Sparrow grass

I started seeing the first signs of spring more than a month ago. In just the past week or so, winter coats have suddenly felt too heavy, the heat has been switched off during the day, and we’re even thinking about taking the wool blankets off the bed. But yesterday, when I saw these in the supermarket—on sale!—I knew for sure that spring had arrived.

Roasted asparagus
Asparagus is one of the things that I really do not buy unless it’s in season. I find what’s available out of season so expensive and so inferior in taste that it would probably be more satisfying to just eat the money instead. I admit I’m biased: I was spoiled by living in Oxford, where during the asparagus season you could go to the Covered Market and get bundles that had been grown a mile or two down the road, and picked the same morning. It’s hard to get excited about stuff flown halfway around the world after that.

2 bunches asparagus
2 Tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper
juice and zest of ½ lemon

Preheat oven to 400F/200C. Drizzle a shallow roasting pan with olive oil, and put in oven to heat.

Wash the asparagus and, using your hands, snap into bite-sized pieces. (If you work your way up gently from the bottom of the stalk, it should naturally snap where the woody part at the bottom ends. Discard this and continue snapping.)

Shake off any excess water, and carefully add to the now hot pan. (There may be some sizzling and spitting as any water hits the hot oil.) Toss to coat with oil and return pan to oven.

Roast asparagus for 20-30 minutes, checking every 10 minutes or so and tossing to make sure nothing is burning. The asparagus is done when it has nice brown bits and is tender.

Remove from the oven. Season in the pan with salt, pepper, and lemon and toss. Serve immediately.

Serves 2. Recipe can be multiplied.

One year

I didn’t get to have a September 18 last year. I lost it somewhere over the Pacific Ocean, crossing the International Date Line. I left Los Angeles late at night on Wednesday, September 17, and touched down in Melbourne early in the morning on Friday, September 19.

That’s about what it takes to get to Australia: a day out of your life. At least. One way or another, you’ve got to make some effort to get here from just about anywhere.

I started this blog from a hotel room at LAX a few hours before I got on the plane, in preparation for beginning the great adventure of life in a faraway country. I’ve designated today, the day I sacrificed to the time zone gods to get here, as the official birthday of Roving Lemon’s Big Adventure.

In the past year, I’ve found answers to all four of the questions I asked in my first post, and I’ve learned a lot of other things besides: about Australia, about writing and photography, about blogging, about food, and about people, myself most of all. If you’ve been along for any part of the journey, thanks for your interest, your company, and your comments. If you’re new, welcome! Pull up a chair and make yourself comfortable. I expect interesting developments for the coming year, so stay tuned. But before we move ahead, to commemorate this momentous occasion, I offer:

The Top 15 Things I Didn’t Know About Australia Last September 18

15. Imported cheese—when you can find it—is really, really expensive here. So is bread. Any kind of bread.
14. Macadamia nuts, on the other hand, are not. Good to know when you’re famished from the lack of bread and cheese.
13. There is a serious lack of good pizza in Canberra. And bagels.
12. On the other hand, mangoes are widely available. (But I’m still not sure I like them.)
11. So are quinces. (I’m absolutely certain I love them.)
10. Gas grills are apparently indispensable to daily life.
9. If you’re in the market for a secondhand grill—or just a good deal—you should head to your local op shop.
8. Australians are happy to take any excuse for a good cup of coffee. They’re even happier if you offer them a baked good alongside it.
7. When people tell you Australian summers are hot, they’re not kidding. Trust me.
6. But don’t believe them when they say it’s summer all the time here. You just have to know where to look for the other seasons.
5. As my niece said when she was here, “The wildlife here is AWESOME!”
4. But some of the critters are more horrifying up close than I ever imagined.
3. Australian processed foods don’t use high fructose corn syrup.
2. You can get WD-40 here!

And the number one best thing I have discovered about living in Australia?

1. You can find rhubarb in the supermarket all year round.

Team dyamics

My ice hockey team has made the women’s league playoffs, much to my surprise. I’ve just been informed that I’m not eligible to play, because I joined the team too late in the season to play enough games to qualify. I have mixed emotions about that, after spending the last three weekends playing road games in, around, and beyond greater Sydney, including a trek all the way up to Newcastle (260 mi/460 km from Canberra). (Driving ten hours to play two hours of ice hockey is all part of the scene in women’s hockey—and probably plenty of other sports as well—but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t get old.)

It'll be interesting to see how my team does, because the ranks have been a bit thin since I’ve been around—we haven’t managed two full lines for any of the games I’ve played, which, if you’re at all familiar with ice hockey, means a lot of ice time for the six to nine skaters who do show up. (I had mixed emotions about that too.)

I’ve stuck pretty well with my plan of not paying too much attention to any simmering factionalism or drama I might notice along the way—although with so few players showing up, most of the locker-room griping has been directed at the many players who have been MIA during the second half of the season. So mostly I just show up, keep quiet, act pleasant, and skate my shifts.

But I did bake for my teammates last weekend. It was our last weekend of regular-season play, and we had a long drive. I figured it was a good excuse to bring treats. And these have oats in them, so you can pretend they’re healthy. People who do sports like that in a treat.

Oat-Fruit Bars
Adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks!
A big part of the adaptation is experimenting with different fillings, since the original calls for apricot jam, something I am unlikely ever to have on hand. I’ve made them twice in the past four days—one batch for the team and one batch divided between home and DP’s office. I may be making them again this weekend. They’re that good.

1½ cups/210 g all-purpose/plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1½ cups/120 g old-fashioned/porridge oats
1 cup/200 g packed brown sugar
1¾ sticks/200 g butter, cut into pieces*
1 10-12 oz/~300 g jar good-quality jam or equivalent**

Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Grease an 8 in/20 cm square baking pan.

In a large bowl, mix together all ingredients except jam. Spread one-half of the mixture into baking pan, pressing firmly into corners and into an even layer. Spoon the jam over the mixture in the pan, then smooth with the back of the spoon to cover the mixture as completely as possible. Cover with the rest of the mixture; press this lightly to form an even layer.

Bake for 30-40 minutes***, rotating halfway through, or until light brown. Cool completely in the pan before cutting into bars.

Makes 16 2 in/5 cm bars.


* The blog entry for these says only that it’s better if the butter isn’t ice-cold, but I found the mixture pretty dry and crumbly made with cold-ish butter. The second time I made these, I used soft butter, and I liked the consistency better.
** I used a fancy French raspberry fruit spread (sweetened with fruit juice) for the first batch, and homemade apple butter for the second batch. Both worked great.
*** My oven, which runs slow, took 40 minutes and more both times, and I still wasn’t convinced they were done, so you might need to experiment.