Third Visit

Well, we didn’t get to go to A’Mews last week because J’s Dad didn’t feel that well but we have rescheduled for next Friday. I was nervous phoning up at the last minute to cancel but Dani was wonderful about it and said it was no problem to change the reservation by a week. Thank god for good service. Now I can start looking forward to thi wonderful meal all over again. There's a lot to be said for delayed gartification.

What we did do was head back to Clarendon Forest Retreat at the weekend with J’s parents. This has become a real favourite with us. We were there this time last year with J’s parents and last November with my parents. The big draw card is that we can bring the dog with us and he absolutely loves it there. We hire two cottages that are about 200meters apart and the dog spends the weekend running between the two houses. He is in his element. The first time we got the food catered from local restaurants. It was good but not great. So when we went with my parents I made a point of cooking the food myself. This time we had the best of both worlds. I whipped up a very simple meal on the Friday night when we arrived and then we got the Saturday night catered. J’s Dad organised it all so I’m not sure where he ordered from but my god did he do well. At 7:00pm, as I lounged in the Jacuzzi with a cheese platter and a glass of bubbly on the side (yes it really is a tough life), there was a delivery of two magnificent seafood platters. The selection on the platter was out of this world. Crab, lobster mornay, oysters and prawns all of top quality. This was a dinner fit for a fisherman’s king. And the best bit was not a single bit of cooking was required cos we all know about my recent lack of interest in cooking.

We had a great little adventure weekend with J’s parents. You would not believe they were grand parents when they are hopping on quad bikes, zipping down toboggan rides and splashing off the end of massive water slides. On the Sunday the sun graced us so we took to the water. We hired a small sail boat and motorboat and zipped around on Smith Lake. Then the boys headed off for some more adventurous sailing, helping a guy crew a much bigger sail boat (you can tell I know all the technical sailing terms). J'sMum & I headed for a marathon walk along the beach with the dog. Is there anything more rejuvenating then a walk along the beach? Forster is a great spot to go on holidays to and I look forward to going back already.

A little camp

After all the excesses of Christmas and New Year it was time to head off and get some fresh air and exercise. Here in Australia we are blessed with a public holiday to celebrate Australia Day which is on the 26th Jan. That day fell on a Saturday this year so we had a long weekend. A group of Irish, Scottish and a token Aussie headed off to Kangaroo Valley for some canoeing and camping. This was one of those rare weekends where absolutely everything just works out perfectly. We had fantastic weather and found the perfect camp site. We had oodles of food and copious amounts of alcohol. But best of all not one of us got bitten by a deadly spider or snake. We did see lots of mean looking mammas but at least if you see them there is a much better chance you won’t get bitten by them.

To share the load of preparing the food we were all allocated different meals. J & I were in charge of one of the main meals. We made a one pot wonder chicken curry that was kept on ice in an esky until it was needed. At which time we were able to heat it up on our little gas cooker. Another couple made up a chilli dish. The boys were in charge of making the rice to go with. Snacks and alcohol were also in great supply. Much as I thought this weekend of activity would be good for me I managed to counter all the good with a steady intake of snacks and alcohol. Weekends away like this are one of the main reasons why I love living in this beautiful country.

Usually at this point in the post I would be including the recipe for the wonderful chicken Curry I prepared. There would be a number of different spices mixed lovingly into an aromatic pot. Unfortunately my recent lack of interest in cooking has gone completely out of control and I don’t know if I can actually say this but ….. I used a jar of Chicken Tonight Butter Chicken. There, I admitted it and that’s half the battle. Hello, my name is Audrey and I use jars of Chicken Tonight. There must be some 12 step program I can start on to get my over this.

During the weekend in the dark of night my camera had a bit of an accident and the display screen no longer works. I am going to get a new camera and I’m hoping that the new purchase will relight my interest in photographing food once again.

Happy Christmas!!!

Ok so the healthy eating didn’t quite work out. In fact, as always seems to happen to me, the more I try to be healthy the naughtier I usually am. The ole “Oh well it is Christmas” has been used a little too frequently recently. The lil cupcake pictured is a perfect example of some of the naughties I have been enjoying recently. It was given to me by P, who sits beside me in work, as an apology for not going mountain biking this weekend. I must be on top of the Christmas jobs when we can pack up the bikes and head to the Blue Mountains for a bone shaking ride along the Oaks Trail. This is my kind of mountain biking. You park the car, get on the train with your bike. Get off the train up the mountain and cycle down to the car. It’s a great ride and at times felt like we were on the bucking bronco at the rodeo.

