December 2015 | January 2016

Beauty & Ghosts Robert Drewe’s Broome

Smoked Trout Waffles Breakfast Martini-Style

Cat, Garden, House Do We Expect Too Much?

Giving Money to the Kids How it Affects Your Pension

Twitter, Facebook, Instagram Join the Social Network Roly Sussex “I’m a MAMIL…a Middle-Aged Man in Lycra” editor

With four prime ministers in five the damage we’re doing to our Have a fabulous summer. years, mid-term assassinations country over the longer term. Sarah Saunders are starting to define Australian These killings are poll-driven – so Editor politics. It’s something for which why now would a smart politician [email protected] Japan – think five prime ministers make unpopular decisions early in five years from 2007 – has in a first term. always been notorious. These days, it seems the courage To be honest, I’m not a fan. Sure, of conviction is a luxury no-one Publisher the treachery of knifing a sitting seeking longevity can afford. It’s not National Seniors prime minister; the ugly braying the electorate that they answer to A.B.N. 89 050 523 003 from the margins; and the raw but their colleagues – all of whom, ISSN 1835–5404 emotion borne out of an ultimate well-schooled in the Machiavellian Editor humiliation make for great TV. arts, harbour their own ambitions. Sarah Saunders Its mediaeval-ness is thoroughly My hope for 2016 is that we shift s.saunders@ modern. We all have opinions, we away from this hollowness to nationalseniors.com.au all have platforms and we want something authentic and enduring. everything to happen now. National Advertising Manager Now, if you read nothing else Mark Smith But it makes me uncomfortable, in this issue, don’t miss Robert [email protected] and I wonder about honour, and Drewe’s beautiful piece on page 42. National Office Level 18 contributors 215 Adelaide Street Q 4000 Robert Drewe is one of Australia’s most prominent literary authors. He was born in but his writing is shaped by the Swan River Phone: 07 3233 9191 and the Indian Ocean coast where he learnt to swim and surf after Fax: 07 3211 9339 moving to WA. His latest book The Beach is published by the National Library of Australia. www.nationalseniors.com.au Disclaimer Dr Michael Lewis is the British Museum’s head of Portable Antiquities & Treasure. His special interest is medieval archaeological National Seniors Australia [NSA] accepts no responsibility for the small finds from c.1000 onwards. His publications include The Real accuracy or completeness of any World of the Bayeux Tapestry (2008), The Bayeux Tapestry: new material herein and recommends approaches (2011), Saints and their Badges (2014). readers exercise their own skill and care with respect to the Sandra Kimball has worked in mental health for over 20 years as a contents of the magazine. therapist and educator in Australia and internationally. Sandra runs The magazine contains views couples retreats in Northern and is the author of and or recommendations which do not necessarily reflect the views Relationships in Our 50’s, 60’s and Beyond – How Yours Can Survive of NSA or its commitment to a and Thrive. particular course of action. A reference to a particular person, Paddy Manning is an experienced, awarded journalist who has product, organisation or service in worked for the ABC, Crikey, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, an advertisement or elsewhere in The Australian Financial Review, and The Australian. His latest the magazine in no way implies any form of endorsement by NSA of book is Born To Rule: The Unauthorised Biography of Malcolm that person, organisation, product Turnbull (MUP). or service. NSA disclaims to the extent permitted by law all liability for Brian Herd is a partner with the Brisbane law firm, Carne Reidy claims, losses, expenses, damages Herd. His expertise includes: elder law or law relating to, or affecting and costs the reader may incur as a older people; and acting for and advising many not for profit providers result of, or associated with, the use of the information contained herein of services to the aged and disabled. www.crhlaw.com.au for any reason whatsoever. The publisher reserves the right to accept or reject any advertising or editorial Dr Eileen Webb is a Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University matter. No part of this magazine of Western Australia and co-director of the Faculty of Law’s Consumer may be reproduced, reprinted or Research Unit. She is a member of the Australian otherwise duplicated without written permission of the publisher. Research Network on Law and Ageing (ARNLA). Printed by Horizon Media

