(OK this is a bit late but I’ve finally managed to find time to get this all updated! Watch this space…)
Sunny and hot, cold and windy, humid and foggy, sunny and windy, cold and rainy, warm and rainy, sunny and windy… What’s going on? Goodness, just as I think I can pack the heaters away and start chilling cucumber soup, the wind & rain get me reaching for the long sleeves & slow-braised lamb again… One thing’s for sure though: the broad bean season has definitely come to an end! I counted to about 25 kilos but then I reckon we plucked another 25kg after that… and even today I finished blanching & freezing another box-worth, so will be able to surprise and delight (!) some eager-beavers in the first few weeks back in 2013…
So to business: Weeks 9 and 10 of Term 4 traditionally only mean One Thing: the Festive Menu! We’re mixing it up though in the interest of sustainability and using up what we’ve got before the big break… so we’re balancing mini Christmas cakes and festive shortbread with rainbow silverbeet and spring onion calzone, and the return of our fabulous Nicoise salad as it’s just SO good with our spanking-fresh eggs, and those green dwarf beans just keep on comin’… the children have also been hard at work signing their thankyou cards and then completing them in our kitchen classes, and Ligia has been helping our groups create beautiful mandala-inspired patterns on them with some clever kitchen garden materials…
This will be my last Kitchen News of 2012… So with that I would like to thank all the Bondi children for being so enthusiastic and inspiring, for being so helpful and happy, for saying hello in the playground and telling me that they made one of our dishes at home, for trying new foods and for being brave. I’m very sad to be saying goodbye to the beautiful Year 6s (and some year 4s too) who have been such a joy to work with this year, but in reality the circle of life continues and I’ll be a proud mum waving my big girl off at the school gates for the first time in the New Year…
Our heartfelt thanks too to our great community of KG volunteers who help these kids achieve so much every lesson – and that’s not just the delicious food: I see first-hand the changes in self-esteem, self-control, technical ability & fine motor skills, the ability to work as a team (and even vegetable identification and preparation!) – and then stay and sweep the floor too! And a big group-hug to all the amazing staff and teachers at Bondi who help me do this great job and keep me smiling day after day…
Thank you for a great year. Love, Melissa x
The Bondi Cook 
