Dust Storm of 2009

While going through some photos at work to use on the website I saw a photo I had taken, on my mobile, back on 23 September 2009, at 6am, while I was on foal-watch.

It was the day of the 'Sydney Dust Storm' however the dust travelled far and wide, it was measured at 500km wide, and 1,000km long at one point, and it was visible from space.

I remember I had just checked the progress of one of the overdue pregnant mares, and saw an odd orange hue in the sky, my immediate thought was bushfire, but I couldn't smell anything, so I jumped on the quad bike and drove round the farm seeing if there was any threat.

The dust got heavier, and it was an 'orange out', at one stage I couldn't see more than a meter or so in front of me, checking the mares in the foaling yards, I had to virtually stand next to them to see them clearly.

Once I had done the rounds and realised there wasn't any danger I jumped online in the office, and saw that the dust was everywhere, some of the footage from Sydney Harbour was just surreal.

The farm at 6am on 'dust storm' day

According to Wikipedia:

The CSIRO estimated that the storm carried some 16 million tonnes of dust from the deserts of Central Australia, and during the peak of the storm, the Australian continent was estimated to be losing 75,000 tonnes of dust per hour off the NSW coast north of Sydney. The dust storm coincided with other extreme weather conditions which affected the cities of Adelaide and Melbourne.

While the cloud was visible from space, on the ground the intense red-orange colour and drop in temperature drew comparisons with nuclear winter, Armageddon, and the planet Mars. The dust storm was described by the Bureau of Meteorology as a "pretty incredible event" that was the worst in the state of New South Wales in nearly 70 years. The phenomenon was reported around the world. The Weather Channel's Richard Whitaker said: "This is unprecedented. We are seeing earth, wind and fire together".

Some of the thousands of tons of dirt and soil lifted in the dust storm were dumped in Sydney Harbour and the Tasman Sea. This increased the nitrogen and phosphate levels in the water significantly. Measurements taken two weeks after the event indicated an explosion of microscopic plant life which can be expected lead to an increase in fish numbers. 

It definitely is an interesting world we live in!

Till next time,

Too Cool For Masterchef?

Yesterday we went to the almost washed away FlavourFest at Hunter Valley Gardens, we tried going on Sunday but the torrential rain meant organisers had to cancel the day and try and scramble to reorganise for Monday.

We went last year and had a ball, this year the only real highlight (with many stallholders not coming back after washed out Sunday) being seeing Callum Hann, finalist of 2010 Masterchef cook.  Callum seems a very down to earth young guy, he had a casual, if a bit nervous, persona in front of the small crowd, he was engaging and spoke with genuine enthusiasm and warmth.  He was more at ease when he was cooking - Vietnamese Prawn Salad then a Confit Pork Belly - both looked delish.

In the small crowd watching Callum was his Masterchef mate Matthew Caldicott, the accountant who wanted to follow his passion and move into cooking, according to his Masterchef spiel.

(photo source)

Sorry to report that Matthew thought he was a bit too cool for school, evidenced by the following exchange with Mr Mel (we were standing next to him in a 'crowd' of about 20 people) :

Mr Mel - G'day Mate, you here to support Callum? (he had been talking to Callum 5 mins previous)
Matthew - Yes
Mr Mel - What do you think of the current Masterchef crew?
Matthew - Don't watch it, I've never watched it, didn't watch the one I was on, only went on it
Mr Mel - Ahhh ok, so are you working in cooking now?
Matthew - No back at old job (accountant)
Mr Mel - Righto well good luck

Now I'm not sure if Matthew was just having a bad day in the cold wet weather, or if that's his normal personality, but gees louise, it wouldn't kill you to smile or engage with someone talking to you, or to show a bit of respect to the show that gave you a bit of fame.

And yes everyone is entitled to their privacy, but it wasn't as if we were bugging him for an interview etc, just a pleasant 'how you going' type chat, to a guy we'd seen on telly, who was standing on his own in a small crowd.

