Spring Cleaning

Suburbanist

I hate cleaning. I hate pretty much everything to do with cleaning, aside from the fact that at the end of the process, things are less dirty than they were at the beginning.

I’ve been running this blog for the past 3 years now… Without so much as a birthday or a blogiversary, or whatever the hell else people do to make a bit of fanfare. So I figured that with the changing of seasons, both climatically and philosophically, now was a good a time as any for a new coat of paint, and a bit of a polish.

So here it is. With very little mess and only a smidgen of fuss, my stirling graphic designer put together a new look and feel that I think captures the essence of the old one, but pulls it all together just that bit more. Veering scarily close to some kind of coherency of style that only my laconic wit and haphazard use of punctuation… will be able to keep in check ?

The new me

There’s still a bit of work going on behind the scenes and a few more changes to make, but I hope you can bear with me and that you enjoy the new style. A special thanks goes to Teresa, for putting together a lovely, simple, and ultimately very me new design.

Of course if you have any issues with it please let me know, but otherwise look forward to same level of lazy postings and slanderous reviewing as per normal :)

Catching up with the locals

Midnight, Northbridge

It’s probably about time I linked up some of the other great local gastro blogs I’ve been reading lately, and that have dropped into my radar. I don’t do enough of it.

Each of these blogs are doing good things, and i find it really encouraging that more people want to start blogs up and share the ideas, recipes, and restaurant tips with the rest of the world. I especially like the fact that people talk about the local scene and what’s going on around them, rather than just bake cupcakes and let other people drool over them. I get the most value out of blogs are locally focused, but with global appeal.

If I’ve missed anyone you think I should have listed, then feel free to drop a link in the comments. For the most part though, it’s blogs I read that are based in Perth, mostly about food, and updated semi regularly.

And so to the list…

Beaufort Street Bloggers : Join the crew as they traverse their way from the start of Beaufort St to the finish, eating at every restaurant sequentially along the way. They’re doing a great service to the greater Beaufort St region and I personally commend them for having the balls to eat at a number of places I would run a mile from.

Palate : Jennifer’s blog is just starting up but looks the goods so far. She gets out to a bunch of local restaurants and scores invites to swanky dinners, which is something I could get used to as well. hint hint people.

Tannic Teeth : Jason is a local wine writer, and when he’s not out doing photography or projecting lasers onto things, he’s the in house wine guy at Spice Magazine. His blog is about restaurants, cafes, and wines he’s tried lately. He does perm his hair, but I don’t hold that against him.

Beyond Beeton: Rachel, who I’m not sure I’m giving anything away by naming here, is taking a leaf out of Mrs Beeton‘s book, and applying her ethos of household management to the modern age. A well fed house is a happy house after all.

And then the old timers (blog wise, not chronologically)

Ace High Wine: Max is a wine writer and semi professional (is that accurate Max?) poker player, having pulled off some great wins recently. He samples a great many wonderful wines and when he’s not too busy meeting deadlines, posts them up on his blog.

Cafe Grendel : My coffee counterpoint and seeker of truth in all things caffeinated. Grendel does a much better job of me lately at getting around the traps and finding good coffee. He also ruminates a lot more than I do, which I think is a good thing. The world needs more rumination, and it’s what blogs are about.

Wino sapien : Edward is my favourite wine blogger, and not just because he swaps small goods for bottles of Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier. He’s been steadily amassing a wealth of wine related knowledge and tasting notes for some years now, and I can always rely on him to have something new and interesting and different to try. If my wine cellar looked anything like this, I would be a happy man.

Spiceblog: When Anthony isn’t running a magazine or changing nappies, he posts tantalising recipes and photos to his blog, with teasingly skant information on how to do it yourself…which I probably couldn’t anyway. His blog was amongst the first ever food blogs in Australia, and is still a wonderful read.

A few things of note

Just a little note on a few things that are happening in the food blogosphere.

  1. A Menu For Hope – This is popping up on virtually every food website in the world, and so just to be different, here it is on mine too. It’s an idea created by Pim of Chez Pim to raise money for the United Nations – World Food Programme, by raffling off prizes donated by food bloggers the world over and giving the proceeds to the programme. Last year $17,000 was raised, and this year looks to be much bigger. Check out Helen’s site for full details of how people in Australia can participate.
  2. The Food Blog Awards have been announced over at the Well Fed Network. I may or may not be in the running for one of the categories, but if anyone should deign my little excuse for a blog as worthy of another, then feel free to drop my name.
  3. Spam – an unfortunate part of life online is spam… and just lately I’ve been getting slammed by it. Over 3000 spam comments in the space of a few hours almost brought my site down for a while, and there doesn’t seem to be much let up. To try and combat that I’ve installed a few extra wordpress plugins, and upped the level on all my spam detection radars, so if you’re having trouble posting comments or viewing the site in general, please let me know by email and I’ll try and sort it out. On a completely unrelated note, if anyone needs some all natural hoodia or cialis, I may know where you can find some…

DMBLGIT November 2006

To those unfamiliar with the funky acronym, it might sound like Mary Poppins has a severe lisp… but what It actually means is:

Does my blog look good in this ?!?! (I added the exclamation marks for dramatic effect)

It’s one of a whole host of memes/competitions that exist for food bloggers to show off their wares (and one of the most prestigious too), namely being the best example of food photography taken in any given month.

So, food bloggers the world over are hereby encouraged to send in their entries, which will be judged on the three categories of aesthetics, edibility, and creativity.

The photos are judged by a panel, currently consisting this time round of Cate from Sweetnicks, Celine of Black Salt, Anthony of Spiceblog, Bron of Bron Marshall, Lara of Cook and Eat and Still Life With, and yours truly.

There are then three winners – those with the top 3 combined scores. There are also three category winners – those with the highest scores in aesthetics, edibility and creativity that have not already won 1st/2nd or 3rd place. So there’s plenty of chances to bag yourself a placing.

Only one entry per person and the photo must have been posted on your blog during November.

Please send all entries to:

dmblgit.nov.2006@gmail.com

along with:
– Your Name, and your blog’s name
– Your photo (in jpg format, preferably under 500kb)
– A link to the post its from
– Some info about the camera it was taken with

Closing date for entries is the 28th of December.

Best of luck and get crackin.

Check back here shortly for updates as the entries start to roll in. As they have now.
A gallery of entries now lives here: DMBLGIT November 2006 gallery

*Update* : I’ve decided to add the gallery into this post as well. Please spread the word and get those entries in ! Full details of all photos submitted can be found on the DMBLGIT November 2006 gallery.

*Update II * : Entries close today !! The 28th December. Get yours in now or you’ll miss out…

*Update III * : Entries are now closed. It’s already way past the 28th in Australia, and this should be enough time for those in other timezones to catch up. Thanks to everyone who has submitted photos, and look out here for the announcement of winners soon.

My Favourite Food Blogs

Just a quick list of some of the food blogs I read on a daily basis (or whenever they post something).

The Food Palate – by Deborah – Sydney, Australia
The Stone Soup – by Jules – Sydney, Australia
Spice Blog – by Anthony – Perth, Australia
La Tartin Gourmande – by Bea – Boston, USA
Tomato – by Ed – Melbourne, Australia
Vicious Ange – by Ange – Melbourne, Australia

and some wine blogs:

Appellation Australia – by Cam, Australia
Basic Juice – by Beau, New York, USA
See, Sip, Taste, Hear – Collin & LA, Memphis, USA

I’ve found the trick is to steal a little bit from all of them…that way it always looks like I’m being original :) bom bom !