Farewell food

I'm not very good at goodbyes. I frequently ghost at parties and like to keep necessary farewells as brief as possible. When I left the UK I pretty much packed up and left within a week. This long drawn-out 3-month leaving process has actually been quite challenging. On the one hand I've enjoyed being able to plan more thoroughly, downsize more gradually and feel prepared for my trip. On the other hand I feel as though I'm now outstaying my welcome and people are bored of hearing about my plans!

A series of farewell gatherings commenced in mid-December with a Greek dinner at the house of one of my work colleagues, Carl. My wonderful team laid on quite a spread, making homemade labneh, hummus, cured salmon and delicious 12-hour slow-cooked lamb. Perfectly orchestrated and secretly planned, it was an absolute pleasure to spend the evening with these fantastic people whose daily company I have enjoyed over the last few years. I shall indeed miss this bunch.

I realise that although I diligently photographed the delicious food, and even the stunning view, I didn't get a picture of my teammates! (Which probably says a lot about me.) I was extremely touched and grateful that they went to all the effort, and it was indeed a spectacular way to begin my departure.

I also bid farewell to the gorgeous gals in my book club. The five of us have been meeting pretty much monthly for over three years, taking it in turns to cook dinner and desert and choose books to talk about. Really it's just an excuse to get together, try out new recipes and drink wine, but it's also made me read books I never would have thought to pick up. For my farewell edition Alanya cooked beautiful stuffed capsicums and we cooked up plans for me to skype in to a book club from overseas.

After the culinary excess of Christmas I thought I couldn't bring myself to eat another thing, but Sydney's foodie culture is far too tempting in my final days here. For my big final farewell I hired a room in a pub called The Henson in Marrickville and couldn't leave without trying their magnificent pork belly dish.

Baker extraordinaire, Kim, treated me to a scrumptious leaving cake which brought a tear to my eye and a 'yum' to the lips of my friends who tucked in.

With one final leaving dinner at the Rosser family home the night before I fly, I think I can safely commit to continue my longstanding tradition of photographing all of the tasty food I eat while neglecting to take pictures of the people I'm with. Let's see what delicious meals I snap while on the road.