & cauli cooked, and I didn't get round to the white sauce part. If you are fond of both mac'n'cheese and cauliflower cheese, try this. The combo is even better, in my opinion. And you can reduce the fat (if that bothers you) by using skim milk & cornflour rather then whole milk and a roux. And then, smaller amounts of very tasty cheese is better than lots of mild cheese, and infusing the milk with onion & bay leaf will also help the flavour. I sometimes do half milk and and half chicken stock.