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ContactLara Dunston2020-12-04T12:58:20+07:00

Contact Me

To contact me, please send an email to:

laradunston @ icloud.com

Brief Bio

Lara Dunston is a Cambodia based Travel & Food Writer and has regular gigs with:
The Guardian, CNN, Australian Gourmet Traveller, Feast, Delicious, The Independent, Telegraph, National Geographic Traveler / Traveller, Get Lost, Wanderlust, Travel+Leisure SEA, DestinAsian, AFAR. Read more here.

RELATED WEBSITES

Our travel website:
GRANTOURISMO TRAVELS

Our full service digital media agency:
GRANTOURISMO MEDIA

Our Cambodian retreats site:
SIEM REAP RETREATS

Partner Phtography Site:
TERENCE CARTER PHOTOGRAPHY

LATEST ON INSTAGRAM

A few of you have asked how Pepper is (thank you),

A few of you have asked how Pepper is (thank you), so thought we better share a pic. Pepper is very happy in the new apartment. She settled in here instantly, whereas she used to get cranky for a few days, and pace around the place like an angry lion in a cage. Before she would hide at the first drop of rain. Now she’s no longer a scaredy cat when it storms.

Pepper also loves the fact we’ve got a large wide sofa for the first time and lots more spots for her to sprawl out on, although the food magazines and cookbooks I’m perusing will always be a favourite place. Anyone would think I was looking for inspiration for *her* meals! Oh and she’s eating more than ever, if you hadn’t noticed. Not judging! The extra weight suits her and makes her more cuddly ;)

Pepper has always been an indoor cat but we’d love to train her to get used to the balconies. We’re on the third floor so I’m a bit nervous about letting her out there. Any tips?

#pepper #blackcat #blackcats #blackcatsofinstagram #blackcatsrule #blackcatsmatter #cat #cats #catsofinstagram #catstagram #catlover #catlovers #catlove #catoftheday #catphoto #catpic #catpics #cambodiancat #cambodiancatsofinstagram #catlife #catloversclub #catoftheday #catgram #catstagram #cats_of_instagram #catphotography #catsofig #catsoftheworld #catsofinsta #cats🐱 #siemreap #cambodia

In case you missed it, we have a new recipe on Gra

In case you missed it, we have a new recipe on Grantourismo for this Russian salmon potato salad with soft-boiled eggs, capers, gherkins and dill. It makes a fantastic filling salad that you can eat all year and who doesn’t love a year-round salad?

While you can refrigerate the salad and serve it cold for warm weather meals, such as late summer barbecues and spring picnics, in the cooler seasons you can serve it with warm potatoes and seared salmon straight from the pan.

It’s a salad that’s very easy to make, can be pulled together quickly and can often be left until the last minute.

While it makes a fantastic side, I can easily eat it on its own. If you want to jazz it up, do as my mum and baboushka used to do and add generous dollops of Russian caviar. Those were the days... sigh...

Our American friends: this is a great salad to have with your barbecues this Labor Day holiday.

Link in bio and here: https://grantourismotravels.com/salmon-potato-salad-recipe/

Image by @terence_carter_photography

#recipe #recipes #salad #salads #wintersalad #summersalad #springsalad #barbecue #bbqfood #salmon #picnicfood #russianfood #russianaustralianfood #russiancooking #cooking #homecooking #lunch #dinner #russianfamilyrecipes #cookbook #writingacookbook #foodwriter #cookbookwriter #foodblogger #foodphotographer #foodphotography #grantourismotravels #laborday #labordayweekend #labordayfood

I love our neighbours’ blue shutters and pink cu

I love our neighbours’ blue shutters and pink curtain. That’s all.

#siemreap #cambodia #southeastasia #asia #traditionalwoodenhouse #woodenhouse #blueshutters #shutters #woodenshutters #architecture #localarchitecture #cambodianarchitecture #palmtrees #localvernacular #architecturelovers #travelwriter #travelblogger
#grantourismo #grantourismotravels

My creamy mushroom Stroganoff recipe will make you

My creamy mushroom Stroganoff recipe will make you a deliciously-rich vegetarian version of my Russian beef Stroganoff recipe that is super easy to make and comes together quickly.

My Stroganoff recipes are based partly on memory of my family’s dishes and partly on the earliest documented Russian beef Stroganoff recipe by Elena Molokhovets in A Gift to Young Housewives, dating to 1861. I tried to create a recipe that was as close to that recipe as possible while still tasting like the family dishes I remember.

Serve it with pasta or rice, buckwheat kasha, crispy shoestring fries, or mashed potatoes. A Russian garden salad is a must. Whatever you do, plate the mushroom Stroganoff with a generous dollop of sour cream and plenty of fresh dill, and serve additional bowls of gherkins, sour cream and dill on the side so guests (remember them?!) can customise as they wish.

