Curry Pies, Tapenade, Farm Fresh Apples.

Sunday, the last Sunday of February, was my reward day, when I allow myself a treat at the bakery on my morning walk. After a month of self discipline, during which I envied crews of tradesmen I'd seen wolfing into cakes and pies for breakfast on their way to jobs, it was my turn.
I tied 'Snowy' to the leg of the table outside the shop and went in to buy a curry pie and a flat white coffee. The pie was fresh out of the oven and I enjoyed it so much I went back in and bought another. 'Snowy' watched me imploringly, standing on her hind legs with her front paws on my shins. "Sorry Snow, you'll get your breakfast when we get home. Hungry are you?" She knows the word hungry and it triggers excitement.
On the walk home I reflected on how happy I was that February was nearly done. It had been a hot month of hard work and we (Lib, me, Meredith, Elvie, Jod) are tired. Lyle went into Salisbury House on Feb 5 and all in all is doing well despite the lack of air conditioning. The oldies feel the cold more than the heat so it isn't really a problem unless there's a succession of hot days and nights not allowing the building to cool in the evening. Salisbury House is one of the original landmark buildings in the area and was built in the 1880's as a guest house and health resort for travellers, town dwellers and international guests. The area was reknown for its clean healthy air. It has been renovated and extended by the present owners, Jim and Vicki, and now has 60 residents.
Lyle has a new doctor who has taken him off most of his medication, and he seems better for it. He's now taking nothing to prolong his life, his wish agreed to by the doctor, only an anti-depressant and a pain killer for sharp nerve pain in his leg. He does not have much appetite and has days when he eats little and says he wants to go to the Lord, and other days of good spirit when he makes requests for particuliar treats. The nursing staff, especially Lib, have been fantastic and take him out to the multi purpose room or the garden most days and he's having many visitors including his brother Geoff, grandchildren, Bryce and Nancy,(Bryce was best man at Lyle and Elvie's wedding in 1948) and friend of fifty years, Ron Pearce. Everyone is impressed by the care and homely atmosphere at Salisbury.
Lib worked Sunday, so after getting home and feeding little Snow, I had some quiet time and of course no need to worry about breakfast, being well satisfied by the curry pies. On my walk I'd seen the early bird stall holders setting up for the Gembrook market, also held on the last Sunday of each month, so soon after 9.00am I drove back up to buy a stock of Alberto's home made pasta and pesto which I discovered before Christmas. If you are not there early he's sold out of pasta.
The man in Alberto's stall, still setting up when I reached him, was a different person to those who'd manned the stall previously, but it turned out he was the proprietor who confessed to riding his family too hard and therefore doing the markets himself this weekend. There were not yet many buyers at the market so the man was happy to talk, (I think Alberto is his father and the source of the recipes) and was not timid in promoting his products. My ears pricked when he said tapenade which I'd never heard of before and I added a tub to my purchase.
He told me the best way to store the pasta was to cook it, for nine minutes after putting it in the boiling water, then put some butter through it and freeze it. Then you only had to microwave it and toss on whatever you wished when you were ready to eat. I took his advice and cooked three packets of the tagliatelle, which was the only type of pasta he had left after a big day somewhere else on the Saturday. While the first pack was cooking I tried the tapenade and it just blew me away, I couldn't stop going back to it and by the time the three packs of pasta were in the freezer I nearly finished the whole tub.
If you don't know, as I didn't till Sunday, tapenade is made from black olives, oil, anchovies, garlic and other spices. The man told me it was a bit of an acquired taste but it was instantaneously sensational for me. Life is grand when you can still discover such things at my age.
On my way to the Emerald Museum where I was rostered on duty that afternoon, I dropped back in to the market and bought two more tubs of the tapenade. On my way home late in the afternoon I called in Maria's house in Avonsleigh to return a book I'd borrowed and to pick some apples she'd offered from her orchard. I gave Maria a tub of tapenade and a jar of honey and we had coffee and scones with home made jam before going out to pick apples. I left with a large box and two bags of old variety apples fresh off the trees.
I'd forgotten how good fresh apples ripened on the tree tasted. Crisp, sweet, and juicy.