The story of emu pies

On the way back from a road trip to Yallingup in Western Australia a few days ago Conor announced that he was going to be having an emu pie for lunch. He used to have them as a kid and remembered their tasty meat and crumbly pastry very well.

I was not so keen. It's not that I am unadventurous with food (some may diasagree) but surely it's absolutely essential that one must have a McDonalds on a road trip. It's the law. And I wasn't going to break it.

The anticipation for an emu pie built up steadily between the boys along the way and with a tummy happily filled up with a fillet-a-fish we pulled in to the Emu pie shop. Run by an elderly couple all the way through their married lives they kept the tasty emus in a cage by the side of the shack. I was a little disturbed by this especially as one of them started ramming the rickety fence at speed as Conor walked by clutching his emu pie/aka said emu's mother.

Sadly Conor's dreams of eating emu pie as an eleven year old school boy did not match up to the reality of some brown stodge and in a hard pastry case. An ice cream was had to make up for the massive disappointment and then we were on the road again.

Emu Pie Towers

Brother Emu

2 pies please, easy on the gravy

Sure thang.

Lovely Pies. Hannah tucks in sensibly to her gluten free sandwich.

Yummy.

Yallingup Woodfire Bakery

During a stay on a campsite in a tiny village called Yallingup in Western Australia this week I was introduced to this bakery situated literally in the middle of nowhere...and these photos don't even come close to show how awesome this bakery is. I'm a bit of a foodie and got totally over excited by this, but they only bake 4 types of bread twice a day (7am and 4pm) and people literally queue right in to the woods to wait for their bread - it's that good! We arrived at 4 to be greeted by a kangeroo and her joey and then a hot loaf of fruit bread straight from the oven. We tore of chunks off and gobbled it down as we walked back devouring the hot fruity goodness. num num num.

What's Mine

Not sure if I mentioned in this blog previously, but I am studying for an MA in Documentary Film at the University of Arts, London at the moment. There were a few reasons for choosing to study this - I adore photography (obviously!) and I meet and photograph so many amazing people with incredible stories and documentary seemed like a way to combine this.

I never went to university before, so the whole studying lark is a bit new to me but so far I absolutely LOVE it! I feel inspired every day to take more pictures and make more films.

Here's one I made this term with two of my classmates.

It's called 'What's Mine'.

In a society where materialism reigns and everything is disposable, what really matters to children and what do they count as being truly theirs in life?

Hope you enjoy it!

World Kidney Day

It was World Kidney Day on Thursday and I was lucky enough to be invited to the reception and launch at the Houses of Parliament. I had only been to the H of P once before on a school trip when I was about 14, and being a moody teenager I totally didn't appreciate the beauty of the building inside. There are so many amazing paintings decorating the walls and the entrance hall is absolutely massive and totally stunning.

I was asked to set up a stand with some of my photographs to promote how transplants can change lives and through my photos I met lots of really interesting and some really inspirational people. The food was utterly amazing was all cooked up by celebrity chef Lawrence Keogh. He had a kidney transplant himself 10 years ago and so fully understood the dietry requirements of people on dialysis. As a result he has created a renal friendly cook book and cooked items from that. They are free, and absolutely fab. You wouldn't know that the food had no salt or potassium in it at all, was so tasty.... Num num num.

World Kidney Day is a fantastic way to raise awareness for kidney disease and also to encourage people to look after their own kidneys by drinking lots of water and eating less salt. I hope to be involved next year.

Photo thanks to Hollie Matthews

I left a guest book at my exhibition and here are just a few of the lovely comments I received -

It's fab to have such kind words said about my photography but what's even more fantastic is to to hear how many people signed up to the Organ Donor Register as a result of seeing the exhibition.