And so it begins

So, this kinda feels weird, just writing and putting this out there, but here goes. Yes it’s another food slash travel slash wherever the wind blows kind of blog. But as it has been concocted from a (ahem) sound philosophy (see below), the best of intentions, and by a hostess who means business with a whisk, a prayer, and some quirky hospitality, I’m hoping you might stay awhile. 

Welcome to Sydney, Australia, home of a heart stoppingly beautiful coastline, and obsessed foodies. 

I’m an excitable home cook – sometimes spectacular, sometimes a spectacular failure. In the past I’ve blamed my gas oven for the latter. An ancient Kooka, it once cremated my meringues (robbing them of their destiny to be slathered in green tea cream and pistachios) and then went on strike – taking two hours to cook lamb cutlets (for no apparent reason), leaving nine hungry friends grazing the olives and sinking the gin. 

Quelle un catastrophe! (Well, sort of.) This had been going on for some time along with some other unwelcome groundhog day moments, and my response was to say enough, already. It was time to toss the oven which I did, but it also coincided with some tossing of some other things as well: a player; the daily grind for six months to go travelling and writing; and the career girl in favour of fledgling domestic goddess-like behaviour... And thus the adventure began.

To here,

and to see this,

and then a lot of whipping up of things such as this.

I also had a lot of time to think... perhaps too much. Because I decided I wanted to create a space where I might share some recipes and wanderings, and wonderings, and once decided, the name of this random flit through all of the above just popped into my head: The Tao of Meringue.

Yes, that’s right. I thought up the name, and actually this entire blog caper, while mourning those sad, charred meringues, because it seems to me that Meringue and the metaphysical concept of Tao, or ‘the way’, actually have a lot in common. Meringues, well, they’re very tricky to get right (particularly in heatwaves like in Sydney last month), and the way is fraught. Success is not guaranteed even when following the recipe. It’s requires you trust your instincts, more than your skills. But when all the elements come together and you get your timing right, something divine happens. When it doesn’t, well, life gives you incinerated meringues... and we all know what that resembles. 

I’ll be posting once a week, and I hope to include at any given time a menu that includes a starter of ideas, a main of yummy recipes, a shot of wanderlust, and occasionally a side of culture. Oh, and for the record, I'm not really a big dessert person. It is when everything teeters on the edge of ennui or god forbid, a spasm of existential angst (in life, art, etc), well it’s at those times when a leap of faith is required, and I will bring forth the egg-white incarnations: souffles, pavlovas, meringues, angel cakes, macarons... basically because I find their existence almost as improbable and lovely as finding myself here.

Thanks for visiting,

A