Blood Orange Cordial and Blood Orange and Rosemary Gin Fizz

I have just taken the above "now" photo to explain my current situation. 

I am in Orange visiting my parents and they are experiencing freakishly cold weather considering we are headed for Spring. It was about 5 degrees Celsius with a little snow, lots of sleet and fog as far as the eye can see - that photo is in colour by the way, it is nature that is in black and white. It is great to be getting some mileage out of my new Ugg boots and hanging by the fire. It's also the perfect time to be writing this post because what I am blogging about this week is anything but black and white. 

Date and Walnut Loaf

Years ago in a past life I used to sell things. 
Sometimes it was fun and sometimes I was quite good at it. I didn't want to do it forever, so I stopped, but I still get the itch from time to time. For instance, I love to gently coax a friend into buying a dress that I know they will feel amazing in when they wear it out next. Or convincing another friend that they do look amazing in a hat (when they do) because not everyone can get away with wearing a hat. Some might say that I am spending (and wearing hats) vicariously - maybe so, but I do gain an immense amount of pleasure from someone I care about having something that makes them feel good.

So how do I sell you, person reading my blog that I care about, how do I sell you this seemingly dull looking date and walnut loaf? 

Southeast Asian style coconut pumpkin soup

The other day my friend Sarah and I went to a class at Too’s Cooking School in Annandale run by two hilarious and charismatic gentlemen (always a winner with me) named Brendan and Kevin Too.  We were there for the Spectacular Seafood class among sixteen other people. After going through the basics including the ingredients, the recipes and some knife skills, we broke into 4 teams of four to prepare a dish. At the end, we all sat down to devour our creations and discuss what we had learnt. My group were assigned the task of making a Southeast Asian style paste to spread on top of juicy white fish fillets and grill them en papillote (I believe banana leaves are traditionally used) on the barbeque.

Golden Pavlova with Rum Poached Pineapple and Lime and Szechuan Pepper Salt

Can you tell by now that I am aching for some of that sunny spring warmth?
I'm not going to whine about it though, I am just going to bring the sun to me. I brought it to me in the form of an out of season pineapple. I didn't realise it was out of season until just now when I thought to look - it sort of goes against my fruit buying morals.
What's done is done and I hang my head in shame (briefly, because I have to type this post). 
I made you all another pavlova because it is World on a Plate time and the theme for this month is fruit based desserts, and I can't go past a pav when I am the only Australian out of the bunch, now can I ?! I personally can't think of anything that I would rather throw fruit on than a pav right now. 
Let's not get into whether it originated here or in New Zealand (though Wikipedia might have the answer. I said might). The last time I posted a pav, I was sore about the rugby world cup. Now, I am feeling the neighbourly love and am happy to share.