A conversation with Emma Galloway My Darling Lemon Thyme and Emma's Quinoa + Lemon ANZAC biscuits31/3/2014
'Our family of seven ... lived in a wooden house built by my father — its stained glass windows greeted anyone who approached the front door. Drinking water came straight from the sky and into our tank, fruit and vegetables were grown in the traditional way and we collected raw goat's milk from a farm at the end of our winding gravel road, both to drink and make yoghurt. Looking back, it seems like a fairy-tale, but it's exactly the life I now want to give my own two children.' 'Did you know that during the first World War the British had an airship base in Yorkshire that housed more than 80 airships?,' I said to Peter. 'No,' he replied, clearly intrigued, taking off his glasses and putting his book down. 'It was in a place called Howden and apparently at one time there were more airships there than cars,' I told him, reading from a BBC News page online. 'One of the largest, the R38, was 695 feet or 212 metres long 85 feet or 26 metres high!,' I added. 'Gosh,' said Peter. 'It was huge, wasn't it, and that reminds me,' I said leaping out of my chair, 'I have to go and check on the zucchinis in the kitchen garden.' As I headed for the back door, I heard him call out, 'Hey, what's that got to do with airships?'. The landscape is ever-changing on the trip from Canberra to Merimbula, as we travel inland--first over undulating barren countryside on to native terrain, then past lush dairy farms dotted with fat cows, and beyond through densely wooded State forests. 'Are we there yet,' I asked with a giggle, three hours into the journey. It's a standing joke whenever we're travelling. 'Actually, we can't be too far away now,' Peter replied, pointing to the display on the GPS. And then, as the Jeep made its way over the bend, there it was in full splendour. Merimbula on the magnificent Sapphire Coast. 'Remember how we had to do square dancing in school?,' Peter and l laughed as we asked the same question of each other at exactly the same moment! We were watching a program featuring actress Caroline Quentin visiting Loch Lomond and the Trossachs in the South West of Scotland. She was learning to dance the Scottish Cèilidh or Kaley and, although it looked like great fun, it reminded both of us how much we had disliked the dancing classes when we were still in school. One after the other the fishermen on the wharf reeled in their catch as we looked on from the timber deck on the historic cargo shed-turned-restaurant above. Watching the sunset with 180 degree vistas of ocean, lake and mountains was nothing short of magnificent. The freshness and quality of our meals—coupled with salty air and the theatre of the anglers on the fishing platform below—made for a most memorable evening. 'Take me to the beach' has been my mantra for the past year, perhaps even longer. Words cannot quite explain how I'd yearned to feel the sun on my bare skin and have the angst of life's curved balls gently smoothed away by the sand and the sea. 'Come and eat some gomboc,' my mother would say to me in Hungarian when I was a child. 'Köszönöm, nem kérem,' I would reply, shaking my head vigorously. In my mind I had somehow confused the word gomboc, or dumpling, with the word gomba, which means mushroom in Magyar. And the thought of a mushroom encased in dough and dusted with fried breadcrumbs simply didn't appeal to my very young taste buds. 'Wow, that was really cool!,' the Icecreamology 101 audience exclaimed, as a massive cloud of vapour formed. Wearing goggles and gloves, Questacon's Q Lab presenters, Michael Bennett and Daniel McCusker, conducted a series of experiments with liquid nitrogen to reveal 'the science of ice cream and the ice cream of science'. Aubergines or eggplants have been the stars of our jardin potager this season, flourishing so beautifully while other crops fried on the vine when summertime temperatures hit 40 degrees C plus. Tell me, what's not to love about an agricultural show? There's the taste of dust and grit in your mouth, and that deliciously familiar scent of fresh cow manure and lanolin tantalising your nostrils. It's good. Yeah! Now, put on ya boots and come for a walk with me around the 2014 Royal Canberra Show. |
Welcome...Üdvözölöm
Cooking and writing have been a lifelong passion. Join me as I share with you my favourite recipes; postcards and morsels from my travels; conversations with cookery writers and chefs; and news on food, cookbooks and cooking. - Liz Posmyk
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NB: I use Australian standard measuring cups and spoons in my recipes.
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