With our cherry season almost over, and consequently the prices of cherries creeping up again here in Northern Queensland, I am reminded of how much I adore fresh cherries and how I will miss them when they have disappeared from our shelves again. Here's a delicious Cherry and Cheesecake dessert with a crumble for you based on one from the repertoire of Yotam Ottolenghi in his exceptional cook book, Simple. His recipes are timeless.
This recipe will guide you in producing restaurant quality ravioli in your own time at a fraction of the cost. However it's not just about saving money by cooking from scratch, it's about being able to create these little pillows of deliciousness in your own home, for family and friends to enjoy. This is Italian homemade food at it's best.
Hello there, it's been a little while!
Happy New Year to you all for 2026! Not much writing and blogging from me has been happening during the festive season, but I've been doing lots of cooking and food preparation, because I love it, after all it was Christmas time. We were in Cairns, for a few weeks, and I was getting to know and love Shannon's new kitchen. What a dream it is to cook and prepare food in, with mostly new appliances, so I was on a steep learning curve, which was a lot of fun.
This my friends is just a very quick little post which I couldn't resist after a visit on Friday to Rusty's markets in Cairns, in tropical Far North Queensland. Fresh as and sweet as, the range of exotic tropical produce was impressive. My biggest challenge when visiting such a market is being able to resist buying a sample of everything exhibited amongst the rich bounty presented by the variety of local stallholders. Local produce, delicious street food, local artisan goods, and quite the carnival atmosphere created by local buskers, gives this market an appealing allure for tourist and Cairns locals all at the same time.
It's the "Silly Season" for many of us here in Tropical North Queensland, during the lead up to Christmas in the heat of Summer, meaning more fun, more parties, more socialising, more shopping, more air-conditioning, and more cooking including Christmas indulgences, and just the predictable hype involved in the lead up to Christmas. We are very low key about all of this now in our home, with just a couple of Christmas parties and a few lovely catchups with friends. For those working and living in the fast lane, it is probably a very different story though.
This is comfort food without the extra calories, which my friends is my kind of meal at the moment in the lead up to Christmas. Leftovers are even more delicious the following day for lunch or served for dinner. You could almost think you are eating a lasagna but not missing the pasta because of the extra protein, vegetables, herbs and cheese. It's very tasty.