I have a very easy 5km cycle into work everyday and apart from fighting off the taxi and bus drivers it’s not very taxing so this ride in the Blue Mountains gave my hybrid bike a work out on the rougher side. Here’s a picture of myself and A who I also work with. He’s my cycle guru so I wouldn’t go out in the mountains without him. You can tell from this photo that the weather here is actually the complete opposite from what I grew up with. At the moment is pretty darn hot here. Chances of snow on Christmas - a definite 0%

Christmas dinner is being taken care of by some very capable cooks who are part of J’s extended family. We are going to his brothers for Christmas dinner and everyone brings along a different dish for the dinner. J’s sister-in-law is Greek and her Aunts make some of the most delicious Christmas food. The dangerous part comes when it’s time for dessert. So as not to offend anyone you must try a little of everything. It’s a tough job but I think I’m up to it. I’ll be up bright and early on Christmas morning, making a very tradition Australian Pavlova. I will be staying well away from the green food colouring.

The only other cooking I will be doing on Christmas day will be a breakfast fry up. This was always one of my favourite parts of Christmas when I was growing up. We would open all the pressies and mid way through the process Mum would disappear into the kitchen to start the most humongous fry up. It would look something like this only much bigger. My family have lived all over the world and Christmas day was the only day when we would all eat breakfast together. I have carried on this tradition and have made a mini version of Mum’s fry up for J and I before we head out to see friends and family on Christmas Day. God forbid we should start the day without a full tummy. I’m thinking of whipping up some Irish Brown Bread too because nothing soaks up the grease like some slices of Irelands finest.

Roll on New Year’s Day when I know what my New Year’s resolution will be....again

Happy Christmas everyone!!!

Where have I been

My parents have been over for the last few weeks and we have been having a ball. We visited a few spots that I have mentioned on the blog before. For the first weekend we all headed back to Clarendon Forest Retreat, dog and all. As my parents got slightly delayed on the way over we had to zip off a few hours after they arrived. My parents were so good and didn’t complain at all about the extra four hour drive after flying half way around the world to visit us.

As mentioned when I wrote about our last visit here, the food supplied in the cottage is wonderful. No sooner had we arrived than we were tucking into the champagne and cheese plate provided. What a luxury. I had also brought along a box of Fromager des Clarines to try out. I am on a hunt to find the cheese that I had at the restaurant Guillaume at Bennelong for my Birthday back in May. I know I could just phone the restaurant and ask them what that soft buttery cheese they serve is but I am having way too much fun tasting cheeses to do that. When I described the cheese to the very helpful lady in the GPO cheese and wine room she recommended I try Fromager des Clarines. It was wonderful and creamy but I still have not found an exact match. I think I will just have to make another visit to Bennelong.

After teasing the taste buds with this wonderful cheese I got going on dinner. This time instead of opting for a delivery from the local restaurants I went with cooking us up some good old fashioned hearty food. I knew after all that aeroplane food Mum & Dad would prefer something simple. On the first day we went Italian and had lasagne, my new favourite rocket salad (thanks Niamh) and garlic bread. Simple tasty food and a good bottle of wine – perfect. The following day J showed my parents his culinary skills with some wonderfully marinated fillet steaks on the BBQ. Eating at the cottages meant we didn’t have to leave Teddy alone to do any damage. He’s the best dog in the world as long as there is someone with him but leave him on his own and he’s bound to get up to mischief. It was a very lazy weekend of walks on the beach and lounging around reading. It was just what my parents needed after the trip over. I had all sorts of plans for going walking and getting out in the fresh air but in the end I opted for the fresh air on the veranda while relaxing.

No sooner were we back from our trip to Forester then we were off again. I flew up to Noosa with my parents and would you believe that we revisited every restaurant that Mum & I ate at the last time we were there. So let me not bore you with repeating the reviews because every one of them was still wonderful. I have been trying to eat healthy recently so during the day we kept everything light. A bowl of cereal while watching the waves crash in (the picture above was from the balcony of the apartment we were in for the week). Lunch was a light sandwich or maybe some of Mum’s melt in the mouth scrambled eggs. Keeping things light meant that we always had a good appetite for our delicious dinners.

After Noosa it was back to Sydney where we have been entertaining ourselves and our friends with all sorts of culinary delights. Most notable was a Toblerone cheese cake which Mum made for a dinner party with some of my friends. I am sorry but I don’t have some mouth watering photos of the cake as I seem to have lost my food photographing mojo. It’s killing me because I would love to be able to share it with you. Maybe I will just have to make it again – any excuse.

