FRIDAY 31st JANUARY 2025

And just like that, January is gone!

The year is whizzing by, but what a great month January was!

Starting with the SCG test and watching a win against India; a fabulous family gathering for my brother-in-law’s birthday; an excellent and delicious trip mid-month to Canberra for my birthday; and to round it out, a long weekend with the bestest-of-friends in Tuross Heads. We will also squeeze in an overseas trip before month’s end with a quick jaunt to the North Island of NZ. Now who could complain about month like that!

Somehow, I also managed to fit in taking over the voluntary role as coordinator of the Wagga Chapter of OzHarvest, and have started to get to know the team of fab volunteers. Around 20 locals give their time each week to ensure that edible and usable food is rescued from ending up as landfill and distributed to a range of food-relief charities who provide it to people who need support across the region.

I have recorded a segment all about it for ABC Riverina, feel free to listen in next Thursday (6 Feb, after 9:30am news) if you have the time or interest. If you happen to live locally and want to join the volunteer list, please get in touch with me or you can find more information on their website HERE.

Joining the cause to ‘Nourish our Country’ seemed like an obvious choice for me and their mission is well aligned to my values. Did you know that in Australia, 7.6 million tonnes of food is wasted every year, costing the economy around $36 billion annually? What a waste that is!

Tuross Heads is becoming a favourite spot on the South Coast, not least because our very dear friends have a house there. A gathering of seven hosted by them over the long weekend was such fun, and of course, I insisted on taking on the catering duties. We had a bit of a laugh that if we all moved in together in a large home that I would be allocated a room close to the kitchen. My friends think that they are being spoiled having me cooking for them, but the reality is I can think of no better place to be. Give me the kitchen over the laundry any day!

After arriving on Friday afternoon, we started with a nibble platter; followed by a very simple BBQ of great sausages, salad and fresh bread (aka sausage sizzle 😉 ) No dessert, but before bed I did do some quick prep for Saturday night’s dinner including marinating the chicken and soaking the raisins in rum.

Saturday started with home-made granola, fresh fruit and yoghurt; and “Banjos” (egg and bacon rolls) then a walk down to ‘Main Beach’ for a lovely cool swim. The water was that perfect temperature where you need to brace on entry, but once you have been in for a couple of minutes is perfectly refreshing. I kept my eye out for a seal that apparently pops up regularly to surprise swimmers and was also keeping a close watch on a few young swimmers who were camping with family nearby, to make sure they weren’t swept up in the strong current that moves parallel to the beach. The beach is very close to the narrow entranceway through to the Tuross Lake and, apart from when the tide is turning, the movement of water through the passage is quite hectic, with waves constantly breaking and looking almost like a white-water rafting location.

Sitting or lying on the sand following a swim is not on my list of favourite things to do, in fact there’s not a lot I can think of that I like less. Even wet sand on my feet gives me the heebie-jeebies and I’m always eager to get to a spot where I can wash it off. As a kid I pretty much refused to go to beaches, usually sitting on a nearby seawall with my bottom lip pouting, which was probably a little unhelpful to my parents who were managing four of us 🙄. Our friends caught a glimpse of that pouting when someone lifted a sand covered towel next to me and I sharply let them know to keep clear of me. It’s all in good humour these days, but I still avoid sand as much as I can.

The weekend away was made even more special as we were celebrating one of our friend’s (Shaun’s) upcoming 60th Birthday. The ‘festival of Shaun’ centred around a Carribean themed dinner, but not before a visit to a local micro-brewery in Moruya, then onto Fox Dog Distillery in Mogo for lunch and gin tastings. If you ever get down that way, I highly recommend lunch there. My lunch of a ‘Sunnyside Salad’ (sweet garden peas, quinoa, sundried tomatoes, persian fetta, basil emulsion, rocket, roast almonds) was really tasty and everyone else also enjoyed their choices. For some reason the only thing I took photos of was my gin tasting 😉

Our theme of Carribean for the birthday dinner was chosen because of our visit there last year and the Perry’s upcoming visit. We started with ‘jerk chicken’ while sitting on the balcony, then moved to the dining table for our main course of Jamaican beef ribs with pineapple slaw; and prawns etouffee with buttered corn rice. Etouffee is more Creole than Carribean, but I’d picked up a seasoning mix in New Orleans that I wanted to try 😉

We finished with rum and raisin ice-cream, with its namesake’s chocolate grated over the top. I was planning to serve it with grilled pineapple, but we were all past our tipping points with stomach space so saved the pineapple for Sunday.

The highlight of the night was the look on Shaun’s face when we all walked in with matching pyjamas monogrammed with his face all over them.

More walking and beach swims on Sunday morning, including an Australia Day breakfast at One Tree Beach courtesy of the local Marine Rescue Group. After a stop-off for seal viewing, we then drove to Narooma for a late lunch at the Merivale owned “Quarterdeck”. The three natural oysters to start were fresh, briny and delicious as you might expect from this region, and my entree of charred octopus salad (with heirloom tomatoes, baby cucumber, red onion, capers, chilli and red wine vinegarette) was actually one of the most delicious salads I’ve eaten in a long time. Full of flavour, acidity, smokiness and that beautiful texture balance between the soft octopus and the crunchy cucumber. Yum! I could easily go back for another serve or two of that! Unsurprisingly, Dave had the fish and chips which were generous and perfectly cooked – and the batter light and crunchy; and I devoured my main course of Mussels cooked in roasted tomato & lager broth. Others all enjoyed their choices too, although one person’s swordfish main was a little bland and overcooked. The restaurant sits right on Forsters Bay which was such a delightful spot for the group of us and accompanied by a few stories and laughs, made for a fabulous afternoon.

Needless to say, we didn’t need much for dinner, but after a brief afternoon nap (we are old people now, right 😉 ) we did pull a few leftovers together including making fried rice with the bits and pieces in the fridge’s vegetable drawer, based on the rice I bought at the Indian supermarket in Wagga a few weeks ago. A friend recommended this brand of rice to me, and I am now obsessed with it… who knew there could be such an impact from rice choices – but I’ll go into that in more detail in a future post.

Monday’s breakfast at the nearby Tuross Boatshed and Cafe was a lovely way to finish our few days together before we all headed in different directions – us to Sydney. I was expecting terrible traffic given it was the end of a long weekend, but we arrived at Victoria’s place mid-afternoon with relative ease… just in time for another nap (do you see a theme here), then dinner with her and Justin at the local RSL club, followed by getting drenched in the torrential downpour that hit Sydney just before dark.

We are now in New Zealand. After a couple of days in Auckland we will head off road-tripping for a few days to explore a bit of the North Island. First stop probably Rotorua but no exact plans. All suggestions of places to visit are most welcome 🙂

Kia ora xx.