Fresh is best

I am about to prepare our evening meal. After washing and de-stalking the tomatoes and running the lettuce under the tap to make sure there were no creepy crawlies I realised that most people have to rely on the supermarket for their vegetables. Instant reflex - grab a camera!
First the Tiny Tim tomatoes that have self seeded and grown with very little assistance from anyone.

The location is not glamorous - I am not an expert at photographing food (just eating it.). As you can tell, the tomatoes are sitting on the edge of the kitchen sink!
Even better - the lettuce. This variety of lettuce leaves is called "mescalin" there are about five different sorts of leaves with different leaf shapes and colour.

The reflections at the back are because the colander the leaves are in is in the stainless steel sink. Rather effective!
And here is the garden. Colin is the major operator in the veggie plot - I just grow the seeds and plant the seedlings!

He does all the digging, fertilizing and watering. It is his little domain (I wont let him in the flower garden except to dig out things I can't manage!)
And here is what we have planted.

 I took this from the upstairs veranda from beside the bird feeder. There is no point planting carrots when they are so cheap in the shops - and they don't like growing in clay soil anyway. The same goes for some of the other vegetables that grow in abundance so that there is a glut  when they come in.
We do like the home pickled beetroot so I am always planting new batches of them!
Now to go and eat that lettuce and some of the tomatoes!
AJ

Multicultural Day

Hot on the heels of Eurofest came the Multicultural Day, also in Surfers Paradise. Once again the day offered music and food and once again I was there with my camera to capture a few of the things that happened while I was there.I was fascinated with the displays that were put on for our entertainment by the Japanese Society. To begin with I watched the nimble fingers of a group of women as they played some unusual stringed instrument. The frets that hold the strings are relocated for each new piece of music. So that was interesting too. While the kimono clad ladies were playing their "harps" (for want of a name) a gentleman accompanied them on a bamboo flute.
Later I returned to the same stage to watch a traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony. As each of the movements was performed (the bowing, turning of the bowl, etc) a woman on a microphone attempted to explain what was being shown. Unfortunately the sound quality was very bad and that combined with her rather poor command of English pronunciation made understanding her very difficult.
Under another tent - storms had been forcast - the music was being played loud and fast for a very wiggly South American girl. She encouraged quite a few people to join her on her "stage" to learn the steps to a dance. It was amazing just how many did join her - but look at the faces, they are new Australians and haven't learned to be reserved like the rest of us! They had a ball!
So two fabulous fun and food filled days for me this weekend, I wonder how I can fill my time next weekend!
AJ

Eurofest - foods of many nations

Saturday was a hot and sunny day and perfect for driving out to join in with a festival that was being held in Surfers Paradise. The festival was called "Eurofest" and it was a celebration of food and music from Europe.We were greeted, on arrival with the exhilarating music of Spain and I had no trouble at all in getting near to the stage to take my photograph of the performers. They were extremely talented but I would imagine a little disappointed at the small number of people present at the time of their performance.Having arrived in time for lunch - deliberately! we lined up at the Hungarian tent to get ourselves a bowl of Goulash. There is no point in going to an event like this and not trying something a bit different. The meat was tender, the soup spicy and I found Colin to have plenty of room in his bowl for my unwanted chunks of potato! There was plenty of potato in the goulash! Potato, Carrot and meat were the only ingredients other than stock. We enjoyed it and then lined up at the Dutch tent for little pancakes with maple syrup and icing sugar. I cannot spell the name so I wont try to write it!
While we were sipping a coffee (we really did enjoy our lunch!) we had fun watching the German Umpah band (that's not their official name!) as they played the chicken dance and lots of jolly beer-drinking tunes.
I am not sure what it is about Australian audiences but they are very reserved! Only half a dozen children and one mother who remained seated, actually danced the chicken dance - I thought everyone knew it! I think back to the time when my boys were under ten (and not embarrassed by their mother's antics) and how I would join in and encourage them and many other children too, to join in. It was fun! Have people forgotten how to have fun?
AJ