Dining out during the Christmas and New Year period is not my choice. Many restaurants have wound down for the year, some have already closed, the chefs and hospitality staff are in need of a well-deserved break after the mayhem of December. But when friends from abroad and out of town visit regularly during that [...]

It shouldn’t have come as surprise. A quintessentially American holiday has swept parts of the world including Australia. Carved pumpkins in shopping centres, Halloween cakes and sweets in shop windows, adults in party costumes, trick or treat in the streets and taking candy from strangers. Bah-humbug… I hear the popping of fireworks in my quiet [...]

I may pride myself on the ability to pick up the Italian language with ease while travelling but I am also known to suffer embarrassing lapses of memory. Signore e Signori… Ladies and Gentlemen. Not too difficult to remember, no? Naturalmente. But after two glasses of aperitivo in Milan, anything is possible. I totter down [...]

You’ve finally made it to the other end of the world. You’ve laid your towel on one of Sydney’s golden beaches. You feel the warm sand between your toes and the heat of the summer sun dissipating through your being. Under a perfect blue sky, you snap a few mementos with your camera, turn around [...]

Venezia Bella. You broke my heart. When the vaporetto approached S. Zaccaria stop near Piazza San Marco, I was filled with anticipation. It was my second trip to Venice. The first was a whirlwind stay and I could barely wait to revisit some of the iconic sights that had captured my imagination. Until I saw [...]

The last time I ate at Pizzeria Italiana*, I stared at the crumbling walls, the plastic moulded chairs, the easy to wipe tables and thanked the pizza gods that this local haunt has remained the same over time. For over ten years, many Friday nights were spent in its surrounds,  crammed around tables, eagerly waiting [...]

Anyone serious about running a website and would like to see it prosper beyond the odd hit from friends and google love is aware that it is no longer sufficient to write quality articles then hit the publish button. Build it and they come has turned into a tired cliché that no longer serves the [...]