Category Archive for "Rural SA & Food Nostalgia"

A Morning in Time: Memories and Milking

By janepaech Friday, August 15, 2014 10 Rural SA & Food Nostalgia cooee, farm, farm life, hand milking, Langkyne Permalink

Last weekend I drove down to Hynam and spent a couple of days with my brother and sister-in-law at Langkyne, the property I grew up on. Just three-and-a-half hours south of Adelaide, it's always nostalgic going back and I am thankful that I am still able to revisit my childhood home, which is full of happy memories. At first light on Sunday morning I crept out of the house, pulled on my rubber boots and went for a long walk around the vineyards and across the paddocks, as I always do when I visit. There is something incredibly special about being under ...

Metro Bakery & Café

By janepaech Wednesday, July 16, 2014 4 Rural SA & Food Nostalgia big breakfast, croissants, French pastries, Great Ocean Road, Limestone Coast Permalink

A few weeks ago I was down in 'The Mount' on the Limestone Coast for a book event and stayed overnight with good friends. Mount Gambier is in the neck of the woods I grew up in - just a short drive from the family farm at Naracoorte, the Coonawarra wine region and the picturesque seaside town of Robe, where I spent childhood summer holidays. The region is filled with world heritage natural sites and the Mount is described as 'a city of craters, lakes and caves'. If you're planning a road trip from Adelaide to Melbourne via the spectacular Great Ocean Road, it's ...

On Vintage Menus

By janepaech Friday, February 7, 2014 7 Rural SA & Food Nostalgia 1980 menu, Australian Woman's Weekly Dinner Party Cookbook, menus, ocean liner menu, P&O Permalink

This past week has been like wading through a never-ending Chinese menu. You know the sort - with an overwhelming number of dishes to choose from and too many decisions to make, your mind boggles with options and possibilities. If only someone could swiftly order an entire Chinese banquet so that I can just get on with the pleasurable act of eating!But as the French say 'on ne peut pas faire d'omelette sans casser les oeufs' (you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs) and soon my scrambled life will be in order. Boxes will be emptied, the barrage of email correspondence and opportunities ...

To Have and to Hold

By janepaech Sunday, January 26, 2014 3 Rural SA & Food Nostalgia house, moving, redgums, shipping container, storage Permalink

It's just over a week ago that I held my new book in my hands, head in the clouds, my heart filled with joy. This week, however, I have arrived back down to earth with a thud. Instead of holding fresh hopes and possibilities, I have spent my days clutching heavy boxes filled with the trappings of my life - some awfully heavy.For the past seven months all of my worldly possessions have been packed tight in a giant shipping container parked in the middle of a dry, barren paddock. It's a ridiculous sight and about as far away as you ...

On Jubilee George

By janepaech Friday, January 10, 2014 5 Rural SA & Food Nostalgia agricultural show, Australian wool products, Geelong, Jubilee George, Langkyne Permalink

As a child, I found such unexpected pleasure in the rambling vegetable patch that burgeoned just outside the kitchen door, pulling carrots for dinner and watching the Queensland Blue pumpkins swell. The veggie patch, however, was often the bane of my mother’s life, and I can still see her flying through the kitchen door violently flapping her tea-towel and calling out ‘you brute’.George was the culprit, our pet sheep.An animal of formidable character and cunning, George was no ordinary sheep. One day, the rams followed him into the garden and started to chase him. He quickly led them towards the ...

A Fork in the Road: Tales of Food, Pleasure & Discovery

By janepaech Monday, December 30, 2013 1 Rural SA & Food Nostalgia A Fork in the Road: Tales of Food Pleasure & Discovery on the Road, Colle Val d’Elsa, food and travel writing, Frances Mayes, Giles Coren Permalink

In the snatch of tranquil summer days between Christmas and New Year the world seems to wind down to a gentle breeze and there's no better time to loll about with a new book. Over the past couple of days, accompanied by crumbly bites of shortbread and numerous cups of tea, I have been wrapped up in Lonely Planet’s newly released A Fork in the Road: Tales of Food, Pleasure & Discovery on the Road, a Christmas gift from my girls along with Carla Coulson’s Naples A Way of Love.A Fork in the Road combines my two favourite genres, food ...

Deck the Halls at Port Elliot

By janepaech Friday, December 6, 2013 0 Rural SA & Food Nostalgia All That Jazz, Coast by Design, Elliot and Me, Fleurieu Peninsula, French homewares Permalink

By the time we deck the halls and stuff the stockings, Christmas and summer holidays will be upon us. Cricket fans have arrived for The Ashes and shoppers have converged on city stores as Adelaide falls into Christmas madness. It’s enough to make you want to hit the road and take in a deep breath of seaside air!A super little spot to escape to for a day, a weekend or a breezy summer break is Port Elliot, just an hour’s drive from Adelaide on the Fleurieu Peninsula. With an old-world feel this laid-back little village near Horseshoe Bay is, surprisingly, ...

On Vintage Cookbooks & Chocolate Cake

By janepaech Thursday, November 14, 2013 5 Rural SA & Food Nostalgia childhood memories, chocolate cake, culinary nostalgia, CWA, Julie & Julia Permalink

Like most kids growing up in rural South Australia in the '70s, exotic holidays were not part of our lives. Summer school holidays mostly meant carefree, barefoot days at home, the risk of fire too great to leave the farm unattended. Shearing time often fell during the May and September breaks, when the whole family rolled up their sleeves and got to work.Goodness knows how many cakes I cooked during those times! As well as a necessity on the farm, baking was my creative outlet and I spent hours in the kitchen at my mother's side. Just as one cake was placed ...

On Country Schools & Pet Shows

By janepaech Monday, October 28, 2013 3 Rural SA & Food Nostalgia 1960s country SA nostalgia, border collie, Hynam Primary School, pet lambs, pet show Permalink

Last week I spent hours trawling through boxes of old slides in order to put together a photo board for my father's 80th birthday. In the process, I was excited to discover a stack of nostalgic shots that had never seen the light of day, including this picture below that I just had to share. Hynam School Pet Show, circa 1968Frozen in time, it perfectly captures life in the late 1960s in a small country school in South Australia. What makes it all the more precious is that formal class photos were scarce; in fact I have few shots of ...

On a Fine Lunch at Fino

By janepaech Saturday, September 7, 2013 2 Rural SA & Food Nostalgia Best Regional Restaurant SA 2013, Crema Catalana, David Swain, Fino, Sharon Romeo Permalink

Just an hour’s drive from Adelaide and a short pedal from the cellar doors of the McLaren Vale wine growing region, Willunga is one of those country towns that inspires a ‘tree change’. Steep green hillsides frame the town, with views through to the sea past orchards and olive groves. Corduroy-ribbed vineyards snake up hills and wood-smoke curls in the air. The vibrant centre itself has a thriving arts community and a jumble of historic stone buildings that house quirky galleries and an array of good eateries.What I find most intriguing is a European provincial feel about the town and surrounds ...

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