The couple moved to Oxley in early 2018 and their north-facing extensive front garden is planted with curved rows of vegetables and young, ornamental trees. A highlight is a fish pond with handsome railway sleeper seat, a solar fountain and eleven goldfish which are fed exclusively on Weet-Bix.

One of Jim's friends said to me before my visit to the Oxley garden, that it is a good example of innovative suburban land use and "Jim has thrown coriander seed around in the batters of the nearby underpass (some of which has germinated) for people to harvest".

Against the farmhouse-style residence is a row of standard roses and baby cyclamen sheltering a porch of jade, purple basil, fruit-laden kumquat trees and Kaffir limes in pots.

Chanla has also planted a large bed with Asian vegetables near the back door but more productive in winter is the greenhouse/polytunnel which they transported from the garden in Griffith. It is filled with lemongrass plants, chilli, frilled lettuces. The couple visits Laos frequently and Jim has a fine reference book Fruit & Vegetables in Southeast Asian Markets, a Dokmai Garden Guide (printed in Thailand) from which he showed me pea eggplants (Solanum torvum) which they also have growing under cover in Oxley.

Among the edible plantings are red- and yellow-coloured beetroot, coloured spinach, sugarloaf cabbages, pak choi, bok choy, cut-and-come-again lettuce, trails of coriander and dill. We all tasted the astringent wasabi lettuce straight from the plants, a green which was of particular interest to our Canberra Times photographer, Sitthixay Ditthavong, who is from a Laotian family. This is not the true wasabi japonica but of the mustard greens family, brassica juncea.

As Jim says, "Chanla is a wonderful cook. We never eat the same thing twice, in Laotian dishes there is a lot of ad-libbing." She comes from the town of Pak Lay on the banks of the Mekong River, 200 kilometres from Vientiane.

On the 26th of each month, Chanla takes food to the monks at the nearby Lao temple and we will tell you about that visit and the dishes next week. Specially for The Canberra Times, she made extra food for the four of us to eat back at their home.

A highlight for all was the salad. Chanla explained that with traditional Laotian dishes, the colour of the food, its decorative nature and its presentation is as important as the taste. With an array of five types of lettuce and greens around the edge of the platter, the centre was filled with bright yellow tiny pea eggplants, and cucumbers and carrots which had been washed then cut into four at their thin ends, soaked in water in the fridge overnight so they splay out into a star pattern.

As I am allergic to chilli, there was a special serving bowl of delicious laap (or larb) for me to eat with sticky rice taken, using the fingers, from a raffia tiered rice basket. Laap is Chanla's favouite lunch dish and the others ate a version with chillies. On this special occasion the laap was made with salmon but more often it comes with beef.

500g eye-fillet beef

1 tbsp lemon juice, or more to taste

a little anchovy sauce

salt

1 tbsp fish sauce, or more to taste

a little chilli powder

a small quantity of fresh chilli, chopped

3cm piece galangal, peeled and sliced finely

a whole small Kaffir lime leaf, sliced finely

2 tbsp ground rice, roasted

1 tbsp spring onion, sliced

2 tbsp coriander, finely chopped

2 tbsp Vietnamese mint, torn

Step one: Grill beef briefly, so it is rare - half-cooked and half-raw. Slice the beef finely in a food processor.

Step two: Add lemon juice, anchovy sauce, salt and fish sauce. Taste. Add fresh chilli and powder, and galangal. Taste. Add ground rice, spring onion, coriander and mint. Roll laap in a torn mustard leaf and young bok choy leaves, like a fresh spring roll.