Rice Soup & Postcard from the Bush!

Hello everybody! I feel like I should apologise for missing Friday and Monday's recipes without letting you know I was going to be on leave. 😂 I was actually taking a much needed break over the long weekend, camping with friends with no internet reception. A Postcard from the Bush is below! ✉️⬇ To fellow Aussies, I hope you had a great long weekend too! - Nagi x (And Dozer in spirit, still recovering from 3 days of manic fun chasing local wildlife) --------------------------------------------------------------- [Quick Chinese Rice Soup]( [Get the recipe]( --------------------------------------------------------------- 🏕 Postcard from the Bush 🏕 This past weekend was a long weekend here in Australia and I headed out into the bush to camp with friends. It couldn't have come at a better time - I've been in desperate need of a weekend away to switch off, and we were deep enough in the woods to have ZERO reception for a whole weekend! So off we went - a boot full of camping gear, and Prince Dozer sprawled out in comfort across the ENTIRE back seat…. (along with a few camping essentials) We stayed at a place called [Chapman Valley Horseriding](=) which is a privately owned property 2 1/1 hours north west of Sydney which we found through a campsite listing website called [Hipcamp]() (formerly You Camp). A private camping area just for ourselves - and I'm talking REAL camping! Bring your own water, a spade for 💩. Forget showers! Pretty much 4WD access only - and we did have a minor drama in our group involving a city car having to be towed back to Sydney…… (not my car, thankfully! 😁) That photo above is about 1/3 of our campsite - we all had plenty of space to sprawl out! Newbies to camping always ask what one does all day, without Netflix or the internet. The answer is - not much! We do usually squeeze in a brief outing each day, but the reality is, just doing day to day things takes so much longer - especially when at a campsite with no water. The washing up takes close to an hour. Making a tea is an event. Breakfast takes well over an hour. Everything just takes longer…. and I move more slowly, that's for sure! As for Prince Dozer - well, let's just say he was in his element. For one thing - where there was food, there was Dozer….. He is also particularly attentive around little people. Little people = endless snacks. The one place where Dozer was guaranteed NOT to be a pain was campfire cooking. The weather was unseasonably hot, and between Dozer running around like a loon all day and his winter coat, the last place he wanted to be was beside a fiercely hot campfire! Pretty sure this is the only time time he was on the inside of the ring of chairs surrounding the fire - and not for very long at that: As you might imagine, food was a highlight. No, I'm not talking myself up! It's just a fact that when you're camping, food tastes better and every meal is an event, and I have two foodie friends who are exceptional cooks. 😇 There were [Beef Burritos]() with [Guacamole]( for the no-clean-up easy night. BBQ night with [Vietnamese Lemongrass Chicken](=), steaks, sausages,[grilled corn]( and salads along with my failed attempts at foil-wrapped jacket potatoes 🙈 Then there was Curry Night with [Rogan Josh](), [Massaman]( and [Butter Chicken]( alongside a big pot of [basmati rice](=) and campfire naan (recipe WIP - a mate of mine cooked the ones pictured below!) Everyone knew the [Rogan Josh]() was mine because I was the only one who garnished my curry 😂 Breakfast included [Blueberry Pancakes]() as well as my friends' famous Bacon Fence: Excellent way to cook a load of bacon and get all that smokey charcoal flavour infused in the bacon before making breakfast rolls with scrambled eggs. Plus, it looks cool 😎 The one downside was the family of big, fat goannas who obviously realised that campers = food. They were BIG! As in - 4 feet / 1.2m long - possibly longer. CREEPY, no??!!! I'm getting the jitters just looking at these photos! Each day, they would emerge from hiding and boldly crawl across the campsite in search of food. It took great effort to shoo them away each time but it was pretty futile anyway because they'd be back minutes later - and they had no qualms crawling up within 1m / 3 feet of us as we sat peacefully chatting on picnic rugs 😱 I am not good with creatures. So the sight of a family of goannas crawling all around our campsite had me squealing, grabbing Dozer (who was determined to rip their heads off!) and huddling in the boot of my car for the better part of one afternoon, elevated out of reach (or so I thought…) Goannas aside (and they did retreat at the end of each day), it was terrific fun as always! There's nothing like sitting around a campfire with your best mates, with Dozer at my feet (well, behind my chair - too hot in front of the fire), good food and stars like you never see in the city. Chapman Valley - we will be back! - Nagi x - Nagi x [Unsubscribe]( | [Update your profile]( | PO Box 883, Gladesville, NSW 1675