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<\/a><\/p>\nSister Tess is researching feijoas in Hamilton, New Zealand<\/p>\n
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Sister Michael is having dinner parties and practicing his many voices.<\/p>\n
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Currently on silent baking retreat, and about to finish a PhD (doctor of cake, hopefully) our baking Canadian, bellysister Deanna.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Sister Deanna thinking about apple pie<\/p><\/div>\n
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There have been many bellysisters through the ages, dedicated to good food for one and all.<\/p>\n
<\/a>sister T – possibly too obsessed with belly<\/p><\/div>\n
SISTER TESS was there from the beginning, when Saint Rudiger showed 3 lost souls the way of\u00a0 the \u00a0 word and the microphone, the way of community radio.\u00a0 What shall we do said the 3 – we know everybody wants to listen to us, but what shall we talk about?\u00a0 Tess\u00a0 said – well I know a bit about food…<\/p>\n
And immediately a bright light shone upon the 3 and their stomachs rumbled and they said : “Yes! We shall be the bellysisters and belly shall bring the voices of delicious ones from far and wide and from next door unto and all over the airwaves of the Northern Rivers of NSW, this rainbow land, this paradise of lush fields, resuscitated forests and dolphin-frisky seas.\u00a0 And all the delicious people who wish to share their delicious ways of cooking or growing or making delicious stuff, or delicious stories of their ancestral homelands and aunty’s special soup, verily they shall have a home.\u00a0 And we shall work long and hard in the belly lab, cooking up concoctions\u00a0 from the many products of this fair land, according to its seasons, which can be described as follows : hot and wet, hot and dry, slightly less hot and dry or wet as it decides from time to time with no real rhyme or reason.\u00a0 Yeah!”<\/p>\n
And so it was that on\u00a0 International No Diet Day 2004, May 6th, bayfm99.9, the best community radio station in the southern hemisphere, gave the bellysisters a home on the fm dial.\u00a0 The 3\u00a0 dreamers became the founding bellysisters. \u00a0 Sister T, who stayed with belly over the years, except for a 8 month oyster-eating sabbatical.\u00a0 Sister Carolyn the rock chick bellysister, who took off one fine day to a home amongst the gum trees in Nimbin, and is now following the Byron tradition of becoming a yoga teacher.\u00a0 Sister Steve who was run over on his scooter only 2 weeks before belly started, and developed many fabulous one-armed recipes.\u00a0 Other bellysisters joined in to bring deliciousness to the world over the years, as did some wonderful regular guests.<\/p>\n
Hard at work in the belly lab with sister Tess for many years, we have had SISTER BERNADETTE of the many names, who started as a weathergirl and moved up all the way to co-presenter\/saint.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Sister B coming in for landing<\/p><\/div>\n
Sister B\u00a0 spreads a balm of sanity\u00a0 over both sides of the radio panel : she soothes guests who are radio virgins (our favourites – we are very nice to virgins, really), and calmly fills the silence when a look of panic descends on Sister T (several times per show).\u00a0 A country girl and long time Byron resident of good Aussie Irish stock, she knows many traditional ways to soothe the belly,\u00a0 and invents delicious new ones\u00a0 for the belly lab.\u00a0\u00a0 Sister B is one of those annoying people who loves to cook and eat and still looks like a starving greyhound.\u00a0 And she runs a fine veggie patch.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Sister R hiding a cream bun<\/p><\/div>\n
SISTER RASELA also presents a\u00a0 deliciously cranking\u00a0Friday\u00a0music show\u00a0on bayfm called Chopsuey<\/a> ~ which quite simply means\u00a0“Assorted Pieces”. Stirred into the pot of 2 hour LOVE\u00a0you might taste\u00a0breaks, house, electro, 80’s and rock remixes, soul, funk with\u00a0a\u00a0pinch of this and a dash of that.<\/p>\n Sister Rasela is getting back in touch with her part Samoan heritage, which originally\u00a0inspired her to become a qualified nutritionist.\u00a0 She charmed the bellysisters with her general wonderfulness before admitting to being a vegan – it’s too late now, she’s in.<\/p>\n Sister Rasela presented belly when Sister T was on prayer retreat or taking her belly on tour (about once a month), but now is the bellysister superior and very much keeps the food stories going on bayfm. \u00a0You can hear her on belly most weeks, unless she is on the road.<\/p>\n