Have to wonder about the real story behind Matthew going on Masterchef.  Was he legitimately interested in becoming a cook? Or was he on there for his few weeks of fame?  I suspect that more than a few contestants are there for the latter, and really it's up to them what they want to gain out of the show, but it wouldn't kill you to fake being pleasant at the least!

Till next time,

Gotta love Valley folk

It's times like this that make you really really appreciate living in a small town.

A few weeks ago at the local horse race meet, friends of our neighbour who we met with mentioned they were needing to sell their daughters pony as she had grown out of it.  I was able to give them some ideas of where to advertise and how to best promote the pony (I buy & sell racehorses as a job).

On Monday night the wife rang to ask for some help re the ad she was putting online, I got her to send me the text and photos, and put the advert together for them, cropping & editing the photos.  She was very thankful, and happy for the help. I emailed the ad and photos to her around midnight Monday night, then on Tuesday I received an email saying:

Thanks so much for doing that for us – it is greatly appreciated.   The photos uploaded with no problem and the add is now up and running.   Once again thanks.   We’ll see how we go.

Last night Mr Mel went to the pub with our neighbour (weekly boys ritual, I'm so happy he's got a mate to have boys time with!) and the husband of the pony wife (struggling to think of clever name!) was there, he was so thankful of my help, he said Mr Mel wasn't to leave without letting him know.

Meanwhile the wife rang me, to say that they were so happy and grateful for the help, that the really appreciated it (she was so lovely!).

Mr Mel arrives home from the pub with a pot of rabbit stew!  Yep a pot of rabbit stew for helping them try and sell their pony, how lovely is that!

Rabbit soup (photo source)

So for dinner last night we had a lovely bowl of hot rabbit soup, Mr Mel's first taste ever, my first taste since I was a kid.

Mr Mel is originally from Sydney, I lived in Melbourne for 15 years after growing up in country Vic.  We both moved to the Hunter Valley not knowing anyone, myself in 2007 to take up a job offer, and Mr Mel in 2010 full time, to be with me :)  It has been a bit of a slog getting to know people, but we're slowly developing a circle of friends, through neighbours, people I go to the gym with, friends of employer etc.  We have been very lucky to have been accepted into the fold by some lovely people, including our rabbit soup makers!

Till next time,

Lovely end to the day

Not much else to say, except aaahhh lovely (well I probably should say apologies for shocking photo quality, my phone isn't the best!)

Sunset in the Hunter Valley, Australia

Till next time,

Our New Venture!

Mr Mel and I have been in the Hunter Valley for a couple of years now (Mr Mel permanently from Feb 2010, myself from July 2007), and we absolutely love the Valley.  Having 120+ vineyards, world class restaurants, producers, on our doorstep, leaves us very spoilt for choice.

Last year we were trying to find things to do with our extended family that were kid friendly, and found that the info, what was there, was hard to find.  So we decided we'd start a blog for the Hunter, on things to do, see, things we'd done, with honest, non airbrushed content.

We registered domain names, sent in a business name to the government, to include under Mr Mel's business ABN, and continued to mull over the concept for a few months.

This past month or so we have setup the website, as a blog to start with, and have some intial content online.  We're in the middle of writing up more content from our travels around the Valley, and will be posting them online shortly.

We're still tweaking the format, so bear with us!

Hunter Valley Grapevine - come and say Hi!

Our new venture - Hunter Valley Grapevine

We're hoping down the track our site will be a valuable resource for people wanting to come to the Valley, we'll have reviews online, good, bad & ugly of alot of places, and will happily go check out locations for non Hunter people to give them the real deal, rather than the photoshopped content on alot of websites.

I will probably take a few older stories from this blog and rewrite them on the grapevine also.

We're always open to any suggestions/comments/feedback, so feel free!

Till next time,

Friday On My Mind - 8

Another Friday, another week gone, 8th April, how has that come round so quickly?   And Friday means another photo for the lovely Rhonda from the Down To Earth blog Friday Photo Feature - 'On My Mind....'

