There is no love sincerer than the love of food (George Bernard Shaw). This was written on a Malaysian menu today, and reminded me of my favourite combination.

There I go again ranting on about food and love, but I am obviously not the first, and definitely won’t be the last! Julie and Julia have certainly had a profound effect on me too, as I am still blogging, often about food, and now every day with a recipe. As I can’t use my cooking notes to add recipes to my Conversations & Recipes Page, the plan is to see if I can work out how one meal per day that we have eaten is made, or at least what ingredients it is made up of. Today’s recipe as part of Project 366, my first one like this, is Prawns with Mango and Avocado Timbale, a delicious modern take on the old-fashioned Aussie Prawn and Avocado cocktail I grew up with. I have no idea really if the ingredients are the same as what we ate earlier today on the first leg of our travels, but definitely look forward to trialing it when we get home. If you have a go at it before me, please let me know via the reply section after the recipe if it works. Food and love do go together. When we have a first date, it is often over a meal, when we become a mother, we prepare food for our family, in fact I think breast feeding is the ultimate expression of love, if you are able to do it. When we share special occasions like birthdays, weddings and anniversaries, it almost always revolves around food. When we travel, we dine out a lot, and usually take notice of the regional foods of our travels. When I started going out with my now husband, he said he was not interested in food at all, other than to eat. The more he hangs out with me, the more interested he seems to be getting. I’m not so sure he wasn’t interested before then, as he has produced all of the Weber Australia BBQ cookbooks, which involves weeks of food shoots. Our boys are very interested in food, and both very good at cooking. They’ve both been known to tell me it is a particularly good ‘chick-magnet’. One son even worked as an apprentice chef for over two years, and has exceptional knife skills, and has now gone back to work in hospitality. They love cooking, and eating, and sharing food together with us at our family meals, and with their friends. We spent breakfast together this morning before we left for the airport, and as always had a wonderful time together, one girlfriend with us too. She is unable to eat gluten, and the first few months she would eat with us, I’d forget, and keep offering her bread! Now I’ve got a freezer full of gluten-free bread and almost always remember to make gluten-free garlic bread when she dines with us. We fill our stomachs with food, and our souls and hearts feel good as well. This just seems to be so. When I was working as a chef, it gave me at least as much pleasure preparing food for the masses as I hope it did for them. Donning a clean Chefs jacket after the speeches at a wedding, usually just before dessert, to make sure everyone was happy with the event, the food and the service always made me feel glad to be working with people and food. It is a wonderful feeling as a mother and wife to have your family sitting together sharing a meal, especially so if you have prepared it together. The family secrets, family jokes and shared love come together no matter what troubles may have passed between you in between. My Nan always made us feel special by cooking a favourite meal or cake, mum still does; I still try to do it for my husband and children and friends, and it makes us feel contented and loved… and full! And it’s just after midnight in Australia, so I can add this blog!