So much for the change of season….
We have been experiencing high temperatures more reminiscent of the height of summer than Autumn. Last weekend it reached 40 degrees which is frankly ridiculous and not conducive to having fun, unless you are immersed in a pool or the ocean with an icy drink in hand and slathered in an inch thick layer of sunscreen.

We however were in Sydney for a wedding and for once I was glad to be a girl with our sleeveless dresses as opposed to the boys silently sweating in their black tie suits. The church was beautifully cool though which made the whole occasion even lovelier. The bride looked radiant and it was a great party on the harbour later that night with all their friends and family kicking up their heels and celebrating The Barnes/Conacher union. Little Matilda the 3 year old flowergirl was perfect in her role and took every photo whilst loudly saying ‘cheese’. Something tells me she had been practising!!

As the reception was being held in our old stomping ground of The Rocks we decided to make the most of our local knowledge and opted to stay in a lovely old pub that was refurbished in 2015 just after we moved from the area – The Hotel Palisade. From it’s working class roots it has blossomed into a hipster venue appealing to a large cross section of people. Despite it’s bustling pub and cocktail lounge with it’s AMAZING view across the harbour, our room was quiet and very comfortable. If you, like us, are NOT fans of the generic hotel room please keep this iconic little hotel in mind for your next out of town visitors. Right in the middle of the action but with a whole lot of soul and a real sense of the history of The Rocks.

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After our swanky city break we were happy to return to the easy life in The Meadow and all it’s natural beauty. Ever since we moved down here I have been wanting to do some of the local walks. There are so many varied and beautiful walks in The Shoalhaven but somehow it’s always been too hot, too cold, too windy or whatever and I have never quite got around to it. Not having a walking buddy probably hasn’t helped so it has been lovely to pal up with my mate Maryan and start on the long list of places TO GO. We thought we’d start locally with a 5.5km walk in Nowra called Ben’s Walk which runs alongside and over The Shoalhaven River. It was hard to believe we were so close to the town as we felt completely isolated, but in a good way, and we are attempting to do a walk a week now especially with the weather supposedly cooling down.

My neighbour Sheelagh does an amazing job each year putting on an afternoon/evening of entertainment with talent from the local area to raise money for melanoma. Her son died from it 5 years ago and so this is something she can do that both acknowledges his memory whilst simultaneously raising money and I think she should be very proud of her efforts. This year she was fretting that it may rain and spoil the show but it ended up being one of our very hot days (about 36 degrees) but as all good things do, THE SHOW WENT ON, and lots of people gave up their time to show off our local talent. One Voice Shoalhaven was a success with lots of people venturing out and setting up tents and rugs in the shade, enjoying their picnic along with the entertainment.

As the weather has still been quite summery veggie patches all over the coast are still full of tomatoes, eggplant and zucchinis. I found this recipe in my favourite cookbook “In the kitchen” by Simmone Logue who catered for our wedding last year. It is rare for me to aspire to cook nearly EVERY recipe in a book but that’s exactly what this book does. Tasty, doable and reliable recipes. I thoroughly recommend it. This was a hit and used up some of those neverending zucchinis, I didn’t make the candied lemon nests but they do make it look pretty…..

 Zucchini and pistachio cake with zesty lemon icing

Serves 12-16 and keeps well for a few days if you can resist eating it all at once….

Enjoy people!!

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