My mother was interviewed on ABC local radio this week, talking about her and my dad's upcoming 12 months in Bukoba, Tanzania.  Listen to her here!

On the waterfront.

More wanderings with Andy after work this afternoon.  Hobart was looking utterly gorgeous!

(The shag (cormorant?) is for you, Dad.)

Mt Wellington, 7.45am.

Today's been a pretty awful day.  Someone I loved very much is gone, and all day I've been in a daze, trying to make sense of it.  I think I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't ever make sense, and that makes me angry, and hurt, and heartbroken.  

The mountain can sometimes seem menacing, but today it gleamed in the early morning light and soothed me.

A teapot in a tree.

Well, why not?

Foreshore.

I went walking today with Andy along the Battery Point foreshore, somewhere I'd never been before.  I liked being able to spy into the gardens and back windows of the huge houses lining the water. 

Some foggy morning.

I took these last week on a foggy cold morning while I was waiting for the bus.  I love Hobart in the early morning.

Quince crumble.

I poached a quince today and now my apartment smells of the fresh ginger and star anise that I simmered it with.

After the quince was cooked, I put it in a little baking dish with the ginger and star anise, some of the poaching liquid and scattered some sugar over the top. Then I made a crumble and dotted it over the top, and then I baked it.

Quince crumble for one.

To poach the quince:

(inspired by this post. If it wasn't for David Lebovitz I wouldn't have remembered the bag of star anise sitting in the pantry!)

Peel and core the quince. Put it in a small pot and just cover with water. Add whatever aromatics you like - I used star anise, a slice of lemon, and slices of fresh ginger. Add some sugar. Simmer until the quince is cooked. It took me about half a hour, but David says it can take up to two hours! Just check your quince and when it's ready, it's ready. Let it cool in the poaching liquid.

Set the oven to 190C (or 180C if you have a fan-forced oven) and make the crumble while the oven heats.

To make the crumble:

(my crumble was inspired by the recipe at the end of this post, but you can use whatever crumble you like best)

Rub 70g Nuttelex or similar into 75g plain flour. Mix in 40g large breadcrumbs (I used panko 'cause that's what I have), 40g brown sugar, some ground cinnamon and nutmeg, and a little splash of water to make it all come together nicely.

Now, put the quince into a little baking dish. Put in the star anise and ginger too, if you like. Scatter some sugar on the top. Put the crumble on the top in clumps until it's all covered over. Bake for about half an hour until the top is brown and crunchy.

You could eat this with icecream or cream or yoghurt or ricotta or cottage cheese or anything, really. I don't have any of those things so I ate it as it was, straight out of the dish.

Happy birthday!

Pip is 27 today. Pip has been a wonderful friend to me over many years - she's kind, super-talented, hilarious, supportive and a beautiful all-round person. Happy birthday Pip!!

JTE.

I went to see Justin Townes Earle play a couple of weeks ago.  I took some pictures but they didn't really work out.  Watch this instead!

Batrider.

I saw Batrider play on Saturday night at Hannah and Reggie's place.