Latest news with #Italian-Australian
Perth Now
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Classic foods that are true West Australian tucker
Want to get a taste of real West Aussie tucker? Seek out these dishes. Where is the best lobster in the world? Right off our coast of course. If you feel like getting stuck into this WA delicacy on WA Day, you could do worse than take a day trip to Cervantes to dine at The Lobster Shack which serves this delicious crustacean while looking out at the glorious Indian Ocean from which it came. Ahh, it's good to be a sandgroper. A conti roll from Lo Presti and Son. Credit: Supplied / Supplied The Italian-Australian sandwich we lay claim to as our own is the ultimate lunchtime hero in this part of the world. There are many places slinging excellent contis, but our favourites include The Re Store in Northbridge and Leederville, Montello On Main in Osborne Park and Lo Presti & Son in East Freo. Masters spearmint Milk. Credit: Supplied Masters created this bright-green spearmint flavoured dairy concoction and for some reason, us weirdos on the West Coast can't get enough of it. Does it taste like toothpaste in milk? Yes. But will we defend it to the death filled with a misplaced sense of patriotism? Also yes. Kirks Kole Beer. Credit: Supplied Despite the name, there is no actual beer in this drink that tastes a little bit like Coke but is definitely not Coke. How to describe the taste? Hmm. Like late summer, cricket on the telly, aircon's conked it, skin flaky with salt water and sunscreen, grabbing a Kole Beer from the back of the garage fridge 'cos mum said you can have a fizzy drink while she searches for the old fan in the back shed. It tastes a bit like that. Geraldton wax. Credit: Leyanne Baillie / The West Australian This West Aussie flower has a delicious lime-like flavour and is a great example of the many local flavours that are yet to become commonplace in our kitchens. You can buy dried Geraldton Wax for cooking from or or keep an eye out for it on menus at restaurants like Old Young's Kitchen, Wildflower or Hearth Restaurant.
West Australian
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- West Australian
Holden Sheppard brings national book tour home to Geraldton with raw new novel about masculinity and survival
After a whirlwind four months of book tours, TV premieres and awards nights, Geraldton's star author is ready to bare his soul and keep himself busy, with the release of his third novel. Unlike his first two novels — debut book-turned-Stan original series Invisible Boys and The Brink — which both focused on young queer characters and written for young adult audiences, Sheppard says King of Dirt is more mature, and addresses darker themes in a way he previously wasn't able to. 'King of Dirt tackles themes of masculinity, sexuality and mental illness and trauma in men and what that looks like,' he said. 'It also dives deep into issues of family dysfunction, family estrangement and fatherhood, as well as love and loss and finding hope after losing everything. 'King of Dirt explores what a traumatised, addicted, mentally-unwell Aussie bloke in his 30s looks like, through the main character of Giacomo 'Jack' Brolo.' The novel follows Brolo — a bisexual Italian-Australian tradie — who smokes, gambles and loves footy, but also struggles with depression, loneliness and anger management issues. Jack finds himself back in Geraldton for the first time in 16 years for a family wedding, and has to confront his troubled past and his family. 'I wanted Jack to show the raw and honest realities of how working-class Aussie men feel and think in the 2020s,' Sheppard said. 'Jack struggles with his mental health, with addiction, with coming to terms with his sexuality and with suicidal ideation. 'Unlike Invisible Boys, King of Dirt is more about surviving that suicidal ideation, and realising you want to live, and trying to find a way to recover and heal from trauma and build a life you are proud of.' Sheppard said Jack was a 'sliding doors' version of himself, and his story was born when the author returned to Geraldton to visit the Stan film-set of Invisible Boys. 'While I was home, I drove back to my childhood homes in Spalding and Strathalbyn, and I was hit with this massive, overwhelming sense of homesickness and nostalgia,' he said. 'It was like experiencing grief for the life I could have had if I'd stayed in Gero. I felt it all hit me in that moment: I missed my hometown, I missed my family, I missed my mates, I missed the guy I was once and the guy I could've been.' Sheppard hinted that eagled-eyed readers of his previous novels will spot 'easter eggs' throughout King of Dirt — references to Invisible Boys and the Brink — and that there may even be cameos from two of the Invisible Boys themselves. King of Dirt is set to release on June 3 and will be stocked in Geraldton's Read A Lot Books. Sheppard is returning to the city on August 7 for an in-conversation with fellow Mid West author Michael Trant, followed by a meet-and-greet book signing. 'I do get homesick and miss living in the country a lot, so it always feels really special to do a hometown gig,' he said. 'I'm honoured that the Gero community has shown up like this, so I'm keen to share this next story with locals, too.' Lifeline: 13 11 14.
Sydney Morning Herald
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Not as snobby as it might sound': Silvia Colloca on why cooking pasta al dente matters
Italian-Australian TV personality and cookbook author Silvia Colloca makes fresh pasta four days a week at the northern beaches Sydney home she shares with her husband, actor Richard Roxburgh, and their three children. But when she's eating out, it's almost the last thing she'd order – unless it meets her strict standards. 'It's imperative the pasta is not overcooked,' says Colloca, who will share a heaped helping of her cooking knowledge in the third series of Silvia's Italian Masterclass when it airs on Network Ten later this year. 'The concept of al dente [resistance to the tooth] matters to Italians and it matters to me. It's more important than you think and not as snobby as it might sound. 'It mostly applies to dry pasta,' she says. 'As a rule of thumb, if the packet says 11 minutes, take it out after 9 or 10 minutes because it continues to cook with the residual heat.'
