House bus sushi

I have always loved food, cooking it, eating it, sharing it. When we started looking for a house bus, it was important to be able to cook pretty much anything, no matter where we were. We’ve had to adapt for roast potatoes because the oven doesn’t get hot enough to make them crispy. I boil them (Agria, of course), drain them, and shake them in the saucepan to fluff up the outsides, then finish them off in a fry pan. The Thetford oven, however, does excellent scones, roast chicken, baked potatoes, toasted muesli, bread, pizzas, and roasted vegetables. Rice stuffed capsicums were a particular hit recently. We love visiting local eateries on our travels; Ski Time and Topp Café are our favourites when we’re in Methven, where we are at the moment. Good food, great people, and always buzzing. 

My husband is a trained chef, and my favourite meal is one he cooked when we visited Cannes in the late ’90s. It was our first time in France; we were there during the iconic film festival, something we hadn’t planned. In fact, we didn’t realise it was happening until we saw a large crowd outside the local Planet Hollywood restaurant, cheering and waving at Bruce Willis and Demi Moore. However, it’s the Moules Marinières Rob made one evening that I recall much more fondly – fresh mussels, shallots, white wine, garlic, thyme, and crusty French bread to soak up all the delicious sauce. I’m salivating thinking about them now. 

Food and travel are inextricably linked. 

In the mid-90s, we visited a Manhattan restaurant Robert De Niro owned and at which he often ate. It’s the only time I have eaten grits – a porridge made from boiled cornmeal. Not my cup of tea. 

In March, Rob caught a lovely trout in the Pukaki canals. I caught one too, but it got away. Mine, of course, was much bigger. Rob worked as a sushi chef in London during our OE and makes sushi and sashimi when the fish is really fresh. You can’t get much fresher than straight out of the water, so that’s what he did. It may not be Cannes but eating fresh trout by the Pukaki canals in the autumn afternoon is definitely a memory that will stay with me for quite some time.