Smoky lemon tofu and pearl cous cous salad with zucchini, tomato and feta

It's always a good time when the Australian Open comes around. Elliot and I made a day of it on Wednesday, which was far less punishing heat-wise than the two days after it. Of course, that's not to say that I didn't still experience head-throbbing resentment as we sat in full sun midway through the day watching Harrison v Cuevas.

Elliot seemed to be enjoying himself so I suppressed my turmoil. But it was a massive relief when we left to buy yet another round of Aperol Spritzes. We weren't the only ones, but the staff were like a well-oiled machine and the line moved like magic.

While I do enjoy the tennis (a good thing, at $54 a ground pass!), the highlight of the day was seeing blues musician Ash Grunwald, a guy I really hadn't thought about for around a decade until he showed up on the set list. On the keyboard was Wolfmother's Ian Perez and on drums was Blue King Brown's Pete Wilkins, with whom Grunwald collaborated on his most recent album. It was a cracking set and I boogied my little heart out while those around me sat quietly and Elliot tried to look unassuming.

One of the most fun parts of going to the Open that you just can't get at home is taking in a Legends game. It didn't happen this year, but in 2011 Christina and I and my friend Greg saw Pat Rafter and Henri Leconte (who was wielding an oversize racquet almost as tall as he was and drinking beer at change of ends) vs Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Wayne Ferreira.

Anyone who's been to one of these matches will know they're more about eliciting laughs than awe, so when Christina dared me to yell out 'Yevgeny's my dad!' between points I saw no reason to refuse. She was not ready for the fallout, however, when for some reason the laughing crowd looked at her as if she'd been the one to make this ridiculous remark. She went a bright shade of crimson and attempted unsuccesfully to make herself invisible. As for Yevgeny, he loved it.

On the way out of Melbourne Park that night we got this timeless shot to commemorate the occasion. I also include a gratuitous shot of my beloved Paul Dempsey here, whose presence we were graced with at the Heineken beer garden the same year. If you haven't heard his most recent album, Strange Loop, do yourself a favour. The first track, The True Sea, has an epic guitar solo that never fails to elicit a poorly executed air guitar from me. Meanwhile, Morningless makes me headbang like a maniac.

With all this hot weather, I thought I'd share another salad that can just as comfortably be enjoyed cold as hot. As always, for a vegan option, simply leave out the feta!