2024 Saxo Scandinavian Film Festival

Go north this winter with the best new Nordic films at the 2024 Saxo Scandinavian Film Festival.

Now screening at Palace cinemas in Australia until August, the festival showcases films from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

I especially enjoyed When the Light Breaks, a poignant drama, directed by Rúnar Rúnarrson.

Book review

Ghost Cities

By Siang Lu

RRP $32.99

“You may look like a Chinese person, but you cannot speak or read Mandarin.

“You are monolingual!

“The worst thing in this special context.”

With these words a young man, Xiang, is sacked from his job as a translator at Sydney's Chinese Consulate after his employers discovered that he doesn't speak a word of Chinese and has been depending on Google Translate for his work!

Chinese New Year 2024

The Chinese Year of the Wood Dragon starts on Saturday, 10 February, and traditionally celebrations go on for 15 days, ending on February 24.

Most Chinese families have a big reunion meal on the eve of Chinese New Year and in China this usually involves some family members travelling long distances to return to their villages, if they have gone to the big cities to work, so the trains and buses are always very crowded.

Christmas 2023

Remember all those Christmas movies we watched? Some of the famous lines in them are memorable because they are funny, poignant or memorable.

Or all three.

Here are some that I love.

“Faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to.” — Fred Gailey in Miracle on 34th Street.

“The thing about trains ... it doesn’t matter where they’re going. What matters is deciding to get on.” — Conductor in The Polar Express.

My nephew Lawrence Tan and his wife Marion who live in the UK had a bumper crop of chillies last summer and I promised to send them recipes using chillies. Here's one especially for Marion and I hope she cooks it for Lawrence soon.

Perhaps one day she'll cook it for me!

Prawn sambal for Marion

6-8 large raw prawns, remove feelers and rinse

½ large onion, sliced thickly

1 clove garlic crushed

1 ½ cups diced or crushed canned tomatoes

½ cup diced pineapple, fresh or canned (optional)