You know that feeling when you're on holiday somewhere special and you wake up early when the sun's just rising and there's the promise of a beautiful day, and the sea is clear and calling your name, so you go for a swim before breakfast but you're still in the water at midday because the waves are just so darned delicious and there are schools of fish swimming at your toes, and besides, you're sure there's some mighty fine tucker to be devoured with gusto whenever you're good and ready? Yeah that!

Over 250 invited chefs, producers, winemakers, entertainers and media will descend on Noosa and its iconic surroundings during May to join food enthusiasts from around the world to celebrate the good things in life.

'You're very attractive for a woman in her dancing years,' Peter said to me one evening, as he gazed deep into my eyes. 'How very charming,' I thought to myself. My heart was all-a-flutter and I held those romantic words of his in a special place -- until I mentioned them to him during a playful moment a few months later.

These baby nashi pears are reminiscent of the cool, crisp autumn mornings we're now experiencing and soon the leaves on many of our trees will bear this shade. Summer is definitely over for us and the change in temperatures, particularly overnight and at the break of dawn, is quite remarkable.

Having the opportunity to meet, watch and learn from some of the world's culinary greats was one of the things I loved best about the cooking school that I once co-owned. Cooking legends from Australia and the other side of the world don't often gather in one place to showcase their talents every day. Do they?

'Good food has never come from factory farms, process lines, canteens, supermarkets and fast food chains. It still belongs to careful vegetable gardeners, painstaking cheese makers and dedicated chef-patrons, meeting in the bustling market-place.'                                                                       
                                                                                    —  Michael Symons, One Continuous Picnic (Penguin) 

On our way driving from Brisbane to our Noosa holiday destination last week, we stopped at Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast for a bite to eat. We'd been travelling since 9am and the 'food' served on the flight did little to fill our bellies. Surveying the various restaurants and cafés along the Esplanade, the menu at Hot Pipis caught our attention. 

'I feel like having hotcakes and fruit for breakfast after our swim,' I said to Peter as we walked hand-in-hand along the sandy shore of Laguna Bay. 'Do you now,' he replied, staring dreamily out to the blue on the horizon. And have them we did!

'From the obligatory [special] dinner to the unexpected glass of fresh-squeezed juice, the act of preparing food for another (or with another) speaks louder and clearer than most words. It says, with no exceptions, I love you. I want you. I care for you. You are worth the effort.'
                                                        — Martha Hopkins and Randall Lockridge, InterCourses : An aphrodisiac cookbook