You know how it is with friends when you’ve been out of touch for a while? It’s sometimes hard to make that first contact, to get back in touch, because so much has happened there’s almost too much to say to get you both up to speed? Feels a little like that with this blog…
A quick recap of what’s been keeping us so busy. Firstly, and most importantly, we bought a house. Readers who’ve followed us for a little while may recall that we fell a little in love with the Southern Highlands on our trip there in October. Noodling on Domain in idle moments after our return, I found a little house full of light and promise, with a massive shed and the beginnings of an orchard – just the place for a jam-maker and his wife. After more than the usual serving of stress and grief we exchanged just before Christmas.
We are now surrounded by the detritus of packing. Boxes half-filled. Shelves partly emptied. It’s getting hard to move around and it’s freaking out the menagerie. But in just over two weeks we’ll be country-folk! We can’t wait to see what can be made out of the tree-full of Feijoa that are ripening in our new backyard. And there’ll be peaches and plums must that be ready soon too.
In my last post the Jam-maker was doing marvelous things with fruit bread. I fear that he is going to find the kitchen in the new house extremely challenging and it will take some work to create a space that will allow him to reach those culinary heights again. At least for a little while. It’s a small space dominated by a wood-burning stove. I’m completely terrified at the thought of it, but he’s excited. Bless him. He’s also very excited by the humongous walk-in pantry. It’s so big the fridge will fit into it (which is good ’cause otherwise we’d have to put it out in the garden) .
Of course Christmas has also been and gone since my last post. It was a pleasant enough day, but the ‘kids’ (my brother’s girls) are now cynical teenagers, so much of the joy has gone out of it – for me anyway. There’s something about little kids and their un-self-conscious delight in every aspect of Christmas that adds extra sparkle to the whole palava …. For the grown-ups, well, we’ve been reduced to exchanging gift vouchers. I think we might need to put in some rules about creativity for next year’s Kris Kringle.
The food was great, even if do say so myself. The Jam-maker you see does the cooking around here 98% of the time, but Christmas is my day. Normally I’m up at the crack of sparrow, prepping the blessed turkey, dealing with the baked ham and making the mango salad (see below). Not this year. This year I got to sleep in! We eschewed the dusty bird for succulent Peking duck. Bought from a local Chinese barbecue joint the day before, it was reheated to crispy perfection for 45 minutes while we did the presents. A bundle of chewy Peking pancakes (bought frozen and nuked), a bowl of sweet and smoky Hoisin and some green stuff for crunch – well, it frankly pissed on the traditional bird (and at half the price). It was genius – and the birth of a new family tradition.
The mango salad has become an essential addition to our Christmas table since I spent six months in Cairns many moons ago. My dear friend, the Pocket Rocket, served it then with freshly caught Coral Trout. I find it does amazing things when eaten with baked ham and adds sweet moisture to a mouthful of even the dustiest roast turkey. It’s piss-easy to make …
Mango Salad
Combine 2 large ripe mangoes (any variety except for those flavourless, too firm, R2E2 things), sliced*; 1 red onion, very finely sliced; and the juice of one or two limes. Serve the salad after the lime juice has softened and sweetened the onion (after about half an hour). Works brilliantly as a colourful side with fish, ham or poultry.
*Slice the mango cheeks off, then remove the skin off (without losing too much of the flesh). Take the skinless cheek and lay flat on a board and slice into thin slices, longitudinally. Not chunks, or it won’t have the right texture.
Lloyd's Luscious 