It was a rare week in our kitchen – all the main-meal dishes of food we prepared were tried and true favourites. No recipe discoveries. No experiments. No radical departures. Just a series of palate-pleasing, reliable regulars. Think barbecued beef steak, Weber-roasted pork belly, barbecued chicken thigh fillets, veal schnitzel and chargrilled calamari. Although, if we were vegetarians, the zucchini-and-feta-fritter innovation would count as the base on which to build a main meal.

No, last week, our quest for ‘new’ was channelled into home-furnishing, with the installation of modern interior shutters on our four largest windows.

And, on top of that, our dance-card was particularly congested: lots of late-season produce to process – green tomatoes converted to pickle, figs to jam and basil to pesto; and five days of looking after our grand-dog, Stevie Nicks.

Trainee kitchen hand

Tomorrow, Stevie will head home to Healesville, along with a batch of a rare summer treat for her family – cold cucumber soup. But that, my friends, is a story for another day.