PhotoHuntThis week’s theme is “Warm” and here are my choices for the week.
Sulphurous, steaming rocks in the geothermal area of Rotorua, New Zealand
Warm sunset in Santorini, Greece
Warm pies on the east coast of New South Wales, Australia
Tag: Food
Lisa’s final farewell dinner
Katie and I put on a final farewell dinner for Lisa last night, and it was absolutely wonderful if I say so myself! We’d discussed having crayfish months ago (aka Rock Lobster), and I said I’d treat us for the final meal … yesterday morning I took a trip out to the Sydney Fish Markets for the first time (and fell in love with them while I was there – I think I’ll be going there once a month to buy fresh fish!), and cried at the price tag, then cried again as they got yanked out of the tank and put into a bag with their litte tails still flapping … yikes …
Anyway, the shop put them out of their misery and sliced them into halves for me, and I picked up a fresh whole snapper to keep them company, along with a couple of tuna steaks. I will definitely be living on bread and jam for the month of February (or at least until next payday) ‘cos the bank balance was emptied out hmmm, but a promise is a promise. Katie made Pannecotta for dessert (which I’ve never had before) – oh boy it was scrummy!
We took some photos of the evening’s menus, so thought I’d share it (sorry Mum, I know you’re sitting there as green as a shamrock with jealousy! haha).
First of all we take some fresh crafish/rock lobster, and slice them in half…
Then we sprinkle with cayenne pepper and a dash of sea salt, and baste with a marinade made from garlic, oil, lemon juice and brandy. Eventually, after a couple of extra bastings during cooking, they’ll come out looking like this…
Add a bit of potato slice bake (which unfortunatey looks like it’s mashed in this photo!), and add a basic tossed salad, and you have a scrummy meal that will have you sighing with satisfaction for hours afterwards. Katie was ooh’ing and ahh’ing for ages, saying her taste buds were in ecstasy as every element of the meal was amazing – thanks Katie, that’s a huge compliment 🙂
We had great fun at the end all trying to get into the crayfish legs for that final little fleshy morsel hiding in there – lots of giggles and cursing abounded LOL. We even cleared and set the dining table for dinner … it was lovely eating all together … it’s only taken us 12 months to use it! LOL.
Afterwards Katie was sent into the kitchen to finish off the preparations of her Pannecotta desserts – and this is the result … how beautiful do they look? And they tasted just as beautiful! 🙂
We ended the night by finishing off my Christmas present of chocolate port … just enough left in the bottle to half fill three glasses for the Three Musketeers … and here’s Katie’s self-portrait of us all at the end of the meal while we were sampling our ports.
All in all a really wonderful night – we’re going to miss my flatmate Lisa a LOT … both at work and at home. She will definitely be missed, bless her.
We were supposed to all be going to Manly for lunch today with other friends of Lisa’s for their farewell lunch, but I’ve woken up with my throat being worse, and heading to my chest, so I’ve decided to sit here with a mug of Lemsip and have pulled out of the festivities. I figure it’s probably wiser for me to have a day sat around home vegetating than being a social butterfly and sharing my bugs further. Never mind, I still have wonderful memories from last night to keep me warm and cosy today … I might even get some more stitching done! 😀
Where does time fly? (photo heavy)
Here we are – Christmas is past and the New Year is almost upon us … blimey, how did that happen?!!!
I spent a wonderful few days with Brenda and Nigel over in the northwest suburbs of Sydney for Christmas. As usual Nigel did an exceptional job of Christmas dinner and we dined on turkey breast, baked ham, new potatoes, fresh beans and peas, followed by Nigel’s famous pavlova (the best I’ve ever eaten, and that’s saying something as I’ve tried many; it was always my fave dessert growing up). Nigel doesn’t drink, so Brenda and I made up for his allowance, and we definitely imbibed a fair bit over those few days … including a bottle of Iron Gate Sweet Shiraz that I brought back from the Hunter Valley, and now Brenda is in love with it too 🙂
Santa was very very generous to me this year – my flatmate Lisa spoilt me rotten with some yummy chocolate dessert sauces, whisk and tea-towel set, a little tub of Mango Daiquiri mix (ie just add booze and chill), a Frangipani calendar and a beautiful bottle of Chocolate Port from Flaschengeist in a Christmas tree shape … boy she has a good memory, and Brenda and I had to sample it on Christmas Day to complete our Christmas dinner festivities. My other friend (who is about to become my new flatmate – see more below) bought me a beautiful blue and gold necklace and earring set, but I forgot to take a photo of it as I’m wearing it today!
