Feeling Thankful at 40

There has been lots going on here over the past fortnight, so that is why this blog has been a bit quiet.  I turned the Big 4-0 last week and I enjoyed a week of celebrations which I am looking forward to telling you all about! It has also been school holidays, so we have been enjoying slow mornings, day trips, outings and catch ups with family and friends.  I am so thankful to turn 40, to have good health and to be surrounded by a wonderful group of family and friends.  At this age, I feel like I know myself better than I ever have.  Life threw me some fairly big challenges in my thirties and I learnt some really important lessons.  It made me stop and re-evaluate my life, it made me work out what was important to me and it made me more confident to be me.  I feel like I am getting there now.  No doubt I will face more challenges in the future, but I feel just that little bit wiser, with some life experience behind me now.  I am looking forward to the next chapter, I'm excited for it and that is a good place to be.

I had three little events for my 40th.  The first was a High Tea at a beautiful hotel in the city.  I invited two of my dearest friends, my Mum and my sister.  We dressed up and played ladies for the afternoon.  It was so wonderful.

This High Tea was called "The Spirit of Queensland High Tea" as it was made from local produce from around the state. You can view the menu here. I highly recommend it if you are live in Brisbane or are visiting. It was also served to the Queen when she visited here a few years ago, so I thought if it was fit for her, it was fit for me!  I also loved the idea that everything on the menu had a story and was local to Queensland.  I can tell you, it all tasted delicious.  The desserts were so intricate and so divine.  There was a take on the Ekka strawberry Sunday, a "Golden Gaytime" dessert, a gourmet version of a lamington and so much more.  It was truly lovely.

Decadent desserts, all with a Queensland theme and with ingredients all sourced locally.

The five of us spent the afternoon chatting away.  What  a treat!  Beautiful food, lovely surroundings and great company.  A wonderful way to start my birthday festival.

A birthday celebration plate presented to me at the high tea.

Beautiful flowers for my birthday from friends

On my actual birthday, I was up early and out for a walk.  A nice way to start the day.  When I got back I was then presented with this little pile of goodies to unwrap before my husband headed off to work. Carefully wrapped and chosen by my daughter and husband.  Lots of little presents that meant so much to me.

Even the wrapping paper was a gift as it was kitchen themed!

And my own special mouse pad with my blog header printed onto it!!  Very special indeed.  My husband said he was so proud of me for starting up this little blog.  A pretty personalised mug to go with it.  

My daughter and I then spent the day browsing some bookshops I have always wanted to visit.  My favourite way to spend some time.  We enjoyed a lovely lunch together  and then met some family for an afternoon tea get together at a little café I had been wanting to try.  It was so nice.

Afternoon tea, brown sugar shortbread, everything was made on the premises at this little vintage café.

Something I will always treasure.  My 5 year old niece drew this picture of our family. She has included all the detail down to the colour of our eyes and hair and Crunchie's ginger stripes.  So cute!

Pretty pink flowers from my sister and nieces

And lastly I celebrated with my family at an Italian restaurant for lunch last Sunday.  Eight adults and including the children, five cousins, ranging from 10 years to 3 years.   It was a true Italian style lunch at a very busy restaurant.  A bit hectic, but the food was authentic and delicious.  That is important to my Italian family!  We came back to our place to allow the children some time and space to play and to have my cake.  My Mum made me a folder with photos from my life at every decade.  It was very special.

Fresh cream and jam sponge cake with cream cheese icing - a simple favourite around here.

While I write this post, I truly feel so lucky.  I had a wonderful week of special times with the people I care most about.  It was such a meaningful way to mark this special occasion.  I look forward to the future and all its possibilities.

Spreading Joy with the Gift of Food

Sharing food spreads joy, in so many different ways.  Whether you are the giver or receiver I am sure you have felt that joy in at least one small way.  I feel it all the time and it warms my heart. I share food with my family, friends and neighbours. It is a gift that is well received by everyone, no matter their age. It is a simple gift but one you cannot put a price on.  Let me tell you some stories about the joy it brings me.

Homegrown navel oranges from our neighbour

My neighbour grows an enormous variety of edible food in his backyard.  He shares it with us often.  We are always having chats over the fence about growing produce.  We are learning so much from each other. We don't have a lot to share with him yet, but last week, he gave me some beautiful homegrown navel oranges.  I am going to make one into a Whole Orange Cake and we will share some of that cake with him.  He just loves our chickens and we share eggs with him too sometimes.  Joy!  How lovely it is to live near like-minded people who truly appreciate the value of such food. Already over the year we have been here, he has gifted us with bananas, mulberries, oranges, persimmons, dragonfruit, figs, panama berries and these exquisite berries.  Native raspberries. 