6 50 SOMETHING December 2015/January 2016 first up executive diary New research director

National Seniors Recent research for National Seniors’ Melbourne-based seeks to be a well- National Seniors Productive Ageing Centre has a new balanced organisation on grandparent director, Professor Philip Taylor, who socially, philosophically childcare highlighted has researched and written on social and politically. the significant role However in one area that grandmothers and economic aspects of population we have not achieved play so that parents ageing for over 25 years. that balance... are able to return to work. The research Philip has worked on several major Our membership is noted the significance multi-disciplinary and international unbalanced…in a of grandmothers programs of research concerned with nice way! reducing workforce issues of workforce ageing. He has Yes, dear reader, Michael O’Neill participation to enable served on government committees you contribute to CEO their daughters and our imbalance. National Seniors daughters-in-law associated with population ageing in to return to the Australia and elsewhere. He holds The failure in balance workplace. an ongoing position as Professor is gender; we have more women than men. Reform of the retirement income of Human Resource Management system generally is essential against at Federation University Australia. A bias towards the female of the an outlook of continuing government species and an ever-widening gap. The Centre’s latest piece of research and commentator pressure on the role It is reflective of society with women on the barriers to downsizing, released of the pension. living longer, including socialising in November, is covered in this issue. more than men – a contributor to Reform must also include tackling living longer. the inequity of gender balances in superannuation. Importantly, there is a converse imbalance in retirement income National Seniors stands against and superannuation. ageism and will continue to stand for women being able to enter retirement National Seniors provided a with dignity and a financial base, detailed submission to the current comparable to men, to support them. Parliamentary Inquiry into the issue of Economic Security for On a positive note in the age and Women in Retirement. gender space, I wanted to acknowledge one woman who emerged as an The statistics are disturbing. unlikely torch bearer on the issue The average superannuation Tell us what you think – Melbourne Cup winning jockey balances at retirement in 2012 Michelle Payne. were $82,615 for men and $44,866 National Seniors is conducting a survey for women. A skilful ride and a wonderful story to better understand its members. full of courage and hope. And good With your input we’re hoping to gauge A significant element of the difference on her for calling out the bias she reflects the interruption to paid your views on the current benefits and has experienced. She provides a careers that women experience as services the organisation offers and great example for all who experience they undertake care roles, whether discrimination, of whatever form. what you would like to see more of. for children, parents, partners or By participating, you could win a $250 others. Interrupted careers mean not Equally important she is a shining star Wish gift card. Simply complete the entry only loss of income but an adverse for all ages of the power of resilience. impact on career development. As individuals and as a community, form at the end of the survey and you’ll resilience is a characteristic we should go in the draw to win. Compounding this are employment value and strive for as we deal with arrangements. The gender pay the challenges of life. Complete the survey online at gap at September 2015 is 18%. In addition, 43% of women in the On that note I end the year with nationalseniors.com.au/membersurvey workforce are employed part-time thanks for support across the year or contact the membership team on compared to 14% of men – reinforcing and wish all a peaceful, gentle time 1300 76 50 50 to request a hard copy. the current outcomes. at Christmas. The survey closes 11 January. 14 50 SOMETHING December 2015/January 2016 cover story

Much-loved linguist and ABC broadcaster Roly Sussex, 70, tells Rosemary Desmond why 65 is just an arbitrary age for retirement and why every day brings new discoveries.

