So here we are in the middle of January – just over two weeks into a new year. I thought I’d take a quick break from food and travel to share a few thoughts.
I’ve never been a big fan of the whole New Year thing. I don’t quite see what all the fuss is about. Perhaps it’s because I prefer Christmas and New Year always feels like a disappointing follow up.
In the summertime I’m always looking for new ways to jazz up salads. They’re a staple of summer eating and rightly so. It’s true that we eat not only with our palate but also our eyes and nose. How food looks and smells is an important part of the eating experience.
I first posted on this blog back in February 2016, almost a year ago. I had no idea at the time that I would come to love it so much or how big a part of my life it would become.
Nor could I have imagined how much I would enjoy being a part of such a fantastic blogging community. I’m constantly surprised and inspired by the talent and creativity shared by my fellow bloggers.
Yes, Christmas has come and gone for another year.
It’s a funny old time, Christmas. Although things are always on the move and changing in our society a few constants remain, especially around this time of the year. The shopping will always be chaotic, finding a park at the mall nigh on impossible and many fridges will be groaning with leftovers come Boxing Day.
Last week I talked about how much I long for a traditional winter Christmas with all the trimmings that add the festive cheer associated with this time of year.
But this morning I was up early walking on the beach and it was so perfect I had to concede that perhaps having Christmas in the summertime is a small price to pay for living in such a wonderful place.
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow . . .
I have a fondness for the old classics when it comes to Christmas songs. As soon as I hear Andy Williams and Dean Martin on the radio it starts to feel like Christmas. And we need all the help we can get down here in New Zealand to bring on that festive cheer. With our seasons being the opposite to that in the Northern Hemisphere Christmas falls in early summer. That means no snow, no warming fires, no hats and gloves or chestnuts roasting.
Each country has its own unique cuisine and certain elements or dishes of that cuisine are more famous than others and tend to make their way into popular eating in other countries. Spain is probably most famous for its tapas and rightly so. When I’m in Spain it’s always what I look forward to most.
Yesterday was the first of December, which also happens to be the first day of summer down here in the Southern Hemisphere. Well, in technical terms. In reality, summer comes a little later than it used to in New Zealand. The upside is that we are often still having wonderfully warm days as late as April. The downside is that summer takes a little time to get going.
When my husband travels for work it offers the opportunity for me to have a couple of nights with the apartment to myself. Far from moping around missing him (as much as I love him, of course) I immediately start to plan.
Having spent the last week at home feeling very poorly – and a little bit sorry for myself – I was unable to get into the kitchen and cook up something delicious to post to my blog. Not being a particularly good patient at the best of times, this only made me more grumpy about being sick.
Tracey O'Brien 
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