So what is on my mind this  Friday?.............................

The evidence of a lovely afternoon in the Hunter

No we don't have a drinking problem, the above bottles were from 12 people :)

A couple of weeks ago Mr Mel & I went to a Members Lunch at a vineyard we're members of, Ernest Hill Wines, what a lovely day of decadence and great company, we blogged about it on our new blog - Hunter Valley Grapevine.


Till next time,

Oh to be an artist!

Every year for the past 4, I have attended the annual Arrowfield Stud stallion parade as part of my work, in 2008 the farm unveiled a statue of the Champion stallion REDOUTE'S CHOICE.  The statue was commissioned by John Messara, owner of Arrowfield Stud.  The artist was Tanya Bartlett, and while I've only seen this & 1 other piece, revealed on the same day, she is so talented it's ridiculous.

The statue of Redoute's had so much detail, you almost wanted to give him a pat, well to be honest I did!  Every proportion was perfect, veins popping under a silky coat, the eye of a champion, the lot.

This is the horse Redoute's Choice:

Redoute's Choice on parade

Redoute's Choice

And here are a few shots I took of the amazing statue.

The unveiling

In all his glory - awesome

Almost want to dodge and get out of his way!

The detail is amazing

Till next time,

Yes Please - Just Need To Win Lotto!

Mr Mel and I have a goal to have our own property, to run our own stock, horses, cattle, goats, and grow our own meat, milk, cheese, eggs, and veggies.  We almost bought a small 5 acre property 18 months ago when we bought our first home, but the timing wasn't right, Mr Mel had just gone out working for himself, and had moved up here from Sydney.  So we decided to buy a lovely house in town, which we adore. But long term we want to have some property.

To that end I have an ongoing search registered with realestate.com.au for property in our area.  Yes it could be considered a bit of self torture, but who knows I might stumble across a bargain one day!

If we happen to win Lotto soon, this one would be a very welcome acquisition to our property portfolio of 1!!

OurLotto purchase - should we win!

It's only on 5 acres, so not too much work, ideally we'd like about 25 acres, but hey if we win Lotto maybe we can buy the property next door too!  More info at realestate.com.au listing  (I have no connection to the vendors or agents, just in love with the property!)

Till next time,

Chocolate Pasta - interesting!

We had Mr Mel's sister, her hubby & 2 girls up for the weekend, and as usual, all visitors regardless of how many times we've had them up, want to go to either Petersons Champagne House or the Hunter Valley Chocolate Shop, which by either divine intervention, or by the work of the devil, are housed side by side in Pokolbin.

We first went into Petersons but it was bulging at the seams, and the 2 little ones weren't enjoying the crowd, so we went next door the Chocolate Shop.

Mr Mel and I have been there probably 50 times, so we know just about all their stock inside out, however on this visit I spied a product I'd either not seen or not noticed before - Chocolate Pasta!

No not chocolate in pasta shapes, but pasta with coca mixed into it, the ingredients listed are wheat, cocoa, sugar and water (from memory).

Chocolate Pasta, made by The Professors Tasty Technology.

It was easy to cook, 1 litre of water bought to the boil, add a tablespoon of sugar, add pasta, boil for 5-7 minutes.  After 5 mins it was still quite tough, so I let it go until 8, probably 9 minutes.  No rinsing, just draining. Then scooped into bowls, and topped with vanilla icecream.

The taste wasn't overly chocolatey, more pasta with a hint of cocoa, similar to a chocolate sticky rice taste (yummo with mango, but I digress!).  The texture was still a bit tough, even with more than the listed time of cooking. Mr Mel, his sister and her hubby agreed, not something they could eat alot of, and seeings I had split the 250g bag between the 4 of us, it was probably a tall ask from the get go!

So while it was an interesting concept and something I'm glad we tried, I probably wouldn't buy it again, I might try another brand, but not in a big hurry!

Till next time,

Grape Picking in 40c heat, what were we thinking!

