The Comic Walk, a sport I never thought I’d love, Festival of Sydney highlights, and an intriguing story about food and nostalgia…

New year, new beginnings, I’ve decided to put pen to paper again. In the year or so since I have left you, my significant other and I have moved into our new home and been challenged by all the trials and tribulations that come with the experience, far too many of them to list here; we’ve had a wonderful overseas holiday visiting places I have never been to, as well as catching up with family in the Bordeaux region in southern France; we’ve made friends with new neighbours and come to love gardening and the challenges posed by incessant bush turkeys determined to destroy it as fast as we can create it. After what can only be described as a whirlwind eighteen months, we’ve successfully made it through to the other side feeling mostly unscathed, relaxed and ready to enjoy some new adventures both within our new neighbourhood and beyond.

On most days you will find me discovering new trails along the foreshore and taking in the magic that is Sydney Harbour, located only a stone throw away from our new home and what we consider to be ‘our own backyard’. Every day I venture out I experience another ‘pinch me’ moment where I still can’t believe how lucky I am to live so close to landmarks and places that people from all across the globe travel to see.

Tea Ceremony by Michael Leunig, located in Arthur Barton Park

Only this week I was strolling along the boardwalk between Lavender Bay and Milsons Point when a little bronze sculpture sitting peacefully in the shade of a flowered garden caught my eye. Located in Arthur (Art) Barton Park, the sculpture named ‘Tea Ceremony’, by the recently deceased cartoonist Michael Leunig, commemorates the memory of the six boys and one man who died in the tragic Ghost Train fire at Luna Park in 1979. Conjecture over whether this fire was an accident or deliberately lit is still a topic of conversation today.

Closer inspection revealed other whimsical comic inspired sculptures seamlessly blending into the urban landscape, the open-air gallery an artistic marvel aptly named ‘The Comic Walk’. Each comic book character is depicted in a moment of playful mischief where people of all ages can connect with their inner child and relive the wonder and imagination that comics have brought to their past. I was also drawn to the bronze sculptures ‘Ken Dugong’ by Reg Mombassa and Blinky Bills friend ‘Splodge’ the kangaroo whom I remember fondly from my childhood and created by Dorothy Wall.

One of the most prominent figures along the walk is the happy face with its wide grin and mischievous eyes located at the entrance gate to Luna Park. Created by Arthur Barton, an artist who worked at Luna Park for thirty-three years, you’ll feel like you are stepping into a world of laughter and joy when you stand beneath this grinning sentinel.

Christmas passed by quietly this year and the next day, Boxing Day there was a new kid on the block, or a least on the screens of our television. His name was Sam Konstas, a young nineteen-year-old Greek boy from Hurstville who was making his debut in the Australian Cricket team and receiving his baggy green cap. This young man alone had created much excitement surrounding the Boxing Day Test to be played at the Melbourne Cricket ground. Whilst I had never watched a Boxing Day Test cricket match in my life, I was there for it and I tuned in to the television broadcast with eager anticipation. With every other player in the team experienced and well into their thirties I was intrigued to see what this young gun could bring to the table. He didn’t disappoint. Sent out as an opening batsman for Australia he clocked up over half a century of runs on the board on his debut and from this moment on I was hooked. There was a whisper doing the rounds in the family that I had become ‘a cricket tragic’ as I continued to watch the ‘test’ from the ‘virtual seats’ I’d purchased until the final winning ball was bowled at the Sydney Cricket Ground on ‘Jane McGrath Day’ around a week later. I learnt new cricketing terms like ‘Snicko’, discovered that points could be added to the scoreboard without the batter having to hit the ball, and that cricket was just as much about mental acuity as it was about athletic ability. Sledging was commonplace and used by ‘dirty’ players to intimidate and distract members of the opposing team. I also felt elated when fast bowlers like Scotty Bowland took wickets, and disappointed when good guys like Steve Smith missed reaching new heights by one run. Riding the emotional roller coaster with every ball that was bowled and batted, I discovered a new admiration and excitement for a game that in the past I had always considered to be boring. The new kid on the block ‘really did deliver’ much more fun and excitement than I had ever considered possible whilst watching a game of cricket.

