HEAT

There is a fabulous pizza parlour, called Heat, in Batehaven (just south of Batemans Bay) which specializes in traditional and gourmet wood-fired pizzas. Our goal this year has been to try each item on the menu, and though we may not succeed, the famous saying "the journey is the destination" has rarely been truer.

Until this year our pizza consumption habits consisted of infrequent doses of Pizza Pizza, Pizza Hut, whatever was on sale in the frozen good section, and the occasional homemade treat. On one of our first days here we had wood-fired pizza with our friends from Malua Bay; it was quite good. Things were about to get much better - quickly.

I was invited to play cards with some friends at a restaurant, after its closing, one Saturday night earlier in the year. The restaurant's owner, Nick Patrizi, had prepared a few of his specialties for us to enjoy as we played, laughed, and shared a few drinks. The pizzas were fantastic. In true wood-fired form they were consumed almost immediately while at their delectable best. In addition to enjoying the pizzas, it was interesting to see them being cooked in the oven (picture a brick igloo) by someone who does it for a living. So began our family affair with wood-fired pizza. If you find yourself on the South Coast looking for some awesome pizza. You will not be disappointed with Heat.














I would be remiss not to mention a few others in this post. Wood-fired pizza ovens are something of a craze in this part of Australia; if you don't have one, you'd like to build one. So it was on at least three occasions this year that we were invited to share dinner with friends who did have their own oven. They too were delicious, and we thank Ed and Sadie, Warren and Cheryl, and Paul and Rowena for sharing with us.