Strawberry and fig pastries – to welcome the new year

We spend January 1st walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives…not looking for flaws, but for potential. Ellen Goodman As usual we spent our New…

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Figs with honey, yoghurt and toasted almonds

Figs are one of the most beautiful fruits. Unctuously sweet and perfumed, they are also tender and very luxurious. Unless you have a fig tree they are an extravagance as they are so expensive, but for the short season when they are available, as an occasional treat there is nothing better. Give me figs over chocolate…

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Sugar plums poached in verjuice

Sugar plums are beautiful, sweet little plums that have their short season in late summer and early autumn. I could not resist buying them when I saw a box for sale in the fruit shop. They are delicious to eat fresh, because their skin is not at all bitter, but are also gorgoues poached. I…

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Apple, lime and cinnamon water

Oh, to be in Queensland in the springtime. Warm days; long, sunny afternoons fading to soft twilight; jacarandas smudging the landscape with purple; and the garden full of new growth. I wanted to make some fruit waters as a refreshing alternative to soft drink and this combination is one that I love. The apple, cinnamon…

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Tangelos and oranges with lime and vanilla syrup

Tangelos have a short season which makes them all the sweeter, to me, at least. I just love the intense citrus taste that is like an orange, and like a mandarine, but also uniquely tangelo. I’m salivating even as I write this. When I made this ultra simple dish, I wanted to celebrate the beauty…

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Sticky roasted plums

Each year we travel to the small country town of Stanthorpe to celebrate the New Year with our dear friends Ewen and Elissa. They own a vineyard and winery and our time there is spent eating beautiful food and drinking their wonderful wines, laughing at anything and everything and talking about the things that really…

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