Speaking of loosing my mojo, I’m sorry for not updating the blog on a weekly basis like I used to. I have loved keeping this blog. Friends and family have told me they like to check what I have been up to by reading the blog and recently there has been nothing for them to read. I’m not sure why but I have gone off photographing and writing about food. While Mum & Dad have been over I’ve been very naughty with all the food and wine I’ve been having because I have a bit of a tummy problem at the moment and I have been trying to eat plain food. Let’s be honest, who wants to hear about plain food. I spoke to my sister about loosing interest in my own blog and she reckons I should stick with it. I need to loose some weight (yeah, I know, who doesn’t?) and so I really need to cut back on the calorie high foods which are usually the ones I like reading and writing about. My sister thinks I should blog about good healthy food that people can enjoy. Do people really want to read about that? Maybe that should be the challenge I set myself. Me and all the diet books out there are trying to make healthy food look appetising. I’ll see how this goes. Stick with me.

Berrynice once again

We headed off last weekend for another Girls weekend to Berry. This was with a different group of girls but the last one was such a success that I made sure we did lots of the same things. We enjoyed the same bircher muesli in a glass. We drank copious amounts of wine and ate our own home cooked Italian food. on the Sunday after me constantly talking about the Woodfired Sourdough Bakery the girls eventually gave in and went there for lunch. Thank god they loved it too because I had really talked it up.

There is nothing nicer than having quality time with the girls. We arrived late on the Friday night and whipped up our own pizzas and garlic because what could be nicer while you tuck in to a very large supply of bottles of red wine. We had a massive fire to sit around and talk into the wee hours and that’s all we needed to keep us happy.

After a lazy bircher muesli breakfast on the Saturday we spent hours pampering ourselves and each other with facials, foot scrubs and all sorts of lotions. Our friend, A, is a bit of an expert when it comes to skin care so she was giving us all sorts of advice. When we ran out of lotions and potions someone produced a cheese plater and since it was 5 minutes past midday we decided it would be respectable to open our first (of many) bottle of red wine. And so another day of eating and drinking was under way.

We had planned on going out in berry. When we booked the house we were staying at online the website said it was 0km from Berry. There must have been a mistake. I think it was missing a little 2 before that because we were probably about 20km from Berry and the last part of the trip was over dirt road. Since we didn’t fancy our chances of a taxi actually finding us we decided to cook for ourselves.

It’s amazing how fast you can whip up an great meal when you have four hungry women working in the kitchen. We started off with Bruschetta (pictured above) E made this and it was so good we all ate way too much. It is such a simple starter but it tastes so damn good when it’s made with fresh ingredients. We had wonderful fresh bread, juicy tomatoes, and loads of fresh basil.

For dinner we had steak, veg and a salad that made a number of appearances over the weekend.
Our new favourite salad –
Rocket
Lots of Fresh cracked Pepper & Salt
Extra Virgin olive Oil
Splash of lemon juice
And lots of lovely shaved parmesan cheese

It’s a fresh tasty salad that goes well with any dish and did, in fact, many times over the weekend.

Dessert was simply more lovely red wine and some Lindt chocolate as we snuggled up on the comfy chairs once again around the roaring fire. I love winter nights when you have an open fire.
On the Sunday we were way more organised and since we had finished off the supply of wine the night before we headed into Berry town to exercise our credit cards in the fabulous homewares shops. There was also a market that occurs on the first Sunday of every month. It’s more of an art and craft market than a food market.


Over the weekend there had been lots of mentions of the donut van that is well known to all who visit or pass through berry on the way to the South coast. Every time we thought about visiting the donut van we were already too full to enjoy them. We made the effort not to eat for long enough to be able to enjoy the donuts on the drive back to Sydney. They make them fresh when you order them and they are divine. They’re proud boast is that they have never sold a cold donut nor attempted to rewarm one. I have never been a big fan of donuts and one of my most disappointing donut experiences was when the Krispy Kreme shop opened in Sydney and EVERYONE was raving about them. When I took my first bite it tasted awful because it was like a mouthful of sugar. These donuts are nothing like that. They are doughy, warm and melty sweet. Even though I was full after the one I still couldn’t help myself from having more and that’s got to be the sign of a good donut. I think I have just found a new place for my pit stop when I’m heading down the South cost.