When Roland Sussex badly broke What attracted you to the study of languages? his arm at school it ended his My dad was a professor of French and he also knew dream of becoming a professional Latin, Greek and German and so languages were a part musician but started a lifetime of our household. love of language. He is now Emeritus Professor I was born in Melbourne but we went to live in of Applied Language Studies at New Zealand where I was in a youth orchestra as a University (UQ), clarinettist. But while long-jumping at school, I had an speaks five languages, is a regular absolutely terrible breakage of an arm … and that ruined radio broadcaster with the ABC a potential career as a musician. So I have kept music as and was made a Member of the one of my favourite things to do – mainly listening rather Order of Australia in 2012. than playing – and I took up languages. I started learning Russian, French and Latin at age 12 When not immersed in academia, Happiness Roly and Bogna Sussex in 1971 listening to classical music or and, at age 15, I started German as well. In 1968 I went working on his acreage property in Brisbane’s west, to Prague to do a PhD in Slavic Linguistics. But in August (of that he cycles 100kms a week – and is not afraid to wear lycra. year), the Soviets reinvaded Czechoslovakia to reimpose their conservative version of Communism. I decided not to continue my Roly laments the demise of many uniquely Australian words studies there because my colleagues were a little uncomfortable which have given way to Americanisms. He has also long believed about having Western colleagues around. our country is part of Asia and needs to embrace its languages and culture. And, he reads stories and plays spelling games with (After completing a PhD) I got a job teaching linguistics and his six-year-old grandson in Canberra via Skype. Russian at the University of Reading near London. 18 50 SOMETHING December 2015/January 2016 and Queensland and with lots of other bits of the ABC who And you married in 1971… ring up and want to do programs. I’m (Brisbane) president My future wife Bogna was Polish and my mother-in-law said: of the Alliance Française and I’m writing two books. ‘If you want the daughter, you had better learn the language, son’. So I did that and Polish has become one of my best languages Are you concerned at the number of Americanisms creeping and was until she died from cancer two-and-a-half years ago. into English? So, how many languages do you speak? Indiscriminate Americanisation is probably not so great in that we may lose some things which are part of our idiom historically I can speak five and with the help of a dictionary can read and part of our identity. Words like ‘bonza’ have gone, even ‘ace’ about another 15. It’s what I do for and ‘grouse’ which were words of a living. approval when I was young. Now all Where have you taught in of our ‘approval’ words like ‘great’ Australia? and ‘neat’ and ‘cool’ are American. Why can’t we have some Australian I came back to Australia to Monash University and I was the approval words? I have a data base of first Professor of Russian at the nearly 10,000 items of Americanisms University of Melbourne at the which I’ve recorded in Australia. age of 31. Some of them like ‘OK’, are very common indeed. OK is the most But around 1987, I started getting recognised word on the planet – worried that Mikhail Gorbachev and it’s American English. was going to bring down the old Soviet Union and I might end up When I was young, Australian with insufficient students. Out English was ‘in for a dig’ and of the blue, the University of Multilingual Roly Sussex aged 18 in the South of France colloquial and when you went Queensland rang and said ‘we’ve overseas, you tried to mask it. got a job here in applied linguistics, come and talk to us about it’. Nowadays our language has arrived, we are very comfortable My wife and I had been up to Peregian Beach (Sunshine Coast) in using it. The way we talk is now regarded with admiration, on holiday just before that and she said to me: ‘if there is a job in curiosity and sometimes amazement. Queensland, we’re going’. So we went – and it’s been wonderful ever since. I’m also collecting diminutives – things like Robbo and Johnno, Bundy and Rocky, Freo and Rotto (for Rottnest Island). That’s quite a life story… I’ve got a data base of around 6,000 of those and they are Well, that’s just part of it. I retired in 2010 because my contract going to be online as a free dictionary for everybody worldwide said on my 65th birthday I was ‘out’. But various people came to do research on Australian English. We abbreviate words and rushing after me and said ‘come back, we’ve got things for you to names more than anybody else in the English-speaking world. do’. I have two big projects at the university. One of these is ITaLI We don’t like titles and we don’t like formal names. We are very – the Institute for Teaching and Learning Innovation – and we are informal with each other and we expect to give and receive that building MOOCs, which are Massive Open Online Courses and in same sort of informality. two years, we’ve just passed our 500,000th enrolment on courses we have produced and put online. The other course is called You’ve said that many university students complain of repetitive PainLang, which is about helping people communicate about pain. strain injuries (RSI) because they are unused to handwriting. Is handwriting dying out? How you actually communicate about your pain to your doctor, to your We’ve spent nearly 6,000 years learning to write with therapist, to your family and friends, people are so pens and styluses and quills and now we write with is absolutely crucial to diagnosis pathologically bound to keyboards, including mobile phones. I think maybe and lifestyle, and it is enormously within 10 years, the physical act of picking up a pen different across cultures. For being online that they and writing will be a bit unusual and it will probably example, my dad was Australian and can’t afford to be off it. become like Chinese writing – a form of calligraphy. he was brought up that expressing pain is not something a gentleman Another thing that intrigues me is that emails, SMS does. You should ‘crack hardy’ – to and Twitter have given us a generation of writers. use an old phrase – you should be Nowadays if you get on a school bus about 4pm, staunch and not show it, whereas in other cultures… particularly everybody is on their mobile phone sending themselves messages women in childbirth…are encouraged to be very vocal as it is and you need to know something about the way the language supposed to be good for the foetus. The doctor has to understand works in order to break the rules the way they do and so the the principals of pain talk in different cultures if he or she is going written language has made an extraordinary comeback. The to understand what the patient is really going through. important thing is that people should know there is a difference Apart from that, I write for The Courier-Mail on language, I do between the sort of language you would read in a formal written radio with the ABC with South Australia, Northern Territory piece and in informal SMS language.