On Sunday, Mr Mel and I ventured to a local vineyard, Ernest Hill Wines, to partake in their annual members pick.  We had received the invite about 10 days earlier, and accepted, before we knew that we were in for 10 days of 40c+ days.

So Saturday rolls around, and Mr Mel pops his already dodgy knee, and can hardly walk on it. We give it till 7am Sunday morning, he thinks he'll be ok, and I make him promise to let me know if it starts hurting more. He agrees, moreso because he doesn't want to let down the Ernest Hill guys by piking, when they'll think we're just pulling the pin because of the heat!

Off we head, for our 7.30am start, there's a crew of about 30 other members, armed with water, sunscreen, hats, secateurs and buckets, so we join the brigade.

By 8am we're half-way down our first vine, and loving it, feeling the weight of the warm grapes drop in your hand as you snip them off is very satisfying, and not long after my first bucket is full (see pic below), and a 'bucket boy' comes to swap full for empty.

Proof - my first bucket of grapes

By about 9am we've done 3 rows, and the seat is pouring out of us, it's very humid and warm, luckily Ross the vineyard owner comes round with waterbottles, saviour!!

We chugg through another few rows and before we know it, the whole block has been picked!  5 tonnes of late pick semillion that will be used in the deliciously decadent Lunar Spark by Ernest Hill.

Let the picking begin

Red faced, sweaty, sticky from grapejuice, we make our way up to the tent, and collapse onto seats, grab a beer, and have a chat with other pickers. One couple are wanting to move up here form Sydney, they pick our brains, and we rave about the lifestyle, we think we've converted them, wouldn't be surprised to see them round town soon!

Ross & Jason of Ernest Hill put on a great brunch, rolls with bacon & egg or sausage & egg, with drinks, and complementary bottles of vino.  We partake in all aspects, delicious.

Then Jason tells us he's setup a traditional stomping case, where a few buckets of grapes will be put in for us all to stomp, then he'll turn it into wine, the traditional way, and send us all a bottle.  Having done similar when they established the vineyard, he warned us it may not be drinkable, and after seeing some of the feet and much going with them into the case, I don't doubt it.  It will be a bottle that tells a story rather than gets drunk!

We shall call it Chateau de Feet

All in all, a terrific day, hard work, and we were absolutely knackered, but have already put our hand up to have another go in 2012.

On arrival at the kickoff point

Can't wait to try the 2011 Lunar Spark and our dodgy Chateau de Feet bottle in the coming months!

Luna Spark - the end result of our efforts

Till next time,

Happy Birthday To Me!

Well Happy Belated Birthday to be accurate!! Sunday 7th Nov was my Birthday, another year older, hopefully a bit wiser!

I am so thankful for friends, family & Mr Mel, I was sooo spoilt!

We booked a restaurant we had been eyeing off for ages, Amanda's On The Edge at Pokolbin.

On the Thursday before I was discussing the dinner with my boss and his wife, as Amanda's is my boss' wife's favourite restaurant.  About 8pm that night I had a call on my work mobile, usually at that time of night it's not a good call, usually a vet/horse emergency.  But this time I was pleasantly surprised!  My boss & his wife wanted to shout Mr Mel and I out for dinner for my birthday!  I was blown away, and gratefully accepted the generous offer.

Saturday night rolled around for our 7pm booking.  As we walked in Amanda (the owner) greeted us with a 'Happy Birthday Mel', I was very impressed. We were seated at one of the best tables overlooking the vineyard.

Amanda asked if I would like a cocktail for my birthday, I replied 'oh only if it's mango', she said there were no mango cocktails but she thinks there's a mango in the kitchen, and that she'd go check.  She returned a few minutes saying how about a mango daquiri, why of course I replied!!

5 minutes later a delicious mango daquiri arrived, again very impressed.

