Away from home - Orange

It had been two years since we last had a long break so we decided to take some time out in Orange, 3½ hours drive from Sydney.

Orange has been described as the “food bowl of New South Wales” and, when I started looking for accommodation, I discovered that the Orange F.O.O.D (Food of Orange District) Festival ended a couple of days before we arrived.

With the festival, school holidays and Easter long weekend, finding accommodation with a full kitchen was difficult. The apartment that I booked had a kitchenette with, according to the website, only a microwave for cooking.

I mainly use my microwave for warming frozen meals, so cooking with a microwave was going to be a challenge!

Away from home - Hunter Valley

From my Instagram feed it would seem I spend more time eating out than cooking, but what the feed reflects is a regularity and sameness to what we eat. I work 2-3 nights a week so we fall back on quick and easy meals like noodles, tacos or Turkish pide, dips and tabouli; do takeaway or dine at a local restaurant a couple of nights, which basically leaves the weekend for trying anything new that I might photograph.

So, when Hubby and I manage to get away, we relish a chance to try different dishes and I end up posting about a couple of weeks worth of photos in a couple of days.

Gluhwëin

Perfect for a cold Winter's night.

Gluhwëin is also known as mulled or spiced wine. We first tasted gluhwëin in Vienna, Austria where the temperature was near freezing and every Christmas market seemed to have a stall selling it. Maybe not suitable for a Southern hemisphere Christmas but perfect for those Northern Christmases.