The Ruby Grapefruit are ready to pick and this year for the first time I have Blood Oranges (plural), the tree has never done very well but clings to life and every now and then produces a single orange, but this year has eight fruit. Had people to lunch and served this salad:
1 ruby Grapefruit (segmented, membrane peeled from each, cut into 3 / 4 pieces)
3 small blood oranges ( segmented, membrane peeled from each, cut in half )
500 gms prawns  ( peeled and split lengthways)
spinach leaves add leaves from 1 bunch basil, 1 bunch coriander, 1 bunch mint
Dressing
Grated fresh ginger, any reserved juice from preparing the grapefruit and oranges, fish sauce, chopped fresh chilli and palm sugar (or use chilli jam ), pepper and olive oil (or oil of preference).

Also served a Spanish style sea food stew, Zarzuela de Mariscos, one of those stews whose contents vary according to what is fresh and available at the time.
Prawns, mussels, clams, firm white fish*, blue swimmer crabs.
Use prawn shells and bay leaves to made a stock. Melt onions and red capsicum in olive oil, add diced tomatoes. Soak saffron in a cup of white wine. Cut one or two Chorizo sausages into slices and brown in a separate pan. Strain stock add onion mix, sausage, saffron and wine, simmer until nearly ready to serve. Add seafood, firm fish first, then prawns and crab/s. Add ground almonds (or Almond meal), about a cup or a little more....until you think it looks slightly thickened or the " right" consistency. Add mussels and finally clams until opened. Add the juice of a lemon and (optional) paprika. Taste & adjust for salt and pepper.
Serve in big bowls with lots of bread
* I used locally line caught Albacore Tuna, which was on special at $11.95 a kilo. Not exactly " white", but how could you not. It also says something about the local market - everyone wants the "white" fillets … Snapper $32, Flathead in the late twenties , Blackfish $17.  Why bother when tuna is so cheap and when you can get freshly caught whole mullet for $6 a Kilo.  For the mullet, fillet, skin ( the fishmonger will do this for you) and coat in crumbs that have been whizzed up with stale sourdough, parsley, turmeric, salt and pepper, a touch of lemon peel optional.

Take your place for a weekend of conviviality, conversation and culinary creativity.
The 22nd Symposium of Australian Gastronomy brings together some of the most influential and creative food thinkers, writers, academics and industry professionals from Australia and beyond. For over 30 years, SAG has informed and inspired thinking and debate on Australian foodways, past, present and future.
‘Out of Place’
The main SAG program runs from Friday 16 to Sunday 18 November at the evocative Female Orphan School on the Western Sydney University (WSU) campus at Parramatta. We are excited to partner with WSU to present the Symposium at this landmark, fully-restored venue.

• We have partnered with Sydney Living Museums for our Friday evening reception at historic Elizabeth Farm, with the theme of eels and other native food
• More than 40 papers and presentation proposals covering topics from indigenous foodways to the place of imported food traditions in Australia and across the globe have been received
• Gay Bilson is the keynote speaker at the Saturday night banquet at an iconic location, with the menu curated by chef Alex Herbert.

‘Out of the Kitchen’
On Monday 19 November, we have a program exploring and discussing the challenges and changes faced by our food industry. From food criticism to the role of food in social change, join chefs, cooks, restaurateurs, food scholars, writers and thinkers to consider the future of the industry and exchange ideas with industry peers.

• Author and comedian Benjamin Law will moderate a panel discussion on food and social change. Angie Prendergast from Two Good is one of the guests.

Registration
Full 3-day program (reception, banquet, Saturday, Sunday plus Monday event): $720
Full 3-day program Early bird discount: $650 [Until 31 August]
Student full 3-day program – $500
Student full 3-day program Early bird – $420 [Until 31 August]

• Student ticketholders must verify their eligibility by sending in a photo of their current student ID by reply.

Two-day SAG main program (reception, banquet, Saturday and Sunday but NOT Monday) – $650
Two-day SAG main program Early bird – $550 [Until 31 August]
Student two-day SAG main program – $450
Student two-day SAG main program Early bird $350 – [Until 31 August]
Additional places can be purchased for the Friday Reception at $75, and the Saturday Banquet at $120. Numbers are limited.

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Opening in mid June are 2 exhibitions of the watercolours of Samuel Elyard, the coastal paintings and Cape St George Lighthouse paintings. Previously, in October - December 2014 I have curated an exhibition, Samuel Elyard : Of time and place, at the Shoalhaven Regional Gallery Nowra which concentrated on the paintings of Nowra and the Shoalhaven River, this new exhibition focuses on the coast from Cruikhaven River ( sic  - Elyard's spelling ) to Wreck Bay and as Samuel's output included a number of works featuring the lighthouse, a small exhibition of these works along with a history of the lighthouse was also curated at the same time.

Samuel Elyard – The Coastal Paintings
Samuel started visiting the Shoalhaven after his family had acquired property and one of his first visits, aged 17, was in January 1834 which is recorded in a small handmade diary titled “Sam’s trip to Shoalhaven”. By the age of nineteen he was teaching some drawing classes, taking on commissions and portraits and tried, unsuccessfully, to make a living as a professional artist. In 1837, he took up a position as a Clerk in the Colonial Secretary’s Office and as he wrote “There is not so much anxiety about this kind of life as there is in the profession of painting alone – consequently more of happiness. It is however an everyday sort of life.” Elyard continued to paint and take commissions in his spare time. However after 30 or so years in public service and numerous visits to family in the Shoalhaven, in 1868, due to ill health, he retired on a pension, and by March 1869 was living permanently at Nowra. This ‘forced’ retirement at age 51, to a quiet life in the Shoalhaven, was undoubtedly very good for his physical health and assisted in moderating his mental health issues; He lived another 42 years and died at 93 on 23 October 1910. Elyard’s retirement also resulted in an extremely beneficial artistic and historic legacy for the Shoalhaven, he was now able to spend time capturing favourite scenes and landscapes in his art. As indicated by the works that have been positively dated , the paintings in this exhibition are mainly from various trips to the Crookhaven, Cape St George, Jervis Bay and Wreck Bay areas during the 1870’s.