Our friends Jeff and Sandra arrived on Wednesday after a few weeks touring the west of the state. We always find it interesting when people arrive to see Tasmania and tell us about places we’ve never been or have ignored for decades. It was good to see them and it seems we are developing a real friendship. Of course, we’ve known Sandra since the early-1960s but our paths have only crossed at family gatherings and we’ve never got to know her at all well. Jeff is a fairly recent addition but he’s quite a character and very easy to get on with.
They’re avid card players and it wasn’t long before we were being introduced to Five Crowns. We’ve played it once with Jim and Di in Kangaroo Valley but we have really got stuck into it now. It’s nice to have visitors at meal times. We tend to go to a bit more trouble and are a bit more adventurous. Marilyn made pork steaks with a mushroom and cream sauce last night with cheese cake covered with blackberries for dessert. Fantastic! It was her birthday and a good reason to have a particularly special meal.
I had been picking blackberries over the past few weeks so we had a good supply in the freezer but Jeff was determined that we needed more. I think it’s the hunter-gatherer instinct which makes men put themselves through the torture of blackberry scratches for the sake of picking a few bits of fruit which you could buy in the supermarket for $5. However, the real delight is in the cooking of the berries.
I had put aside a little jar of blackberry jelly for Sandra but, with the extra berries we had collected, there was nothing for it but to make some more. We now have more than we will ever use. Marilyn has promised jars to all her rellies in Sydney and Wollongong with no thought, of course, on how to get them there. I think she might be working up towards another trip.
Sandra is a self-avowed cat-hater but, in some strange magic, our cat has endeared herself to her. CB visits them in the caravan and rubs herself against Sandra’s legs and Sandra is responding very positively to the attention. We’ll have to make sure CB doesn’t stow away when they leave.
They’re avid card players and it wasn’t long before we were being introduced to Five Crowns. We’ve played it once with Jim and Di in Kangaroo Valley but we have really got stuck into it now. It’s nice to have visitors at meal times. We tend to go to a bit more trouble and are a bit more adventurous. Marilyn made pork steaks with a mushroom and cream sauce last night with cheese cake covered with blackberries for dessert. Fantastic! It was her birthday and a good reason to have a particularly special meal.
I had been picking blackberries over the past few weeks so we had a good supply in the freezer but Jeff was determined that we needed more. I think it’s the hunter-gatherer instinct which makes men put themselves through the torture of blackberry scratches for the sake of picking a few bits of fruit which you could buy in the supermarket for $5. However, the real delight is in the cooking of the berries.
I had put aside a little jar of blackberry jelly for Sandra but, with the extra berries we had collected, there was nothing for it but to make some more. We now have more than we will ever use. Marilyn has promised jars to all her rellies in Sydney and Wollongong with no thought, of course, on how to get them there. I think she might be working up towards another trip.
Sandra is a self-avowed cat-hater but, in some strange magic, our cat has endeared herself to her. CB visits them in the caravan and rubs herself against Sandra’s legs and Sandra is responding very positively to the attention. We’ll have to make sure CB doesn’t stow away when they leave.
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