Berry and rhubarb crumble, three ways. Like a fish out of the water

It seems ages ago since we packed up the house in Beaterio street and ended our three year posting in the Philippines. When the Qantas plane finally landed in Canberra at 3pm on the 18th of June I thought this is it. It is real, it is happening. A new chapter, a new opened door. The Manila one was already closed behind.

It was very odd. We felt  we were on a vacation for a short while and we would go back to Manila, our "home". Perhaps I blamed the jet lag of the long night flight and the lack of sleep but I had an awkward sensation of being misplaced.  I even wondered  did we actually live in Manila? what happened during those three years? It was such a bizarre feeling, I can tell you.

Home? What a strange concept and easily taken for granted.

In my pre-diplomatic life I didn't question my home. Why would I? I was living in Madrid, in the same old house for 24 years. My routine was more or less similar everyday and I was happy. However, my life turned 180 degrees the day I met Nick in 2000. I became a  globetrotter. Now, with our three little children, we are like nomads.

It is true that is our choice to move around the world. It would be less hustle to stay in the same place all the time, I think, but less exciting. Being a diplomat  is another way of living, perhaps a bit peculiar to some people. I love it though. It opens your mind to new horizons, different perspectives and interesting adventures.

However, it has a price: you have a fresh beginning every time you move; live in a new house or in a temporal accommodation until you find a house to live (like we are right now); your children go to a new school, which is hard enough, and they have to make new friends.

Packing your life every 2 or 3 years  is not an easy thing to do.  It takes time, effort, patience, frustration, and it might give you some anxiety and an unpleasant feeling of being unsettle. Sometimes you feel like a fish out of the water, lost. Like I was when I came back from the Philippines last month.

The whole concept of moving from one country to another and adapting to this process is difficult to explain for me. It is one of those situations in life that you have to live them to fully understand them. Even if you wanted to, it wouldn't be able to. I  tell you this from my own life experience before I met Nick. I couldn't really figure out the consequences of following him around the world until I actually did it.

However, we keep in the back of our minds that this adjusting period to Australia is temporal. Things will get back to normal I repeat to myself every morning. The staff in boxes will arrive soon and it will be exciting to decorate our future new house, when we get it; kids will like -or not- their new school and hopefully will have good friends whose parents will be our friends too; I will perhaps will get a part time job to contribute to the family expenses. And, what I believe it is the most important and final step in the settling period, we will all have a routine to help us put down roots.

The transition is achieved as well through the small pleasures in life that make us happy. In my case, although I literally collapse in bed around 9pm, I still need to run early in the mornings (although I question my common sense as it is minus 2 degrees outside) even if I am covered in layers like an onion. I also like to take my kids to walk everywhere, to the shops, the park or to the library. We didn't   walk much in Manila because it was too hot, polluted and we had a driver. They love it now and don't complaint about the cold (and they get tired, which is my goal!).

My main distraction is cooking, as you probably guessed. But before I started I needed to feel comfortable in this kitchen of this serviced apartment that we are renting for a few weeks until we find out what is going to happen with our future. It is the size of my old kitchen in Manila, but cute - well, it is not, but I pretend it is so I don't get depressed-.

I decorated my kitchen first with a vase of fresh parsley -cheaper than fresh flowers- and a couple of things that I brought with me from Manila: a French style blue and white tea towel that is now hanging from one of the draws; a long  red and blue bag handmade by my tailer that I use to buy fresh bread from the wonderful Silo bakery; of course, my three favourite cookbooks.

People in Canberra have asked me frequently if I miss the Philippines. I was honest when I said I wish I had a Mary Poppins with me now in this tiny apartment as I had in Manila to clean, shop and cook with her magic. At least I would be able to finish my meals without being interrupted or to sit down and write my blog. But I don't have the time to do what I really want to do and I resent myself for that. However, as the days pass by, I am learning to accept that my life has got busier and that ten minutes a day are golden and wisely used for my own pleasure.

I don not miss the heat and the humidity, the noise and the multitude of the streets of Manila. I am happy when I walk in my neighbourhood and I breath fresh air, and it is quiet, very quiet. Although sometimes it isn't a good thing when you are lost in the way of dropping your daughter off in a playdate in her friend's house, miles away, and it takes you 40 minutes to find someone to ask for directions!

Other part of me misses the people, my close friends, the yayas and the driver who worked for us, my lovely doctors…all of them dedicated their time to us, three years of friendship can't disappear. It won't anyway.

Last Sunday we went to the snow so my kids could know what the real snow feels like. They thought it only existed in the Frozen movie. You should have seen their faces. Was brilliant! In the way back we stopped in a cafe to have a warm drink. When we were outside, I suddenly found a black piece of cloth on the sand close to the car park. it was an apron!!! hooray! You can't imagine how delighted I was, despite of my family's disgust -even Gab cried mama, kaka!-

That apron was lost and I found it (I washed it, in case you wondered). After leaving the Philippines, I was lost but cooking helped me to put order into my life again and this insignificant apron reminded that when you follow your passion, it always drives you to the right direction in life…and life  gets back to normal.


Welcome home.

Photos I took during our visit in the wildlife zoo in Port Douglas.

When I was in the Philippines I was looking forward to the winter produce in Australia. Rhubarb is one of my favourite vegetables. Being a bitter veggie it gets transformed into a sweet fruit like when it is cooked with sugar.  

The recipe "Rhubarb, berry and orange crumbles" comes from one of those magazines that the supermarket Coles gives you for free (I cannot afford buying more cookbooks!) . I made this easy dessert (a total winner for a dinner party) in 20 minutes and served it with good quality vanilla ice cream.  I modified the recipe slightly using roasted almond flour instead of plain flour and adding water instead of the orange juice (because I didn't have it). I guess you could use two more apples to replace the rhubarb, if it is unavailable where you live.

The leftovers were eaten as a topping for the warm porridge the next morning. Two days later, I still had approximately 3/4 cup left of the rhubarb compote (without the topping) so I mixed it gently with the wet ingredients to make chocolate muffins for my kids' merienda to celebrate Aurelia's first day at Forrest Primary school. 

• 2 Eve apples, peeled, cored, chopped
• 1/4 cup water (or orange juice)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• bunch rhubarb, trimmed, thickly sliced
• 250g mixed berries
• 1/3 cup almond meal (or flour)
• 1 tsp orange rind
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 60g butter, chopped
• 1/3 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans

1. Preheat oven to 200C. Cook the apple, water and half the sugar in a medium saucepan over medium high heat for 3 minutes. Add the rhubarb and cook for further 2 minutes or until just tender. remove from the heat. Stir in berries. Divide among 6 ramekins or in a 1L ovenproof dish.
2. Place the almond meal, the orange rind, cinnamon and remaing sugar in a large bowl. Using your fingertips, rub in butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in oats and pecans. Sprinkle over fruit. Bake for 25 minutes or until the top is golden.