I don’t usually do things like this, but after meeting hairdresser Fiona Payet who owns Salon Royale at the Royal Children’s Hospital, I felt compelled to tell her story. Fiona opened Salon Royale at the Royal Children’s Hospital three years ago. Her first client was a paraplegic boy who had to be wheeled in on […]
Hi there, Here’s an article I wrote for Gourmet Traveller about working on my friend’s food truck. It was kind of him to let me near his crusty buns. Please note – I’m not a millennial. I was Gen Y in the original text, but the editors must have deemed me too old chook… Enjoy. Bok bok! […]
Friday was a busy day. Opened my birthday presents in the morning and had a baby in the afternoon. Father is resting peacefully and deriving comfort from icepacks and hydrogel breast discs on his grazed nipples. Obstetrician and ward staff are seeking compensation for perforated eardrums. Baby – Holly Nina Hines – is of middling […]
Mother knows best(ish) With a baby on the way, it’s time to reflect on the wisdom Mother has passed onto me o’er the years. From cooking and fashion, to how to conduct oneself in photographs and the workplace, it’s safe to say that Mother knows how to navigate the jungle of life. Don’t wear heavy […]
We’d had our 13 week scan, everything was looking swell (especially me) and so it was time to tell Mum and Dad that I was not just portly but also pregnant. I wasn’t quite sure how the scene would play out. None of us are really into grand public displays of affection and my preferred […]
Unfurl a banana, scratch your armpit and de-louse a loved one: the Chinese Year of the Monkey is upon us! This is the year to go ape over banana milkshakes; to listen to the collected works of the Monkees; and to enjoy toasting a cheese sandwich on your gorilla (griller). Here’s a little something I wrote for SBS Food on Chinese […]
After my glorious $5,000 tennis loss-but-win, it’s time to reflect on some other sporting triumphs. 1.The wrong hole – At basketball I once sunk a stunning three. This would have been highly commendable had I not shot it into the wrong hoop. As the ball swished through the net, I did a little victory dance […]
Me. Fox FM radio hosts Fifi Box and Dave Thornton. Doubles legend Todd Woodbridge. A rope and $5,000. A game of Cluedo doesn’t get much more interesting than this. Let’s rewind. In 2012, after two decades of playing tennis, a dicky knee forced me into an early retirement. I hung up the sweat bands and […]
On your birthday people may try to sing Happy Birthday to you. You could be in a restaurant, at the family dinner table or crammed into a boardroom with indifferent colleagues. Wherever you are, it’s guaranteed to be awkward. While people sing at you, you must look a complicated combination of humbled, demure, grateful and […]
Last night my partner had a dream. No, it wasn’t that ‘one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed’, though that would have been good. It was that the entire bedroom was suddenly flooded with sea water! Ocean creatures from near and far were crowding into the bedroom: porpoises, […]
Kelly Eng 