It was a chance discussion with a friend earlier in the week that lead me to open up the cupboard in the kitchen where I keep all my recipe books, and take down the tome that is titled, "Gourmet Delights". It's an old tin with a flip top lid hinged to the side that opens like the cover of a book. I bought it in a flea market decades ago, and originally it contained chocolates. These days it contains scraps of paper and newspaper cuttings of recipes that I promise I will one day write down and store properly for posterity.

It’s a scene played out countless times everyday - two comparative strangers meet and find they share a common interest in food or cooking. Before too long, the conversation turns to food sources, recipes, the merits of different cuisines and one’s ability to cook and with that comes a subversive tone, as each tries to outdo the other.

According Fruit Grower's Victoria Chairman, Andrew Plunkett, it’s pear time. While we may be inundated with stone fruit and the bounty of late summer, early varieties of pears are at their best now and in the next few weeks.

When I think of markets I think of the open-air sort that spring up in every Asian and European town. Wander through any unfamiliar mid-sized town of, say, 5000 people or more and anyone can tell you exactly where the markets will be and when. Twice a week, every night after 6pm, Saturday mornings, early evenings during summer – the locals will know not only when but where.

How do you teach a budding barista the skill of making the definitive, perfect espresso? Can such a pinnacle of attainment be demonstrated in the classroom, or is it a dark intuitive art honed after years of experience?

It was, predictably enough given ours is a foodie household, an impressive achievement to lay siege to the mountain of food that was laid on over the Christmas New Year period. In the smallish kitchen of our house, and using two fridges, one chest freezer, a hooded barbeque and a dodgy oven, we prepared, shared and consumed food over a series of feasts that lasted three days.

Blame Adriano Zumbo and THAT cooking show, but 2009 has seen the rise and rise of the pastry chef. And thank goodness for that, I say.

If a head chef is the conductor of the kitchen orchestra, then a good pastry chef is a true alchemist.

The very first worldwide Terra Madre Day is to be held on December 10, 2009 to celebrate locally produced food that is good, clean and fair. It is also the 20th anniversary of the Slow Food Movement.

I once designed an entire house around a walk-in pantry - not a kitchen, not a separate parents retreat, not a series of rooms with views, but a single walk-in spacious pantry with Room To Move.

Quick Smart Cook, the latest book from the Delicious team, with 120 recipes by Valli Little is everything we have come to expect.