We ordered, and were very happy with our choices:

Mel
- Goats Cheese & Leek Tart - just delicious, the texture was like mousse, so light and tasty, with a gorgeous rocket salad and pine nuts
- Crispy Skinned Duck Maryland with roasted onions, cripsy kipfler potatoes & asparagus - the duck was very moist and tender, although the skin wasn't crispy, it wasn't a huge negative, the potatoes, onions & asparagus were a great match
- Toffee Creme Brulee with blueberries & cookies - very tasty, the brulee had a good crack, and the blueberries went well with the soft creme, dessert was served with a dark chocolate 'Happy Birthday Mel' on the plate, a great way to top off a lovely dinner

Mr Mel
- Creamy Crab & Bug Meat Bisque served with crusty bread - Mr Mel knows his seafood and soups, and he was raving, I tried it and while not a big fan of seafood soups it was very tasty, Mr Mel wants to make a bisque at home now, uhoh!
- he was tossing up between the lamb & a special of Red Emperor, went with the fish and was a little disappointed, thought it was a bit over and bland, but not terrible
- Greek Custard Pastry with Cinnamon Icecream - Mr Mel thought the pastry was a bit lacklustre but was raving about the cinnamon icecream, rates it the nicest icecream he's ever had!!

We took our own bottle of wine, one of our favourites, the Rosalie Joan Verdelho from Ernest Hill at Pokolbin

All in all a lovely night out, very nice food, great service and a lovely location.

On the pressie front I was very spoilt, a juicer from Mr Mel and lots of vouchers to the best garden centre in the area :)

Till next time,

Our 1st Goat Curry

Mr Mel & I headed to the Newcastle Farmers Market on Sunday, our first time there, it's a great market, good variety of stalls, but not that big you're sick of it half-way round.

While wandering through one of the sheds we saw a stand for Booma Boers (goats) we had a chat with the owner, very down to earth guy, explained to us what the different cuts of goat are best for, and how he cooks it. So we thought why not we'll give it a go.

We took home 2 forequarter chops of goat, and hit Google for some recipes, there are heaps online, majority have a curry slant, so we thought we'd go curry, and found a recipe at http://allrecipes.com.au/recipe/10361/katch22-s-kid-khorma.aspx that sounded nice and looked like an easy convert to the slow cooker.

Happy to report that the curry was delicious, alot stronger flavour than lamb (stall man said it was due to lower fat content, because they're more active than sheep and eat a wider variety of plants).  The meat fell off the bone, and was melt in your mouth.

We added a bit more chilli than in the recipe as it didn't have a real kick when we tasted it early on, next time we'll probably add more of all of the spices to give it a bit more of a punch, but the base flavour was nice.

So goat is going into rotation in our house.

We eventually want to have a small farm and become as self-sufficient as we can be, raising goats for cheese was part of the plan, but now raising them for meat is part of the equation, yay!

Have you ever tried goat?

Till next time,

Poor Little Duckie

DP & I have driven past the sign pointing to Nulkaba Hatchery many times, saying we should check it out, well on Saturday we did.

It's a small farm, raising free-range chickens & ducks, when we drove in there were 2 big white dogs sleeping under a tree, apparently 'guarding' the stock.

As we turned the corner there would have been thousands of ducks sitting on the grass, under trees, wandering around on the grass. Near a barn there were hundreds of baby chickens, wandering through dust, and swimming in puddles. 

We pulled up, there was 1 other car there (they were buying chickens & related stuff to set up a pen at home), and went into a little room come shop. There was a wall of free range chicken, duck & quail eggs. Another wall of honey & jams (I had to resist the passionfruit jam). A feezer of frozen chickens, ducks & quails, and a fridge of the same.

We selected a duck & a chicken from the fridge, and a dozen free range eggs, totalling $31, which we thought was pretty good value.

We were hoping for duck breasts but went with the whole bird, as the hatchery is still waiting on Council approval to build a processing factory to sell breasts etc.

The owner of the hatchery gave us instructions on cooking the duck (our first), in an oven bag, slow and not too hot, because they're free-range they don't have as much fat as intensively farmed ones, therefore can't be cooked to hard.

