At the recent Illawarra and South Coast Business Awards, Fairy Meadow dessert shop Pasticceria Massimo Papa was awarded Business of the Year for 2022. They also received the outstanding bakery/cake business award. Congratulations to Massimo and all the team, and long may they deliver their huge range of delicious savoury and sweet treats.

A couple of weeks ago I covered the Hindu/Sikh festival Diwali and listed some great Illawarra Indian restaurants. One reader admonished me for omitting Dosa Houze and Dessert Corner. The South Indian restaurant opened in December 2021 in the new complex under WIN Stadium. Dosas (a thin pancake made from a fermented rice and lentil batter) are a small part of the extensive menu, which includes a selection of lovely sweet treats.

Recently The Guardian published a list of the 20 best Australian cookbooks. I love a cookbook, having nearly 100 on my bookshelf though I have only five on the list, including number 1 (First Nations), which I was given for a recent milestone birthday and number 20 (The Margaret Fulton Cookbook) which I inherited from my mum. I still have my collection of Women's Weekly cookbooks, including number 17.

Another recent Guardian article, written by Margaret Fulton’s granddaughter, Kate Gibbs, discusses our relationship with cookbooks. She recalls her grandmother, when asked to sign a copy of one of her 1968 cookbooks, flicking through the pages and admonishing the owner for never having used it because there were no splatters or stuck-together pages.

Did you know Wollongong City Libraries has a huge range of cookbooks, including new releases? It’s free to join and free to borrow. If you are cooking from borrowed library books, try to avoid splattering samples onto the pages.