Food highlights

Ok enough about the holiday I hear you say. But please, let me make one last post and then I promise it is straight back to food after a long hiatus. I wanted to very briefly list some of the wonderful restaurants we visited. Our very insightful apartment owner, Nicole, left us with a list of seven good restaurants and we ended up going to five of the restaurants and all of them were excellent. This woman knows her restaurants. We were also lucky to be in Paris with a good friend who also knows his restaurants too, so he had a few little gems for us. I am just going to give a list with a very brief description. This list is as much for my own records as for the blog.

Brasserie Bofinger was a wonderful old style brassiere that specialised in seafood and Alsatian style dishes. We arrived at the restaurant late and only started dinner at about 10:30pm. We finished up at about 1:30am at which time the restaurant was still buzzing with people eating. This is one things I miss in Australia. Over here people eat very early in the night and you would seldom see a restaurant open past midnight.

One of the specialities of Bofinger is Choucroute, sauerkraut laden with cured and boiled meats. This is a monster of a meal and I was such a greedy guts here that I didn't have to eat at all the next day.

Brasserie Bofinger
3, Rue Bastille 75004 Paris
+33 1 42 72 87 82

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Chez Michel was a gorgeous little restaurant that was only 5 minutes from our apartment. We arrived late and were led to a table downstairs that had an old world feel to it with all the stone walls, large wooden tables and cellars of wine. The menu was very gamey and the food was delicious. What we ordered was all slowed cooked meats with rich sauces and delicious vegetables. The desserts were excellent too and my Paris-Brest was a wonderful introduction to this old favourite.
Chez Michel
10, Rue Belzunce 75010 Paris
+33 1 44 53 06 20

Chez Casimir can be found just a few doors down from Chez Michel and it was only when I googled this restaurant to find it's website that I realised that it is owned by the same guy as Chez Michel. This was great little cheap eat restaurant that was just around the corner from where we were staying. They have a wonderful menu with lots of good hearty food on it. We enjoyed a slow cooked stew where the meat just feel apart. The staff here were wonderful. Especially when we kept wanting change tables because more people were joining us.
Chez Casimir
6 rue de Belzunce 75010 Paris
+33 1 48 78 28 80

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Restaurant 404 was a treasure of a Moroccan Restaurant that our friend T had booked for us. It was recommended to him by another friend. Isn't 'word of mouth' great. The decor was so impressive. We arrived for dinner at 8:00 and there were a few other people there. By 8:15 the whole restaurant was full so I reckon it would be a good idea to book here. We started the night off with a round of fresh mojitos that got us in the mood for the meal to come. We ordered a selection of tagines and cous cous dishes that were all great.

If you are booking ask for the tables upstairs which have the big cushions and the round moroccan trays for tables. You get a great view of the festivities in the main part of the restaurant.

I couldn't find a web site for this restaurant but I did find this article which was talked about it Ny times article

Restaurant 404
69, Rue Gravilliers 75003 Paris
+33 1 42 74 57 81

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Chez Louisette is an absolute gem of a cafe. If you can find it in the market you are over the first hurdle. our friend, T, had been here and with the help of a few locals we stumbled across it tucked away in the corner of one of the markets at Les Puces. The day we decided to visit the flea markets we were all very hung over after an all night session of dancing and drinking. We needed hangover food and we needed it immediately. Thank god we weren't after anything too up market because this food was good wholesome fare with not even a smidgen of fancy thrown in. We did have the necessary escargot (when in France) that were juicy and oozing with hot garlic sauce. The mains were a little bit too greasy for all our likings so maybe go for a salad or something that doesn't call for oil in the cooking process.

The decor in here did absolutely nothing for our hangovers and it was almost necessary for us to keep our sun glasses on. I've never been in a place more gaudy in my life with tinsel, Christmas balls and shiny paper as far as the eye can see. But this is what makes this restaurant so fantastically unique. Of course the wait staff shouting the orders to the chef upstairs was also quite unique but nothing beat the dulcet tones of Emmanuelle singing her heart out as she did
her best Edith Piaf impersonation.

Chez Louisette
136 avenue Michelet 93400 Saint-Ouen
+33 1 40 12 10 14

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The Moulin Rouge was everything we hoped it would be and I'm not even talking about how happy J was to see all those topless young ladies. We arrived a little late for our reservation as we got delayed in the queue to go up to the top of the Eifel Tower. We had made a reservation for dinner and a show and to be honest we didn't realise the dinner was going to be so good. I only wish we had had more time to enjoy it as we only had an hour before the show started the waiters were giving us super speedy service. They did allow us to take our time over the dessert and of course there was always that second bottle of champers to enjoy.