Our neighbour on the other side celebrated her birthday a few weeks ago.  She is in her eighties. We made her these delicious chocolate oat biscuits, packaged them up and we all went around to give them to her on the afternoon of her birthday.  She was so happy.  As we were leaving her daughter-in-law arrived.  The next morning she told my husband she and her daughter-in-law chatted and ate the biscuits with a quite a few cups of tea.  She said, "tell Belinda that those biscuits were delicious, that was my dinner last night!"  That story made me smile inside.  I could imagine them enjoying those biscuits and catching up.  I played a part in their joy!

My family are Italian and we are big on sharing food.  If I drop into my parents' house, you can almost bet I'm coming home with something food related.  Whether Mum has picked me up a big wedge of parmesan cheese from the European deli, or Dad has caught some fish that he has fried up and it's waiting in the fridge.  Dad is Vice President of his Italian Club and when they have events, he will often come home with a big bag of Italian Crostoli  (a fried pastry dusted with icing sugar).  These are so time consuming to make and need more than one pair of hands, so we don't get to cook them very much.  I really look forward to receiving them, they connect me to my heritage.  What a delicious gift. 

A big wedge of Parmesan cheese- yum!

Even my small nieces are understanding the joy of receiving the gift of food.  They are three and five and come over for dinner every Tuesday night. Often I will send some baked treats home with them.  They love my biscuits and my Mum told me, that when she was looking after them last week, they were excited to tell her they had brought  "Aunty Belinda's biscuits to have for afternoon tea".  At this young age, they are starting to understand this pleasure.  That makes me smile too.

My friend once started up a group called the "Ladies Preserving Society". Every season we would each make a preserve.  We would then meet, taste them, chat about them, vote on our favourites, share the recipes and each take home around eight jars of different preserves.  It was a lovely way to connect with like-minded people, of all different ages and backgrounds and we came home with pretty jars of homemade preserves.   Such an enriching experience.

My winning preserve- Strawberry Chilli Sauce

Often,  I share produce with my friends or family.  Sometimes I will take a bunch of kale and herbs to friends if we a catching up, instead of bringing flowers.  They are so grateful.  We chat about ways in which to use it or cook it.  They are always interesting conversations, sometimes they lead to chats about a special family recipe or hints we can learn from each other. Those delightful exchanges are sparked because we shared some food.

Our Russian Kale and Silverbeet

Lemons, gifted from a friend

I don't think we fully understand the ripple effect of this homemade joy, of how many people it touches.   We eat that food and we think of that person, we talk about that person, we tell others about that person and we smile.  We feel their love or their kindness with every bite.  The effects are far reaching and they are so worthwhile.  Spreading joy, we can always do with more of that in our world. 

The Power of Homemade Food

So with my very first post, I thought I would share with you one of the topics that makes me "Truly Content".  This is a big one, homemade food.  And I have come to realise how important it is, in the last 10 years.  Having my daughter and enduring some years of ill health has made me so much more aware of the impact of what we put into our bodies. 

The Famous No Knead Bread

 Around this time, was also when I realised how much I actually enjoyed cooking.  Following a recipe (sometimes changing things here and there) and being able to create simple, delicious meals, snacks and treats for my family from scratch, was very, very satisfying.  I felt so much better that the food we were eating was unprocessed and didn't contain preservatives, colours, numbers and ingredients that were really not needed (think sugar in store bought stocks and pasta sauces).

Pumpkin, Brown Rice and Chickpea Patties

I guess my foundations were laid, coming from an Italian family, where lots was always cooked from scratch and good food was truly appreciated.  But my interest really peaked in the last 5 years.  I have learnt so much and I continue to learn.

My Famous Jam Drops

Mmmm....Melting Moments

I borrow recipe books from the library and I read them for fun!  I read blogs about healthy whole food and I am constantly trying new recipes. I watch cooking shows.  I try to plan holidays or day trips around food. I once had a job teaching children to cook.  I designed and the children made healthy vegetarian food from produce we grew in the school garden. I am toying with the idea of a home business based around whole foods.
My husband was interested in vegetable gardening, so we set up some patches, which then got me interested (I may have taken over a little bit!).  But now that we have moved into our new (old) house, we are planning out our vegetable gardens together and it has been something we both spend time doing together.   As we grow more produce, I need to use it in wise ways and that then has me cooking different recipes with lovely organic produce from our own backyard.  Wow!  And that led me to cooking for family and friends, sharing it and also having them come to our place to enjoy that food.  The power of homemade food!

Baked Ratatouille with Green Olives and Parmesan

It has opened my eyes to the fact that this is something that really makes me content.  A warm pot of soup bubbling away on a winters day.  The smell of a homemade cake or biscuits baking in the oven.  The excitement in my family's faces when I tell them, "yes" I've made your favourite dish for dinner tonight.  Even coming home from a late afternoon walk and smelling someone's dinner cooking in the house I am walking past. That smell wafting into the cool afternoon air.  Mmmmmm.

Family Christmas Lunch 2016

When I reflect back and see what cooking from scratch, has really done for me, I am quite amazed.  It has brought so much more into my life, than I really thought possible.