Fijian foods
I am off to Fiji - the islands in the South Pacific Ocean for two weeks. I have been out of blog mode for a while with all these national holidays getting in the way.

Happy belated Canada Day to you all...hope you had a good one. Ours was filled with bbq and more bbq, pies, ice cream, cakes and more treats like brownies, fresh strawberries, cherries and more.

Needless to say it was a great weekend with lots of fresh Ontario produce.

This pic is of Kokoda, a Fijian food. It is made out of raw fish meat seasoned with lemon juice and coconut milk; can't wait to have some great fish meals.

While away, I am going to try and post if I can but not sure if I will be able to access the internet.

Am asking guest bloggers step forward -any takers? Or readers, I will be back in two short weeks. By then, I should have a wealth of stuff to post in regards to plane food (tip: always order a special meal as you get served first), Fijian delights and New Zealand treats - am going to Pat and Robbie's farm so will take pics of me milking the cows!! Am very excited. Maybe Pat will make her famous Pavlova....mmm!

Creative Summer GatheringsWith the summer sun beaming down on us there are a lot of bbq and back yard parties going on especially as this is a long weekend -yay! Some creative invites are going around like this one and am looking forward to seeing more like this.

This one was for a simple bbq where hot dogs were the feature food. We were going to rock up at 2pm with drinks and hot dog condiments, thinking this was the time for the party but luckily called and were told that the party started around 10pm -ish!

Enjoy the sun today! Happy Victoria Day.

Victoria Day is a Canadian statutory holiday celebrated on the last Monday before or on May 24 in honour of Queen Victoria's birthday.

Brit Barbie
Guest poster -Nat!

Here is a plate full of the delicious offerings that my parents served up at my farewell barbecue on Sunday. It includes the now somewhat elusive "special" salad, key ingredients sweetcorn, avocado, prawns and red onion... It's a bit special because mum is never really sure what was in the salad last time she made it! We had an earnest debate about ingredients that have made special guest star appearances in the past: mushrooms, pine nuts, crab meat...

My mum is an excellent cook and dinner parties at our house are always eagerly anticipated, with the speciality being summer barbeque's. Maybe it's the African in her... My dad's in charge of the coals and what goes on them - on Sunday he got to use one of his 60th birthday presents for the first time: a lovely set of wooden-handled bbq tools. He was chuffed to bits but maybe now the most important piece of equipment, the braii itself, needs to be enhanced to fit in with the swanky tools - it's made out an oil drum cut in half. We don't do airs and graces in Croydon!