5 things…

Okay. it’s the end of another week, what’s brought smiles my way?

I know this is titled 5 things, but who keeps count? It was another tough week in the day job, the rain came down up here on the Sunshine Coast, but there was still plenty to smile about.

Christmas at Curlew Cottage…

I’m on target – word count wise. Not only am I on target but the story is making sense to me, my characters are coming to life and I think I might just be glimpsing how it’s going to end…which is probably a good thing when you think about it.

Weirdly for me, there is no playlist for this book, no music that’s brought certain scenes to life and no songs that really are what this novel is about. Every time I hear Elton John’s “Something About The Way You Look Tonight” I think of Happy Ever After. WithWish You Were Here it was Ed Sheeran’s “Photograph”. With this novel, there is no song…yet. There is, however, a collection of photos, pictures, images, and scenes. And I have an image in my head of what my hero, Owen Gallagher, looks like…more on that later.

Home-made Pizzas…

Something that always brings a smile to my face. As did the young guy at Woolworths who was so diligent about slicing the prosciutto as finely as he could for our homemade pizzas.

The Thong Tree…

I’m just a couple of weeks away from sending Christmas At Curlew Cottage to my editor so that means my schedule is pretty manky at present. I’m up before 5am to write, out the door for a walk by 5.45, another half hour of writing before I log in to work at 8.30, more at lunchtime, and then again when I knock off from the day job.

A few hours away from my desk on Saturday wasn’t only welcome, but necessary. So down the Bruce Highway we went to Bribie Island. For fish and chips on the jetty. Naturally, we went for a look across at the surf beach and took photos of these trees that had thongs (jandals/flip flops if you’re not an Aussie) hung from the trees.

Snoring dog…

The soundtrack to my day is this one snoring beside me. I love it (both the snoring and the dog) more than I can say – although do occasionally have to apologise when I’m on teleconferences and she gets just a tad too loud…

Making friends with aubergines…

I’m not a massive fan of aubergine – even though I feel as though I should be – which is why I bought some at the markets this week and made a dip out of them. I also made a tomato and roasted capsicum sauce with the red peppers to go over ricotta dumplings (gnudi) for a meatless Saturday night dinner – recipe to come.

As for the dip – there’s a little bit of palaver associated with it, but not too much. You prick the aubergine all over with a fork & pop it in a hot oven (about 220C) for an hour. Leave it to cool and then scoop out the (now soft) insides into a bowl. Smash it about a bit and pop the mashed aubergine into a sieve while you get on with the rest. As an aside, it’s the water that comes out at this point that makes it all quite bitter.

Dice an onion finely and grate (or chop finely) a few cloves of garlic. Cook it slowly in olive oil until the onion is soft and sweet. I sprinkled in a little ground coriander and cumin – just because I felt like it. Stir in the mashed aubergine and cook for another 5 minutes or so. Set it aside to cool slightly and then stir in some yoghurt. I used 2 large eggplants and a 200g tub of Greek yoghurt. Scatter some mint and toasted pine nuts over the top and serve with flatbread or pita crackers.