We went shopping for fresh veg to cook with the duck and were set.

Now I don't know how much blame we can lay on our dodgy as hell oven (which we're replacing soon), our our cooking skills, but we cooked it at 180c for an hour in the bag, then out of the bag for another 30 mins.  The skin was kind of crispy in spots, but the meat (when we could find it!) was quite overcooked we thought.

It still tasted nice, but it was hard work to get much meat off the bird, we made a terrible mess of the poor little duckie.

The experience has probably scared us off cooking a whole duck again for a while, but we're keen to try cooking breasts on their own, we will not allow duck to be our nemesis :)

Till next time,

Like minded

On Sunday we went to our local market, the first one they've held since I moved here 3 years ago.

We were hoping it would be a bit more than a fete type setup, so that it would encourage the tourists who come to the Valley to spend more cash locally, and keep the market going, as currently the closest good markets a 2 hour round trip away.

Anyway we arrived at 8am, and were pleasantly surprised to see the car park filling up and stalls galore, excellent!

Our 2nd stall stop was a tiny one with organic seedlings, because the market was just starting up there weren't huge numbers rolling through yet so had a chance to chat with the stall holders. Gloria and her husband Bob.

They live about 10 mins from us on a couple of acres and have converted an acre or so of lawn/garden into an organic vegie patch.  Mainly due to Bob being ill and needing a hobby.

We got chatting, they're trying the first market with seedlings to test the market, then next month bringing the produce along. And they also have a stall at their property, which we'll be heading to this weekend!

I've been thinking more and more over the past couple of years of how much our lifestyle and especially food contributes to our health.

How do we know what the stupormarkets are getting farms to spray onto their produce to ensure it has a longer shelf-life or is more attractive to buyers, or has a uniform appearance, or is available out of season?

Over the past 10 years or so there has been alot of coverage about the effects of asbestos, and people now can't believe that houses were allowed to be built with such a toxic substance.

I wonder if in 20 years our children will be reading the same sort of headlines, but instead of asbestos, it being about chemical 1234 (etc) being highly toxic and having been a common spray for produce 'back in the 2000's'.

Longterm Mr Mel's and my plan is to have our own farm and be as self sufficient as we can be, growing as much produce as we can, and raising and slaughtering our own meat etc.

But in the meantime, we have put alot of effort into our veggie garden, this season we're growing : tomatoes (2), capcisum, chilli, lettuce (5), spring onions (10), snow peas (15), mushrooms, strawberries (5), mint, coriander, sage, oregano, parsley, bay.  It's only small, but it's a start, we haven't had to buy spring onions or parsley for at least a year, and get through summer with our own supply of tomatoes, capsicum, lettuce & snow peas, usually with some left over for neighbours etc.

Gloria & Bob asked for our details after our chat about organics/health etc, and I'm looking forward to maintaining and growing a friendship of sorts.  They've asked if we'd be interested in bringing our surplus veggies out to their stand, for them to sell (and give us veggies in return), and Mr Mel are very excited to get involved in some bartering and exchanging produce.

We're quite excited about having bumped into some like minded people who live close by, even though they're 25+ years older than us, we all had an instant connection, which is rare these days I feel. Especially when we're relatively new to the area (me 3 years from Melbourne, Mr Mel 1 year from Sydney).

I'm excited  :)

Till next time,

Sanctuary Restaurant @ Pokolbin

It was Mr Mel's birthday yesterday, and we headed to Sanctuary Restaurant at the Peppers Guest House, Pokolbin (formerly Chez Pok).

The Head Chef is Michael Bolam, formerly of the very highly regarded Shakey Tables Restaurant also in Pokolbin, he also worked as Chef de Partie at The Ledbury in London.

We were lucky enough to have a 2 for 1 voucher, which was part of a promotion from the restaurant for the month of August.

We were a bit concerned that dining at 7pm on a Tuesday night might be a bit quite and we could be the only table there. Luckily we weren't, there were 2 other tables of 2, and another of 4.

