Apparently, this is post number 222 😲

I have no idea how accurate that number is. For example, I’m not sure if it includes draft posts or posts I have deleted, but either way it’s a lot, isn’t it?

I’ve always been more of a numbers than a words girl. I’m nowhere near into numbers as much as Victoria is, who has the most amazing numbers brain, but it’s always been my preference.

When I was at school (many moons ago😏) I always favoured Maths and Science subjects over English or Languages. In hindsight I think that was more about the teachers I had and who I learned best from, but none-the-less it has stuck with me. When I was about 16, my English teacher told me I’d never amount to anything. That comment did spur on a desperate need to prove her wrong, but it did also have the impact of creating a self-doubt within me that I couldn’t write, and words weren’t my thing.

As a chef, as a teacher, or even when I was working in leadership roles, I didn’t do a lot of writing. I could always put together a reasonable email (if I took the time to proof-read and remove errors), my texts can be usually deciphered and understood, and writing a recipe of course comes relatively easily. But ‘creative writing’ as it was known when I was at school has not been tackled often over my life, and to be honest, was usually avoided.

When Dave got sick with Lymphoma in 2016, I decided to write a blog. Giving multiple family and friends regular status updates on Dave’s health was time consuming, and didn’t help my state of mind. Dave was determined to tackle his illness with a positive attitude and listening to me recount multiple times each step of the medical processes over the phone was not what he needed.

And so, what was then called the ‘Taste of Treatment’ blog was born. I’ve now changed the name to ‘Taste of Travel’ but over the 222 posts since its inception I’ve actually learned to love to write! I can’t believe the fun I’ve had collecting information, pictures and stories, and the enjoyment I’ve got from recounting them. Initially, one of the main purposes was for me to be able to re-live past experiences by re-reading the blog, but that purpose has now extended to also entertain the handful (or so) of readers who regularly read what is now a weekly post. I’m no professional writer but stick that up your bum Year 11 English Teacher!

I’ve often heard retired people use the phrase, “I don’t know how I had time for work,” and this last week has felt a bit like that.

I’ve jumped in on food collection runs with a few of the OzHarvest volunteers who I coordinate, which has been a wonderful way to get to know them and understand better what they do. It’s been especially good to meet some of the folk who work in the various charities we deliver to and learn more about the activities they undertake to support the community in Wagga. Talk about quiet achievers – there are so many doing amazing work!

I also travelled to Sydney last weekend with my sister, Bek, to spend some time with Dad and attend my niece’s bridal shower.

To make things even busier this week I’ve managed to get a Bladder Infection that won’t budge, so I’ve been poked, prodded and scanned to try to get to the bottom of that.

Then to round out the busyness of the week, travel planning for South America is in its final stages. Quite a bit of time has been spent attempting (unsuccessfully) to book a ferry from Buenos Aires to Montevideo (most annoying website ever) and we still haven’t decided what we will do for the last five or six days of the four weeks away. What I think we have landed on is a wait-and-see approach. By the time we get there we might have found out about something else we may want to do, or there’s the chance that Dave and I will be exhausted and need to have a few quiet days. I’m not one for ‘winging it’ but Will and Emma are experts and I’m keen to try things their way. The last of our currently planned stops is in Cusco (visiting Matchu Pitchu) from the 14-18 April, and apart from needing to get back to Santiago before our return flight to Australia on the 22nd there is nothing organised. What could go wrong 😉

Next week, I’ll give you a bit of a run-down on what is planned for the first few weeks of the trip. By the time I publish next week’s blog we will only be five days from departing, so I’m going to be pretty damn excited. Woo-hoo! ✈️

Bek and I left for Sydney on Friday morning and came home on Monday. The trip up and back with just her and I was an absolute delight – it’s so precious to spend that kind of time with my much-adored sister. The usually mundane five or six-hour drive actually went quite quickly as we chatted together, discussing (read ‘gossiping’) through every family matter we could think of.

We were chatting so well I missed the planned stop at Jugiong for lunch, so we ended up stopping at Barneys Cafe in Bookham for what turned out to be a fairly ordinary ham and salad sandwich. I should have known better than to expect fresh bread in a small-town cafe at 2pm, but this took stale to a whole other level. It was probably good that the salad vegetables were on the chunky side because I ended up eating it as a salad rather than a sandwich. I’ve had reasonable food there before, and Bek’s spinach roll was pretty good, so I won’t write them off yet.

We arrived at Dad and Pamela’s in Manly just before dinner and ducked over to the Corso to find something for dinner for the four of us. We ended up with some fabulous dumplings and a few other super tasty dishes from a place called Dear Deer Dumplings. I highly recommend it if you’re ever near there. The favourite thing for all of us was a side dish called ‘crushed cucumber with garlic sauce’ which, while the name didn’t mention it was smothered in a gorgeous crispy chilli oil, spiked heavily with dried chillis and copious amounts of garlic. A couple of quick-eze were needed during the night 😉

I won’t go into the details of every meal we ate over the weekend, or this post would be VERY long. Highlights were a Pamela-cooked breakfast of pesto eggs and crispy bacon; a very tasty meze plate for lunch at the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club at Newport; a surprisingly good prawn pizza at the Manly Club which is only 20 metres from P+P’s place; and an excellent, herb heavy version of avocado on toast (with a perfectly poached egg) at Bella Vista, only bettered by the stunning view from North Head over the coast and Sydney Harbour while eating it (and the company of course!)

The bridal shower on Sunday afternoon was loads of fun. My niece Charlotte gets married in seven weeks and Katrina’s good friends (and Charlotte’s Godmothers) put on an amazing afternoon tea in Charlotte’s honour. We played a few games, had a lovely catch up with people I haven’t seen for ages, got to meet the girl members of the groom’s family, and had some really, really delicious food. Sally’s home was a wonderful spot for the occasion, and her cooking skills are well renowned🤤. I can’t pick my favourite thing, but the video below gives you a little idea of what a wonderful selection there was!

The party ended with the cutting and devouring of a cake Sally had made. The icing was made simply from Greek yoghurt and icing sugar, the gentle tartness balancing out the gorgeous sweetness of the figs that were in and on the cake.

It was time to head home on Monday morning, but not before a quick iced latte and an amazingly fresh and delicious warm almond croissant in a tiny street-side cafe Bek and I both love in Elizabeth Bay. I’ve been deliberately reducing my coffee, tea and Coke Zero consumption, in an attempt to reduce my caffeine intake. If you are only having one caffeine drink a day, it needs to be a good one, and this certainly was!