Real Fruit Granita (that's a slushie to the kids)

Roger has mastered the juicer and we are full steam ahead making real fruit slushies served out of the milk bar just like they used to in the old days.  Back then it was the Veneris family's secret recipe Orange Ale and we are not claiming ours to be as good as everyone's memory of their refreshing drink.  However we would like to dedicate our version of something similar to the memory of Jack and Peter.  Everyone remembers their drink so very fondly.  They remember how it was a drink but used to ice up around the edges of the freezer and how it had to be stirred once in a while to keep it liquid.

Well, ours is more a traditional granita, in fact that is exactly what it is.  We make two varieties so far using freshly squeezed fruit juice (Roger has been slaving over the juicer just like Peter used to).  Orange and Watermelon Real Fruit Slushies are now on tap so to speak at The Blue Bird.  And as it has most definitely been 40+ degree temperatures all this week the summer is well and truly into what I call 'Watermelon Weather'.  In fact it has been the only thing that has managed to cool us (and our customers) down this week.  Roger reckons that the icy drink is quite moreish but as it is made with 90% fruit including pulp, it is probably not a bad thing to become addicted to in the scheme of things.

From the original comes the even better

I was truly surprised at how quickly our original home-made sausage rolls became a hit in Lockhart not long after I first started making them.  I think that was sometime in February last year...certainly before the Antiques Under the Verandah day because I remember making truck loads of them to sell that weekend.  Since then I have made a batch every day and almost every day, they have sold out.  That is really good feedback that I was on the right track when I decided to focus on flavour over size as the commercial varieties seem to do.  It has certainly been one of the main comments we have received about them...that our sausage rolls have flavour and that you can taste the meat filling.

So I decided to have fun experimenting with other flavours and came up with my own version of the classic Cheese and Spinach Roll.  It has a secret ingredient to give it a bit of extra pep.  That has featured sporadically on our menu now for a number of months.  At long last I can unveil a new, gourmet range of 'sausage' rolls...

Turkey, cranberry and brie - subtly sophisticated and slightly festive

Pork, apple and mustard - an English country flavour inspired by the Hairy Bikers

and..

Chicken, macadamia and sundried tomato -my personal favourite, the intense hit of sundried tomato balanced out by the creaminess of Australian macadamia.

Who said that a sausage roll had to be all about the meat?  My new flavours test the boundaries of the ordinary sausage roll and I hope I can tempt some traditionalists into stretching their imaginations and their taste buds to try something a bit different and new.

A New Year and a Milestone

Roger and I have not only made it through Christmas and New Year 2013, but we have also reached a bit of a personal milestone and are taking the time to reflect on all that we have achieved, as well as of course, as breathing deep for some new year's resolve.  January 2014 heralds the anniversary of the re-opening of The Blue Bird for meals and a rekindling of the business.  It might not have been as dramatic a year for the Shire of Lockhart as 2012, there were no floods in 2013, but it was a huge year for us.

The winter was long and hard to undergo our first year in business but we made it through and now we can say that we have seen all the seasons and seasonal changes.  We will know better what to expect in the coming year.  A tremendous learning curve and we are grateful that we have been able to roll with the times.  Spring arrived after a good rainy winter and the canola bloomed its butter yellow early.  The changeable spring with unfortunate late frosts was not kind to the farmers or their crops but Lockhart pulled through better than other areas and harvest took place earlier than usual to make the most of the crops that were left undamaged.

In December we suffered an early heatwave.  After the mild previous December in 2012, Lockhart had lulled me into a false sense of security.  Here I was thinking that it would not be as hot as people had warned me.  We sweltered for four days of temperatures that tipped over the 40 degree mark, followed then by sticky humid rain.  It wasn't so much the heat that distressed me as the multiplying bugs.  They might have been little but they learned over the week of their life span, to bite and be very, persistently irritating.  Tiny insects that pestered me day and night, attracted to light coloured things like our vehicle, our toilet and our skin.  The local Banjo frog was a welcome visitor in our back garden as they enjoyed a marvelous feast of insects.

Fortunately the weather cooled just before Christmas and it has since been a couple of weeks of lovely temperate 30 degree, fine days and cool nights so we have been able to get some sleep.  Christmas Eve presented a picture perfect sunset and since then we have been busy, busy, busy in the cafe as the traveling families make the most of the nice weather to trip around and stop at The Blue Bird.  Of course, I am having the same feeling that I do every year I work through the Christmas/New Year season.  I envy everyone else who is on holiday when I am not.  But it is a case of 'making hay' for us as we build up our business and we will be hopefully be able to stand back some time in the future and see the rewards of our hard work.

I terms of new year's projects?  Well, we are enhancing our collection of milk bar memorabilia and working on researching more of the history of The Blue Bird, Greek-Australian cafes and milk bars.  We have known all along that the most important part of what we are doing here is preserving a precious part of Lockhart's and indeed Australian history and the more of that history that we can share with the world, the better.  So here's to 2014 and its place in history.