We went to the restaurant for my birthday last November, in it's former guise of Chez Pok, and since then they have undertaken a fair bit of work, refurbishments, new paint and furniture.

For dinner the options were a 2 course ($55 pp) or 3 course ($75 pp) dinner, or a 7 course degustation dinner ($95 pp or $130 pp with matching wines).

We opted for the 3 courses, our choices were:

House baked bread with Pukara Estate Olive Oil, Balsamic Reduction, Dukkah, the bread was very moreish

Mr Mel:

Entree - Steamed Scallop & Yabby Lasagne with Shellfish Cappucino, Curried Cauliflower - Mr Mel is a seafood fiend, he adored it, I love yabbies, so I was happy with my taste too, I though the shellfish cappucino would be a bit strong, but it was very understated, lovely

Main - Charred Lamb Loin, Roast Cutlet, Smoked Potato Puree, Minted Pea, Baby Carrots - Not a huge serving, but very tasty, the lamb was a little bit over the medium rare Mr Mel ordered, but not terribly so, you could taste the smoked potatoe puree before you ate it, it filled your mouth with a very rounded smokey taste, and the minted pea was scrummy

Dessert - Ginger & Orange Rice Pudding, Burnt Butter Icecream and Citrus Madeleine - Very nice, a piece of the citrus madeleine on top of spoonfull of the rice pudding & icecream was the perfect mouthful, crunch with soft and creamy

Me:

Entree - Roast Breast of Duck, Broccoli & Brussels, Truffle Cream, Muscatels - Melt in your mouth duck, and a good sized portion, the truffle cream & muscatels were lovely

Main - Binnorie Labna filled Courgette Flowers with a 'Risotto' of Butternut Pumpkin - Mr Mel & I shared a plate of Kipfler potatoes, with rosemary and a toffee crunch, which we both found a bit sweet with the lovely potatoes - I love labna, and the courgette flowers were very nice, while not a huge serving, 3 smallish flowers, they were very tasty, I wondered when we ordered if the 'Risotto' was a 'real' risotto, it wasn't a rice dish, it was small cubes, maybe 2 mm by 4 mm in size, of butternut pumpkin, a new texture for me, but with me being a pumpkin freak I adored it

Dessert - Spiced Carrot Cake with Pumpkin Icecream and Housemade Shortbread - I had this dessert for my birthday under the Chez Pok banner, the pumpkin icrecream wasn't as pumpkinny as it was in November, but was still a winner, the carrot cake is lovely

Wine - Margan Verdelho - very nice, one of our favourites, from Margan Wines at Broke

With it being Mr Mel's birthday I took along some candles asked the waitress if they would mind putting them on Mr Mel's dessert. Well of course he orders rice pudding, hard to stick candles in that, so the kitchen sent out a large slice of the carrot cake with sparklers and candles, free of charge.  A lovely touch.

Before our entrees were served the chef sent out 2 lots of tastings:

• Cured Trout with Creme Fraishe
• Oysters Beignet with Wasabi

When we asked for the bill we were given another unexpected gem, a cute treasure chest that contained:

• Marco Polo Macaroons with Marco Polo cream - delish, apparently Marco Polo is a tea, will be trying to track some down!
• White Chocolate & Olive Oil Truffles in Bitter Chocolate
• Strawberry Jellies rolled in a citric acid that made your mouth literally water

Have to give special mention to our waitress (is that the PC term?), she was an absolute delight, very approachable, knowedgeable, and attentive, she made a great night all the better.

All in all a terrific night, we left very happy, and very full, after a 3 hour graze. We weren't shocked to read that they won Best Restaurant in a Hotel in the Hunter Valley Region.

