I was struck by the abrupt transition from the hotel grounds to the rest of the landscape.

On Friday evening my wife and I went to Paul’s place to have dinner with him and his wife.  Paul is a very good cook and great fun so it’s always a pleasure to go over to his place. He cooked a couple of snappers in a Thai sauce and they were delicious. The time always passes quickly at Paul’s and before we knew it, it was midnight.

On Saturday night we went to Alison and Justin’s place for a barbeque with Asian salads. Again the food was excellent and again the company was so good that we didn’t leave until midnight.

Today (Sunday) we went to Jade and Claude’s wedding .  This was their second wedding. The first wedding was a Chinese wedding in Malaysia in October last year (which we also went to) and today’s wedding was a European style wedding.  The weather was absolutely perfect and the wedding was held at South Head, over looking Sydney Harbour. It was all very nice and pleasant. A perfect day for a very lovely wedding.

As I reflect on the food I’ve eaten over the last couple of days, it has occured to me that all the food has been what is described as “Mod Oz” which is basically Asian fusion food with an Australian twist.

About a quarter of the people living in Australia were born overseas and that fact is changing what we eat. For instance, at our table were nine people. Five people were born in Australia to Anglo parents, another person was born here but her parents are from Germany and Iran. One guy was from Malaysia, another fellow was from Egypt and there was also a woman from Turkey.

 Gone are the days when over cooked bland English cooking was the normal fare one could fear to expect.