A Ride Upcountry

Today we rode north of Perth, up Wanneroo Road to Seabird, to enjoy the Australian Christmas trees in glorious bloom in the Australian bush. (brilliant yellow-gold blooms pictured here) In Seabird, a tiny cray fishing town on the WA coast, we stopped at the local general store (as the sign says "Assorted Bits and Pieces") and bought fish and chips to eat on the beach. After eating we stopped back at the store and bought two green crayfish which were pulled from the Indian Ocean yesterday and frozen. The cray fishermen don't go out on Sundays anymore or the crays would not have been frozen. Anyway, it's a real treat to get green (raw) crays. They're great on the grill with butter and garlic. Also we got a box of strawberries, fresh from the field, at a roadside stand on Wanneroo Road. Good times!

Chocolate Figs and Almonds (or Chocolate Dates and Walnuts)

Here's an easy, healthy recipe for a delicious accompaniment to fortified wines used as dessert wine at the meal's end.

In a microwave, carefully melt 250 g chopped dark chocolate and add 12 chopped dried figs or 20 dates and ½ cup chopped toasted almonds or walnuts. Put heaped teaspoons of mixture onto trays lined with baking paper and refrigerate until firm. Put into air-tight containers and refrigerate until needed.

The fortifieds that are especially nice with this treat are port, mistella, and muscat, all favorites of ours.

Happy Thanksgiving, Friends!