There are a few different set menus depending on how much you are willing to pay. Our menu started with some succulent lobster which had already been removed from the shell - no hard work for us thank you very much. For mains we both had an almost perfect fillet steak with shoestring fries and creamy béarnaise sauce.

Dessert was eaten in the dark as the show had already started but I have a recollection of a dark chocolate torte and a fruity little number which we both shared.

The show was wonderful and was a lot less tacky than I thought it was going to be. I loved watching all the girls in their magnificent costumes but not as much as I suspect J loved watching them. This is a tourist attraction that is a definite must-see.

Bal du Moulin Rouge ®
Montmartre
82 boulevard de Clichy 75018 Paris
+33 153 098 282

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We did manage to get to a few foodie shops but its hard to get J to traipse all over Paris in search of the perfect Macaroon as he just isn't into food like I am. We did visit a Mariage Frères shop where I was so excited to see all the different selections of teas displayed in an old world style shop which had gentlemen in linen jackets looking after everyone's requests. I would love to get my hands on some great tea because I drink so much of it but I find it overwhelming when you have so many different teas to choose from. Bar having a sniff into the tin, how can you tell what the tea will taste like? Trial and error I guess. I asked for a recommendation for the guy who was serving me and he came up with a black tea that he said had a 'fresh' taste. It was good but would it be blasphemous to say that I prefer my cup of Lipton tea - so uncultured.

I never made it to Pierre Hermé's shop but as a consolation I did drop into a La Maison Du Chocolat shop and get me some of those tasty little macaroons. There were so many beautiful looking chocolates there I was in my element.

And so our 5 week holiday eventually had to come to an end and what a fitting view from the airport as we sat waiting to board our plane back home. Right so, time to start planning the next holiday.

Louvre

I think it would be fair to say I am not an art gallery/museum kind of tourist. Don’t get me wrong. I like my bit of culture as much as the next person. I think that my problem is that I have a short attention span so after a few hours of ‘looking’ at stuff I just want to get on with things.

Well this was not the case with the Louvre. We spent over eight hours here and even then the only reason we left was because they were closing up. I was mesmerised by this place. I was as impressed with the building itself as I was with the art work it contained. This place is huge. One side of it is 700 meters long! Apparently it would take eight months for one person to glance at every art piece in the Louvre. Or eight hours to do the very cheesy but enjoyable Di Vinci Code audio tour follows by J’s very own little personal tour. How does my man know so much about art and history?


After our day at the Louvre our legs really didn’t want to walk too much further so we headed out the main door and under the arches of the Louvre to the very fancy Café Marly. We were a little under dressed but we weren’t going to let that stop us. So what if they hid us away from the main entrance and asked us to remove our backpacks. WE weren’t going to let that spoil a good meal. I loved watching the different colours and shadows fall over the Louvre as the sun set. It made our day there last even longer which was perfect for me I didn’t want to leave.

Café Marly
93 rue de Rivoli
+33 1 49 26 06 60

I love paris in the ... anytime

I loved Paris. It was everything I had expected and more. Everyone had told me how they loved Paris and how I would too and they were absolutely right. From the minute I got there I fell in love with the place. It definitely helped that we were staying in the most amazing apartment in Paris.

I came across this apartment years ago through the daughter of Nicole, the woman who owns it. I met her daughter here in Sydney and she told me about the apartment. I checked it out on the net and for years I have thought it would be excellent to go and stay in the apartment and now we have. There is something very special about this place and I’m not talking about it perfect location near Montmartre. There is a feeling about this place. I don’t know if it’s an aura or feng shui or what but it makes you feel good just being there. It might have something to do with the tree growing in the middle of the apartment or maybe it’s all the light from the glass wall. I don’t know but I do know that it made me fell good just being there. So thank you to Nicole for letting us stay there.

Again I did intend to cook in the apartment while we stayed for the week but apart from the typical French breakfasts we enjoyed in the courtyard every morning, I only cooked one day and that was the first day we arrived. We were shattered from getting up at 4:30 to catch a flight to Paris so I said I would cook instead of going out. J was happy with this suggestion as he had been carrying around a few food purchases I had made in Lucca a couple of weeks back. Thank god this man packs light as he usually ends up carrying as much of my stuff back as he does his own.

