Gerard Depardieu – mauvaises manieres
He is probably the most famous face on French films, yet Gerard Depardieu’s recent rude outburst against fellow French actor Juliette Binoche reeks of sour grapes. The star of 50 films, Mme Binoche is...
View ArticleGrandma’s cooking capers
I am on grandma duty in my daughter Serena’s London home, while she celebrates a late birthday high tea with husband, Jon, at Claridges. My three grandkids – two boys aged 8 and 6 and a three year old...
View ArticleCuisine, culture from OZ to Cordon Bleu-Paris
Ooh la la! I will speak at Le Cordon Bleu Paris. The exciting spin-offs from my book From France With Love continues with an extraordinary offer to address students at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris this...
View ArticleA class act @ Le Cordon Bleu Paris
Voila ! Today unfolds as an extraordinary entree to France’s exotic cuisine culture as I watch Le Cordon Bleu chef Philippe Clergue teach advanced students in Paris. I had to earn my place in his...
View ArticleMoving- a mountain of a task
Was it John Lennon who once wrote “life is what happens when you are busy making other plans’’. We have lived this songline for the last few months as our carefully laid plans to uproot our lives,...
View ArticleExpat chef becomes pure Parisienne
Ex-pat Kaye Baudinette is unassuming about her extraordinary life in Paris at Le Cordon Bleu where she is the long-time manager of the Resource Centre at the world-renowned Academie d’art culinaire de...
View Article“Une soiree extraordinaire” @ Limoges
The ghost of the Domaine de la Dame de la Lauriere would have enjoyed this evening’s soiree around the dining room table in the house she once inhabited. That was around 1793 at the time of France’s...
View ArticleDimanche in Paris in Autumn:
The words of that quintessential song about Paris spring to mind and I hum “I love Paris in the fall….when it drizzles’’ which is the weather as I slip inside Sunday morning mass at imposing,...
View Article37 cubic metres of Sea-change
after flaking out for a few hours, he drove me to Hindmarsh Island ahead of the moving van, where I lay on a sleeping bag for a few more hours. I felt as frail as a newborn kitty and here is where the...
View ArticleDemolition becomes Day of Drama
Day one of demolition of our Belair house began badly. We had taken a packed lunch to await the arrival of the bulldozer which was to begin to take down the house. It was already a bare shell,...
View ArticleCourts and Judges on trial by Media
Judges have been the victims of “rougher than usual media treatment’’ through “screaming headlines’’ and sensationalist television footage of controversial judgements, says award-winning Adelaide...
View ArticleMedia Bullying Judges
Violent headlines and “angry language’’ by the media is bullying judges and having a negative impact on public opinion, according to retired High Court Judge, Justice Michael Kirby. And he listed a...
View ArticleA rose by the name of David Ruston
It was a rare treat to join the acclaimed rose identity David Ruston on a tour of his world-renowned rose garden and his early 20th century home at Renmark, in South Australia’s Riverland. David was...
View ArticleHearing loss
An interesting Lifestyle and Hearing Health Survey arrived on my desk this week from Dr Ross Walker, one of Australia’s leading preventative health specialist and because my father Frank, is deaf, I...
View ArticleA Thumb Down on Sex
Anything British novelist Martin Amis writes is bound to be brilliant expression. And his comment on a new collection of British poet Philip Larkin’s letters is not only an excellent read in this...
View ArticleThe Three D’s of our Dream Home – Decisions on Design, Detail.
The time of dreaming about our custom-designed retirement home is over. Today we signed off on the pre-construction phase of our new home and behind us are a thousand small decisions about detail....
View ArticleQuiet Encounters of a Feathered Kind
Waterbirds in all their diversity have added a wonderful dimension to our seachange lifestyle. Right now we are busily counting nine ducklings paddling alongside mother duck across the waterway towards...
View ArticleBeauty Betrays Us
How we feel about the ageing process is rarely the hot topic shared spontaneously over coffee. It’s a bit like broaching the subject of sex at a dinner party 60 years ago. Absolutely taboo. However, I...
View ArticleRelationships are cornerstone for healthy men
Close relationships can form the cornerstone for a man’s whole life but friendships with other men are also an important source of support and understanding, says the Adelaide Northern Division of...
View ArticleAJA – 100th year
Leak: the new four-letter word. “Leak’’ is the new four-letter word, according to veteran political journalist, Laurie Oakes in accepting the highest accolade in journalism – the 2010 Gold Walkley...
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