Mum bought me a stunning greenstone (NZ Jade) necklace (I chose it when I was in NZ), with a fish hook shape with a whale’s tale at the end … very pretty 🙂
I also spend my Christmas money on an exquisite piece of glass sculpture – we hunted for the entire day for one with ‘just the right colourings’, and just as we’d given up we found one in downtown Auckland. This is a “Koru”, or Silver Fern frond, and I just adore it to death. Unfortunately the photo was taken without a light shining through it, so you can’t see the beautiful colours … I really must try to get a good photo of it. Brenda really loved this one too. Eventually I want to have a glass display cabinet which will house my stitching smalls, and this will sit on the top shelp with a spotlight on it to highlight the colourings 🙂
Brenda and Nigel gave me something that I will truly treasure always – Brenda does ceramic classes, and she’s done some incredible pieces … and this year she made me a Christmas keepsake that will bring years and years of happiness while it’s proudly on display. Handmade gifts are the best, and I feel truly honoured to have one of her pieces to call my own!! 😀
Talking of exquisite hand-made gifts, I also finally remembered to take a photo of the stunning ornie that Katrina gave me for Christmas, and it’s proudly hanging on my hand-made ornie tree. Thanks again Katrina, I really really love it!
Today I went shopping after dropping my mobile phone off to be sent off for repair, and unexpectedly picked up a new Christmas tree with 75% off at Myer, which means this year is the final time I will have a teeny tiny wee tree … next year I will have a big 2m tall tree overpowering the lounge space … and I can’t wait!! haha. Next year that should mean I can combine my bauble ornies with my hand-stitched ornies 😀
I did take a couple of photos of the various Christmas displays in my wee lounge to show Mum, including my set of 3 tables that the removalists tried to demolish (they broke 3 entire legs off of the largest one) – Nigel managed to glue them back together for me over Christmas, bless him, so I’m thrilled to have my tables back on display again yippee 🙂
Mum, this is the centrepiece display I was telling you about on the phone … I really love it!
And I finally “finished” another piece and put the ribbon around my flat-fold that I made quite some time ago (probably 2 years ago now!) – I love the bright red of the ribbon.
While I was shopping today I also scored a couple of cans of English Heinz Tomato Soup … ah, I’m in heaven! The Aussie version of Heinz soup isn’t quite the same, so I had a wee splurge. Not in the photo is also a bag of lemon sherbet bon-bons and box of Black Knight licorice 😉
I also picked up a couple of other treats … including a “fish on a stick” … this is also a photo for Mum’s benefit! I made a decision after visiting a shop with a marine/ocean/beach theme months ago that I really want to have that sort of theme for my lounge, and have been buying a couple of pieces every now and then (I think Susan set the seed with all of her dream home decor photos months and months ago, and it must have been sitting at the back of my brain all this time!) … first of all I bought some starfish for my coffee table when I had my girlie weekend away with Brenda and friends, and I’m now thinking of stitching some small shells along the edge of my sheer curtains … but now I have my own blue fish on a stick too! I also bought a wee tub of coral and shells to place in a plain glass bowl, but didn’t take a photo.
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On a different note, last night I had a right royal treat – Tannia and her OH came to visit and stay the night. Even though it was a whirlwind visit, it was so lovely to see them both again – I miss them here in Sydney! I actually felt a bit flat after they left, and ended up taking the day off work to make up for a day I worked while in Auckland during my annual leave. Hence the reason I spent the day shopping, I think! I did feel really bad, though, ‘cos Tannia was her ever-thoughtful self and brought me some luscious gifts, and I had nothing to give in return … I’m such a bad friend! 😦
Thanks so much again Tannia, I love everything, and I miss you loads! {hugs}
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The final news that I intimated about earlier, is that my flatmate Lisa is heading back to Melbourne at the end of January. Her secondment is up then and she’s not interested in renewing it for different reasons … some job-related and some personal reasons. I’m going to miss having her around the place, as we’d become quite close over the last couple of months especially. All is not lost, however, as Katie is going to be moving in instead – her own living situation isn’t great (her flatmate is a druggie and, although quite good fun, is quite strange!). At least I won’t have to find someone else that I don’t know, and don’t have to struggle to make the rent on my own, which is great! Fingers crossed it’ll all work out, and we find living together OK.
