Sarah Blunden and Angie Willcocks's The Sensible Sleep Solution is a refreshing take on helping mum and bub through those first few months. Blunden and Willcocks's tips for getting a restless baby to sleep are moderate, tested and easy to put in place. Here, they give some advice on what to do if your baby won't stop crying – and stress the importance of taking care of yourself as a parent, too! Also, ever wondered what colic…
Continue readingSally van Gent's Clay Gully is one of those rare books: a delightful read that transports without exaggerating. In these first few pages, she describes the process of finding the house and their decision to grow an apple orchard. All accompanied by Sally's lovely illustrations. The perfect book to read for anyone planning a big life change in 2017 … After several months of fruitless searching around Bendigo in central Victoria, the agent calls to tell us he…
Continue readingChristmas is tomorrow, which means food prep is in full swing. Is anyone planning on having roast scrub turkey on the day? Find out more from Barbara Santich's discussion of fauna-eating practices in Bold Palates … There wasn't any hesitation in accepting wild duck and other game birds in the same way as kangaroo—indeed, wild birds often took the place of scarce domesticated poultry. In 1794 John Macarthur employed a game shooter with a team of dogs at his property, Elizabeth Farm, supplying…
Continue readingThe weather reports are in and it's going to be a stinking hot Christmas right across Australia, with SA copping the worst of it. But never fear! Our wonderful new author Helen Bennetts has the perfect Christmas day solution. Introducing the Bennetts,* a brand new cocktail that's a mix of almond granita and prosecco. Intrigued? We were serving them at the launch of Helen's book Willunga Almonds and everyone was raving! First you'll need almond granita,…
Continue readingHere's a wonderful little view of the many forms of Christmas from Margaret Merrilees's Fables Queer and Familiar, complete with illustrations by Chia Moan. Every little vignette in this novel is equal parts touching and hilarious. Read on and you'll see what I mean … Mr Stretton, Victoria’s Reception teacher, has reached that pinnacle of school life – the end-of-year concert. Traditionally Reception and Year One open the show with a segment based around the manger. Since his first year…
Continue readingAlright, let's keep this snappy. You guys need gift ideas, and we've got a book for every possible need.* So welcome to the patented Ultimate Wakefield Press Christmas Gift Guide.** For adventure-packed holiday reading, try the Steve West thrillers, centring around an ex-AFL star geologist with a heart of gold. Start with Prohibited Zone, set around the Woomera Detention Centre, then move on Ecstasy Lake, which is about a literal goldmine in the middle of the desert. For fiction…
Continue readingFor a reliable Christmas Cake that will please everyone, the South Australian Country Women's Association have you covered. Actually, they have you covered for any type of cake you could possibly think of (in their Calendar of Cakes) but it's Christmas so let's just stick to the Christmas cake for the moment. Plenty of time to try all the rest in the new year! Preparation time: 40 minutes and soaking time Cooking time: 2.5 hours and half an hour…
Continue readingIf you're looking for stories that celebrate a whole host of different takes on Christmas, Cracker is for you. Julia Archer casts back to a very different kind of Christmas in 1974 in her story 'Christmas Requiem'. Christmas Requiem Julia Archer At two a.m. on Christmas morning the roof tore off with a drawn-out scream of ripping sheet iron. It drowned out the thunder and woke the children. Sick with terror, almost paralysed, Grant and…
Continue readingWe can't believe that we helped bring Dean Lahn's Beat Heat Eat recipes to the public. Coke chicken?? Really??! What's even worse is that the damn thing tastes delicious … You’re not going to find this dish in any self-respecting kitchen – that’s why you are going to make it in yours. Give in to the Dark Side. PARTS: (A) 1 litre Coke (B) tomato sauce (optional) (C) 4 chicken breasts (or similar quantity of drumsticks and/or wings) Pork…
Continue readingThis is a laugh: an Italian drive to work, according to Vincenzo Cerami's by turns witty, delightful and vicious A Very Normal Man, translated into English for the first time in 2015 by Isobel Grave. Giovanni’s 850 was parked at an angle over the footpath outside UPIM, a big department store. He had to be in the office by half past eight. The Ministry was only a short distance from Rome’s central station and since Giovanni lived at…
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