Laughter is brightest in the place where food is good

What’s been going on?

The quote I used in my title makes a lot of sense to me.

Laughter is brightest in the place where food is good.

Irish proverb

I’ve said it before, lots of times, that among my friends and family (especially my family), I’m not known as being a good cook or even someone all that interested in food. Sure, I buy it, cook it, eat it but it doesn’t always bring me all that much joy, if I’m being totally honest (which of course I always am).

I like it when something I try turns out well, and I don’t stop trying to cook nice things, it’s just that I enjoy other things more and sometimes feel that cooking is a chore. Not like my friend Jo who loves baking, creating new dishes and sharing recipes, cookbooks and ideas.

You might be wondering then why I do these ‘what’s on your plate blog challenge’ posts if that’s how I feel. Good question, it’s the reason why I push myself to do them. I am challenging myself when I take on the challenge, I’m pushing myself to improve to do better to learn something new and to improve my skills. I have fun cooking at times, especially with my grandchildren and my bookclub buddies in our online cooking sessions, and I enjoy surprising my family and friends with my creations, maybe because the bar started so low 🙂

When you’re curious, you find lots of interesting things to do.

Walt Disney

I’m a curious person and as I age, I aim to keep that love of curiosity alive as it helps keep me young at heart. So although cooking may not be my ‘thing’ I still do it , I still try new recipes, learn new skills, extend my repertoire and I grow in the process. And I share!

Where have I been eating?

So for this post I am sharing a few places locally where I have enjoyed being cooked for by others, while enjoying time out with friends. Now that restrictions have ended, it’s good to be able to get out there and support local businesses. Hence my title, laughter is brightest where the food is good, as being out with friends always makes me laugh and food tastes better when you’re happy!

Forage like Porridge and Myfanwy like Tiffany

This was on a sign inside Forage: Merchant Occasions – Forage like Porridge and it made me laugh 🙂

I had just been to an authors talk in town, literally the day before, where best-selling author, Daniel O’Malley spoke about his book, The Rook, ( I bought it and have just started reading). He told us stories about writing and included how to pronounce Myfanwy, his main character’s name, and this is what’s written on page 1.

I don’t embrace the traditional Welsh pronunciation, so for me the w is silent and the f is hard. Thus, Miff-un-ee. Simple. In fact, now that I think about it, it rhymes with Tiffany.

The Rook by Daniel O’Malley page 1

Forage like Porridge and Myfanwy like Tiffany – how cool is that? Within 24 hours of each other – that’s how my brain works and the sort of thing I love!

Apparently people have trouble with pronouncing Forage and tend to go with Four-arge instead of simply forage – as in ‘I was forced to forage for my food‘.

We joined some friends for lunch at Forage over the weekend, a simple fare on offer but delicious nonetheless. Most chose the brisket burgers and others had savoury muffins, accompanied by hot chocolates and various styles of coffee, although one of our group had what’s known as a ‘dirty hippy’ a spiced chai, which I’m very tempted to try next time. It was a delightful few hours spent catching up, sharing stories and laughing!

I’ve mentioned Forage in posts before and can only applaud them for opening over the weekend at times when many other cafes are shut. With so many people coming to town to ride the rail trail it can be disappointing for them to have everything shut, apart from the local pubs, when they finish.

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit sitting on comfy couches, outside on the lawns of the old church in the warmish autumn sunshine.

These photos were taken earlier in the year and show just how lovely the setting is.

Cosy in Orange

Known as I am for my love of colour, and anything orange, I had packed my orange beanie just in case it got too cold, and my friend Cathy decided I just had to pose for a photo – which of course I was more than happy to do 🙂

Crafty Cider

Our little group then moved on to Crafty Cider, a few kilometres up the road in the forest behind Laurel Hill and Batlow. None of us had been there for a cider tasting before so it was great fun to go together. There were lots of animals around, mainly rescue animals, plus this smiling camel, all happy to see us and welcome us to their part of the world.

We tasted the various ciders on offer – dry, sweet, ginger – and as I’m not a huge fan of cider I opted for the non-alcoholic version and loved it. We all walked away with bottles under our arms.

More places to laugh, eat and drink

Tumbarumba is slowly becoming a must-see place. Not only is our area known for its award winning cool climate wines, we also have cider and gin distilleries with tasting facilities.

I have listed a few links here to some of my favourites:

Ladbroken Gin Distillery

Courabyra Wines

Johansen Wines

Nest Cinema Cafe

Mount Tumbarumba Vineyard

Good things are happening in our area that’s for sure!

Feel like joining in?

It’s always fun joining Canadian bloggers Donna and Deb for their What’s on your plate challenge series each month. These posts go live on the first Wednesday of each month and you can join in too with a food related post, just by adding your post to their linkup.

It’s not too hard a challenge and I can assure you it’s not just for ‘proper’ cooks – as I explained above!!

It’s also fun looking at what others are making and how they do things, where they get their inspiration from….

Just a few suggestions for when you plan a trip to Tumbarumba in the NSW Snowy Valleys region, a beautiful wine region with fabulous places to eat, laugh and relax!

Hope to see you soon 🙂

Deb xx

Note: This was not a sponsored post just my own thoughts of what I enjoy in our local area.

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