With the days spent watching the cricket now behind me, I decided it was time to fit in some reading before I became consumed by the tennis at the Australian Open.

The Kamagowa Food Detectives is a light and easy read and is a good starting point for someone who hasn’t engaged in reading for a while. It is a book about food, nostalgia, and bringing pieces of a puzzle together to recreate a dish from the past that unlocks forgotten memories and allows the customer to move happily into the future. Discreetly tucked away in one of the backstreets of Kyoto is a nondescript diner, The Kamagowa Diner, beyond which lies a ‘detective agency’. It is not a detective agency in the true sense of the word, however it is operated by a retired police detective, Nagare and his daughter Koishi, who piece together recollections of a significant meal or recipe from the customers past that they have been seeking, to recreate a precise version of the dish for them. The way the food is prepared is just as important in recreating the dish as the precise ingredients selected drilling right down to the detail, such as of the source from where the ingredients used in the dish were obtained, the way it was eaten and the special things one might have been doing at the time. The emotions evoked in the customer when they come back to sample the dish are not only about the tastes and smells, it also recaptures the experiences and relationships that are locked away in their memory. The author Hisashi Kashiwai gives such precise and mouthwatering descriptions about the way the food is prepared it will leave the reader longing to rush out and taste some of the dishes at the nearest Japanese diner. It may also leave you feeling nostalgic about a special relationship with someone from your past and a special dish that you may associate with them.

I also enjoyed reading Catherine Newman’s book Sandwich about a menopausal mother away on a summer holiday with her husband and grown-up kids. I loved the writing, the characters, the relatable rage, the messed-up marriage, and the exploration of female roles as wives, daughters and mothers.

Also, on the topic of relationships, the movie, Made in Italy on Netflix showcases the bonding between a charismatic widowed artist named Robert (played by Liam Nelson) and his still finding-his-feet-career-wise son Jack, as they fix up a palatial Tuscan house, they inherited from Jack’s late mother who died tragically young in a car accident. Jack, it transpires, wants to sell the house to buy an art gallery he ran for his ex-wife’s family, however, is tempted away from that path by the golden sunlight of Tuscany and the charms of a pretty young local restaurant owner, Natalia.

In early January I enjoyed a cornucopia of pleasures at the Sydney Festival which included the R& B shapeshifter Yaya Bey’s  lyrical themes weaving a tapestry of emotions including political commentary, humour, grief and sex into indelible songs at the City Recital Hall, Clovelly Bowlo’s Starfish Club bringing its shimmering jazz sounds to a show featuring Danielle d’Andrea’s unforgettable vocals at the Pier, the eclectic lights and the dance band Dizzy Days from Brisbane playing upbeat tunes at the Moonshine Bar, the social centrepiece of The Thirsty Mile, the flamboyant Benny Graetz and cabaret icon in an electrifying tribute to drag, Tina Turner and Darwin in The Tropical Love Story at the Wharf Theatre, and a ‘real life’ trial of ‘A Model Murder’ at the Darlinghurst Courthouse.

Tina Turner, A Tropical Love Story, Sydney Festival

Whilst visiting my son in Melbourne, I sampled the best Portuguese tarts outside of Portugal at Casa Nata in Thornbury, an ‘out of the box’ scoop of saffron, rosewater, cardamom and condensed milk ice cream at the outlandish Fluffy Torpedo in Collingwood, visited the interactive Van Gogh exhibition, and stood in the refrigerator that is the O’Brien Icehouse for four hours as I watched my niece and nephew make their debut at ice skating on the Stephen Bradbury rink.

Portuguese Tarts, Casa Nata, Thornbury  

Returning home after what felt like a month of festivities and eating, I decided that salads were to be the order of the day and I made two great recipes that beckoned, the first, a fresh summer Vietnamese Crispy Rice Salad with chicken and a rainbow of vegetables, the recipe can be found here  and Sarah Di Lorenzo’s vitamin packed salad with the most delicious blueberry vinaigrette which can be found here .

Sarah’s Salad with Blueberry Vinaigrette

It’s good to be back. Until next time may your days be both serendipitous and enjoyable.

Eugenia