Rightio, I think that’s just about all the news for now … I’m a bit scatter-brained at the moment, so I’ve probably forgotten something! I thought I’d better hurry up and make a post, though, as New Year will be here in 2 nights, and it’s unlikely I’ll be back online until we’re already into 2009!
On that note, I’d like to wish you all a prosperous and wonderful 2009!! 😀
Napier/Hastings … final part (photo heavy again)
Alas, Tuesday came far too quickly, and it was time to pack up again for the return drive home. We had a leisurely start to the day and didn’t leave the motel until 10am – we started of by driving to the Silky Oak Chocolate factory and museum, where we unexpectedly ended up spending a full two hours! Not only do they have a cafe serving great food (we ended up having brunch there), but they have a really interesting Museum all about the history of chocolate – it was fascinating, and definitely worth the visit! 😀
Eggs Benedict with Bacon
Raspberry & Pear Muffin
Afterwards we drove into Napier township for a visit to the information centre and a wee walk around the waterfront and streets to take some photos of some of the Art Deco buildings – we enjoyed ourselves so much that we didn’t end up leaving Napier itself until 3pm … oops! 😉
One of my fave sculptures – “Pania of the Reef“
Napier waterfront gardens, with Pohutukawa trees in bloom
If any of you are interested in Art Deco building styles, here is a selection for you. For those of you who aren’t aware, Napier CBD was flattened by a devastating earthquake in 1931, and all of the buildings were rebuilt during the same era, giving Napier the reputation of being the capital of Art Deco architecture due to having so many buildings of that style in such a small area.
We finished off our trip to Napier by stopping at a couple of fruit sellers stalls to stock up on beautiful fresh produce. That’s one thing I really love about NZ, there are plenty of local growers selling their fresh produce – and their quality and flavour is far superior to anything you can buy in the supermarkets. My special treats over the couple of days away (as we bought some other fruit the previous day) were fresh strawberries (to die for!), apricots (one of my all-time fave fresh fruits), boysenberries (can’t remember the last time I saw them fresh since moving to Oz), blueberries, and black cherries … oh boy, I’m drooling again just remembering them!!! Sheer heaven – I ADORE summer fruits 😀
We finished off our gourmet couple of days with dinner in Taupo, at the Waterside Restaurant & Bar – here the food was blissful and the service great … yet again, here are the gourmet delights we troughed through:
Chicken Salad for Mum
Lamb Fillet with asparagus, with Greek Tsatziki & balsamic jus for me – drool
Looking back, one of the other things that brought a smile to my face and a lump to my throat was to see all the Pohutukawa trees in bloom – these are affectionately known as the “New Zealand Christmas tree”, and their red bloom is a real delight to behold. Tales say that if the trees bloom before Christmas, we will be in for a long hot summer … personally I just love to see their blooms colouring the skyline.
Other things that I loved being in NZ, was that you can buy L&P everywhere you turn your head … even at the humble pie cart in an outdoor market – ah bliss 😉
It was great to see the Auckland icon, the Auckland Sky Tower, with its impressive bulk shadowing over the CBD.
