Girls weekend away

I have just been away on an excellent girlie weekend with six of the funniest women you could hope to be on holidays with. I think over the last few months each of these women has appeared as an initial somewhere in this blog. S decided it was about time we all got together for some good food, copious amounts of wine and endless conversation in the picturesque area of Gerringong (about two hours South of Sydney).

This blog has gotten me the reputation of a bit of a foodie so I was in charge of the food. S did the shopping with me on Thursday and the best bit was that we were able to choose all our favourite foods for the weekend. When I was trying to decide on the menu I immediately knew what I was going to do for Breakfast. It was one I spotted on Delicious Days a few months back and every time I have made it, it has received rave “mmmmmm”’s. It’s a healthy breakfast that tastes divine and completely fills you up for a day of shopping in Berry with the girls. I think it is the combination of so many different flavours and textures that works so well with this breakfast. The house we were staying in had the most magnificent view down to the sea so we had the pleasure of sitting out on the deck admiring the view in the sun while enjoying the food. A little piece of heaven really.

After a cursory look around the shops in Berry it was time for lunch. Food played a very big roll in the weekend. I had read good reviews about the Berry Woodfire Sourdough Bakery so we headed there. The building itself is lovely with big tall ceilings and a lovely smell of the wood fire burning that reminds me of my grandmothers house.

The food here is top notch. One of the people sitting at the table beside us had a plate of Parpadelle pasta with prawns and it looked so good that four of us ordered it. Lucky for us it tasted as good as it looked. The restaurant/bakery is BYO so we were able to chill out for the afternoon with a few glasses of wine at the outdoor tables.



No sooner were we out of the restaurant then it was time to head home and pop open the champers and God forbid there would be some time spent not eating, we also set out a selection of cheese and crackers for everyone while I prepared dinner. I went for a salmon gravadlax with cous cous. I had soaked the salmon over night in Brandy and to be honest I think I used too much brandy because it was very overpowering. [Note to self: go easy on the strong stuff]. I am still getting used to cooking for more than four people. Sometimes you just don’t need to use four times the ingredients to cater for more people.

The night was spent drinking and playing Cranium, an excellent game for a big group of people that had us in tears laughing most of the night. Thank God the next neighbour was miles away.

Sunday morning I was relieved of cooking duties because S made us her lovely scrambled eggs on Turkish toast. When all the face-packs were washed off and the nail varnish had dried it was time to do some serious shopping in Berry - no more window shopping for us. Of course all this shopping tired us out and eventually we needed to stop for a coffee and a cake. We were so impressed with the Sourdough Bakery that nowhere else seemed up to par. So why fight it – we went back to the Bakery and enjoyed coffee and cakes all around.



Unfortunatly the weekend had to come to an end and we all headed back to Sydney (and Brisbane for some). Everyone had such an excellent weekend we are already planning the next one. Good girlie weekends are definitely good for the soul.

Here are some pictures from the beautiful garden where we were staying.











And our walk along the beach at sunset.