Beau'tiful

Ok so I am well aware that this blog has gone disastrously downhill in the number of posts about food I have cooked. I promise you (and me) that this will change in the not too distant future. I have plans for lots of yummy things I want to cook and I will make every effort to photograph them and write about them here. But in the mean time can I just quickly tell you about our little weekend trip to Berry. We wanted to get out of Sydney for the weekend so we hit the road and headed to Berry which is about 2 hours drive south of Sydney. I love everything about Berry and have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to stay there quite a few times in the last couple of years. It’s always a favourite for those girlie weekends away.

This trip was all very last minute. A friend phoned and asked if we would be interested in getting away for the long weekend. This was a marvellous idea, only problem was that it was only a week before the long weekend and it is the middle of school holidays. It was not going to be easy to find accommodation. A few enquires were made about hiring a house but it was not looking like there was much on offer. I came across a website for a B&B that looked pretty nice and when I phoned up they were able to take us as their other guest had cried off due to having the flu (everyone has it at the moment).

So off we headed to Beau Glen for the weekend. I recognised it as soon as we got there mainly by their beautiful gardens. This place had the most magnificent gardens which we got to enjoy over the weekend. There was Gin & Tonics down by the bubbling brook, cheese and wine in the gazebo, whisky on the porch.

I’m noticing a recurring theme here. Our hosts were lovely. They were so friendly and welcoming and they really looked after us well. I know they liked us because they spent most of the weekend with us when we were at the house. They sat down with a cup of tea after serving us breakfast. They joined us for our marathon movie night watching the God Father. They just loved having company. They were a lovely couple but I have actually sworn off B&B’s for this very reason. I just forgot this time but too be honest it wasn’t that bad as they were good company. And I really can’t complain because they served us the most delicious eggs I have ever had. The yolk was the closest to a gold colour I have ever seen. It was almost luminescent. I don’t know much about chickens and that bright yellow could have been a bad thing but what I do know is that they tasted wonderful poached for breakfast and you all know from a recent post what a big fan of eggs I am.

On the second night we cooked up a BBQ and as our hosts were heading out to a party we were left to our own devices. Bob, the man of the house, had left us some relish to enjoy with our steaks. It looked harmless enough. Then I tasted it and wow was this a tasty little relish. I loved it so much that I smothered it all over my steak, my vegetables and I would have put it on some fruit for dessert if the others hadn’t prised it out of my hands. I loved this relish. The next morning when we were checking out I was raving to Bob about how wonderful it was. I was trying my best to get the recipe from him but instead I walked away with my very own jar and a very big smile on my face.

I’m not giving up yet though. I plan to write him a thank-you e-mail and I will be asking for the recipe. If I get it I will write it up here so that everyone else can taste the pleasures of a good relish.

In the mean time check out some of the beautiful flowers that were in bloom.