Haven’t planned much travel as yet for this year as have had quite a few upper back/neck/arm issues…seeing my spinal specialist next week and 🤞no more surgeries. (PS 20/5/25…good news from specialist in Sydney “all the exercise you’ve been doing has helped to keep your ‘Eiffel Tower’ straight and strong”💪 so not much time for blogging as I’m often at the physio’s gym. Costs a fortune but worth it…have joined Anytime Fitness as they have a gym in many parts of Canberra and at Ulladulla (when we go to coast). Today photos from 2008 in Vietnam popped up so will add a few of those below, while I sit in sheltered sunshine in our Canberra courtyard for a short while
On a brighter note…
Including reminiscing on our travels in 2005…20 years ago (this Friday – 2/5/25) we had our first stay in Paris when we met up with my older sister Laurel and her husband Lew. So wish we had taken photos with them as she died in 2016 (melanoma). We had so much fun together!
“The Seine River flows through Paris. It divides the city into the Right Bank (Rive Droite) and the Left Bank (Rive Gauche). The river also passes under 37 bridges in Paris” (AI Overview)
RECIPES…updated April 27th 2025 This Wednesday we’re leading the Canberra Food and Wine Club cooking class…more like a cook-up with 16 other friends…the club has an industrial kitchen + a dining room. The menu we’ve planned is based on Luke Nguyen’s ‘France’ cookbook which we own.
The entree is Asparagus with Mousseline Sauce (Asperges with Mousseline Sauce). There are many similar recipes online…one I noted also included hazelnuts – could be a nice addition? Here are the ingredients (below) for those interested – the method is very similar to a few recipes online… 10-12 large (if possible?) asparagus spears; 2 confit oranges with their juices – if confit not possible perhaps try with fresh oranges with a little juice and orange zest??; 2 egg yolks; pinch of ground sichuan pepper; unsalted butter.
On the subject of cooking classes, after a week in Paris we moved onto Italy…mostly a road trip through Tuscany (near Florence) but we stayed at a farmhouse closer to Siena (See previous post if interested)…
Our trip to Vietnam – 2008
We did a small group day trip along the Mekong river stopping in the mid afternoon for lunch…the restaurant was set up for larger tour groups (as can be seen in image below) but the small group lunch was delightful; afterwards the chef’s son heard I was a school teacher so came over for assistance with his English homework. It was such a wonderful day! I remember it being hot and humid (hence the curly fringe!) and wondered why the school uniform had long sleeves…it was certainly eye catching though!
Train inspired travel 