Saturday, June 10, 2006

Day 54 - First Surf Lesson - Bondi Beach, Sydney - Pancakes w/ Hot Raspberry Compote

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There are several outdoor sporting experiences not to be missed while in Australia: diving the Great Barrier Reaf, watching a Wallabies rugby union match, and (definitely) taking a surf lesson!

My aussie life-saver mate Drew and I were fortunate enough to win a free, two-person surf lesson at a recent costume party for the northern beaches life saving clubs. (as detailed in one of my previous posts) Free Bondi Beach surf lesson? AMAZING!

Because June is the winter season for Australians, the weather was perhaps a little on the cooler side (note: this is, of course, relative). Fortunately, this meant that the beach was relatively empty for our 10 am surf lesson. There were still, of course, lots of fitness-minded Bondi Beach residents who beat us to the beach, even at such an early hour on a Saturday morning.


Admitedly it was kind of a gloomy, grey day, but it was great weather for beginner surfers such as myself and Drew to "get our feet wet" (pun intended) and get some surfing how-to. All those surfers make it look sooo easy ...

Unfortunately, no pictures of either Drew or I in action. In summary: we got slammed around by the waves pretty much all morning (having a b-l-a-s-t in the process), Drew stood up on a wave before I did ... and nobody got eaten by sharks. (<- you had to know there was a shark coming somewhere, right?) lol


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Before getting the day started, Drew and I found a local cafe to down some "brekky" and coffee. Compote is another great (and easy) topping for pancakes if you're trying to get away from the usual maple syrup treatment (NOT that there's anything wrong with a little Aunt Jamima in everyone's life). If you're not a morning person or don't feel like making compote the morning of, make it ahead of time and heat it back up over a low heat while frying your pancakes / flapjacks / hotcakes / ...

Recipe

Ingredients:

3/4 lb. raspberries, thawed if frozen

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp. lemon juice

Instructions:

Combine all ingredients in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Cover and simmer 5-7 minutes or until sauce is formed. Serve warm, or cool if desired. Makes 3-4 servings.

** Add a vanilla pod (or 1 tsp of pure vanilla essence) during simmering time to zip this up a bit, if desired.

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