What I Cooked Last Night

Elli's Deli was always too small. It was square, with counters all around. The staff stood on a postage stamp in the middle while hundreds of customers came at them from all sides. The staff were separated from the customers by display cases several feet in width. Goodness knows where they put the money. Probably under one of the cheese wheels. Elli's Deli was a Coburg institution. Some people came to Coburg just to visit the shop. Elli's had a Greek heritage, but it sold all foodstuffs of the type that was once called 'Continental'. Entire suburbs grew up on Greek and Italian home-style cooking for which the ingredients came from Elli's Deli. Those same ingredients in turn came from Melbourne's foodie suburbs. No, not St Kilda or Fitzroy, or even Brunswick. Look at the packaging on the basics on the shelves in Elli's Deli - sauces, fresh cheese, pasta, pita bread, etc - and you'll see Thomastown, Reservoir and Tullamarine addresses. That's where...

Was that the fastest winter ever? Well, yes: actually, it was. I've had this conversation before, so skip to the recipe below if I'm boring you. Time seems to disappear into oblivion faster as the years go by, because each is a smaller amount of time relative to one's entire lifetime. Prove that , someone said to me once. Time is just perception , I replied. It exists only for sentient beings. Several sentient seconds went by, and then: Prove that as well, followed by, also: billions of years of Earth's existence before human life appeared says you are wrong. A rock doesn't know how old it is, I replied, quickly. The great thing about not being a scientist is you never have to prove anything. Fettucine with ricotta and tomatoes. Cook some fettucine until just done. Drain. Toss through a little olive oil. Break up some fresh ricotta (you can buy it still warm from Elli's Deli in Sydney Road although the horde of elderly Greek ladies waitin...