It's been a long time coming....

Where have I been for the last (almost) two years?

In short, I've been working.

All the time.

And I'm over it.

Having said all of that (rather dramatically), I should explain that I have been inspired by a recent re-reading of Julie and Julia (read the book a couple of years ago... still haven't sen the film, though) and an early Christmas gift. In an ideal world, I'd been eating my way around the globe in a tatslotto-fueled frenzy, but obviously my ambitions need to be revised to reflect a) the responsibilities of adulthood (sigh) and b) my teacher's salary.

So, instead I've decided to cook my way around the world's cuisine. The plan is to make my way (that is, all the way) through Maeve's O'Meara's Food Safari cookbook. For those of you who are unfamiliar, Food Safari is an SBS TV show in which the colourful Maeve travels around Australia in search of pockets of international cuisine. It is foodie-voyeur heaven.

And now they have a book (just in time for Christmas). Food Safari is subtitled: "glorious adventures through worlds of cuisine". It is 270 pages of recipes, organised alphabetically by location. Each section is prefaced with some introductory info (thanks, Maeve) and a glossary of 'flavours', seemingly provided to assist in sourcing essential ingredients. In addition, each dish has an explanation of its own, including how the dish should be eaten, what you should be cooking it in and what it should be served along side of.

I cannot pretend to be undaunted by instructions such as, "you will need four dolsot bowls, available from Korean grocery stores" (Dolsot Bibimbap, Korea) and "this national dish is cooked very slowly, traditionally overnight in a copper pot..." (Ful Medames, Egypt). I will no doubt be setting forth in search of ingredients and equipment with a copy of The Goods under my arm.

It will begin with Lebanon, quite madly, on Christmas Day. The first dish will be the Tarator-Style Baked Salmon, by Greg Malouf (mmm... Momo).

I'll keep you posted (promise).