End of January already!!!!

It has been really hot for the last month (okay, for the last couple of months) and even though we've had some rain, we could do with a lot more - we've had just enough to get the grass growing and then the hot dry days come and the grass turns blue! I'm sure the wet will come in soon and we'll be waiting for it to dry out, but at the moment, we are just putting up with the oppressive heat!! I'm hoping to post soon about some farming things, but I thought I might just put up some photos of some of our food experiences while over in the West for our Christmas break.....

Whenever we travel, we like to look for local food and tend to stay in places where we can cook for ourselves. I like the concept of eating out, but it is so hard to find places where the food reaches my expectations! I have certain dietary requirements that aren't easily met. For example, I like food that is freshly prepared, in season and local. Preferably as organic as possible. I don't have dairy, grain or other intolerances, I just have intolerance to inferior quality. So I find it more satisfying to spend my money on good quality produce and then prepare it myself. A lot of the time, this costs as much as what I might spend in a restaurant, but I get to have the pleasure of cooking with quality ingredients and eating within my dietary requirements. And by buying local produce, we are supporting farmers like ourselves - people that care about providing quality food to the local market!

Rosemary grows so well in Western Australia, this plant is huge, and was one of the only things growing happily in my daughters yard - I did make her some rosemary salt as I couldn't help myself after seeing it!

I did a lot of shopping at local farmers markets, however WA is very good at supporting local food and most produce us labelled as grown in WA if it is.

Tomato bruschetta for lunch.

We have friends in the Margaret River area with a farm - they do market their own beef - Leeuwin Grass-fed Beef, however this was some of their lamb. Wiltsure Lamb - eaten on their farm.

Grass fed and finished beef from the Claremont markets. These were huge and very delicious!

Locally made chorizo in a salad for lunch.

Local Fish with veg.

Great seafood in WA, but the crayfish are the best seafood anywhere!!!

One of the main reasons we went to WA was to catch up with Kim's family, and especially his mother who turned 90 this year. We held a party for her, and Kim's cousin in-law finished the evening by cooking paella - it was great to watch the whole process.

I think I need one of these pans!