It’s been a crazy old start to the week here at JFC so I’m e x t r e m e l y tardy with this post detailing our most recent Sydney Autoimmune Protocol picnic. I am sorry.
And, I’m especially sorry if you were one of the fab’ people who came along on Sunday.
Because you made my day!
First, a little background for those new to my site – our inaugural experiment in meeting some of the local AIPers was back in late February. (You can read all about it here.) It came about when Rory from The Paleo PI, Kirstie from The Nutritionista and yours truly thought we’d put the call out and just see what happened. We really didn’t know if anyone would show. We figured that if nobody turned up, at least we would have had a good catch up.
We were pretty chuffed at the response. It was so great meeting other people committed to improving their health through adopting diet and lifestyle changes. AIP can be a pretty isolating experience – so, connecting (in real life) with others who ‘got it’ was a pretty great experience.
So, you can imagine how disappointed we were when we had to postpone our last picnic due to crappy weather. We had to reschedule to last Sunday and we prayed to the weather gods…
The weather gods heard us! This last Sunday dawned crisp and clear. Perfect picnic weather!
Rory from The Paleo PI in absentia
(Image by JFC)
I have to say, this time around, the AIP picnic bar was raised even further.
Our June picnic was held at Bronte Beach. We had an awesome turn out and the food was seriously impressive. The only real disappointment was that I didn’t get more pics to share with you.
I promise to make a more concerted effort to stop my chin-wagging sufficiently to get more photos at our next catch up…
(Image by JFC)
(Image by JFC)
“There’s not a word yet, for old friends who’ve just met.”
― Jim Henson, Favorite Songs from Jim Henson’s Muppets
I have to say, the food really was fabulous on Sunday. Anyone who doesn’t think they can dine well on AIP needs to come along to one of our picnics!
We dined extremely well on such things as marinated chicken drumsticks, roasted root veggies, prosciutto wrapped broccolini, a most impressive pork and chicken liver terrine served with spiced apple compote (guest recipe on Autoimmune Paleo by Kate Jay of Healing Family Eats), a superb berry version of cherry pie bars by Alaena Haber of Grazed and Enthused, carob bombs (for which I don’t have a recipe) and I made honey vanilla marshmallows care of the lovely Martine Partridge of The Paleo Partridge.
(Image by JFC)
The opportunity to meet fellow local AIP peeps is such a lovely experience. Sure, social media platforms make it easy for us to find other autoimmune sufferers online, but nothing beats the shared experience of connecting with someone face to face.
A huge thank you to all of you who took the plunge to along on Sunday. I thought it was a very special day.
Thank you for sharing this! Now I have better ideas for what to take to my next potluck AND further motivation for starting a Meet-Up group here in Hawaii.
Mahalo,
Trish
Hey Patricia – thanks for stopping by. I’d LOVE to come to a Hawaii meet up (sigh)
Kate Jay’s terrine was seriously good. I definitely recommend it. It’s top of my list of things to make (as soon as my oven is fixed!).
Mahalo to you, too!
I love that you’re having these picnics, I think we should get one going in Vancouver. And so pleased you enjoyed the terrine 🙂
Kate – the terrine was SO good! Thank you. You’re recipes always appeal to me.
I’d be very happy to fly up to Vancouver for the inaugural Canadian AIP picnic! 🙂
It was a fabulous picnic and so good to meet other people. I think picnics are a great alternative to meeting in people’s homes because you take all your own dishes with you, so no washing up for the host! Of course here in Sydney we are spoilt for choice in both weather and fab picnic spots. Maybe a “picnic food” book could be the next joint venture for the AIP community? Or maybe we Sydneysiders could come up with one of our own to share with the rest of the world?
Kate’s terrine is a fabulous choice for picnic food. Though it does have to be prepared the day before. We’ve made it a number of times now because it is the most unoffal-flavoured hidden offal dish, and we have also experimented with different compotes to serve with it.
Thanks to Joanna and Kirstie for hosting the picnic and giving us the opportunity to meet them and others.
And just one other thing… maybe next time we should take a frisbee or softball set and get a little movement into the picnic thing. That way we get to incorporate all aspects of the AIP – nutrient dense food, stress reduction (through talking/sharing with others), exercise and, for some of us, a little sleep on the journey home, not to mention a good nights sleep after a day in fresh air.
Hey Melanie
It was so lovely to meet the woman behind the social media presence at our most recent picnic! I’m long the idea of a picnic food book… Let’s talk, Possum!
And, if nothing else, a walk on the beach or some form of activity, while we all meet up is a great idea 🙂
Yep, I think it’s a great idea. So absolutely let’s talk about it.
When the next picnic is planned, we should think about the place and how conducive it is to some activity. On top of seating, parking, public transport, shade, sun, dogs… and weather. 🙂
Joanna,
Here’s the recipe for the carob bombs for your readers.
Melt 1/3rd cup each of coconut butter, coconut oil, honey add 1/3rd cup carob powder and about 2cups of shredded/desiccated coconut & mix well. You will have to adjust the consistency by adding more coconut if mixture is too wet or more coconut oil if too dry ( note: I had to add about 2 more tablespoons of CO). I found the bomb a bit sweet as I did not take into account the sweetness of the carob, so if you are using cocoa or cacao powder (if successfully reintroduced) this amount should be good, I will use less honey next time I make them with carob. Cheers
Thanks so much, Gita! I’m already looking forward to our next get together.
How are you?