50 SOMETHING December 2015/January 2016 19 cover story

You mean like OMG… This is thanks to my daughter We come from Australia and when we who said about nine years ago: hear English, we think it’s exactly the Yes and ROFL which ‘Dad, before your body rusts same as we are used to and the answer is is Rolling On the Floor let’s do something to help you.’ no, it is not at all. You need to be bilingual Laughing. I’m doing a I used to run and to play and bicultural in English. In other words Wooftie (short for Word squash but my knees didn’t English is not a single language any more, for Today – a regular like that sudden change of it is many languages and it is the engine segment on ABC Radio) direction. I do a lot of cycling in for expressing many cultures. on FOMO, which is Fear groups with friends and to some of Missing Out. Australians are also woefully monolingual, extent socially. I’ve done Cairns particularly the Anglos, while two thirds of FOMO has actually to Karumba (southern Gulf the world’s population is at least bilingual. become a psychological of Carpentaria) a number of We are now an Asian country and we need condition where people times, which is 800kms in seven very urgently to become citizens of Asia are so pathologically days and is a charity ride. It’s by learning their languages and cultures bound to being online a lovely way to meet different and I’ve been banging on about this for that they can’t afford MAMIL Lycra clad cyclist Roly sorts of people who like getting 40 years. to be off it. around on two wheels. I live on acreage in Anstead (in Brisbane’s west) So you are not about to slow down What do you like to do in your spare time? where my daughter has a horse. I do a lot anytime soon? Firstly, I’m a big connoisseur of classical of heavy gardening associated with that. No. Life is full of beautiful things to music of all kinds. I’m doing a great deal of research at discover and if my curiosity instinct is Secondly, I’m a MAMIL…a Middle-Aged the moment….and I’m editing a book not running one morning when I get up, Man in Lycra, except that at my age, I’m on a series of papers from a conference I’m in trouble. n probably a GEMIL…which is a Geriatric at the Macau Polytechnic Institute

Man In Lycra. But I do 100kms a week on Intercultural Communication and on the bike, mountain bike and road bike. English in Asia.

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Did you know you can reduce your work hours and use your super to supplement your income before pension age? Craig Hall from the Financial Information Desk explains how.