Link in bio and here: https://grantourismotravels.com/mushroom-stroganoff-recipe/

Image by @terence_carter_photography

#recipe #recipes #comfortfood #winterfood #russianfood #russianaustralianfood #russiancooking #cooking #homecooking #mushrooms #mushroomstroganoff #beefstroganoff #stroganoff #stew #lunch #dinner #comfortfood #homecooked #homecookedmeal #russianfamilyrecipes #cookbook #writingacookbook #foodwriter #cookbookwriter #foodblogger #foodphotographer #foodphotography #grantourismotravels

Beautiful encaustic tiles on the breezeway cum sit

Beautiful encaustic tiles on the breezeway cum sitting area outside our apartment. I would have rented this apartment in a heartbeat if the real estate agent would have sent me a pic of the tiles. Just kidding. Sort of.

I’ve updated our comprehensive insider guide to renting an apartment in Siem Reap based on our experience renting three apartments since the start of the pandemic (not by choice!) and six apartments in Cambodia, five in Siem Reap.

I’ve added questions to ask real estate agents/landlords: what to look for in the lease and inventory so there are no shocks when you’re leaving; and an interview with real estate agent Dave Granger, manager @ips.cambodia which we’ve found to be the most professional real estate agents in Cambodia. (I’ll also be expanding/updating the section on visas over coming days).

We decided on our latest apartment, which we moved into early this month, based on photos, answers to a long list of questions to the real estate agent, and a walk-through video that Chhay from IPS shot on his phone for us. It’s the first time in decades of renting we’ve rented a place without stepping into it and scrutinising every detail, but we didn’t have much choice after our last apartment complex was quarantined and we were confined for 16 days.

When we were finally released I met Chhay and the property manager to sign the new lease and that was the first time I set foot in the place. Terence didn’t see it until later that evening! Fortunately we made the right decision and are loving it, but based on our previous experiences, it was a risk.

You’ll find our very comprehensive guide here and there’s a link in the bio: https://grantourismotravels.com/renting-an-apartment-in-siem-reap/

Happy to answer any questions! xx

#siemreap #cambodia #travel #slowtravel #traveldeeper #southeastasia #asia #guide #movingapartments #movingtocambodia #guidetorentingapartments #guidetorenting #renting #apartmentrentals #flathunting #realestatetips #expat #expatlife #expatliving #digitalnomad #digitalnomads #siemreapexpats #siemreapdigitalnomads #cambodiaexpats #grantourismotravels #tiles #ihaveathingfortiles #floortiles #frenchcolonial #encaustictiles

In case you missed it, we published a new Weekend

In case you missed it, we published a new Weekend Eggs recipe post for an easy scrambled eggs breakfast taco with avocado and chorizo. While it comes together quickly, if you serve it with an array of garnishes, salsas and hot sauces, it’s a breakfast — or brunch, lunch or even dinner — you’ll want to linger over.

There are few things better in life than a Mexican breakfast in Mexico, but a Mexican or Tex-Mex breakfast in Texas in the USA follows close behind. While Mexicans have long eaten tacos for breakfast – or brunch, lunch, dinner, or as a snack; at a taqueria, on the street, and in the home – it’s Texas that claims to have coined ‘breakfast taco’ and made the act of going out to eat ‘breakfast tacos’ a ritual. Mexican breakfasts out at a local market, taqueria or Mexican cafeteria is a ritual from our travels that we’re missing.

If you haven’t dropped by Grantourismo in a while, this year we revived our Weekend Eggs series on quintessential breakfast eggs dishes from around the world, which we first launched with Grantourismo over a decade ago. Recipes published in the rebooted series include everything from a Cambodian borbor (rice porridge) to a Thai fried egg salad recipe for yam khai dao to a Japanese rolled omelette recipe and Australian cafe style avocado toast.

We usually try to publish our Weekend Eggs recipes every Friday if we can. Link here and in the bio on IG to this one: https://grantourismotravels.com/scrambled-eggs-breakfast-taco-recipe-chorizo-avocado/

Photo by @terence_carter_photography

#recipe #recipes #recipeoftheday #recipeideas #eggs #breakfasteggs #breakfast #breakfastideas
#scrambledeggs #avocado #avocados #chorizo #mashedavocado #breakfasttacos #tacos #mexicanfood #texmexfood #eggsfromaroundtheworld #brunch #brunchtime #brunchideas #cooking #homecooking #igfood #foodporn #foodstagram #foodwriter #foodblogger #weekendeggs #grantourismotravels

ALL MEDIA (WORDS AND IMAGES) COPYRIGHT © 2007– LARA DUNSTON AND TERENCE CARTER | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
DESIGNED IN APARTMENT RENTALS, HOTELS AND RESORTS AROUND THE WORLD BY GRANTOURISMO MEDIA. ASSEMBLED IN SOUTH-EAST-ASIA.

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