Memories are made of this – The Food Blog in the SMH Good Living

Below is an article about me and my labna/labneh making that was published in the Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Living last Tuesday, written by the lovely Carli Ratcliff. If you haven’t made your own labna, you must start now. It’s so easy, there’s really no excuse. A nifty trick I recently learned from my good friend Lili from Pikelet and Pie, which was subsequently verified by the wonderful Charlotte from How to Shuck an Oyster, is to incubate the mixture in a thermos. That way, the temperature is always steady and the yoghurt will be a guaranteed success. Of course you can use store-bought yoghurt to make your labna, but making your own is much more fun. I mean, who doesn’t want to father/mother billions of probiotic bacteria? You can read my previous labna post here, and my post on yoghurt here.

My Article on Gaziantep, Turkey in the(sydney)magazine

Yesterday’s Sydney Morning Herald included this month’s copy of the(sydney)magazine, and I’m extremely excited to see my own contribution in there. The article is a short story on a trip I took to Gaziantep, a city in south-eastern Anatolia in Turkey. I talk of my journey through the city streets in search of kebabs and pistachio desserts, and the interesting encounters I had during my brief stay there. Click on the image above to have a read and let me know what you think.

Segment on Helwi Beirut, LBC (Lebanese Television)

During my recent trip to Lebanon, I recorded a short segment with my friend Barbara Abdeni Massaad, author of Mouneh and presenter of Helwi w Morra.  It was great fun and I made Barbara a dessert influenced by the flavours of the region: olive oil, labneh, lemons and pine nuts. Have a look.

SBS Featured Foodie

I’m this month’s Featured Foodie on SBS. There’s a nice interview for those interested in finding out a bit more about me. Click here to read it.

The Food Blog in Good Living

Today’s Good Living has an article on the chickpea degustation I hosted with Somer Sivrioglu from Efendy. This is a screen shot from the Good Living iPad app, since I don’t have access to the newspaper itself. As you’ll find out by reading this article, Somer and I are preparing for an eggplant themed dinner in October – I’ll give you more details when I have them. I’m pretty happy with this article and I think the photo of my chickpea and walnut trifle looks great. It’s a wonderful dessert, if I may say so myself, so go and try it at Efendy – Somer’s added it to his menu.

Everyday Eats

Here’s one for the book collection. Today, the Sydney Morning Herald’s new publication everyday eats has been released. I’m one of the contributors who reviewed for this fantastic book, which is similar to the SMH Good Food Guide, but focuses on restaurants offering great meals for under $30. This book will tell you where to go and what to order in places you probably never knew existed, or restaurants you never thought to try. And the great thing is they won’t break the bank. It was very fun contributing to this book, and my congratulations go to my friend and editor Angie Schiavone, who did an amazing job of getting everyday eats on the shelves.

everyday eats is selling at bookstores and newsagents for $24.95 or for $20 for SMH subscribers (through smhshop.com.au)
An iphone app is in the works and will cost $8.99

The Food Blog and SBS

Hello.

I’ve been recording many segments on Middle-Eastern food for SBS, and they’ve started putting them on the SBS website, which is very exciting.

Unlike most of my previous interviews, these ones are in English, and if I may say so myself, they are very interesting.

It would be great if you could go and have a listen, and possibly leave a comment. It will encourage SBS to extend my contract, and that will support me in my coming days of unemployment

NOTE: These are audio interviews. The SBS website is somewhat counter-intuitive, so look for the play button under the heading “Listen”.

Click here to listen to my episode on burghul and here to listen to my episode on yoghurt. Don’t let me down. Go and comment, I’m counting on you!

The Food Blog in The Sydney Morning Herald Good Living

Exciting news everyone! Yesterday’s Good Living, part of the Tuesday Sydney Morning Herald, had a full page article written by me!

You can click here to see the article as it appeared, or you can click here to read it directly off the SMH website. Needless to say, I’m over the moon. I never imagined a story telling Lebanese boy would end up published in the Sydney Morning Herald.