Vale Liam Davison (1957 – 2014)

ANZ LitLovers LitBlog

It is with a sense of shock and horror that I note the passing of award-winning Australian author Liam Davison.  He and his wife Frankie were victims of the Malaysia Airlines MH17 flight which was shot down  over disputed territory in Ukraine.

Liam Davison was the author of five novels.  His first, The Velodrome, was shortlisted for the Vogel award in 1987, and was followed by Soundings in 1993, The White Woman a year later in 1994, The Betrayal in 1999, and Floriegium in 2001.  His short story collections include The Shipwreck Party (1988) and Collected Stories (2001) and he was also featured in The Best Australian Stories 2012 and 2013, and The Best Australian Stories – a Ten Year Collection.  He also wrote non-fiction, publishing The Spirit of Rural Australia in 1999.

From Davison’s author page at GoodReads, I have learned that

He was born in Melbourne, where until 2007, he taught…

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At Home with Sous Vide, by Dale Prentice

ANZ LitLovers LitBlog

The Spouse and I are devoted to Masterchef: we watch it religiously and this 2014 series is the best yet.   The spouse is a keen cook, you see, and so he’s always looking for beaut new ideas that are do-able at home. But until recently, there was one method of cooking that couldn’t be replicated at home, and that was sous vide, i.e. cooking in a low temperature water bath.  It’s a fabulous way of cooking that results in perfectly tender, evenly-cooked meat and fish, with delicious flavour and texture.

So you can imagine how pleased I was to discover that Sunbeam have brought out a sous vide cooker for domestic kitchens, and DJ’s had parcelled it – on special – with the vacuum food sealer machine as well.

The first experiments were with the recipe book that comes with the instructions.  We tried hapuka and salmon, and a…

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Queensland to Provide Whooping Cough Vaccines for Pregnant Women – Campaign for all Australian States To Follow