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Sweet and salty mixed nuts [four ingredients]

11 September 2020 / 32 Comments

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Sweet and salty nuts and weekend by the sea

In my last post, I introduced you to the delightful Jervis Bay area in NSW. Thank you so much for your lovely comments and best wishes, it really was a wonderful weekend of relaxation. That said, and I know other mums (and dads) will probably relate to this, as much as I needed some time away, I did feel guilty about the kids missing out.

And so, a couple of weekends later, I decided to take another beach break and this time bring the kids as well. We were all super excited – three nights and four days at the beach, especially now that it is officially spring and the weather is warming up? Yes, please!

But like any well intended plans, they kind of went awry. We were half packed and nearly ready to go and then… my 6 year old daughter broke her radius after falling off the monkey bars at school 1.5 days before we were supposed to leave. For those of you who are not up to date with the medical terms, the radius is one of the long bones in your forearm and apparently falling off the monkey bars is the number one cause for little kids breaking it.

She was quite upset and worried, because up until then the kids both have been healthy and never even needed to go into the hospital or have any kind of invasive treatment. But most of all, my daughter was upset she’d miss out on the coast trip.

After spending a whole evening in the emergency department, getting a temporary half cast, and then the next day in another hospital where they reduced the fracture under anaesthetic and gave her a full arm cast, my little girl was not sure if she still wanted to go to the coast – because it might be too difficult with cast (though luckily it’s not on the dominant hand).

Bundeena, NSW, in the Royal National Park

Fortunately, after having a good night’s sleep, my brave little girl turned up at my bed side bright and early and announced that she would love to go to the coast after all.

And so, after some mad packing and a breakfast that morning, we set off on our way. Our destination? Bundeena in the Royal National Park, just south of Sydney. A good friend of mine has a wonderful house there, right on the beach. The kind of house that you love as a kid – a couple of storeys, full of hidey-ho spaces, strange paraphernalia from the 1980s left by the original owners (my friend’s aunt), large balconies overlooking the beach, ocean views from every room, and the sound of waves crashing onto the beach just within earshot – making it easy to fall asleep after a full day out in the sun.

And what wonderful days we had… Skipping around and climbing on rocks (yes, even with an arm in a cast), running up and down the beach, throwing sticks to dogs that we met on the beach, finding snails and crabs in rock pools, collecting sea shells on the beach, building sandcastles, eating fish and chips and pizza (because that’s what you do when you go to the coast), eating out in the local cafe and ordering way too much food (but this is how we support the local economy so it’s totally okay), and breathing in all that wonderful sea air.

On the first day, we had 28C and it was gorgeous and sunny most of the weekend – we really needed this after the winter which seemed to drag on forever!

In all that time, my little braveheart didn’t complain once, slept well squished on a double bed next to her brother, and kept running and playing for four days straight. I am so proud of her (and a little amazed – do all kids bounce back so quickly?).

If you want to find out more about Bundeena or the Royal National Park, check out this website, it has a wealth of information about the location and all the things which are wonderful about Bundeena – not just the beautiful natural scenery but also the bushwalks, whale watching and the locals.

Bundeena is about four hours from Canberra but the trip is totally worthwhile (even if you have two six year olds in the back seat) – and here in Australia, four hours is really a short distance. We will definitely be back, Bundeena!

But back to those sweet and salty mixed nuts…

They look good, right? Don’t say you wouldn’t like a few right now!

Sweet and salty mixed nuts in a baking tin.

I know the scenery is utterly delightful but if you’ve come across to this blog post for the recipe, you might be getting a little impatient… Well, wait no more.

Like I said, these sweet and salty nuts are super easy to make and make for the most delightful snack – whether or not you’re currently basking in the sun on a deck of a perfectly positioned beach house, listening to the sound of the waves. (If you’re not, unfortunately, as I am not 99.95% of my time, then just imagine you are…)

Basically, it’s so simple – in order to make these, you need to pre-heat your oven, mix up the nuts, place them on a baking tin, bake, take out of the oven and eat, trying not to burn your tongue. Done.

If you can, let them cool completely before eating, as they tend to clump delightfully into sweet and salty clusters, and that’s for some reason even better than single nuts. Also, if you mix the nuts around as they cool, you will get a more even coating.

Recipe

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