30 50 SOMETHING December 2015/January 2016 Retiring from the workforce has changed over How can a TRP help Jim? the years. In the past it was common to reach a Jim can access his super as a TRP, accessing certain age, retire completely and go on an age between 4% and 10% of the balance as at the pension and/or live off savings. Recently, the use of income streams in retirement has become commencement and 1 July each year thereafter more common as more Australians have larger up until age 65 or until he permanently superannuation savings and can make the most retires when the minimum increases to 5% of a concessional taxation environment. We are and the maximum payment limit is removed. also looking for greater flexibility near retirement This enables him to continue working on reduced as health, wellbeing and other lifestyle factors hours, take time to care for Jill and make up become important. Due to various reasons people for the reduced employment income through now wish to cut back their hours or work part the TRP. time instead of ceasing work completely. Do you have to convert all of your super But what if you have reached your superannuation to a TRP? preservation age but have not yet reached age 65 to You are not obliged to convert all of your access your super and your personal circumstances superannuation benefit to a TRP. Other and work situation results in a reduction of accumulation benefits can still be held income? In the past, the only two options available simultaneously. This is particularly important were either to permanently retire, access your for continuing employer contributions and/or superannuation to cover expenses making further personal contributions if and maybe get the Age Pension applicable. when you reach pension age; or simply keep working regardless How else can TRPs be beneficial? We are also looking for of any negative implications. greater flexibility near Depending on your personal circumstances There is an option which TRPs may be used in conjunction with making retirement as health, allows people who are between salary sacrifice contributions to reduce taxation. wellbeing and other preservation age and age 65 to This is commonly known as a ‘Re-Contribution remain gainfully employed and Strategy’. For example Betty is 61 years old, lifestyle factors become access their superannuation employed and earns $50,000pa. Betty is able important via a special income stream to drawdown a portion of her super via a TRP known as Transition to which is tax free and request her employer to Retirement Pension (TRP). ‘Salary Sacrifice’ an equivalent amount back into It was introduced with the aim super. The advantage here is that money salary of helping people stay in the sacrificed into superannuation uses ‘pre income workforce and maintain their income rather tax’ dollars and is contributed as a concessional than stop work completely. A TRP operates like contribution which attracts a tax of 15%. a normal Account Based Income Stream (ABIS), In this case, it is much less than Betty’s however there is a maximum drawdown amount marginal tax rate of 32.5% (not including allowed each year of 10% of the value of the fund Medicare levy). and no commutations (lump sum withdrawals) are permitted. These restrictions are removed How are TRPs assessed? once you permanently retire or reach age 65. When it comes to the assessment for Let’s look at Jim and Jill’s situation. Jim’s 59 and Government Income Support (GIS) purposes still working and Jill is also aged 59.They have if applicable, the total amount of the TRP is just found out that Jill has a serious illness which assessed under the Assets Test. Under the means Jim will need to reduce his work hours, Income Test, TRPs commenced from 1 January allowing more time to care for Jill and assist with 2015 are assessed under the deeming rules. her treatment. Jim fears that if he has to give Utilising the ‘Re-Contribution’ strategy involves up work completely, they won’t have sufficient Salary Sacrifice contributions and they are income or funds to cover their mortgage and meet included in the income assessment for the future expenses. If he doesn’t reduce his hours Commonwealth Seniors Health Card and Jill’s health will deteriorate further. GIS payments.

50 SOMETHING December 2015/January 2016 31 Quick Picks

Australia’s longest running windsurfing event, the annual A Good Read Lancelin Ocean Classic, attracts world-class competitors to this The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins is cray-fishing town 90km north of , WA. See windsurfers, recognised as the kite and paddle boarders first detective novel from 18 countries compete in written in English. spectacular wind and water It follows the story of conditions over four days a young woman who from 14 January. Details www. inherits a large Indian lancelinoceanclassic.com.au diamond which then vanishes. It is one of those books that you Botticelli’s The Virgin adoring the just cannot put down sleeping Christ child is but one of 70 magnificent old master paintings at as you read versions the NSW Art Gallery this summer. of the circumstances The exhibition also includes works by surrounding Titian, Gaugin, Monet, Degas, Cezanne the diamond’s and Rembrandt. The Greats: Masterpieces disappearance from from the National Galleries of Scotland the main characters. runs until 14 February. Details call 1800 679 278 or www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/ The Hon Kelly O’Dwyer MP, Minister for exhibitions/the-greats/ Small Business and Assistant Treasurer

