S IS FOR SEASONS (Well one season really)

Ahhhh Autumn. My favourite time of year. You can feel the slight tang of chill in the air first thing in the morning, the dews are heavy and that stinking heat that we must endure over February is abating.

It's time to get into the garden and do some maintenance and some planting. I planted 2 types of garlic this year. Russian garlic or elephant garlic is actually related to leeks and just happens to taste like garlic. The bulb is enormous and tastes mild and sweet. They are great roasted as an accompaniment to a baked dinner or in soups. I have also planted some Italian white garlic as it is tolerant of the cold (albeit mild to some) weather of a Sydney winter. This garlic is a true garlic, robust in flavour and flavourful in whatever you cook. I am going to plant red shallots tomorrow, if you haven't tried shallots over onions give them a go. They are preferred by the French for subtle dishes, also great baked whole or cooked up in beef bourguignon (one of my favourite winter dishes).

Autumn is also a great time to repair any watering system problems that turning the tap on too hard might have caused, weeding a garden bed that was overlooked because it was too bloody hot to go out there and weed it, or deal with the rust on the tools that you forgot to put away before it rained.

You can also kick back on a nice mild Autumnal night with a glass of red wine and a tasting plate and survey all that is good with the world. Can it get better than that??