A Brief Chat With Gerard Windsor

Gerard Windsor is one of Australia's most versatile and respected writers. His latest book, All Day Long the Noise of Battle, is an account of the longest sustained attack fought by Australians during the Vietnam War.


What are you reading at the moment?
Anthony Macris's When Horse Became Saw (for review - and it's very fine).


Which book is your most treasured?
Nonesuch Coleridge or Yeats' Collected Verse or...

Who is your favourite fictional character?
Joe Gargery or any of the Karamazov brothers or... 

Autographed copies of All Day Long the Noise of Battle are available online from Shearer's Bookshop

A Brief Chat With Joanna Trollope

Joanna Trollope is the bestselling author of many books including Friday Nights, The Other Family and Second Honeymoon among others. Her latest book is Daughters-in-Law.

What was the last book you read and what are you currently reading?
The last book was Kate Grenville's The Lieutenant - terrific, and now I'm immersed in a proof of the new Ann Patchett - State of Wonder - it's brilliant...

Which book from your bookshelf at home is your most treasured & why?
A very old, very battered copy of Rose Macaulay's The Towers of Trebizond, complete with coffee mug rings and sun oil smudges...

Which fictional character do you most identify with?
I would rather like to say Becky Sharp...but I think that Anne Elliott is probably nearer the mark...

What are you working on next?
Aha! But it will be out spring 2012.

Autographed copies of Daughters-in-Law are available online at Shearer's Bookshop

Two Asian Kitchens by Adam Liaw

I haven't actually cooked any of the dishes in Two Asian Kitchens (I'm the type of chef who prefers the taste of food that's been prepared by someone else), so I'm reviewing it purely as a book.  

Adam Liaw's Two Asian Kitchens is due for release in April. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Adam, he's the winner of the 2010 season of MasterChef - making him Australia's current MasterChef. Two Asian Kitchens is a wonderful cookbook that caters for every culinary skill set. The recipes vary from the simple to the complicated and from the traditional to the new. In fact, the 'two Asian kitchens' of the title refer to the dividing line in this book between traditional recipes and new recipes that blend these traditions with Adam's eclectic upbringing and experience as a migrant in Australia.

The first section of Two Asian Kitchens outlines stocks, sauces and various other pantry items that, if prepared in advance, will store well and make cooking easier. Adam's philosophy is that by spending "a few relaxing hours on the weekend" preparing these items, time is saved when it comes to cooking and you don't have an excuse for not making wonderful meals during the week.

This handy section is then followed by a section that outlines several important techniques such as making dumplings, stir frying and preparing sushi. Already it's a comprehensive and detailed cookbook - and we haven't even encountered a proper recipe yet.

The rest of Two Asian Kitchens is divided into two parts - the old kitchen and the new kitchen. In the old kitchen, Adam presents recipes from his past, from his family and classic dishes from Asia. Dishes featured are beef rendang, siew yuk with chilli and coriander relish, fish-head curry, katsudon and char siew pork neck among others.

In the new kitchen, Adam reflects on what he sees as the 'bold innovation' currently taking place in Australian cooking. He encourages readers to be fearless as chefs. Included in this section are dishes such as black belly rice bowl (with lemon paste and pickled chilli), aromatic poached fish with chilli and greens, fennel and black pepper pork belly with pork condiment and tempura fish and chips with pickled chili mandarin curd among others. I especially liked the look of the farmers union iced coffee pudding with tea-smoked chocolate and five-spice tenkasu.

Photography in cookbooks has become increasingly crucial and it's a pleasure to report that the photos in Two Asian Kitchens will definitely make you hungry. In fact, as I sit here flicking through them I'm beginning to crave some delicious Asian cooking. But I'm in the office at work, so it'll have to wait until I get home.

 Adam Liaw will be appearing at Shearer's Bookshop at 7.15pm on Tuesday April 5 to discuss MasterChef, Two Asian Kitchens and cooking. Samples from Adam's book will be available to try on the night. Tickets are $15 and bookings are essential. Please call Shearer's on (02) 9572 7766 to book. 

A Brief Chat With Elliot Perlman

Elliot Perlman is the author of Three Dollars and Seven Types of Ambiguity. We caught up with him at the recent Leading Edge conference.

