Nan

Nan and Bianca
Originally uploaded by sideboarddave

A truly wonderful, beautiful, spirited and dignified woman died last night - my Nan. Some of you hopefully met her at the wedding, but for those of you who weren't lucky enough to meet this amazing person, here's a snapshot:
She was cheeky, brave, strong, funny, warm, understanding, compassionate, stoic, self-sacrificing, wise, honest and just the best grandmother a girl could hope to have, and the best role model a woman could hope to have.
She could play the clown, be a carer, accept change, offer an ear, shoulder and hanky, and cope with anything life threw at her. Fate didn't deliver her the kindest ending of life, but even as she fought against it, she kept her dignity, spirit and humour throughout her journey.
I will miss you so much Nan, but I'm glad you're free.

Podcasting, or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Sound Of My Own Voice

After faffing for more than a year, I have finally worked out how to podcast. I'm afraid all I have loaded up for the moment is a test but it is the start of a new era. Not content merely with dominating the radio waves of Australia and NZ, I am now spreading my tentacles across the internet ... MWAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!

Mushroom feast

After having enjoyed some of these mushrooms around this time last year, courtesy of our favourite vege cafe Niche Nosh, we decided to venture into the mysterious state forests near Oberon/Jenolan Caves to pick some for ourselves.
The area is famous for these mushrooms - called Saffron Milk Caps, or Pine Mushrooms - which look disturbingly toxic but are in fact safe and delicious. After some very helpful advice from Oberon's tourist info centre, we set off armed with wellies and lots of enthusiasm.
It hadn't rained for a while so it took a bit of time to collect enough for lunch, and in our intial enthusiasm we nearly got lost. Note to file: when ploughing determinedly into a dark forest in search of mushies, be sure to remember where you parked the car.
But all was well and these beauties delivered a fabulous fry-up lunch, which tasted all the better for the fact that it was a working day and we both really should have been doing something productive.

How d'ya like them apples?

Loganbrae Orchard is a Blackheath institution, so I'm not quite sure why it has taken us so long to visit, but I'm very glad we did. Those at the wedding might remember the apple juice, but now we've graduated to some of their incredible apples.
Buying these was a real mountain experience. A chat about cooking, the weather, the merits of different apples ... a sample apple given ... conversation veers to the apparent lack of good baking apples in Australia, at which point the owner charges out into his orchard and comes back with a handful of HUGE cooking apples which he dumps on us for free!
soooo yummy.