The Northern Ballet I love watching dance, but I'd never been to the ballet before last weekend when I went to see The Northern Ballet Theatre's production of Hamlet at Sadler's Wells and I didn't know what to expect.
			Valentin You would have thought that I'd be nearly fluent in Spanish, given the amount of Spanish and Latin American films I end up recommending - and Valentin is another that had me transfixed.
			Muddy Cook There are some ideas that are so simple and so obvious that one wonders why no-one has done it before and Muddy Cook is just such – a website that allows you to create your own perfect mix of muesli.
			The Hambledon The reason for my sudden interest in Winchester is because of The Hambledon , a shop that I read about in a newspaper a while ago and have wanted to visit ever since.
			Mad Men Say what you like about its foreign policy and its attitude to climate change, but the US has given the world some great TV and Mad Men is the latest in the tradition that produced The West Wing etc.
			The Gluttonous Gardener The Gluttonous Gardener has a fantastic array of presents for gardening 'enthusiasts' like me - boxes themed by occasion or according to the taste of the recipient.
			Mister Pip I have just finished a wonderful book called Mister Pip about a teacher who uses Great Expectations to teach the children on the South Pacific island of Bougainville.
			A Mighty Heart I watched the first two-thirds of A Mighty Heart convinced that there would be a happy ending, which only made the realisation that this wasn't going to be the case all the more shocking.
			Cox & Cox What Cox & Cox do really well, I think are little gifts that are a bit different from what you'll find elsewhere and (for the most part) won't break the bank.
			The Night Of The Sunflowers A Spanish movie, The Night Of The Sunflowers is the complete antithesis of most Hollywood thrillers - subtle, ambiguous and without the neat ending that the big US studios seem to require.
			Let It Die One of the great things about having more people in the hush office these days is we can share our favourite books, films, CDs etc. and I have Cat to thank for putting me onto Feist's Let It Die.
			Baileys Baileys is a mail-order company specialising in really interesting old-fashiony stuff for the kitchen and bathroom, as well as great garden furniture and vintage gardening tools.
			Audio Sushi Aside from being a great name, Audio Sushi is also a great idea - a kind of personal shopping service for your music.
			The Almost Moon It seems impossible to say anything about The Almost Moon without quoting its opening sentence: "When all is said and done, killing my mother came easily."
			Choi Time I'm not ordinarily a great tea drinker, but there is tea and there is tea - and believe me when I say that Choi Time is as far removed from PG Tips as you can get.
			The Lives Of Others I have to confess that for the first few minutes of The Lives Of Others I was blaming my father-in-law for giving me a real duff steer.
			Molecule 01 Never having been a teenage shoplifter, I can count the number of times I have been chased down the road by a shop assistant on the fingers of, well, one finger.
			A Long Way Gone When Ismael Beah was 12 years old, he was a child soldier fighting in the brutal civil war in his native Sierra Leone - strung out on drugs and casual slaughter. A Long Way Gone is his story.
			The Painted Veil It is 10 years since I left Australia and moved to Hong Kong and thankfully I didn't go as the reluctant wife of a man I didn't love like the heroine of The Painted Veil.
			The Gift Of Rain The Gift Of Rain is the story of many things, but at its essence is Phillip Hutton, a half-Chinese, half-English boy, and his conflicting loyalties towards his enigmatic (Japanese) martial arts teacher.
			Hors de Prix (Priceless) The real reason you need to see Priceless is for the clothes Audrey Tautou wears. They are truly unbelievable. I could have watched the film in French (or without headphones) just to drool over them.
			Labour And Wait I am so excited to have discovered Labour and Wait is a UK shop (and website) devoted to "timeless, functional products for daily life".
			A Thousand Splendid Suns I have been waiting for the publication of A Thousand Splendid Suns almost since I closed Khaled Hosseini's amazing debut novel The Kite Runner for the last time.
