Let me tell you a little story.
One day when Emma was living in Melbourne, she and her boy decided to visit a local vintage and antique shop that she had admired going past on the tram. She was delighted with many of the items for sale but was especially taken with a particular lovely German plate, 1950's, with a geometric pattern and beautiful colours.
Emma really wanted to buy this plate but sadly, she was a little bit short of cash, and a bargain this plate was certainly not.
"Oh dear," she sighed as the boy steered her out of the store, "how I would love to own that lovely plate."
Every day afterwards she sat on the tram and stared wistfully into the shop window, where the plate was not on display, and wondered whose house it was sitting in, and whether its new owner was treating it with love. A little part of her still hoped that it was on display elsewhere in the shop, and she intended to return when she had saved enough cash. If she was lucky, the lovely plate might still be there!
A few months later, Emma and her boy found themselves moving back to Sydney. It had been a very busy time, working, packing, running her Etsy store, and farewelling her Melbourne friends - so much so that she hadn't had a chance to go to the shop. As they were driving out of Melbourne, 4WD full of boxes, plants and clothes, and balancing a fishbowl on her lap, Emma looked out the window a final time at the shop and felt sad that she would not buy the lovely plate, after all.
A few more months past. Emma and her boy settled in to a new life in Sydney. Christmas and New Year came, and with it all the family and friends and social events. Emma forgot about the lovely plate sitting in Melbourne.
Then the day of Emma's birthday arrived. She was excited but a little apprehensive as her family were away on holidays, and her boy had decided to go to the cricket for the day. Not to be disheartened, she had a lovely day shopping in the city and enjoyed a lively dinner at Chinatown with her friends. When they finally got home, Emma said to her boy, "What a great day! I am so tired, I am going straight to bed."
That's when her boy produced a sneaky present from under the bed. He had bought it 5 months ago and had been hiding it in manholes, at work, in his laptop bag, at his parents' house, and finally in the top of our new wardrobe, but somehow it had survived and was now sitting in Emma's lap.
It was the lovely plate.
THE END
It's a Jamie Oliver recipe I'm whipping up here - from his Cook With Jamie book. I've made a couple of things from this book so far, as has the man, and we've been quite pleased with the results. This pork is especially delicious. We serve it with a spanish rice (with beans, roasted capsicum, onion and oregano) and corn on the cob. Yummy.
That's me, the 
Posts
