Perhaps something more affordable, Aussie Maeve O'Meara offers one-day meanderings mainly around her hometown of Sydney - check out the Indulgence Safari, for those with a sweet tooth (me! me!).

Maeve also organises week long gourmet safaris to various Australian and International destinations (like Greece, Bali and Vietnam) AND if you want to indulge in more, like shop, spa and stuff yourself, there's her Gorgeous Safari where you will be pampered by massages, facials, shopping and feasting. Now THAT's a safari! :)

For more information, visit http://www.gourmetsafaris.com.au/

I came across this site, Gourmet Safari, which organises culinary tours to Italy, France, Spain and Morocco. Imagine cooking in a farmhouse in Tuscany, drinking wine in Provence, having an authentic paella in Spain and tasting the delights of Morocco.

Going on this would definitely be a dream come true and I'm going to add this to my list of Dream Journeys ....

http://www.gourmetsafari.com/

It was too good to resist, dinner cooked by Curtis Stone, the Take Home Chef. The question to answer was, "Why would you like to have dinner with Curtis Stone?" Why?? Well, who wouldn't want to have dinner with a guy who had just been voted one of the sexiest men alive and he cooks too?? Anyway, I said that Curtis Stone has made a mundane chore like cooking exciting, inviting and sexy! (somewhere along those lines anyway). I mean, if I had to choose dinner with Curtis Stone or Gordon Ramsay, who do you think I'd choose?

Anyway, one fine Tuesday evening, about 150 diners congregated at the Hilton Kuala Lumpur Ballroom to "spend the evening" with Mr Stone. I was very pleasantly surprised upon registration to receive a copy of Curtis Stone's latest book Cooking with Curtis: Easy, Everyday and Adventurous Recipes for the Home Cook which I was told he would autograph later. The book is great with fantastic photos by photographer Craig Kinder.

We were ushered into the Ballrooom and proceeded to our assigned tables. I met some lovely dinner companions for that evening and we had some great and crazy conversations. Amazing how food can bring people together :)

With much fanfare, Curtis arrived and proceeded to give us a demo of a similar dish he would serve that evening - tagliatelle with lobster. He made it look SO easy and I'm sure it tasted good too.

Onto the dinner that we were served .. there were 4 courses all in all ...including

Skewered Shirmps marinated with Garlic, Olive Oil and Lemon

Homemade Tagliatelle with Tomatoes and roasted chicken breast (originally this was chicken sausage)

and Chocolate Cheese Cake.

Sounds yummy? I'll let some the photos speak for themselves (do excuse the colour of the shrimp and pasta course - they dimmed the lighting in the ballroom and i don't really like using flash when taking photos of food ..)

The night ended with an autograph session by Curtis Stone and while I'm not normally a person who would be bothered lining up but seeing I was there and everyone else was lining up anyway .. and with D looking at me at disbelief that I was actually going to line up .. I did line up, and got him to sign my copy of hisbook Cooking with Curtis: Easy, Everyday and Adventurous Recipes for the Home Cook . Astro, the organisers were even nice enough to provide a photographer to take Polaroids of us with him.

My question to Mr Stone that night was "Have you tried durian yet?" to which he screwed up his sexy face, smiled and said, "Yes, but I'm not sure if I like it .. but I'd like to try it again~!"

It was a real fun night and I look forward to more .. in the meantime, if you still can't get enough of Curtis Stone, here's a few links you may be interested in ..

Curtis Stone website (also features his kitchen range - i want the Bump and Grind!!!!)

TLC: Take Home Chef Fan website (it's got recipes, videos, etc too..)

And Curtis, if you're reading this, I'll take you home anytime!!! :)