And not to mention the vast lush “green-ness” of the countryside – unfortunately I didn’t get a great photo of it as it started to cloud over on the way home from Napier, and then rained off and on the entire way home to Auckland 😦
But one of my biggest treats was to spend a week in the warmth of Mum’s Christmas tree – her tree has brought delight to my soul for as long as I can remember, and I made sure my final night in Auckland was spent huddled in the lounge with the warm glow of the Christmas lights … and a rare night of familial bliss as we all sat and watched the Christmas in the Park show on TV, followed by an hour of Aussie and Kiwi stand-up comics … what a great way to finish off a great holiday! 😀
I have come home with many beautiful gifts – but no photos yet as they were bought using Christmas money, so they’re wrapped up under the tree … I’ll share photos after Christmas. What I can share, though, is the wonderful treat from Mum – a set of Prairie Schooler Santa ornies … I just adore these, and will treasure them always! Thanks so much Mum, you’re a sweetheart! 😀
Napier/Hastings … part 2 (photo heavy)
The next morning we had a tour booked with the Gannet Safaris company – our destination was the gannet colony at Cape Kidnappers. We’ve done this trip years once before years ago, but we took a tractor ride up the beach to the colony … this time the trip took us by 4WD mini-coach overland through hilly sheep farms – Mum wasn’t too keen on the sheer drops off the cliffs and hillsides, but we were both impressed at not having to climb the steep path up to the colony from the beach level, as the coach drops you off right at the colony itself!
On the way to the Cape we drove through a Cape Kidnappers Station, and were lucky to catch one of them getting the sheep ready for shearing – here are a couple of photos of our infamous Kiwi sheep (of which 95% of Kiwi jokes are aimed at!), and the sheepdog hard at work herding into the pens (not bad photos considering they were taken through the coach window glass) 🙂
We had a short stop at the top of the cliffs to enjoy the view of Hawke Bay (which is the actual Bay, as opposed to the region, which is called Hawkes Bay), and here we were treated to seeing a really big school of dolphins swimming around after the fish that must have been there – it was breathtaking seeing so many in one place … unfortunately we were too far away to take really great photos, but here’s just a small handful of the dolphins that we could see. I reckon there must have been about 20-30 in the school … just incredible!
When we got up to the colony I was in my element … I tend to love birds of all kinds, not just ducks, and could’ve spent hours and hours watching the gannets. They’re the most amazing birds, and this time of year we were extra lucky to see the chicks hatched and being cared for by their parents – they’re incredibly ugly babies, but they certainly grow up to be something truly majestic and wonderful!!! I love this photo of the protective parent and his/her chick 🙂
Both Mum and I loved to see how affectionate the gannet couples are – the male and female birds take turns to look after the egg/chick while the other fishes for food, then when they return to the nest there’s much noise and ‘hugging’. Apparently their wing span reaches approx 2m across, and they’re glorious to see in flight. I couldn’t choose just one photo, so you get a few different shots to look at if you’re interested 🙂
Another colony off the coast (view from the lighthouse)
After the gannets, we drove out to Taradale where we had a splurge of a gourmet lunch at Church Road vineyard … the food was delicious and the glass of Reserve Chardonnay was sublimely out of this world (although at $36 a bottle we opted not to leave with more, however tempting it was!).
Aoraki Smoked Salmon & Asparagus Salad with poached egg, lemon
beurre blanc & kumara crisps – yum!!!
Walnut Tart with quince & maple & whiskey ice cream – yum again!!!
Finally to finish off the afternoon we drove to JJ’s Crafts (BTW Katrina and Kath, it’s now moved to 14 Glouchester Street, Greenmeadows), where we picked up some Christmas fabrics and a fabric that will hopefully be suitable to finish the infamous Just Nan’s Evening Star (as to date I’ve been unable to find anything remotely suitable locally – the colours in the stitching are just very difficult to match). I also picked up a packet of rustic bells after seeing them on Kath’s Christmas tree.
Unfortunately we ran out of time to visit Heirlooms, but that will definitely be first on the list for the next visit! 😀
As we’ d had a full-on day, and a big dinner at lunchtime, we headed back to the motel to have light nibbles before bed, before we returned home the next day.
Photo Hunt – Breakfast
This week’s theme is “Breakfast” and this is my ultimate luxury treat for breakfast (or more generally a lazy brunch on the weekend). I didn’t have any bagels, which is my preference, so I thought I’d try this Italian olive bread … yummo! All it needs is a good cappuccino to wash it down!! 😀
Sunday … not quite a day of rest!
I just realised I haven’t finished posting about our girlie weekend away last weekend … so here’s the final instalment – that is, if I can remember everything now!!!
