Monthly Archives: December 2014

A New Kind Of Chutney — Yum, Yum!

There are other things that I do besides writing and photography and one of them (occasionally!) is cooking something special. What’s wonderful about making chutney is that you can enjoy those brightly coloured jars of goodness all year long.

We have loquat trees in our back garden here in Australia that are simply groaning with fruit right now. I had never even heard of a loquat tree until we moved to this part of Victoria, so I had to do some research into them. They’re a stone fruit, originally from China. And since ours are 65 years old, they are HUGE and full of fruit!

The birds have been circling the trees, so I decided that I’d better get cracking and use some of that gorgeous orange-yellow fruit before they ate all of it. So I spent hours today chopping and prepping what turned out to be a very spicy chutney. It smells and tastes like it will be worth it!

 

Bowl of loquats fresh off the tree.

 

 

Cut up loquats prior to cooking.

 

 

Chutney Simmering

 

 

Completed jars of loquat chutney.

 

Here’s THE RECIPE!

Now — back to work on some photos. More soon.

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Impromptu Livingroom in the South of France

So your wife has left you and your friend to look after the baby, but it’s a festival day in the South of France and you don’t want to be stuck inside the apartment. What do you do?

You pick up the sofa, a table, and some odds and ends and set up an impromptu livingroom at the edge of all the upcoming action. With the baby safely tucked into a pram, you can sit in the shade and watch the festival unfold.

 
ImpromptuLivingroomSouthOfFranceB&W
 

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Unexpected Things on Rue Gambetta

Still loading photos online for the (fingers crossed!) upcoming launch of the photo website to link to all of our travels for the last 5-ish years.

Unexpected things that have made me smile immensely tonight as I worked…

Went to Google Maps and pulled up our old address in St. Girons and did a quick swish around the neighbourhood and astonishingly, the Google Maps car had come by on a day and time when Mark’s van was parked in our parking lot across the street!

Then I was editing photos in Lightroom and when I was cropping this photo of Rue Gambetta, I noticed a VERY familiar white van (with some rural mud from job sites splashed on the bottom) parked at the end of this section of buildings — and there it was again — Mark’s van. He must have gone into the bank because that’s the building with the curved arches over the covered veranda.

Feeling homesick for France right now because it is too hot to sleep tonight in Ballarat and Christmas feels so very wrong when it isn’t cold!

Ah well…

The curve of Rue Gambetta leading to the market square in St. Girons.

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©Deborah Harmes and ©A Wanderful Life
Please respect the words and images on this page.
All rights reserved.