The wonderful thing about growing your own apples besides the superior, just-picked flavour difference, is the incredible choice that awaits any keen gardener. Far beyond the readily available Jonathon and Red Delicious, is an array of varieties that offer an apple for every taste and recipe. And anyone with a small garden, or even a balcony, need not feel left out with new compact varieties, such as ‘Ballerina’, able to be grown in a pot and still produce a generous amount of fruit for a family- Maggie. Read the rest...
Yesterday was the most extraordinary day at Tasting Australia for the Maggie Beer Foundation ‘aged care day’; first a panel of those in the aged care industry, from academia to practical to nutritionists (and myself!) discussing aged care from every point of view. Then what a performance from Charmaine Jones & the Jones Commentary Choir; from the beautiful 5 year olds to and old girl like me singing on the stage. The joy that the singing brought to everyone and the subliminal message about being an intergenerational mix to bring the young with the aged and all the benefits that it brings to both. Next was the craziest but most wonderful challenge of two PISA Italian Meals and Services “Nonna’s” against one (me!) and the Nonna’s from Pisa were victorious! It was just such a delight; I couldn't stop laughing! I was cooking with an Italian influence but cooking against tradition to try and rev them up! Read the rest...
May’s Sunday Lunch menu definitely has Mother’s day in mind, and for me that means food that is delicious and seasonally based, but it also means food that is easy to cook and able to be made ahead of time where possible. This takes the pressure off the day and enables everyone to be part of creating a truly beautiful shared table for your Mum. To begin with, a glass of Sparkling Chardonnay or Sparkling Ruby Cabernet, followed by a perfectly easy Slow Roasted Oyster Blade, that I love to serve with Onion Cream and Braised Cavalo Nero. And to finish, somethings truly celebrate the rhubarb season, and to make the most of the very last of the strawberries, Rhubarb, Strawberries and Creme Fraiche. Happy Mother’s Day to all the Mums!- MB. Read the rest...
Flat leaf parsley is the herb I use most often in my cooking. But it wasn’t always that way. In fact for many years I refused to use it at all after seeing it disrespectfully draped over a tired slice of orange, relegated to garnish-only status, on almost every restaurant plate in the 1970s. All that changed though when we bought our cottage and I discovered an established patch of parsley, verdant and prolific, and impossible to ignore from a culinary point of view for someone like me, who had always cooked with what was at hand. I had found the perfect compromise for my distaste of curly leaf parsley in its sweeter, nuttier tasting cousin, and my love of flat leaf parsley began- MB. Read the rest...
I absolutely love my garden, and with my work I never have a problem keeping my mind active, in fact it’s probably the opposite, so I really look forward to gardening to slow things down. The aspect of beauty in a growing garden is something I find enormously calming. Read the rest...
