In My Tropical Kitchen, March 2026

 What a memorable month February was. It might have been the shortest month of the year, only 28 days, but it was action packed, with a Pickleball tournament to be entered, and I can mention that as even the sport we play has a foodie name; and my birthday was almost "smack bang in the middle" of fabulous February as well. 

 A birthday for me these days, often means enjoying a lovely dinner out at a restaurant, and hearing from family and friends. The sanctioned Queensland Pickleball Tournament was held in the industrial port city of Gladstone in Central Queensland, and Rocksalt Gladstone was my restaurant of choice for my birthday dinner. It was wonderful. My birthday was during the week before the tournament, so I was happy to wait a few days to enjoy a belated birthday dinner in a well recommended restaurant. As we had also eaten at the Gladstone Yacht club for lunch that same day, and shared a Nachos, but the largest and honestly the best nachos we have ever had, we decided to share an Entree and a Main Meal, so that we could also indulge in some dessert.

Entree at Rocksalt was tasty Prawn Dumplings with a Noodle Salad, and left us wanting more.

This was followed by our delicious Main Meal of Canard à l'Orange or Duck à l'Orange, which was sensational. Now for a few details, there was a very generous portion of extremely tender and succulent duck on the plate, the roasted carrots sang with the sweet flavours of Maple Syrup, the duck fat potatoes were memorable, the steamed broccoli was perfectly cooked, and the Orange Jus was lovely. 

It was just how a birthday meal of Duck à l'Orange should be, and not a meal I would attempt lightly.

Dessert was a Sticky Date and Fig Ginger Pudding served with ice-cream, which was sweet and light. It was a lovely finish to the meal.

The industrial port city of Gladstone is worth a visit these days, with picturesque developments along the harbour near the Yacht Club, boating access to Lady Musgrave Island and Heron Island, popular for snorkelling and water activities, and at night the lights from the Alumina refineries and Aluminium smelters glow with  determined presence.  Cement production is also an established industry. There is a lot of affluence in Gladstone, supporting a highly respected restaurant scene. 

February is one of the hottest months of the year here, so I cooked in my kitchen only when necessary in the coolest part of the day and when the air-conditioning was on.

A Frying Pan Lemon Tart was a real treat for a homemade dessert.

I baked this French Pear Cake below which was quite lovely.

A Slow Cooker Yellow Chicken Curry ticked all the boxes for convenience and flavour. I made the aromatic curry paste from scratch in my food processor from some Asian herbs in our garden, which was easy and brought delicious flavours to the dish. This one will definitely be on rotation at home. This curry can be made as mild or as spicy as you wish.

I made Mexican Beef Enchiladas one night and they were very tasty, with the addition of Refried beans and Black Beans to the beef mixture. Next time though I will space the tortillas out in the dish more, so it is easier to lift them out separately. That was the biggest challenge for me really, identifying the individual enchilada portions. I'd appreciate your thoughts on that, and if you enjoy cooking enchiladas. They take some time though, but are well worth it.

Autumn is here, which means it's nearly time to start planting some of my favourite green leafy vegetables, such as Silverbeet, Spinach and lettuces, and to plant Winter growing herbs such as Coriander and Dill. 

Basil grows so well here in the tropics, and I have kept one of my older and quite large sweet basil plants as a seed source and also as a food source for the bees. They love the flowers. I've realised that the leaves from the older basil plants aren't very good for making basil pesto as they bruise very easily, and so I threw some flower spikes that had gone to seed onto a raised garden bed about a month ago, just on the top, I didn't dig them in, and I was very excited when I saw that some of the seeds had indeed germinated within 5 days. I now have 12 sweet basil plants growing, and we have also given some away to friends. When they are slightly bigger, I'll start making some basil pesto.

The parent basil plant with flower spikes and the children growing below.

Garlic chives

Japanese Strawberry plants given to us by generous friends

A Kaffir Lime tree, not sure that I can say that now, which Mr. HRK has just pruned and transplanted from a garden that was collapsing, into a pot. Hope it survives, or I will just have to buy another one. I used some of the leaves in the Yellow Chicken Curry and of course love them in a Wombok salad. they have many uses.

Two of our Rosemary bushes in the garden are happy companions with a mature chilli bush. 

I cook with all of the above.

Once again it's time to be sending this post to Sherry of Sherry's Pickings for the monthly 

In My Kitchen event. If you would like to join in, send your post to Sherry by the 13th of the month. Or just head over to her blog to visit more kitchens. Thanks for hosting this event once again Sherry, it's a lovely initiative and unites all of the keen bloggers and cooks around the world. I'm looking forward to taking part for another year.

Warm wishes,

Pauline