My Evening Standard Blog- Sydney v. Dubai - more similar than meets the eyeI'm typing this on a dusty, wobbling morning in Dubai, on my way from Sydney to NYC where I'll be working on assignment for the Daily Mail for a while. As the plane pushed through a hazier sky than any I remember (is desert dust any different to ash clouds?), I had a familiar feeling, first compounded when I landed in India years ago: any fool can […]
- An unlikely pair: Sydney Film Festival and small barsThanks to an unfortunately sprained ankle, I had the good fortune to fall in line for a free ticket to a sold-out Sydney Film Festival viewing on Tuesday night. The movie, which I'd never heard of, was Even the Rain, or, in its native Spanish, Tambien La Lluvia. It was a pleasure to watch - absolutely entertaining, raw, brilliant and visceral. The beaut […]
- From Tax to TEDx - Sydney's week that wasThere's a helluva brouhaha over here at the moment, centred around Cate Blanchett's cameo role in a recent ad that encourages Aussies to support Julia Gillard's oh-so-controversial Carbon Tax. Not only has poor old Cate waded into a (too) highly politicised slinging match, but she has walked into another great Aussie stickler: the tall poppy/c […]
- Gill v Bourdain at the Sydney Writers' FestivalNow, I'm not one for fisticuffs but when I see something advertised as "Food Fighters", I want to see a fight. Of sorts. So you will understand my disappointment when, last week, this lacklustre Sydney Writers' Festival chaired session puttered to a weak little close, the previously buoyed punters around me affecting a collective shrug in […]
- Sydney v. Dubai - more similar than meets the eye
Deli on West Broadway // 01 December 2011
The Puerto Ricans behind the hot foods counter don’t talk to the sushi guy to their right. He silently tends to his sweet bundles, shining black skins and powdery dollops of mint green, not looking left. But the Puerto Ricans talk to each other. In muffled, joking Spanish, they throw home-town comments away from the … Read more
Bowery and Houston // 20 October 2011
They’re squirting that chemical cinnamon smell into Wholefoods’ fruits and vegetables section again Apples, persimmons and celery, doused in fake Autumn Is it possible to die of loneliness? Orange and black and orange everywhere – and the leaves haven’t turned yet and T-shirts are still about and you can risk no jacket If you want … Read more
Gourmet Traveller – and the Lower East Side // 22 September 2011
My reviews for the Gourmet Traveller Guide are out now – Australians can pick up a September issue of the glossy mag and the indispensable little gastronomic guidebook, complete with my two cents’ worth, should be attached. Mine are a handful of Brisbane joints – some great, some not quite so. I would reveal to … Read more
On running in August // 20 August 2011
If it doesn’t exist in New York City, it doesn’t exist anywhere in the world. Fact. Stamping the grubby, oily pavements in my proper, gleaming, one-size-too-big trainers, I dodged giant Chinese melons, crates of live crabs, hawking, toothless ladies and the hole-in-the-wall family restaurant where I ate a bowl of steaming pho at half past … Read more
MailOnline: the first three weeks // 31 July 2011
New York’s been a steep learning curve so far – in three weeks I’ve written and edited nearly 40 features. Here they are… 11 July – 29 July 2011, MailOnline, by Daisy Dumas: Kirsten Dunst tells Elle about her broken heart James Hotel has a tanning concierge Petra Ecclestone ‘is privileged, not spoilt’ Snail slime … Read more
After a while, the layers merge // 25 July 2011
A rock n roll movie is being projected onto the side of a tenement block as, a few buildings down, a DJ sets up a rooftop soundsystem under a tent of fairy lights. The air is thick – not just with clogging humidity and 100F heat, but with a gritty energy that gathers pace through … Read more
