I adapted this recipe from Greg Malouf’s cook book, Saraban, recipes inspired from his travels around Persia. It was the first time that I ever had chicken cooked in yoghurt and loved it. It is simple and easy to make. The original recipe uses orange juice which I liked but I preferred using lemon instead. … Continue reading
Distant Orchards We must look forward also to the springtime of the body. Minucius Felix In distant orchards green cicadas hum; Their wings are folded in a brittle prayer. When will the springtime of the body come? Can you not hear the blind guitarist strum Songs on the hollow body of despair? In distant orchards … Continue reading
Poet of the Month for March is Jakob Ziguras. Jakob was born in Poland in 1977 to Polish and Greek parents and came to Australia in 1984. He studied fine arts before completing a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Sydney. His poetry has been published in Meanjin, Australian Poetry, Mascara, Measure: A Review of Formal Poetry, Snorkel and Southerly. He was a finalist in the Newcastle … Continue reading
Syrian Desert I walk off alone through the hot winds that flap my clothes like the broken sail of a dhow beaten by storms on the Red Sea, across the ochre sands and scattered rocks and past the caves where desert fathers once dwelled and prayed. My eyes settle before the calm expanse, trace the … Continue reading
Flamenco Trio Granada An old man sits at the rear of a dusky cavern, dressed in a suit and hot pink tie. He listens intently to the dexterous fingerwork of the young guitarist on his left, mining with his ears for something that might appear behind the notes. Every now and then he claps and … Continue reading
Vine leaves with herbed rice ” Vine leaves stuffed with rice and herbs (dolmades in Greece), are a sign that one is eating the food of eastern Mediterranean. Tender leaves should be harvested before sun and wind had done their damage. In South Africa, my mother once fooled a guest at the table and told … Continue reading
Band of Cockatoos The white of their plumage seems a bit too white like the polished teeth of salesmen or the glare of the sheet on which I jot these observations though they remind me of children as they quietly collect twigs and leaves from around the path. Now and then they reveal the wattle … Continue reading
Augury? Samothraki, Greece for Jakob Ziguras 1 I’m not sure if I’m following a trail left by goats or on the human path as I attempt to circumvent the farmstead where, the last time I came near, a dog pursued me, snapping and snarling. Noticing the piles of rusting junk dispersed around the place … Continue reading
Poem and Dish is creating a new category titled: Poet of the Month. A poet will be featured every month and one of his or her poems will be posted weekly for four consecutive weeks. I am so excited to be highlighting in the month of February the work of Luke Fischer. Luke Fischer is … Continue reading
For many long years I had lost my voice, and with it I lost my essence. As I travelled across continents heading towards civilisation, I left all the sophistication of words accumulated in my young eighteen years behind. In this new land I was a newborn who had to learn to crawl, walk and talk … Continue reading
Poem and Dish 