Friday 17 February 2012

50 years of LOVE.

In January my parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

FIFTIETH!!!!!!

That is half a century!

Not bad eh?!

Worthy of a party.

A BIG party.

Man oh man that is an amazing achievement in anyones books.

Sometimes life is hard yakka and in a marriage there is always someone else to consider.

And then there are the five children they had that were also VERY much there as well.

They had their troubles and most of us kids had our troubles with them too at some stage or another.

I have been living with my husband for nearly 25 years and totally get how marriage is not easy.

Most of my memories of their union are joyful, happy & loving.

No marriage is fun - ALL the time.

All marriages require work, require attention, require negotiation.

Sometimes we are better it than other times.

Sometimes it feels easy.

Sometimes it feels really really hard.

Sometimes happiness comes with sadness.

Sometimes loving someone doesn't mean you like them all the time.

I don't reckon it is REAL if it is not like that.

But what I see in my parents marriage is:

50 years of friendship.

50 years of love.

50 years of respect.

50 years of family.

50 years of living life with passion.

They have been and continue to be inspirational people who at the heart of everything they do is LOVE.

In January we helped them celebrate this HUGE achievement.

FIFTY years together.

Their five kids.

Many many of their friends- new & old.

There were lots of people.

Young & old.

All different.

All unified by their love of my Mum & Dad.

The guests were asked to write a short passage of something they loved about them.

It was fantastic.

Us kids took turns in reading out these messages.

Some anonymous.

Some not.

Some whimsical.

Some serious.

All loving.

It was a great party.

Food.

People.

Music.

and a whole load of that magic ingredient.....

L O V E.

HUGE congratulations to you both.

I love you.

xxx

MY BROTHER'S FAMOUS CHICKEN LIVER PATE:
One of my brother's was a chef.  He has since changed career.
He trained under the very gorgeous Maggie Beer.
She is EVERY bit as lovely in real life as she seems.
You may well have bought her fabulous pate.
Well.......my brother made his famous pate recipe (this is not Maggie's recipe but my brothers own) for the party- it was A HUGE hit.
It always is.
Many of the people at the party have asked for the recipe.
I hope it becomes one of those dishes that when eaten conjures happy memories of a fabulous celebration.
Food is great like that isn't it. Reminding of us significant events.
Like me- my brother LOVES to share.
He was more than happy to have me publish his recipe for you all to enjoy.
I made it a couple of weeks ago using Milawa organic Chicken livers. It was D I V I N E!!!!!
And very very simple! go on give it a go. You won't regret it.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

  • 1 large onion
  • 1 garlic
  • Bay leaf, salt, pepper, nutmeg, crushed cloves, juniper berries, some green herbs like thyme and parsely
  • 1 –  1½ cups red wine
  • 250g butter
  • 300g chicken liver

METHOD:
1.  Sauté  onion garlic and herbs and spices - on medium heat until translucent
2.  Add red wine, simmer for a few minutes
3.  Add butter and allow just to melt
4.  Blend all this up in vitamiser or food processor – take out the bay leaf first!  Do this while it is still fairly hot – so you will have to be extra careful not to burn yourself
5.  Add liver and blend until all smooth.  Adding these while the onions and wine is still hot ensures more even cooking.
6.  Put into cooking dishes – oven proof bowls or terrine dish
7.  Put in double boiler: cover dishes with foil, put in oven tray with a kettle of boiling water and cover tray with foil.
8.  Cook in moderate oven 150 -170º, for 30 minutes or so.  Just to barely cook the pate, leaving it pink inside.
9.  Refrigerate.
10.               Once cold, cover with a thin layer of barely melted butter and cracked pepper; or as Maggie Beer does, with aspic and juniper berries.

