Thoughts From Becca

Yes, it's been a while. More than 10 years.  Thoughts From Becca was my very first blog, in the days before Instagram existed, and started after I wrote the first food tweet in the world (yes ever!). A lot has changed since then, although my love for cooking remains the same, and has lately been reignited. Alongside writing, I'm even doing some work again as a caterer. The reason I abandoned you here in 2009 was for my international Inside Cuisine food drinks travel digital magazine of five years. Which provided a lot of happy memories and lots of culinary travel. My focus however is now with my  SydneyScoop.com  guide to Sydney: food & drink, arts & entertainment, fashion & lifestyle. Est. 2014 now up and running for more than 7 years, with over 2,000 editorial articles, 1,000 Sydney venue listings, and 10,000 calendar events - if you want to take a peek. Beyond those two biggies, the last 10 years have also seen me eat and travel and write A LOT. There was a...

I had a fairytale upbringing with time to play ... cubby houses in the lounge room ... summers jumping over the garden sprinkler ... ballet classes ... music lessons ... cooking for fun ... baking scones + ANZAC biscuits + caramel slice ... and my own personal fairy Starbright.   Before I went to school, or so mum always said, I would insist on getting on the bus ‘without her’, paying my own fare, and sitting at the back and pretending she wasn’t there. I didn’t realise the great gift I had been given. It wasn’t until I’d ‘grown up’, that I realised that my idyllic upbringing was not shared by all girls.  Because I am a Girl in Australia, I had the opportunity to travel to other countries, at first through exploring their cuisines. Later as an adult, I did ‘actually’ travel overseas. These were eye-opening experiences. While I was in Uzbekistan, for example, I was hugged by women, strangers, in the street, who ran to me with roses and smiles, to greet my independence. I...

I adore saffron. Sometime back I decided to play around and add saffron to a cake and came up with this recipe .   As it turns out, just today I read that saffron is used to make a traditional Christmas cake in Sweden for St Lucia Day, which is celebrated on 13th December. Legend has it that Lucia as a young girl, about to be a bride, gave her entire dowry to the poor of her village and admitted that she had become a Christian. She was accused of witchcraft and burned at the stake on December 13th, 304 A.D. (She is also the patron saint for Italian fisherman, and is said to guide them through a storm).   I've read that in all the Scandanavian countries, on St Lucia Day, breakfast is served at dawn, and is celebrated with saffron buns and gingerbread. My homage to St Lucia is this cake. Why not try serving it dusted with icing sugar to represent the white gown usually associated with the Italian medieval saint. And, in Australian summer of December 13th, seasonal fr...