October 1992 AND a reconnection to the Andersons!
For an introduction to what these Menu Diary posts are about, please click here.
Monday 28 September. Roast Pork. I would have made this one. Mainly because Trenna would have real trouble lifting a hot pork roast safely, and secondly because in those days I always got the crackling perfectly crispy.
Wednesday 30 September – Sunday 4 October. I went away to the National Australian Institute of Tertiary Education Administrators (AITEA) conference in Victoria. Trenna was quite capable of fending for herself in those days, though it still would have taken its toll. And we SO missed each other.
Monday 5 October. We had Puttanesca, which almost certainly would have been with spaghetti, and we had “rustic eggplant”. I don’t specifically remember that, but I just Googled it and it looks like it was probably a type of lasagna – bellisimo!
Friday 9 October. I went to La Cascade French Restaurant in Stirling Highway, Nedlands. I wasn’t with Trenna so it must have been some sort of work function. Anyway, apparently I enjoyed it. Trenna had Indian take-away which was also good.
Sunday 11 October. Bart and Marie’s Sunday Session so it was a can of tomato soup afterwards for us.
Reconnecting with Margaret Anderson
Friday 16 October. I remember this night very well. Trenna and I went to our favourite restaurant, Rumah Batik, which I have mentioned before in an earlier Menu Diary. We had been there only a short while. Trenna was facing the exit and most of the restaurant – it only held about a dozen or so tables. Then she said, in a low voice “I think that’s Margaret Davies over there”.
“Whose Margaret Davies?” I said, it wasn’t someone I had heard of before.
“Margaret Anderson, the oldest of the Anderson kids”.
“Oh!” Of course, I knew all about the Andersons by then.
“And she keeps looking over this way….”.
With that Trenna got up and approached the table that had Margaret and her husband Garry.
“Hullo Trenna” Margaret greeted her warmly – she too had made the connection.
At that point it had been about 20 years since Trenna had seen Margaret and Garry.
They didn’t talk for long but it was enough for them to reconnect. They stayed in touch on a fairly sporadic basis for another couple of decades but then did start to talk on the phone fairly regularly. For the the last several years of Trenna’s life they spoke often and Trenna and I and Marg and Garry had lunch and morning teas together.
It was also, really through this chance meeting that Trenna was also able to visit Mrs Anderson in her old age. Trenna really appreciated connecting with Margaret and Garry, Mrs Anderson, and the rest of the family.
If you aren’t aware of what I am talking about, the Anderson family and their role in Trenna’s life is covered fairly extensively in The Kitchen Tapes series.
Back to the Menu …
Saturday 17 October. “So Good, So Easy”. I gave the recipe here.
Tuesday 20 October. This was another of the dishes I learnt when I did the Chinese Cooking class with Gene Wong.
Tuesday 27 October. Steak and Kidney Pie, which Trenna made last for a couple more nights whilst I was once again away. This time at a 2 night retreat with the rest of the Management Development Group from Curtin University, where I worked at the time.
Sunday 1 November. Colin and Julie hosted the Sunday Session and they chose to have a lunch time barbecue. We were so full we didn’t eat anything for dinner that night.