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The main street of Casino comes alive with cattle during Beef Week. Photo courtesy The Northern Star.
Locals from Casino in the Richmond Valley in the Northern Rivers of NSW love their beef.
They are known as the Beef Capital and each year they celebrate their love for this delicious meat with 10 days of activities which all comes together as Beef Week.
As I write it is nearly the eve of Beef Week, which will be kicked off with the crowning of the Beef Week queen.
There will be parades, barbeques, markets, fly-ins and even a Beefcake competition for the ladies.
Surrounding towns get in on the action as well with a large celebration planned for this Sunday (May 20) in the coastal town of Evans Head called Beef meets Reef.
The Butchers Breakfast on the final Friday is almost a world record in barbequeing as pretty much the whole town turns out for a feed.
Cow Pat Lotto is a quirky activity that happens that same morning where people put money on a number chalked in a big grid on the ground where they think the cow will leave their mark.
So just remember the next time you tuck into a beautiful juicy steak, you are helping to celebrate along with the town of Casino in your own form of Beef Week.
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The 1939 liftout of recipes given to me by a friend.
I scored in a very vintage recipe kind-of-way recently, when a good friend gave me a whole bundle of old cook books and recipes dating from as far back as 1929.
One of them was the Cookery Book of Selected Recipes, a liftout from the Australian Women's Weekly in 1939.
It's 28 pages of pre-war cooking wisdom with the 'cream of half a million recipes' that were entered in a thousand pound recipe competition by the famous magazine.
'You will ifnd that every phase of cooking is represented in it, and that the recipes will provide you with sufficient material to keep your menus varied for years', it starts out.
Recipes are included for Cherry Cake, Spice Cake, Angel Food Cake and Swiss Tart.
There is a section with a complete seven day plan of menus for the family. For example - dinner on Saturday is Grilled Steak with Cheese and Horseradish sauce, French Beans and for dessert Butterscotch Tart and Custard Biscuits and coffee.
There are recipes for soup, fish, vegetables, cheese, beef and preserves.
Inside the liftout
There is even a section on how to hold a dinner party with the wisdom of British authority on social procedure, Mrs Massey Lyon.
'In these days of less formal entertaining anyone who is attractive and interesting can entertain successfully....But even if she has servants the hostess must be able to attend to every detail.'
The whole liftout is a glimpse into the kitchens and social eating habits of a pre-war Australia.
The photos are in black and white and even the advertisements are interesting. It is a reflection of a country that has struggled through a Depression and about to enter into a world war
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Macadamia dukkah encrusted on a lamb rack
Here on the Northern Rivers of NSW one of the largest agricultural industries is growing macadamias.
500 farmers are currently harvesting their 2.2 million macadamia trees on the farms that are dotted all around the region taking advantage of our high rainfall and lush green surroundings.
That equates to 60% of the macadamia industry in Australia
With the start of the harvesting season the Australian Macadamia Society decided to celebrate, starting off with a lunch for macadamia growers at the Figtree Restaurant at Ewingsdale.
From there the Today Show spent a morning forecasting the weather from local macadamia farm 'Piccadilly Park' just outside Bangalow.
From a journalist's perspective, the best part of the seasons' launch was a tour of the area including a macadamia farm, local markets and the 'piece de resistance' a lunch at the luxurious Byron at Byron, obviously at Byron Bay.
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Head chef from Byron at Byron Gavin Hughes prepares a wonderfully macadamia inspired lunch for us humbled journos.
Head chef Gavin Hughes prepared a delicious Macadamia dukkah encrusted lamb rack served with babbaganoush, green beans, tabouli and pounded macadamia nuts.
Farmers have high expectations of a good harvest as rainfall and weather in general has been conducive to a high yield of that creamy, crunchy little nut that will get processed and transported all around the world
What nettle pudding may have looked like.
I wanted to cover the types of food that people ate long before I was even a twinkle in my parents eyes.
So I went for a surf (internet-style) and found some interesting little tidbits you may be interested in
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Smashed potatoes: Cheap and delicious for hungry families
This recipe is thanks to Jamie Oliver's 30 minute meals show.
It has been a godsend on those nights you want to provide something cheaply and quickly for a hungry horde
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Pasta makers have cut down the time it takes to make this Italian staple.
There is a version of history that noted explorer Marco Polo brought back the recipe from China to Italy where it was whole-heartedly embraced.
Lagane, however, made from durum wheat, was around in Roman times and baked rather than boiled
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Green eggs and ham with Christmas leftovers
This dish came about through a combination of a love for Dr Seuss and the need to use up Christmas leftover ham.
Oh, and the fact that my vege garden is 'chockers' with silverbeet and spring onions
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A lovely combination of flavours in the nutty beef satay.
A great blend of flavours and the sauce goes great with simple foods like boiled potatoes as well as beef.
Ingredients
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Fresh and healthy summer salad using the produce from our vege patch
So now I've been growing my own vegetables and salad items our family has been enjoying the 'fruits' of that labour.
Silver beet has been plentiful but what I've really enjoyed has been the salads
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Getting back to basics and growing our own food.
Something I've wanted to do for a long time is grow my own vegetables.
With a decent sized back yard and time to tend a vegetable garden, I've finally established one
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