Fifth Ave Katoomba Retreat

24/10/2026

Here’s a tip:
Use extra long parsley stalks as you would chives. It will give you more of a peppery taste rather than an onion flavour. But waste not want not. Especially when mum’s parsley has grown so profusely and extra tall under dad’s olive trees.

What’s your favourite herb?

18/10/2026

There’s a reason why some dishes taste so good. They take time. And in this instance I’m lucky enough to have homegrown zucchini flowers from mum’s garden.

Best to pick them in the morning and fill immediately, once you’ve rinsed any dirt off. So much easier to fill when they are open. They can be fiddly little things otherwise.

We don’t deep fry in batter. Our version is more like stuffed vegetables. Filled with cooked rice, mushrooms, capers, tomatoes and onions. A little Parmesan cheese if preferred. With lots of fresh herbs. And don’t forget to season.

These will be oven baked with some olive oil. I like them crispy but mum tends to serve them with ragu sauce.

And see those little green stems? Waste not want not. They are stripped of their fine outer skin and added to a pasta dish, instead of say, broccolini.

Will you try these at home?

🌱

17/10/2026

Had to pick this fruit today from my dad’s kaffir lime tree. At least I think that’s what it is. Happy to be enlightened.

Photographed next to my foot and a lemon from the garden for comparison.

It weighs 1.4K - and carrying it felt like I was carrying a baby. That’s my weight bearing exercise for the day!

🌱

16/10/2026

Put 12 people in a room.
Give them flour and eggs.
Watch what happens.

World Pasta Day is something to celebrate when it’s this much fun.

Sunday 25 October
12 noon til 3pm
Only 8 spots remaining.

Book via https://www.fifthavekatoombaretreat.com/event-details/celebrate-world-pasta-day-with-a-hands-on-clsss
La Botte D'oro
Gabriele Franco

😍 🇮🇹

14/10/2026

Ready to cook and eat like an Italian?
On World Pasta Day!
Only 10 spots to go. Book now.


https://www.fifthavekatoombaretreat.com/event-details/celebrate-world-pasta-day-with-a-hands-on-clsss

Thanks to La Botte D'oro for our latest collaboration on Sunday October 25 to coincide with World Pasta Day .

There’s no more Italian way to mark the event than making fresh pasta by hand.

Spend the afternoon with chef Gabriele Franco & home cook Silvana Franze: you’ll make the dough together, roll it into sheets and cut it into ribbons, the way it’s done in Italian kitchens every Sunday.

While you work the dough, the chefs cook a simple tomato sugo in the big pan. Then you sit down together and eat the pasta you made, in the heart of Sydney’s original Little Italy.

Twelve places only, so it stays hands-on for everyone. See you soon.

Book: https://www.fifthavekatoombaretreat.com/event-details/celebrate-world-pasta-day-with-a-hands-on-clsss

12/10/2026

Back in the garden after a six week break and boy! Everything is lush and popping with colour.
It’s so pretty - if a little wild.
Guess I’ll be trimming and w**ding for quite some time 🙂.

🌺

04/10/2026

Thanks to La Botte D'oro for our latest collaboration on Sunday October 25 to coincide with World Pasta Day .

There’s no more Italian way to mark the event than making fresh pasta by hand.

Spend the afternoon with chef Gabriele Franco & home cook Silvana Franze: you’ll make the dough together, roll it into sheets and cut it into ribbons, the way it’s done in Italian kitchens every Sunday.

While you work the dough, the chefs cook a simple tomato sugo in the big pan. Then you sit down together and eat the pasta you made, in the heart of Sydney’s original Little Italy.

Twelve places only, so it stays hands-on for everyone. See you soon.

Book: https://www.fifthavekatoombaretreat.com/event-details/celebrate-world-pasta-day-with-a-hands-on-clsss

17/08/2026

I find it hard to wear gloves in the garden let alone the kitchen. So after the first “ouch” in handling stinging nettles, I discovered that the leaves don’t sting. The stem does that, and well!

So I picked up each cutting by a large leaf, using scissors to remove the other leaves which will be blanched. They will make an appearance on top of our pasta dish tonight (much to my daughter’s distaste 😆).

And having spotted dried Nettle Tea yesterday at the Blue Mountains Food Co-op, I’m going to attempt drying the stems where I couldn’t get to the smaller leaves.

My mum has always told us stinging nettles are good for us. Luckily for me, they pop up in my other pot plants and they must be good. Because if I don’t collect them, the little green caterpillars absolutely devour them right down to the stems.

Looking up the benefits, these leaves contain high amounts of vitamins A, C, and K, plus iron, calcium and magnesium.

Not bad for a w**d outside my door. I can’t wait to see how the dried leaves taste as a tea.

14/08/2026

Not the most exciting photo. I took it to show how abundant nature can be right in your own backyard. Wasn’t it Audrey Hepburn who said “To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.”

No matter what’s happening around you, your spirit is uplifted when you’re outside amongst Nature. It continues no matter what.

My dad planted everything he could that had seeds. He saved everything. We have loads of lemon trees all in different stages of life. Most have plenty of lemons, and even when they’re over ripe and fall to the ground and no longer edible, the critters in the soil enjoy it.

I look to Nature to be inspired. I can’t help but feel good when I’m surrounded by it in one form or another.