9/10 for Restaurant Sanctuary :-)

View the Restaurant Sanctuary Dinner Menu

Or the Restaurant Sanctuary Degustation Menu

Till next time (and Happy Birthday Mr Mel xxx),



Mr Mel & I were paying diners, this post has not been endorsed or sponsored by Peppers or Sanctuary

A Pampered Weekend, With A Difference

I know most people, fellow women mainly, will think a weekend of pampering would include massages, champagne, chocolates, spa treatments, shopping, etc.

Well I do agree, however this weekend just past was a tad different.

On Saturday we headed to Coolmore Australia at Jerry's Plains & Darley Australia at Aberdeen for the industry stallion parades. On Sunday we went to Widden Stud in the Widden Valley for their parade.

The farms put on a terrific day, at Coolmore we had morning tea in a marquee (the most delish chicken & pistachio sandwiches), followed by a parade of their stallions, along with a colourful commentary from one of the Coolmore boys.

At Darley the parade is first, very slick & professional, commentated by leading racecaller David Raphael, following the parade is a glamorous lunch, they set up several marquees with different themes, and cuisines, along with a bar, waiters etc.

At Widden it's more of a family affair, the farm has been in the Thompson family for over 140 years, and it shows, there were no professional wait staff, the Widden farm staff provided excellent and personal service.  Before a lovely lunch on the lawn at the homestead there was a parade of the Widden stallions and the foals of their new lads, a good touch the other farms don't do.

I decided to not take my camera this year, as I found in previous years I was more worried about getting good shots than enjoying the day and socialising with friends, clients & associates. Mr Mel & I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

So yes my weekend included all the usual pamper weekend items:

Champagne - I somehow got suckered into being designated driver, but I still had a glass of bubbles both days
Chocolates - dessert on Sunday was a delish bitter chocolate tart with berries, and there was chocolate nibblies on Saturday
Massages - not entirely included, but definitely requested after a day in heeled boots walking across paddocks!
Shopping - indeed, inspecting the stallions is akin to shopping, sure the prices ranging from $8,000 to $165,000 are a tad steeper than usual!
Spa treatments - I had a lovely face full of foal hair after a particularly friendly foal decided I needed to rub noses with him, perhaps a new fad for spas?  yeah probably not!

Some photos from previous parades.

 

Till next time,

Flavourfest

Back over the June long weekend, the Hunter Valley Gardens held 
Of course with Mr Mel & I being a little bit foodie, we had to go.

We sat at the stage and watched a cooking demo by Chris Cranswick-Smith of Emmilou Tapas in Surry Hills, and Janelle Bloom of Ready Steady Cook, it was a good show, but for the life of me I can't remember what Chris cooked, he was miked up and all I remember his him dropping the 'C' bomb when he couldn't get one of the items on the plate. Everyone in the crowd sort of looked at each other, saying 'did he really say that', I don't think Chris even realised he had, but I'm sure he does now, as his wife was sitting in the front row!

Following that piece of stellar entertainment we :

• sat in on a Beer & BBQ matching class from James Squire, beer was a bit strong for me but Mr Mel loved it
• lined up for 1/2 an hour for a bratwurst that was magnificent.
• tucked into some beautifully savoury Peruvian sweet potato donuts.
• tasted lots of dips/sauces/jams/tapenades/dukkas/honeys/olive oils.
• fell in love with lemon myrtle cheesecake, sooooo delish, we bought some of the lemon myrtle powder
• sat on the grass with a Ethica coffee listening to Irish folk music.
• tasted about 12 different wines, most we'd tasted before, but never pass up free wine :)

the main stage, where Chris dropped the C bomb!

about 5 mins before he dropped it!

Delicious Peruvian Sweet Potato Donuts

James Squire Beer & Barbee demo

The chilli kransky was temporarily sold out, we went with the bratwurst, delish

After we'd eaten and drank our fill we walked around the Hunter Valley Gardens, the odd thing was it usually costs $25 to get into the Gardens, Flavourfest was $23.50, with full access to the Gardens!

Some pics below from around the gardens.

All in all a terrific day, and we'll go back next year.

Looking forward to the Chocolate Festival in early August!

Till next time,