After imbibing a fair bit of vino on the Saturday, and the fact I was driving, we took it a lot easier on the Sunday as far as alcohol intake was concerned. That doesn’t mean to say we cut back on the places we visited or the enjoyment we got … we sure as heck made the most of the day, and couldn’t have crammed any more into it if we tried!
Our first port of call was into the nearby factory showroom of the Hunter Valley Chocolate Company, where we sampled different fudges and chocolate – and we all came out with little packages of fudge for a treat when we got back home. We’d been told there was a chocolate fountain there, where you could dip in strawberries and marshmallows, but alas we’d been wrongly advised. We did find out, however, that they had another shop at one of the vineyards, so we added that to our “must do” list for later 🙂
Then we continued on to Adina Wines, as Lisa wanted to try some Pinot Gris/Pinot Grigio wines, and none of the vineyards we visited on the Saturday has this varietal. Adina was on the way to our next official destination, so we called in for a spot of wine-tasting for Lisa. It worked too, as she happily came away with some spoils from there, as well as learning the differences between the Gris and Grigio names (one is from the Italian region, and the other French) – good to know they’re essentially the same thing!
After Adina, we continued to our first destination, which was Drayton’s Family Wines (you may remember the name as the one in the news a couple of years ago when there was an explosion in the vineyard where the one of the vintners was killed and someone seriously injured/burned) – I totally fell in love with a Chocolate Port that I’d bought from Flaschengeist in Melbourne, but haven’t been able to find who actually makes it … anyway we heard that Drayton’s do a Chocolate Port so that was our first official port of call. Unfortunately the port was nothing like the one I loved, so it didn’t come home with us … however after sampling the “Christmas pudding in a glass” I fell in love with their Muscat, so that was my treat for the morning.
Our next stop was a few metres up the road, back to Robyn Drayton’s where we’d bought the white port from the previous day. Our plan here was to have a Devonshire Tea – and it was as scrummy as we’d hoped for 😀
After our Devonshire Tea, we drove back to Pokolbin Village Shops where we spent a fair bit of time in the Smelly Cheese Shop sampling cheeses and stocking up on some to bring home. We also bought a few more gourmet delights as well, finishing off with a Gelati.
After the shops we visited another winery – this time Brokenwood Wines. I tried their Sangiovese wine, while the girls tried a few of their whites. I don’t think we bought anything from there (shock, horror!), as you can generally buy their wines from bottle shops at a much lower price. Most of the other vineyards we’d bought from only sell from the cellar door.
Our final wine stop for the day was to Peterson’s Champagne House, where Hunter Valley Chocolate Company had a lovely shop set up … along with their chocolate fountain, woohoo!! It was a compulsory purchase of strawberries on a stick covered in warm chocolate from the chocolate fountain … sheer bliss! We then popped really quickly to the next door building to check out the sparkling wines (Katie’s favourite) where both of the girls came out with a bottle of Blush each 🙂
We finished the day off with a spot of girlie pampering at the local Reflections Day Spa where Lisa and I both had a 1/2 hour relaxation massage, and I had my eyebrows shaped and eyelashes tinted … what an awesome end to an awesome weekend! (I’d really hoped for a remedial massage, as I’ve been suffering quite badly with neck pain and stiffness over the last couple of weeks, but the guy who does them wasn’t there that day – a relaxation massage was a good alternative, though). After our relaxation we drove home singing along to Christmas carols … life just doesn’t get better than that!! 😀
It’s only the second ‘real’ girlie weekend I’ve had (the first one was having a weekend away at Toowoon Bay in October), and I hope it won’t be the last … it was awesome!!!