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Inclusive Fares (ppts) All departures ex Melbourne $3,195 SAVE $150 ex country Vic $3,295 DIRECT flights from Melbourne Book & pay in full ex Adelaide $3,615 180 days prior to 7 NIGHTS South Pacific Resort ex Canberra $3,615 departure Ask about 8 BREAKFASTS, ex Hobart/ $3,515 your member 7 DINNERS, 4 LUNCHES Launceston Dining & Touring Include: discount! ex Perth $3,995 12 TOURS & EVENTS • Cliff top BBQ breakfast • Wonderland by Night single $ 385 by Pinetree Tours • Murder Myster y Dinner • Convict Settlement Tour supplement Time to browse, shop, relax • Island Fish Fry • Cyclorama • Island Progressive Dinner • Half day Island Tour • The Rock restaurant • Sound and Light Show • Barney Duffy restaurant • Glass Bottom Boat in association with • Night as a Convict • Trial of Fifteen play • Mutiny on the Bounty • Breakfast Bushwalk BROCHURE • Green Fingers Tour • Pitcairn Settlers Village OUT NOW! • Island Culture Tour epicurean top shelf The British Museum’s Dr Michael Lewis nominates a garnet brooch dating back to 6th Century Kent as a favourite piece in an exhibition running exclusively in Brisbane this summer.

I have a special interest in It is from an Anglo-Saxon medieval archaeological small female grave, from a large in the late 6th and early 7th century, Kent finds, particularly items cemetery in Kent, England. was an independent Anglo-Saxon kingdom associated with personal At this time, in the late adornment, but especially 6th and early 7th Century, those that would have been Kent was an independent treasured by past peoples. Anglo-Saxon kingdom with This is why one of my favourite strong links to the Christian objects within Medieval kingdom of Frankia (centring Power: Symbols & Splendour on modern-day France). is The Wingham Brooch. Kent became strong, rich and powerful because of these This intricate brooch is of links, and this rise in status is a type found from the late reflected in the craftsmanship 6th century in Anglo-Saxon of the Wingham Brooch. Kent, which is in present- day South East England. There are few opportunities Obviously when you look at to see medieval culture within the brooch, you can instantly Australia and Medieval Power see it’s a beautiful object, but provides a one-off opportunity only when you go into a bit to view a lot of fascinating more depth and really take it objects, like The Wingham in, you realise just what an Brooch, without leaving the amazingly crafted object this country. is, particularly given its size. Dr Michael Lewis is head It has red garnets which may of Portable Antiquities have come from as far away & Treasure at the British as India or Sri Lanka. These Museum. have been hand polished without the benefit of high- Hidden Story Wingham Brooch, silver-gilt, niello, garnet, glass and shell, 575-625, England precision tools jewellers use It has red garnets © Trustees of the British Museum (2015) today. The garnets have been cut into complicated shapes which may have come and backed with decorated from as far away as gold foil, which allows them to show brightly when the foil India or Sri Lanka reflects light. Shell and gold filigree wire has also been very carefully arranged to create an eye catching design. Medieval Power: Symbols & Aesthetically, it’s an Splendour runs exclusively at amazingly beautiful object, the Queensland Museum from but more than that, the story 11 December 2015 – 10 April behind this particular find is 2016. Tickets are on sale at also interesting. qm.qld.gov.au/medieval 38 50 SOMETHING December 2015/January 2016 epicurean

Karen Martini’s mouth-watering breakfast recipes could well work for a Christmas brunch, writes Sarah Saunders.

Karen Martini is much more than a And she doesn’t disappoint. In one chapter My Kitchen Rules judge. of her latest book, New Kitchen, Martini declares “breakfast is king!” and tempts Cooking professionally since the age of 16, us with a small but mouth-watering menu. Martini was the talent and brawn behind the critically acclaimed Melbourne Wine For those who believe dessert comes Room; founding chef of Sydney’s Icebergs too late in the day she offers rosewater restaurant; and now, owner of the hugely and rhubarb hotcakes; and, for the popular St Kilda pizzeria mr. wolf. ‘grown-ups’, smoked trout waffles with sour sherry onions. With seven cookbooks under her belt and a column filed weekly for the major Fairfax Which got me thinking: Why can’t our newspapers, you’d think Martini would Christmas meal be breakfast? Frankly, increasingly struggle to find inspiration. summer brunch never looked so good.

