The mince makes it

Mullumbimby, January 2011

This is just a little home made number, pasta courtesy of Ricey's batch he made fresh and put in the freezer. I did everything I normally do and used lovely tomatoes from the markets and quality lean mince from the butcher. The problem is the mince is almost too good. It's got flavour and the stuff I'm used to from Coles obviously has so many preservatives in it that you can taste the 'meatiness'. Even though it's what most people would prefer I think I like the pretend meat in there, stuff you can see but can't taste. There's a Woolworths going in at Mullumbimby, much to many people's horror. We prefer shopping at the markets and independent stores but perhaps I'll sneak in there when I'm making spaghetti next and see if my theory is right. 5/10

One..two..three..four...Gizzy got it going on

Sunshine Beach, January 2011

Giz and Hambone's wedding gathered all our friends to Sunshine Beach for the week. With Giz's hens (followed by 7 hours of dancing), the wedding (amazing day, such a glowing bride) and the recovery/new years (boat then surfclub then apartment), the week felt like Schoolies V2. There are too many highlight to list and I got my fill of 'people' after living in the country for 3 months. 12 of us hired two units and group dinners followed, including the making of some spag bol by Jess, Rosh and I. There was a big of improvising and catering for such numbers always dilutes the tastiness. My claim of a 3/10 was met with cries of foul play but it was a genuine scoring. Jack was kind enough to be honest with me. Adam claimed it was like 'sizzlers spaghetti' which I took to be a bad thing but apparently it was a compliment. Unfortunately we had as much left over as what we ate and had to turf it on the last day much to Rosh's disgust. There was talk of taking it to a camp group for hungover people to nang on but this didn't eventuate. Bit of a shame, it would have been good to know what they thought. 3/10

Tilly's Wedding Spaghetti

Brisbane, December 2010

The Gardners know how to put on a shindig. Till and Jamie's knot tying was just lovely - a really happy, relaxed wedding complete with rum and Adam dancing with the older ladies. The following day recovery was tops too, everyone in the backyard, watching the cricket or looking at the ducks. After 6 hours or so Cate pulled out the biggest pot of spag bol sauce you've ever seen. We all had a good munch and most people went in for seconds and thirds. 7/10