Dani Venn

I wish inventors would hurry up and create push-button instant travel because it would mean that I would be able to have lunch in Hanoi everyday. Instead I have to settle for recreating magical Vietnamese flavours at home, which isn’t a bad thing because it’s my favourite cuisine to cook and eat. It’s pretty hard [...]

I’m happy to admit that in my household there are some things that are a male’s domain. Outdoor cooking falls into this category. Don’t get me wrong I enjoy flipping a snag on the barbie* but there’s something about the flicker of a gas flame that men seem to love. It brings out there inner [...]

When I lived in Vietnam, I spent a lot of time hanging out at a very dodgy backpacker lodge in Hanoi strangely titled ‘A-Z Queens Café.’ I still ponder the relevance this place had to the English alphabet or the Queen? Nonetheless, the one asset ‘A-Z’ had was its tiny balcony that allowed backpackers like [...]

I don’t really understand people that love winter. Well, people who love winter in Melbourne anyway. The novelty of snuggling in front of an open fireplace, or in my case electric heater, wears thin in about 45 minutes. Give me a pair of thongs, the smell of coconut and hot sun any day. But holding [...]

Sizzling Vietnamese Pancake / Banh Xeo Recipe  This is a classic Vietnamese dish and is really very simple once you get the hang of making the pancake. Banh Xeo literally means ‘sizzling cake’ in Vietnamese which is the sound the batter makes when it hits  hot oil. This is a tasty dish and combines all [...]