Unless you have been living under a rock, you’ll be aware that Newcastle and the Hunter have been hit this week by terrific storms with cyclonic winds and flooding rains. Its during this time that as a home cook and baker, I like to turn my mind away from the backyard strewn with tree and leaf debris and concentrate on some comfort food for the family. In particular the 18 year old likes some home cooked treats and likes to have something nice to eat for his school lunches…..2 more terms to go! So I have spent the weekend cooking Roast chickens and baked veges, Italian meatballs, pea and ham soup and some all time favourites “bills” choc chip cookies.
The food techy and I literally stubbled upon the newly opened “bills cafe” in Darlinghurst way back in the early 1990’s and were suitably impressed with the breakfast menu items which were a world away from the normal items on offer at the time. I remember tasting the now famous ricotta hotcakes with honeycomb butter and having a delicious flavoursome cup of coffee. The cafe was tiny and was one of the first to brave the communal table, but was soon so popular that we were only ever able to get back in again for one more breakfast. We haven’t been back since leaving Sydney, but Bill Granger has gone from strength to strength and now boasts a global empire of cafes, cookbooks and TV shows. For me I have bought 3 of his books and continue to make some regular recipes……the choc chip cookies for one. Bills recipes are simple and easy to follow….but don’t go buying the books, his website and your local library are fully stocked!
As I write this post, I’m acutely aware of the fact that, though the Hunter has been hit with an incredible storm and many people are still without power and other services, lets spare a thought and some much needed cash for the people of Nepal, where latest estimates are of 1800 people losing their lives and terrible devastation is to be found everywhere.
Lets be grateful for the small comforts we can still enjoy this weekend.
TBHxx
The bountiful hunter 
Hi Donna, those ricotta hotcakes are still an all time favourite in our house as well since you introduced us to them. So much sadness in the world, it is a relief to take pleasure in small things.
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I just got over feeling bad for the weather related victims in Australia and then saw the photos from Nepal. Holy cow, what a humanitarian disaster that is. I ask myself where they’ll live and what they’ll eat and how will they ever have a normal life again.
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I know Maureen. It’s devastating.
You just feel useless.
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How amazing that you got to try Bill’s when it first started out – I love his style of food. I was so thinking about all of you in the terrible weather that you have had but that has been completely dwarfed by the tragedy in Nepal – I have family in Patna, India who were still feeling the odd tremor yesterday.
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Hi Selma. Yes the Hunter is a very resilient place and although we lost lives it was no where near the scale of Nepal. Absolute tragedy. The world feels out of place tonight. Nepal and two young men about to lose their lives because of a terrible mistake they made 10 years ago.
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