1987 was a difficult year, Niki (son n°2) was born with a serious heart problem and we spent more or less his first year of life in hospital. He had an open- heart surgery in October 1987 (he was 14 months) that fortunately went well so when my father-in-law invited us to celebrate his 50th birthday together with his sister and family in Australia we were very happy to accept.
Manfred’s sister Greta, leaves in Melbourne, put they have a farm in Toastaree, near Orbost, some 300km from Melbourne (when you are in Australia, you will realize how huge the country is)
I don’t know if you can consider this the Australian outback, at the time it seemed so to me..just to get down to the beach it was an hour of walk in the woods.. (maybe I would do that in 15min today :D). The beach..well, it is not just a beach..it is called the 90 mile beach!! And it is even more incredible and beautiful than in any picture you would see.
We stayed for little more than a month in Australia, visiting Surfers paradise in Queensland, some days (alone Flo and me) in Sidney and I even managed to forget Erik (son n°1) on a pier in Cairns during a boat trip.
The day before leaving the country down-under I took a bus back to Melbourne to buy some posters I fell in love with while visiting our friend Mark Muir’s shoe shop in The Galleria.
In little less than a month later, on 26th January 1988, Australia would celebrate its Bicentenary. Charles Billich had made some paintings of Melbourne and Sidney for this special occasion, and I wanted to bring them back home as a memory of the wonderful journey. So at 5 o’clock a.m., I took the bus and then waited in Melbourne airport for the rest of the family to reach me.
My beloved Mother-in-law Iris gave me a very special gift, a sarong (pareo in Italian) with a beautiful, colorful print made by Ken Done . When I came home we made a painting of it, it hangs in our entrance. Today I’m very happy that I never used it, it remembers me of Iris and our lovely trip to Australia together.
I have been searching for photos made during our stay in Australia, but some rooms are a mess, due to craftsmen still working in our house, so it is very difficult to find anything. (today they finally brought the wooden shells I ordered 5months ago..aaaaaargh!)
But I found a silly photo of Flo & me, on the 90-mile beach 😀
In December 2010 Manfred went back, this time alone with Sofia (daughter n°4)
And then Sofia made an on-the-road trip, with 3 friends of hers last year.
Lamb chops in red wine
I found the idea of this recipe on Australian Bush Cooking
8 lamb forequarter chops
1 clove garlic, crushed
fresh rosemary
fresh oregano
fresh thyme
red wine
pepper
Make the marinate: but the crushed garlic and the fresh herbs in the red wine.
Let the lamb chops marinate for a couple of hours in the fridge (or till the next day)
Cook the lamb chops on oiled barbecue, grill or camp fire 😀
When they are ready, serve immediately.
Lovely and juicy!
This goes to Haalo hosting Australia & us until 8 Decembre 2014
briggishome 