What was the last book you read and what are you currently reading?
Mandelstam (a biography) by Olag Lekmanov

Which book from your bookshelf at home is your most treasured & why?
I Did Not Interview the Dead by D.P. Boder - I got the last copy in America.

Which fictional character do you most identify with?
Josef K. in Kafka's The Trial. My sister says we look alike although there's no physical description of him in the book.

What are you working on next?
Curing my insomnia.

A Brief Chat With Alice Pung

Alice Pung is the author of Unpolished Gem. We caught up with her at the recent Leading Edge conference.


What was the last book you read and what are you currently reading?
The Elegance of the Hedgehog, which affirmed my faith in art, and I am currently reading Tim O'Brien's incredible war memoir, If I Die in a Combat Zone.


Which book from your bookshelf at home is your most treasured and why?
 A Little book my sister Alison made me for my birthday when she was a child. 


Which fictional character do you most identify with?
 The 'character' in my books based on me! 

What are you working on next?
My book Her Father's Daughter, a non-fiction account of a man from Cambodia whose goldfish memory allows him to be brave and hopeful in Australia.

A Brief Chat with Author Alex Miller

Alex Miller has twice won the Miles Franklin literary award and is one of Australia's best-loved novelists. His 2009 novel, Lovesong, garnered great critical acclaim. 

What was the last book you read and what are you currently reading?
I've just read Coetzee's bleakly humorous Summertime and am currently re-reading White's great novel Voss.
 
Which book from your bookshelf at home is your most treasured and why?
My three volume 1751 edition of Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queene, which was given to me by my wife as a wedding present thirty five years ago.

Which fictional character do you most identify with?
I usually identify most closely with the fictional character I aw either working with or reading about, in this case White's Voss.

What are you working on next?
I've just finished writing my most ambitious novel yet, Once, If I Remember Well, and have no idea what I will work on next. Currently I'm writing a brief memoir for the May symposium on my work which is to be held at Sydney University. 

French Kissing at Shearer's: Manu Feildel Event

Shearer’s had a flirtatious evening Wednesday night with Manu Feildel of Sydney restaurant, L’Etoile and of course, from the ever-popular TV programme My Kitchen Rules.

After teasing the crowd with an early appearance in the store, Manu started the event with a sexy “Bonjour” that prompted great murmurings of anticipation and excitement. 

He spoke with humour and honesty about his life working in kitchens and interacted with the audience in a relaxed and intimate manner, often referring to audience members as “darling”, which was greatly appreciated.

When Manu’s mother prompted him to get a real job after some years working in a circus which he joined when he was 13, he started work with his father in Brittany. He moved to England when he was 18, with not a word of English. Not being smitten with England’s dour weather, he searched out sunnier climes and landed in Melbourne, which was then the food capital of Australia. He moved permanently to Sydney after being “gobsmacked” by its tremendous beauty – particularly that possessed of the local women. “Women everywhere – whoah!”, exclaimed Manu. 

He found work at Hugo’s, but after sensing a change in the patronage, opened his own restaurant, L’Etoile in Paddington. He now owns another restaurant, Apperitif, which only recently opened with Miguel Maestre in Kings Cross.

He wryly described his early forays into television, particularly that of his experience with MasterChef. He made light of how much the producers must be regretting their decision not to choose him for the programme because of his French accent. Of course, he is now a huge part of the success of My Kitchen Rules with Pete Evans.

Question time was great fun and Manu was extremely open in responding to questions as varied as “Who would you share your last meal with” (No-one. I never share my food) to “What is it like working with Pete Evans” (He talked about their separating of ways when at Hugo’s, but reassured us that they are great mates). However, what he would not reveal was who had been eliminated from the My Kitchen Rules Wednesday night challenge.

It took him 8 months to put together Manu’s French Kitchen and he talked of becoming an author as the “sugar on the cake”. Manu said that he wanted people to become less afraid of French cooking and so wanted to put together recipes that people could use everyday.

He promised to give every person who bought Manu’s French Kitchen a kiss – “even the boys”, which was widely taken up by those present.

On a rainy French Film Festival night in Leichhardt, Manu warmed the hearts and fired the belly, kissed our cheeks and bade us all “darling”.  What more could you want?

Written by Megan

Autographed copies of Manu's French Kitchen are available now