			Gü I don't normally need much persuasion to buy chocolate (as regular readers of this newsletter will know), especially when the chocolate comes in the form of the delicious puddings from Gü
			Taste Festivals The quality of the food in the UK has long been the butt of other countries' jokes., but things have changed dramatically, as the success of the Taste festivals show.
			Father's Day Father's Day normally goes by without me giving it a second thought. My own dad is on the other side of the world and my husband still hasn't realised that he now qualifies.
			Little Fashion Gallery I'm so excited that the Little Fashion Gallery - an online emporium of the most beautiful children's clothing (and furniture, toys etc.) imaginable - is coming to the UK.
			Half In Love The only recommendation I've had from the author's mouth was Half In Love , a collection of short stories by an American called Maile Meloy, whom we met on holiday in Maine a few years ago.
			Little Miss Sunshine These days, I have to wait until the DVD release (or a long flight to Australia) before I catch up on my film watching - but I thought Little Miss Sunshine was well worth the wait.
			The Panty Postman I don't want to make any of you feel bad, but the average lifespan of a single pair of knickers is apparently only three months, according to The Panty Postman
			Kurt Geiger Sneakers Taking pride of place among my purchases were this pair of beautiful silver Kurt Geiger trainers - and I think I've spent more time admiring them than wearing them.
			Nouvelle Vague Vol.1 I will always think of Nouvelle Vague Vol.1 as the soundtrack to the hush summer 07 catalogue as this is what make-up artist Darren had on his i-Pod throughout the two-day shoot.
			Walk On Water Our local video shop is closing down and so they have been selling off ex-rental DVDs for next to nothing - which is how I came across Walk On Water.
			Love In The Present Tense A good book is a good book, whatever mood you are in or whatever your time of life, but I couldn't have read Love In The Present Tense at a better time.
			Melt The last thing you need when you're trying to lose some of your post-pregnancy pounds is Easter... because Easter is synonymous for me with chocolate.
			Coconut Ice Cream I love coconut ice cream, so when Josie, the photographer's wife, mentioned that her brother-in-law was a pastry chef in a Melbourne restaurant, I asked for his recipe.
			Paradise Now I have Mariella Frostrup to thank for putting me onto Paradise Now as the first I heard of it was when she metioned it in an article in the same breath as The Kite Runner.
			Half A Yellow Sun I wanted to make sure the last book I read before my nights became someone else's was a memorable one - and Half Of A Yellow Sun was certainly that.
			The Cosy Company Anything with cosy in its name is sure to appeal to us here at hush, so we were very excited to try out a silk-filled duvet and pillow from The Cosy Company.
			American Apparel T-shirts are either ridiculously expensive, plain white or terrible quality. Or they're ridiculously expensive, plain white and terrible quality.
			Heart-Shaped Fried Eggs I imagine your Valentine's Day will follow a pretty similar pattern to mine- the champagne breakfast in bed, the two dozen roses.
			Grey's Anatomy I try not to watch too much TV, but there are a couple of nights a week when I make sure I'm at home, snuggled up on the sofa in my hush pyjamas.
			Notes On A Scandal They say that if you have really enjoyed a book, you should never go to see the film afterwards. The theory is that even a great film adaptation will never live up to the book of your imagination.
			Christmas Pudding I can still remember my surprise (and grave disappointment) when I discovered that my now husband's family celebrated Christmas WITHOUT Christmas pudding.
			Fairy Lights When I bought my first house back in Melbourne half a lifetime ago, the very first thing I did was buy a set of fairy lights.
			Jeanine Payer If anyone reading this is thinking of buying me a Christmas present this year, then here is something that I would really love - a Jeanine Payer necklace.
			The Vanishing Act Of Esme Lennox I love it when I come across books like The Vanishing Act Of Esme Lennox, where I knew after only a dozen or so pages that I was really going to enjoy it.
			Mac One of my little indulgences before a night out is to nip into my nearest Mac store and have my make-up done.
			Undiscovered There's a certain irony in calling your first album Undiscovered, especially if that album then goes on to sell millions and top the UK charts.
