Wednesday 12 June 2013

Winter weekend at the Beach -


FAMILY WEEKEND
WONDERFUL FOOD AND FAMILY TIME!


Family holidays or weekends can sometimes be difficult,  but for some reason our holidays seem to work quite well.  The reason could be that we all enjoy eating and preparing good food!  There are a few cooks among us - all loving the ritual of preparing a meal from scratch and using the freshest ingredients as we are also quite "health" mad!  Even the three little grand-daughters eat well!.... There are two aged two and a 7 month old who, as you can imagine create a lot of noise!  Throw a couple of Shih-tzus into the mix and happy chaos reigns!


The family spent the past Queen's Birthday weekend  at Narrawallee Beach - 3 hours south of Sydney.  Chilly weather inspired warm hearty meals and soups! 


Narrawallee Beach is also 5 minutes from a little town called Milton.  Milton was celebrating their annual Scarecrow festival and judging by the number of scarecrows I saw,  I think they take this festival very seriously!  



There is an excellent butcher in Milton who took my order and then asked quietly whether I had lots of people staying!



My daughter-in-law Kristiina, wielding her chopping knife,  took multi-tasking to new heights! 




When I got home from the butcher, she had chopped masses of vegetables and homemade chicken stock was on the go,


 Two salads were being prepared     


and the beginnings of a delicious Bolognese sauce which she makes using Italian sausages which I had just bought!    


The Bolognese after the Italian sausages were added.


The weekend's meals included - Lamb Shanks with delicious creamy polenta which everyone took turns in stirring! 



Grandma's chicken soup, 



a BBQ, Pea and ham soup and more!  We always sit down to all three meals at a properly set table and seem incapable of "grabbing a sandwich", even after numerous attempts to implement a rule which cuts out lunch and allows everyone to do their own thing.    Most of us love cooking and we all love eating while sitting down together, enjoying the food, wine and banter.  

On one of the evenings,  my son whizzed up a delicious humus - homemade is so much more delicious as the store bought varieties usually contain preservatives.


  Breakfast is always a fruit salad - using mostly papaya and mango,  natural organic yogurt, boiled eggs and toast.  Occasionally, Kirk,  my son-in-law prepares a big cooked breakfast on the Bbq which always goes down well. Of course, with all of this cooking comes a huge amount of clearing up and cleaning.  This task is shared fairly I think - a couple might disagree though!!

In between all of this eating,  I walked on the beach. One evening was particularly beautiful.. see below




the colours were startling
Given to me by a good friend and a source of amusement to the little girls!







Early morning..

and this was sunrise - courtesy of my jet lag!! 








On the way home to Sydney,  we stopped off in Bowral to have a look at the new house... next post will bring an update on the progress! 

Thank you for stopping by and I would love to hear your thoughts, so please feel free to leave a comment!... 

19 comments:

  1. What a wonderful weekend Jenny - love all the food shots, and what a lovely family interest to all have! Food is all about conviviality, it's so sad to see so many families never sit down to a meal together anymore. The beach house is looking so cosy and comfortable now. I always used to love staying at our family shack (it really was one!) during Winter - so peaceful with all the Summer hoards gone... that photo of the beach all shimmery is just gorgeous. xx

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  2. Thank you Heidi - The house is definitely looking much more lived in - The days in winter are really golden - no wind and such beautiful light! xx

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  3. How utterly gorgeous! You seem to have such a culinary family! You are so lucky, arent you? That must be the secret to a happy and healthy family. (Even your salads looks good.) Cooks and eaters :) The new camera is doing a great job by the way. That area looks so lovely and the house so inviting...There is a plus to jetlag - it does get you up to enjoy that special light. xx

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    1. Thanks Naomi...We had a holiday in France together last year... part of the joy was shopping at markets and little villages for produce - then cooking together. It's strange that we all grew up in South Africa where there is an over supply of domestic help, and despite this, there is such a love for cooking beautiful food, despite the mess and clean -up! I also think the secret to happy families is sitting down together at the table. The camera is tricky!!... will definitely have to go on a photographic course , which I am dreading .... just the mention of 'shutter speed' gives me the creeps!! xx

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  4. Lovely. A warmly welcoming, visually beautiful and delicious weekend. An example of collaboration bringing joy to everyone. xx

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    1. Thanks Liora - It was, just as you have said!.xx

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  6. What a lovely post! I am even more disappointed to have missed out on this weekend! The food looks delicious and the photos of the beach walk were breathtaking! Next time I will be there (with both of my boys in tow! xxxx

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  7. Thanks darling... and we missed your delicious corn and zucchini muffins! ... One of your boys (Hugo) is bound to cause trouble!! xxx

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  8. Beautiful post. I was in Narrawallee and Milton earlier this year. I purchased a lot of fabric in Milton. My mother made a patchwork blanket out of it and I used some of it for baby bibs. I love that you all eat and cook together. It really is one of the keys to happiness! Can't wait to see progress on Bowral.

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    1. Thank you Laura... Great to hear from you. Lovely that you have something to remember Milton by!...

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  9. Beautiful photos!
    Looks heavenly!
    God bless!
    Cute dogs!
    www.rsrue.blogspot.com

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    1. Hello Regine - thanks so much for lovely comment!

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  10. The perfect winter weekend with family.
    Just love the way the light played along on the beach and created all those gorgeous colours.
    Recipes will have to be included soon! Especially the medicinal chicken soup!
    Soon it will be choc-chip cookies and vanilla cupcakes too when the little cousins grow and get busy in the kitchen!

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  11. Thank you Pix!!! The mirror affect of the sky on the wet sand was incredible... reflecting the magnificent sunset!! I will do a post on the chicken soup - and I do really think that it is a healing thing!! Your little nieces will be adorable standing on stools while I attempt baking - not really my speciality!!... can you imagine the fighting on who cleans the bowl?!!

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  12. What a lovely weekend and those sunset photos are breathtakingly beautiful - so many colours in one scene.
    http://missbbobochic.blogspot.co.uk/

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  13. Replies
    1. You may come with pleasure!... only condition is that you bring a quince tart!!! xx

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