Note this does not have a very long fridge life:  approx. one week 


I'll let Nina weave her magic with this one:

17 comments:

  1. What a beautiful tale of love. And what a beautiful way to celebrate it!
    As for that pate, as soon as I've popped out this baby, I'll be all over making that one!! xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. one of my greatest tortures of pregnancy was not being able to eat Pate.
      My ever so thoughtful hubby came to me with a tray of a selection of pate, soft & blue cheeses for me to devour very soon after I had given birth.
      It was impossible not to love him more than I did at that very moment!

      Delete
  2. Well I'm blubbering! So beautifully written from your gorgeous heart. x

    ReplyDelete
  3. My darling GG - that's Gorgeous Girl- how can I thank you for such a passionate post? I am so proud of you! Whatever I have given you, to me it is your own invincible spirit and enormous generosity that shine through in all you do - so capably and wholeheartedly. The very best thing about our 50th anniversary party was that you and your siblings and partners were there with us and lovingly did and gave so much to make it 'the most wonderful night of the year'! Of course the littlies too and family and good friends who as you say did join us with love. It was all just perfect. By the way -it's beating the gun I know - but I want you to remember I want Nina singing that song at my funeral! It reminds me of Eric's piano playing - and me singing??!!! So very glad to be your Joma.

    ReplyDelete
  4. That is such a lovely post, beautifully written. My dad died 3 weeks before my parents 50th wedding anniversary. So sad. x

    ReplyDelete
  5. I am so lucky to be able to say that I have experienced the incredible generosity of your parents and their charming, lovely, warm, vibrant and inviting home. They and their home ooze the LOVE vibe.
    Yep, a truly loving, long-term relationship with a partner, offspring or any loved one means fun and boredom and joy and anger and sadness and laughing and crying and yelling and whispering and excitement and disappointment.
    It's a roller coaster and well worth hanging on for the ride.
    That last photo is just perfection.
    And Nina? What a woman. What a musician. Passion screams out of every pore of her body X X X
    p.s. Could we have some quantities for the garlic, cloves, nutmeg & junior berries lovely?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. xxxxxx
      the pic with the onion, garlic, juniper etc is what I put in mine (there are 2 onions cause they were small) and 4 cloves of garlic (also tiny), a couple of stems of parsley & thyme and probably a dozen juniper berries. I didn't use Nutmeg or cloves in my batch.

      Delete
  6. they look like such a joyous loving couple x

    ReplyDelete
  7. I just love reading your blog ...the writing and the sentiments. And thanks for all you had to do with the great day we had of celebration with select friends and family. I am proudto have you as my daughter. It is a joy to witness your success with what we share in values, your abilityto express and share your wonderful exuberance and vivacity, caring and giving, infusing others with your enthusiasm...food is only a part of it but can be so representative. I wish you continued success in all you value most..XXOO

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  8. What a wonderful post! Loved every word, every photo. But especially the proud & loving responses from your parents. How lucky you are to have them, and they, you. Xox

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  9. I just discovered your blog and I have to say - you are awesome. Such a great combination of thoughts, pictures, food and music, and you put them together so well.

    P.S. your parents look pretty awesome too!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi There, i just found your blog via Pip - i love this post. I just celebrated 20 years of marriage this year and hope I achieve what you posted about. Congratulations to ALL of your family - how blessed!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Well, Gourmet Girlfriend, you are the second blogger to have made me weep in as many days ... and I've only just found you! I love your passion and I know I shall return again and again. Such joie de vivre is not only infectious, but also inspirational! Just what I need at the moment. By the way, the other blog who reduced me to tears is WholeLarderLove ... have you heard of him? I reckon you'd like him a bunch.

    Happy things, Deborah.

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  12. My grandparents enjoyed their 50th (Golden) Wedding anniversary when I was a child. They had a huge party at what was then the Southern Cross Hotel in Melbourne and my grandmother wore a gold evening dress and my grandfather wore a gold tie. It was an amazing party and although a lot of it has faded from my memories, what does remain is the golden light of the love these two people felt for each other!

    ReplyDelete

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