Paw Paw Sauce - 100 mile diet friendly, Japanese Gardens

Making the inedible, edible! You guessed it - I am not a big fan of Paw Paw, though I am assurred of its health value, its one of the few foods I dont get enthused about.

John always tells me he doesnt like tomatos, but loves tomato sauce, wont eat grapes, but loves his red wine, wont eat Strawberries but loves strawberry jam... see a pattern emerging????

So, when confronted by this in my Food Connect box, I recalled a great recipe for a refreshing sauce served chilled on icecream. Its the ginger that sells it for me!

Heres the recipe:

3 Cups of Chopped Paw Paw (Food Connect)

1/2 cup Water

1/2 cup Sugar (Bundaberg)

1/4 cup Lemon Juice (from the tree)

1 Teaspoon Grated Ginger (Food Connect, but growing my own)

Combine sugar and water in a pan and dissolve, add Paw Paw and simmer for 10 minutes until tender, remove from heat and add lemon juice and ginger. Once cool, process until smooth and chill. Easy recipe.

Take it from me, its yummo! Particularly with home made icecream made with real eggs and fresh organic milk.

So, what if you had Jerry Coleby-Williams from Gardening Australia as your neighbour? Our current guests do! Though they dont ask him lots of questions about their garden problems, I'm sure they would if they werent so respectful. I think I would be the neighbour from hell - always over the fence, but I would offer some nice home grown something in exchange! ;)

...and the Photos???? I digress I'm afraid. No Paw Paws here, this is a beautiful Japanese Garden in of all places, the middle of Ipswich. Called Nerima Gardens, it is part of a sister city project. A traditional shingle roof teahouse has just been installed, and we happened to be there whilst a Japanese contingent was there and got a peek inside. Glorious place. So hard to take a bad photo there - everything is so well designed.

On the way back from South East Queensland Country Conference (we stayed in Ipswich overnight) we stopped off at Harrisville and enjoyed a leisurely Wine Tasting at Normanby Wines. Great spot. Great Wine (Try the Durif - if you like a rich red this is for you!). Great Hospitality... highly recommend a drive and a visit - part of the Scenic Rim Wine Trail!