My sisters visited recently. We had the best few day, we always get to do so much when we’re together, cramming as much as we can into the days, the hours, the minutes. Traveling from different parts of the state, they arrived on Sunday with greetings from one of the locals!
Our mornings were slow and relaxed – lots of chatting, sharing of stories, reminiscing, flicking through magazines and recipe books, and enjoying more than one cuppa together! Our afternoons and evenings were busy!
We visited op shops (opportunity shops, charity shops), picking up some special treasures along the way. We traveled to local towns, using back roads so that they could see the area a little differently. I dropped off some pre-loved goodies to one op-shop, and returned buckets and crates to a local produce farm before we visited a patchwork shop so that Jan could search for the perfect backing fabric for a quilt that she has made for our Son, Christopher and his wife, Olivia (her wedding gift to them).
Jan waiting with her op-shop treasures…
When we returned home, and we cooked together – Sonnie and Jan made my Briam while I got to work on a clafoutis using some fresh, flat nectarines, and preparing some salmon that was simply pan seared then finished in the oven and served with a little lemon juice.
Sonnie had brought along the dry ingredients to make up packs of my gluten free baguette and my gluten free bread with seeds mixes. so there may have been a minor snow storm, as gluten free bread mix was weighed, measured and packaged for Sonnie’s daughter-in-law. Sonnie and Jan were in charge of weighing and measuring, Gary was on vac-packing, I answered questions, brought out equipment ,and extra bits and pieces, while keeping an eye on our dinner. It was a late meal, but everyone was happy and relieved that we had pulled together to put together shelf-stable packs of gluten free bread mix for Bron to use while on a big trip that was coming up.
We, op-shopped some more, and accidentally visited a kind friend’s patchwork studio where we got to admire some of her and her friend’s beautiful creative work. We were traveling to the Fingerboards, and an area, locally known as the “Salad Bowl”. This area is currently under threat from mining (you really don’t want to get me started on that issue!)! It is a beautiful area where we stopped for some pics before heading to a nearby nursery to picking up seedlings for our respective patches. We returned home via the back roads, purchasing vegetables and eggs on the way – there wasn’t much room in the car by the end of that drive!
Then we made candles… Sonnie and I had done a half day session many years ago and our recall was minimal so I had purchased a beautiful new book to guide as as we stumbled and laughed our way through our first efforts. We had such fun and have decided that, each time we come together, this will be our thing!
And in amongst the chaos we also prepared a light meal together!
Traditionally made with eggplant, my research tells me that you can use carrot, or what vegetables you have. Our family is not a huge fan of eggplant, so I opted to swap out the eggplant and replace it with carrot.
- 3 tablespoons breadcrumbs
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large onion peeled and thinly sliced
- 2 garlic cloves peeled and finely diced
- 1 tsp sea salt flakes
- 1/4 freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 large potatoes peeled and thinly sliced
- 2 large carrots peeled and thinly sliced
- 6 tomatoes thinly sliced
- 4 zucchini trimmed and thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup water
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Preheat the oven to 200°C.
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Grease a 30 x 30 x 5 cm baking dish with a little of the olive oil, and sprinkle half of the breadcrumbs over the base.
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Combine the salt, pepper and oregano together and set aside.
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Place the potatoes, carrots, tomatoes and zucchini in alternate layers, sprinkling a little of the onion and garlic in between each layer, and seasoning each layer with salt, pepper and oregano mixture as you go, finishing with a final layer of zucchini.
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Pour in the water and drizzle 1 tablespoon oil over the top layer of zucchini.
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Sprinkle over the remaining breadcrumbs and drizzle over the remaining tablespoon of oil.
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Bake covered for 30 minutes, remove cover and continue baking for another 30 minutes, until the top has browned and the vegetables are tender.
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Drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil and serve.
- I now keep a blend of oregano, salt and pepper made up in a recycled spice jar, ready to go. Just layer the veg and sprinkle...
But all good things must come to an end, and they had to return home, cars well and truly loaded, leaving fabulous memories to keep us going until we are together again.
Getting ready to farewell Sonnie…
Until next time…
Make every moment count, treasure your loved ones, and
Bon appétit!
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With many thanks and kindness,
Julie.
