The Family Table. Pt 1. BabyMac AKA Beth Macdonald.

A couple of years ago when I first started writing this blog I thought about what it was that I wanted to share.

It started as a way of me sharing my food knowledge and my passion for preparing real food for our families.

More importantly though I like to think that I give people the confidence to appreciate that the magic that is the Family dining experience is NOT just about the food.
While the food is what draws us to the table it should be considered but ONE of many things that are shared and indeed NOT the most important one.

LOVE to me should always be the single most important ingredient that is shared at our family table.  Without LOVE the food and the entire dining experience is just another meal.  But with it our souls as well as our tummies are nourished.

It is with this in mind that on Fridays I will be sharing with you my new series- The Family Table- where super special guests share their family dining experiences with us.  It is a way of appreciating that there are infinite ways of dining together.

My wish is that every single one of my readers makes The Family Table part of their own family life.

I am so excited about this series and have some of my very favourite family sorts lined up to share with us their Family Table experiences over the coming weeks.

My first guest is Beth MacDonald from Baby Mac:
Beth's blog is all about her transition to country life after falling in love with a house that she and hubby Rob immediately knew was home.  They ditched the Inner West life of SydVegas to bring up their family in the Southern Highlands of NSW.  She likes to fold sheets and also carve her roast chicken on her very shiny floors. Despite me not being a fan of housework we are still the very best kind of mates.
Beth & I are mates in real life after meeting through the magic of Blog world.  I totes love her.  She and I love to laugh, drink coffee, swear, love music, love our families and have a ridiculous love of anything of the Pig variety of food type. I am especially grateful to her brother for moving to Melbourne so she comes to visit more often.
You may know her blog too? If not you can find it here.
You may also know of Beth's super deluxe Magazine named after her alter-ego BEVERLEY. If not skip to the app store immediately in your shiny red shoes and click away to have a squizz at it's cleverness. The latest edition includes a super gorgeous movie by Rob about Organic Farming that I LOVE.

Over to Beth ~

1.) Can you please share a little about how your family shares food? 

We are extremely lucky to eat together, as a family, almost every night of the week. The move we made to the country means that Rob and I are both working from home, which means family dinner...every night! I still pinch myself that this is the case. I feel very lucky. We eat around a table...that's my rule. It can be around the kitchen island bench, or dining table, but it HAS to be a table. No TV. Music preferred. And you have to be able to chat about your day - what you did.

2.) Do you have hard & fast eating rules?

You have to TRY stuff. You don't have to like it, but I really push the girls to try stuff. Rob can be annoying sometimes and push things he doesn't like around his plate, but I force him to eat and lead by example! Nothing is more frustrating is going to the trouble to cook something tasty and nutritious and have it pushed away. I have thrown many a tantrum over that! There also has to be something green on the plate...somewhere. A rule I picked up from my Mum.

3.) Can you share with us where your cooking influences/inspiration are from?

My Mum - 100%. She is the perfect home cook and entertainer, and she got her knowledge from her Mum. Mum ran a catering business out of our home kitchen in the 80's, then had her own cafe for a number of years and has worked in and out of the food industry all her life. She has taught me EVERYTHING I know and love about cooking - especially with love, from the heart, for the people that you love.

4.) Do you have a favourite cuisine?

I am a pig and eat and love ALL OF THE THINGS.

5.) Can you recall a super special meal or eating experience that has stayed with you forever?

Meals and food can evoke such memories and feelings don't you think? The smell of onions and garlic frying in a pan remind me of Mum cooking weekly dinners and is instant comfort to my nose. I've been lucky enough to have some seriously spicy and amazing thai food on my honeymoon on a beach with Rob. The cup of tea and toast I ate after giving birth to Daisy were the best things I think I'd EVER had. A seafood chowder and pint of Guinness in Ireland with my sister and Rob's Dad were so delicious....each good memory I have dear to my heart usually involves food. To me, food is love and happiness - all my best memories are attached to something I have eaten...as I said, PIG!

6.) Would you please share the recipe of your favourite family meal with us?

• 1 organic chicken
• 1 lemon
• Handful rosemary, thyme, parsley
• 4 cloves garlic
• Salt, pepper, butter and olive oil

Throw inside the chicken the lemon cut in half, herbs, garlic. Cut thin slices of butter and wedge under the skin of the chicken.  Rub the olive oil over the bird and season with salt & pepper. Whack into a hot oven 200 degrees for 1.5 hours.

Into a roasting pan throw in any veggies that you like - we use potato & sweet potato, red onions etc and chuck in 30 mins into the chicken cooking (needs an hour in total). In the last 10 mins I throw in a bunch of cut kale or cavolo nero to crisp up at the end.

Serve with gravy.

7.) What song would be playing at the dinner table?

This isn't the full song...but here it is anyway. THIS is what we listened to x

Thanks Beth. xx