			The Clock Winder It's always great to get recommended a good book by a friend whose literary tastes you share, but it's even better when she recommends a new author - especially if the author isn't new at all.
			The Sea Inside If I told you that The Sea Inside was a Spanish film about a 55-year-old quadriplegic's real-life battle to be allowed to die, you would probably opt to do likewise rather than make it your choice of evening viewing.
			Chocolate Brownies Most women get cravings for all kinds of weird food when they are pregnant. I seem to have the opposite reaction - and go off the things that I normally crave.
			Go Everyone now knows Katie Holmes as Mrs Tom Cruise, the woman who caused the world's most famous movie star to dance around like a lovestruck teenager on Oprah while she had his baby in Scientology-induced silence...
			Mystery, Alaska When Russell Crowe wins an Oscar, we Aussies are very proud to claim him as one of us. When he’s pinning a BBC producer to the wall because he’s not allowed to read a poem at the Baftas, we make sure...
			Fierce People How many times have you stood in an airport bookshop and wondered what book to buy to while away the hours ahead?
			Strawberry Daiquiris I've never been much of a drinker, mainly because I don't really like the taste of alcohol.
			May Contain Nuts It so happens that we live very close to John O’Farrell and are ourselves just embarking on the hideous process that is finding a school for our daughter – the subject of his most recent book May Contain Nuts.
			Nine Queens Why is it that all Hollywood remakes of foreign language films are so much worse than the original?
			Barbecued burgers As an Aussie, I love a good barbie. Apart from anything else, it’s a great chance to get the Aussie men to cook. They love it – standing outside over...
			The Instant Cook Donna Hay is Australia’s version of Delia Smith, except she’s probably a bit groovier than Delia. More like Martha Stewart…without the prison sentence.
			StarBlu What is it with men and swimming shorts? Perhaps it’s the sun, perhaps it’s some kind of pre-holiday hysteria, but it is an undeniable truth that men are incapable of choosing a nice pair of swimming shorts.
			Spinach Dip One of my closest friends in Australia Chyka just so happens to be a ridiculously talented cook and caterer. She and her husband Bruce own Australia's finest (no, I'm not biased) catering company - The Big Group.
			No Added Sugar I’m off home to Australia next month with my little daughter Rosie to see my family and shoot the hush winter catalogue – and I can’t say I’m looking forward to the flight too much.
	Corsica If you wondered why this page was not updated last week it was because I was sunning myself in Corsica. All in the name of research for this section of the website of course.
	Walk The Line I don’t think I could have named a single Johnny Cash song before I watched Walk The Line – and I’m not sure I could name any now apart from the track that gives this film its name.
	breads etcetera I’ve been moaning for ages that there isn’t a decent bakery near us. In fact, I’ve been complaining that there doesn’t really seem to be that many decent bakeries in the UK as a whole.
	P20 We’re paranoid about the sun back home in Australia, perhaps because we get to see it more than twice a year.
	Daylesford The things I do in the name of research for this page I thought the other week as I sat in my car hopelessly lost in the Cotswolds with a girlfriend and my (increasingly impatient) little daughter for company.
	Almost French I have been away from Australia for almost ten years now, first in Hong Kong and now in the UK, and I can tell you that it isn’t always easy living in a different country, especially during the early days.
	British Military Fitness If (like me) you ate too many Easter eggs and are now wishing that the Easter bunny had brought you sticks of celery rather than great big boulders of chocolate, then it’s time to put on the runners and...
	The Lindt Bunny My name is Mandy and I am a chocoholic. Okay, so now that I’ve got that confession off my chest, I can admit that the holiday I look forward to most every year is Easter
	Bleak House I have to admit that, unlike my husband, I haven’t got the patience to read a Charles Dickens book from cover to cover, but I normally really enjoy the film and TV adaptations.
	The Kite Runner I imagine that many of you will already have read this book or, if not, you will have come across one of the many rave reviews it has been given. In which case, I apologise, but I loved this book so much that I want everyone to read it.