The Age
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
‘Not as snobby as it might sound': Silvia Colloca on why cooking pasta al dente matters
Italian-Australian TV personality and cookbook author Silvia Colloca makes fresh pasta four days a week at the northern beaches Sydney home she shares with her husband, actor Richard Roxburgh, and their three children. But when she's eating out, it's almost the last thing she'd order – unless it meets her strict standards. 'It's imperative the pasta is not overcooked,' says Colloca, who will share a heaped helping of her cooking knowledge in the third series of Silvia's Italian Masterclass when it airs on Network Ten later this year. 'The concept of al dente [resistance to the tooth] matters to Italians and it matters to me. It's more important than you think and not as snobby as it might sound. 'It mostly applies to dry pasta,' she says. 'As a rule of thumb, if the packet says 11 minutes, take it out after 9 or 10 minutes because it continues to cook with the residual heat.'
Irish Independent
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Married at First Sight Australia is irresistible TV, but you would find love quicker by throwing a dart
An Aussie offshoot of a fiendishly clever Danish show, 'MAFSAU' is one of a number of international versions, but is without doubt the best. Good weather, sub-tropical settings and the terrifying candour of the locals combine to make it irresistibly compelling. I was recently hooked via a family member who has every contestant's number and wags her finger at the television, berating them for their bad behaviour. She has plenty to give out about. Season 12, currently airing on E4, has had no shortage of incident, as mismatched contestants negotiate new early stages of relationships in the spotlight's glare. The show's format is brutally simple: men and women who have never met are paired by a panel of experts and 'married' in front of their families at an introductory ceremony. The weddings are not real, as Australian law requires a one-month notice period before marriage, but participants are encouraged to take the commitment seriously – with varying degrees of success. Jamie Marinos has been box office throughout. A 28-year-old account manager who wears her heart on her sleeve and is apt to feel slighted, Jamie was thrilled when the judges paired her with burly 30-something builder Dave Hand. At first, Dave and Jamie seemed among the more successful season 12 matches, and watched with a certain degree of smugness the emotional travails of others. But everything changed after 'partner swap week', when Jamie took a break and Dave cohabited with Veronica Cloherty, a pretty but tempestuous contestant. Thereafter, Dave seemed to rapidly cool on poor Jamie, who let her displeasure be widely known. Dave's neck is obscured by a complex green tattoo, which makes it look as though his head has lifted clear off his body, perhaps in search of a more interesting owner. And who can blame it. Season 12's most handsome couple are Carina Mirabile and Paul Antoine, whose 'marriage' ceremony was attended by much familial gushing. They might have looked right, but it subsequently emerged that Carina and Paul had been on a date months before the show, and Paul had decided not to pursue things. Awks. They got over this initial obstacle, then Paul lost his temper and punched a wall, which led to much general hand-wringing, then got into further trouble by sharing Carina's confidences. When Paul went to stay with Carina's family, her Italian-Australian mother made them sleep in separate rooms and placed a giant crucifix above Paul's bed. The attrition rate is high, and at time of writing, only one couple from season 12 are still together – the unimpeachably wholesome Rhi and Jeff. Where once the show seemed genuinely committed to exploring the mechanics of committed love, it's now a kind of X-rated soap opera using real people instead of actors MAFS can be educational. I have learnt, for instance, that 'boganic' is Antipodean slang denoting a person perceived as lacking in culture or taste, which is to say excessively working class. In season 12, it has been used to devastating effect. And this is not the cruellest run: previous series have included affairs, fist fights and gratuitous wine-throwing. In season seven, groom David Cannon, suspecting infidelity, used 'wife' Haley Vernon's toothbrush to clean the toilet. Their marriage was not a success. MAFSAU, which became a surprise hit during Covid, has not always been this adversarial. In the first four seasons there were less couples, the cast lived separately, and the weekly dinner party and commitment ceremonies – now so combustible – did not exist. But when executive producer Tara McWilliams took over in season five, she quickly turned it into a controversial hit. Where once the show seemed genuinely committed to exploring the mechanics of committed love, it's now a kind of X-rated soap opera using real people instead of actors. Trying to maintain order in all this are relationship advisors John Aiken and Mel Schilling, and resident sexologist Alessandra Rampolla. As you can imagine, some of the counselling sessions are excruciating. As the show has become ever more popular, more participants have signed up for 'the wrong reasons', as some critics put it, by which they mean hoping to become social media stars rather than finding a soulmate. Excuse me, but is there a right reason to involve oneself in this sort of psychosexual circus? And if MAFS was a matchmaking service, it would have gone out of business long ago. For all the 'relationship science' the producers claim to employ, MAFSAU's batting average is unimpressive. In 2022, it was estimated that of the 71 couples matched by the show to that point, only five remained together. You'd have a better chance going out in the street and throwing a dart. All seasons of Married at First Sight Australia are streaming on the Channel 4 player
