April 24th, 2012
Looking over last night's recipe booklet from the Sydney Seafood School there is a sharp sensory reminder of the eve's fare. No, not because of a cut finger, or words or pictures, but smell. The paper is pungent with cooking oil infused with Sichuan pepper, lime, coriander, deep fried squid and prawns. Our task was to prepare salt and pepper prawns with a prickly ash (that's a Sichuan ... Read more
April 20th, 2012
Making a good cup of joe boils down to the beans, the milk, the maker and the machine. But if the latter is in neglect it won't matter how organic the beans are, how fresh the milk is, or how good a barista you (think you) are, the coffee is going to taste bad. If your friends haven't been popping in so often for a cuppa maybe it's ... Read more
April 16th, 2012
Fisher & Paykel and Breville have joined Miele in the 2012 Choice awards that celebrate excellent customer service and product reliability. The recent 2012 awards have not only highlighted Miele for the best vacuum cleaner brand, but Fisher & Paykel for best fridge brand and Breville for its Fast Slow Cooker. Fisher & Paykel received the coveted award after two years of fridge testing across numerous brands and ... Read more
April 13th, 2012
Sunbeam has issued a statement in response to a media report that said one of its electric blankets had been "recently recalled." Sunbeam has come out in defense of its electric blanket safety standards after a TV report on 11 April about unsafe appliances. It comes in the same week that police suspect a faulty electric blanket caused an apartment in Bondi, Sydney to go up in flames. Sunbeam ... Read more
April 13th, 2012
$70,000 worth of coffee, five coffee machines and a van have been recovered after having been stolen earlier this week. News of the heist spread globally within hours and the police believe that when the thieves realised this they ditched the van and fled. The police were alerted by a local person who saw the abandoned van and compared it to the image in the paper on a ... Read more
April 11th, 2012
Sanyo has created a Facebook page to publicise the recall of a microwave that may cause 'severe electric shocks'. The page was created in March and it announces that Sanyo is now undertaking a full product recall of the EMC8787B convection grill microwave ovens. A recall notice was first issued in January, and the continued alerts may indicate that there are still enough faulty microwaves at large in ... Read more
April 11th, 2012
We all know that Samantha Brick is a wonderful woman and an inspiration to many of us – the chosen few, that is, who uphold standards of beauty for the rest of you to aspire to. However hopelessly. But did you know she is also something of a heroine for appliances? Her recent incisive piece of social commentary, which spoke eloquently and passionately about the evil ... Read more
April 11th, 2012
How many cups of Viennese coffee will two tonnes of coffee make? That's the likely question on two thieves' minds today, in Vienna. Holy cappuccino, hold the milk! Two thieves have nicked off with two tonnes of coffee in the Austrian capital Vienna. Mugged from a wholesaler and coffee-roaster's warehouse the thieves loaded the beans into a stolen van, also making off with two coffee machines, according to an ... Read more
April 10th, 2012
Wake up and smell the good brews! A Seattle company, Zipwhip, has invented a coffee machine that receives orders via SMS to grind, brew and pour automatically. Thank smart thinkers in Seattle, the city that came up with Starbucks, for the magic machine. It's called Textpresso, and the genius design uses an adapted Jura machine to service the coffee addiction of a 20-odd person office. If they ever ... Read more
April 4th, 2012
Why leave it up to a factory in China to tell you that "Life does not get better by chance. It gets better by change," or "Enjoy yourself while you can," or "If your cookie is still in one piece buy Lotto". Instead, decide your own delicious destiny with a personal fortune cookie maker. Not yet available in Australia, the Sunbeam Cookie Maker (FPSBFCM40) gives you the power ... Read more