Since we’ve been home I’ve done one whole row of about 20 smyrna crosses for my current stitching projec, and that’s about it! My stitching has been non-existent, so I hope to get a couple of hours in this morning to make up for it. Then the rest of the day will be spent doing housework and getting the place ready to have the Christmas decorations put up, so not much stitching to be had this week, me thinks. Next weekend is a write-off as well, as we have our Christmas party on Friday night, followed by a stitching GTG at Karen’s on Saturday (really looking forward to that), followed by a holiday back home – so you’re unlikely to see much posting from me between now and Christmas … with any luck, thought, I might get a tiny bit of stitching done in NZ! 😀
Saturday’s adventures (photo heavy)
Saturday morning we were awake bright and early – with enough time to shower and have a leisurely breakfast before we got picked up by our tour bus. We chose to travel with the “Cheers Bus” for a vineyard tour. I was really impressed with the entire day – the choice of vineyards was excellent, the driver extremely knowledgeable, and loads of fun had by all. We were 11 in total on the tour, with the remaining 8 all girls having a family weekend away (aunts, sisters, and cousins) – it was a total hoot!! I’d definitely go with them again, and in fact we’re already considering a return trip ‘cos there’s so much still to see!
After picking up the other girls, we ventured out to Ivanhoe Wines – we had a private room set aside where Anne taught us about tastings and how to do it correctly to get the best out of the wines. We then set about with some wine tasting … not bad going at 10.30am!! haha. I must admit there were two of the wines that I loved, so they joined us for the van trip (in fact I fell in love with something at every single place -and have to admit spent up larger than planned).
Our next stop was the Iron Gate Estate – this had some of the most delicious wines, albeit expensive, and I loved them so much I bought two bottles of two of them … just divine! If Mum’s kind to me, I might even take a bottle each over to NZ to share 😉
Our host at Iron Gate was Jason, and he was another winner – the information he gave about the wines was superb, and even had us LOL when he picked on a couple of blonde comments from one of the girls in our group … she was lovely but oh so dopey haha. After the wine tastings here, and after spending up large, we were taken behind the scenes to the back room to see the modern vineyard at work – we got to see the stainless steel vats and oak barrels and learned each step of the wine making process … it was very educational. I have to admit I also fell in love with the building and the decor itself, and took loads of piccies here, so I’ll have to share … I just love the attention to detail they have to create a relaxing and stunning atmosphere (this is where the photo-heavy bit comes in!!).
Our next port of call was to Audrey Wilkinson Vineyard – the views at the top of the hillside where the vineyard is perched on is spectacular, and we had to get the driver to take a photo of us all posting in front of the view! We also nearly killed our driver off as he had to carry our purchases out for us … we made the most of a discounted sale!! We had a private area at this winery as well, where we were taught all about their wines – to be honest the guy who lead this talk was quite pompous, and none of us knew where to look as he sat in front of us on a barstool with his legs parted almost into the splits … after sampling so many wines we also got a bit of the giggles, so that helped to throw some joy into the proceedings …
After Audrey Wilkinson we headed off for a 1.30pm lunch at the Potters Hotel & Brewery – here you could sample beers if you wanted to, as they are a micro-brewery brewing their own beers. I just had a teeny tiny sample of their “Bock”, which is a black beer – it was reasonably nice, but the ladies at the table who’d bought samples of the other beers weren’t nearly as impressed! The food here was OK – my lamb shanks were tough and dry, but the other meals seemed to be OK. It was definitely a great idea to have a full meal at lunchtime, to help soak up the alcohol, especially as we were planning to stay in at home for our evening meal.
Back on the road once again, we headed to Lucy’s Run vineyard … this winery doesn’t advertise at all, and isn’t even listed in the phone book – they only make approx 800 cases of wine annually, but oh boy they’re good wines! The owner is an ex-Cathay Pacific pilot, who not only makes wines but also marinated olives, olive oil and Dukkah … we were in sampling heaven. Another two bottles of wine, a jar of olives and some Dukkah fell into my bag, I don’t know how!! I forgot to take any photos of this vineyard (or the next one, come to think of it – me thinks the wine tasting was starting to take its toll haha).
After Lucy’s Run, we drove to our supposed final vineyard for the day – Ernest Hill Wines. Yet again, the wines were superb, and another two bottles fell into my bag. The host was fun and informative, and we learnt even more about wine. While we were there, the driver found out I love white port, so he sneaked in an unplanned stop especially for us on the way to our final stop … we went to Robyn Drayton Wines, and I have to agree her White Port is the best in the land … seriously!!! Although a little expensive, it’s well worth it! It comes in a glass decanter, and we all loved it so much the three of us all came home with a bottle! When tasting we were told to only drink half of what Robyn poured for us, then she squeezed a couple of drops of fresh lime juice into the remaining port, and oh-la-la what a wonderful blend that is!!! Sheer bliss!!!