Not so, she says. “I’m always thinking Recipes and images from New Kitchen about what I’m going to eat next, how I (Pan Macmillan) by Karen Martina, might cook it, how I could do it differently.” RRP$44.99 40 50 SOMETHING December 2015/January 2016 450ml milk Preheat the oven to 180°C fan-forced Grease with a little butter or spray with oil (200° conventional). and add a quarter of the batter to each 60g unsalted butter, melted pan. Bake for 10 minutes until lightly For the roasted rhubarb, add the rhubarb, 2 eggs, separated golden. Once cooked, loosen the edges strawberries and sugar to a large ceramic and slip the hotcakes onto warm plates. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or enamel baking dish, toss briefly and Repeat for the remaining batter. spread out evenly. Set aside for 10 300g plain flour minutes before roasting in the oven for Dress the hotcakes with the roasted 80g caster sugar 20 minutes. strawberries and rhubarb, drizzle over some syrup and dollop on some yoghurt. 3 teaspoons baking powder Tip the strawberries, rhubarb and any Finish with the pistachios and pashmak syrup into a large bowl, pour over the 2 pinches of salt flakes (if using). rosewater and set aside. thick natural yoghurt, to serve serves 4 For the hotcakes, add the milk, melted 2 handfuls of bright green pistachio kernels, butter, egg yolks and vanilla to a jug smashed using a mortar and pestle and stir until combined. Pashmak (Persian fairy floss), to serve Add the egg whites to a medium bowl (optional) and whisk until fluffy. Dry whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl to Roasted Rhubarb & Strawberry break up any clumps. Make a well in 1 bunch of young rhubarb, the centre and add the milk, mix while trimmed and cut into 3cm lengths whisking constantly to form a smooth batter. Using a spatula, carefully fold in 250g strawberries, whole and unhulled the whipped egg white until combined. 130g caster sugar Preheat two small, ovenproof frying 2 teaspoons rosewater pans in the oven for 2 minutes.

1kg Kennebec potatoes 2 baby watermelon beetroots (or any good chipper), peeled 1 side of hot-smoked trout 2 tablespoons grated fresh 2 handfuls of chervil horseradish (or unsweetened prepared horseradish) Lemon wedges, to serve 3 tablespoons thick sour cream Sour sherry onions 50g plain flour 2 red onions, finely sliced 80ml extra virgin olive oil, 2½ tablespoons sherry vinegar plus extra to serve 2 tablespoons caster sugar Salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper ½ teaspoon salt flakes

You will need a waffle maker for this recipe. Combine the horseradish and sour cream golden. You can keep the cooked waffles in a small bowl and refrigerate until needed. warm in a low oven, if necessary. Add the potatoes to a saucepan of cold salted water over high heat and bring to the Coarsely grate the potatoes onto a tray Meanwhile, trim the beetroots leaving a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for 5 and divide into four even portions. Add 1 little of the stem on and wash thoroughly minutes. Drain and set aside until just cool tablespoon of flour and 1 tablespoon of oil to dislodge any dirt. Slice finely lengthways enough to handle. to one of the portions and season with salt using a mandolin. and pepper – depending on your waffle For the sour onions, add all the ingredients maker, make one or more at a time, but Top each waffle with some sour onions, a to a medium saucepan over medium heat. only flour each portion just before cooking dollop of horseradish cream, flakes of trout, Cover and cook for 15 minutes, stirring – and combine gently by mixing with open slices of beetroot and fine springs of chervil. occasionally, until softened and vibrantly fingers. Shape into a loosely formed cake, Drizzle over a little oil and serve with lemon pink. Set aside to cool. add to the waffle maker and cook until wedges on the side. serves 4 n

50 SOMETHING December 2015/January 2016 41