The Bikie Wars

Our uber-labour-intensive project on Australia's bikie wars. Lotsa cool graphics. Even did the music for this one! www.smh.com.au/bikies

Something to herald spring ... and to close winter

Springtime. Star jasmine is scenting the night air through open windows and cars are already filling up the beach suburbs on weekends.

Here are a couple of meals perfect for the change of season: a sprightly, green soup to awaken the tastebuds and cheer in spring, and a slow-cooked veal ragu to serve over pasta, for a final taste of winter. And to eat alongside an episode of The Sopranos.

I dreamt up this soup in April after a long North American winter of starch, processed food and wizened root vegetables. On a day when the muddy snow had finally melted away and new buds were unfurling on bare branches, I spied some baby zucchini in the produce market. Tucked up in rows like newborns: tender little mites no longer than my fingers.

Never before had the arrival of spring seemed as exhilarating! I turned them into a lively green soup of fresh new vegies with a burst of lemon – new life in a bowl. The end result is a light broth made creamy from the addition of fresh ricotta cheese: rich and sweet and utterly delectable. Once you try it you'll never go back to the pre-packaged kind.

Any young, fresh spring greens will do; apart from the ones used here you could also try asparagus, sorrel, pea shoots and nettles. Leeks aside, the vegies should be barely cooked, retaining a bit of crunch.

It's also an incredibly quick dinner, especially if you use peas straight out of the freezer. I find it satisfying enough for a main meal, especially if you serve it with slices of sourdough to add ballast.

What about something for those rainy nights when spring loses its flimsy hold on September? How about the slow-cooked veal ragu I mentioned last week but cruelly didn't provide a recipe for.

Sexual Warfare

My latest project is live on The Sydney Morning Herald website: Sexual Warfare: rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo. My ode to MediaStorm's style of multimedia. With superb photojournalism from Kate Geraghty.

Melbourne weekend

Saturday morning: Best-selling author at a Sydney Airport bookstore


Saturday night: Min and Seamus at Pizza Meine Liebe, Northcote (try the potato and white truffle pizza)


Sunday brunch: Working the corner at Mitte, Fitzroy North (have the cinnamon poached pear and apple macadamia crumble and marscapone)


Sunday night: Catching the tram to Cutler & co, Fitzroy


Tanqueray 10, tonic and pink grapefruit


The salad Lyonnaise with cubes of smoked tongue, garlic sausage, pig's ear, confit duck gizzards and bruléed duck yolk


Chocolate dessert with "soil"


Min makes short work of hers


Honourable food mentions go to Degraves Espresso off Flinders Lane for Saturday brunch (espresso, eggs benedict and the Saturday Age) and Cafe Vue for Monday breakfast (croque monsieur, latte, John Bracks review).

My brave, brilliant friend

Professor Chris O'Brien "fundamentally changed lives" and left a lasting national legacy in fighting cancer, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told mourners at the renowned surgeon's state funeral today.

After decades of battling other people's cancer as a head and neck surgeon, Professor O'Brien succumbed to the disease himself late last week.

Saturday night, Balmoral

Petaluma Croser with Maggie Beer's Pheasant Farm paté and other goodies. Love your new beach pad Jem!