Our final stop on the bus tour was to the Pokolbin Village Shops, where we had cheese tastings at the Smelly Cheese Shop … next door was also the Gelato shop, and Chocolate and Fudge shop … gourmet heaven!! And yes, we all found something here to tempt us too!
After that we waddled back to the bus to be chauffeured home to our respective residences. We then got our dinner goodies together and headed into the common lounge room where we spread out our banquet, cracked open a bottle of wine (after chilling out a bit over a glass of lemonade), and ended up in the lounge for the rest of the night. We got to meet one of the other couples staying there, and spent a few hours in their company while we ate and drank. Here’s a view of our antipasto supper with lots of fresh cheeses, pate, crackers, Turkish bread and dips, cold meats, vegetable crudites, fresh fruit (kiwifruit, grapes, strawberries) … and just for me, blue cheese, various stuffed olives, semi sun-dried tomatoes, stuffed bell peppers, artichoke hearts and fresh dates (the others don’t like any of those, so that was my own little treat plate). We’d also bought various types of chocolates, but by then we were too stuffed to eat any, so finished off the night with a glass of the complimentary port instead 😀
All-in-all a VERY good day enjoyed by all 😀
After
Photo Hunt – What IS that?
This week’s theme is “What IS that?” and quite frankly I’m stumped with what to use … rather than not post anything at all, however, I’ll show you this photo …
As for what it is? It’s called a Dragonfruit … to be honest I personally think it tastes bland and very very uninteresting – I’ll try most things once if they intrigue me, but this will definitely stay on the “once” list! Unless of course anyone can give me tips on how to eat it – we ate it raw as it is … ho-hum …
Wonderful day …
Well, the Dragon definitely celebrated her birthday in style this year! I’ve provided a small sample of snapshots from each part of the day …
We started off by popping into Spotlight to stock up on DMC that Mum needed, along with some fabric to make me some cheap pyjama bottoms … then we parked the car and hopped on the train into the city. We headed straight to Darling Harbour, starting with the Chinese Garden of Friendship, which Mum really wanted to see during this visit. They were really lovely to walk around, and we were lucky with the weather, as it had been raining earlier in the day. It was a very pleasant way to spend an hour or so.
Next up was back over to Cockle Bay Wharf (still at Darling Harbour) where we headed to the Lindt Cafe to stock up on naughty goodies (I’ve fallen in love with Lindt’s Delices … oh my goodness, they’re divine!!!). Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of them before they were demolished, but another blog has a photo here.
Then we popped next door to Nick’s 103 Cafe where Mum had a lovely prawn and avocado salad for lunch. Here’s a photo of Mum tucking into her lunch, with her Lindt goodie bag sitting under her guard and watchful eye … and even though she doesn’t look it, she’s really enjoying her day out! 😉
Afterwards we had to hustle a bit to wander over to the Star City Casino and Lyric Threatre, where we saw the Phantom of the Opera. What a wonderful show – the stage settings, costumes and music were all truly haunting and magical, and Mum really loved every single minute of it, or so she told me afterwards. I’ve seen it before, but still really loved it myself … and a couple of the songs never fail to take my breath away! As photography is banned in the theatre, I’ve borrowed these files shots from a Phantom of the Opera website …
After the show we took a slow walk around Darling Harbour and over to the QVB Building to catch the train home while we reminisced about the day and the show. When we got home we finished the day off with a bit of stitching (on my part anyway), a glass of wine for me and a botte of Corona for Mum, and a couple of episodes of NCIS while munching away on our Lindt delicacies …
Here’s a quick shot of Cockle Bay Wharf at night:
And to finish off, here’s my latest photo of my progress on Mirabilia’s Winter Queen (geez, I’m soooo loving that white and Wisper thread … not!). Sorry she’s now headless, but I can never be bothered unrolling the towel and taking a full photo of her!
Ah, such a blissful day … those are the things that dreams are made of!!! 😀
Feather Stitching 