There was pasta, olive oil and some mushroom & truffle sauce. All I needed was some ham and mushrooms and I could whip up a great little Italian meal in minutes. Or so I thought. While J was sleeping on the couch I snuck out and did my first reconnaissance mission of the local area – in other words I checked out what food shops were close by. I found an excellent boulangerie and picked up my first of many baguettes. Further along I came across a little market which was perfect for picking up the essentials. Of course while I was perusing the cheese section, as you do, I noticed that they had Boursin for sale. While I was growing up there was an ad on TV for years for Boursin that used the slogan 'Du Pain, Du Vin, Du Boursin'. J loves this cheese and has been known to repeat this slogan many times. So while in France it had to be done. I had ‘du pain’ already so now all I needed was the Boursin and a bottle of ‘du vin’. Whoever thought up this slogan knew what they were talking about because there is nothing better for lunch then fresh crispy baguette smothered with Boursin and a glass of red wine.

Anyway, back to the dinner. Well, my one and only attempt at dinner during this holiday was a disaster. It didn’t help that we now had such high standards after many, many good meals out. I didn’t even take a picture of the finished meal because all it looked like was a big bowl of pasta. The problem was that in my enthusiasm to elevate J of some of my purchases I decided to use ALL of the pasta. Whata-a-mistaka-ta-maka. There was too much pasta and so the mushrooms and lardons got lost and the sauce did not flavour the pasta enough. Oh well, I made the effort, just not a very good effort. Thank god we had devoured Du Pain, Du Vin et Du Boursin earlier.

Dubrovnik continued

It’s got to be a good complaint when you are enjoying your holiday so much that you just can’t fit the time in to update your blog. We have just had the most amazing holiday. Now we’re back in Sydney and I have been reliving the holidays through the photos. Let me first finish off with Dubrovnik and then over the weekend I will give an update on the wonderful food we enjoyed in Paris.

Dubrovnik was the perfect place to chill out and take it easy – except every night when it was time to return home as we were living up the hill over the old town and had to walk up about 500 steps to get home. That’s one way to work off all that good food I suppose.

We found the restaurants were pretty good but were very expensive for what you were getting. I hear that the locals very rarely eat out in the old town themselves because of the prices. The two places that did really impress us were Lokanda Peskarija overlooking the old port and the old Benedictine monastery on Lokrum Island which is now a restaurant and café bar.

Lokanda had a great advantage in that it has the best views of the old port. We knew we were on to a good place when saw the queues that started to form every night. They have traditional Croatian singers that serenade the outdoor restaurant at different times during the night. The food here is simple seafood fare that is served up in big black heavy pots but it is excellent quality seafood and at a pretty good price so this got our vote as our favourite restaurant of the week. WE went there twice and enjoyed prawns, muscles, sardines and seafood risotto. With lots of local wine and some fresh bread. What more could you ask for?

As for our favourite drinking spot - thought it was the bar I mentioned in the last post but that was until we took a day trip over to Lokrum Island. It’s only about 10 minutes away from Dubrovnik by ferry but it feels like another world. We spent the day exploring this little island and swimming in the cold clear waters off its rocky shore. When we could take the sun no more (oh yes I remember that feeling so well as I sit here in the cold sunshine of Sydney) we headed back to where I saw a sign for drinks near were the ferry docks. As we rounded the hedge that concealed this little jewel we heard the excellent music of a local guitar player. The chairs were big comfy balinese chairs that were perfect for enjoying a cold beer while listening to the guitar player and watching the sun go down. I loved this bar and we could have stayed here all night if the last ferry hadn’t been leaving at 8:00pm.

Our little apartment was perfect for our week in Dubrovnik. I had all the best of intientions of cooking for us but except for breakfast I didn't spend any time in the kitchen. This felt very strange for me but I soon got used to it. don't you just love holidys.

A room with a view

We arrived in Dubrovnik and, as this is J's part of the holiday, absolutely nothing was organized. This is how we have learned to enjoy our holidays. We both have very different ideas of how to plan a holiday. Mine is to research and book everything well in advance. J's is to turn up and see what happens. So now what we do is book part and just leave the rest in the laps of the gods. I always get a bit nervous when I don't know what's going to happen but it always works out very for the best so I have now learned to trust J.

We arrived in the afternoon and J left me having a drink in the city while he ran around getting us a place to stay. There was talk of getting a room in the old city but since we both want to relax and chill out this weekend we have decided to get an apartment up in the hills.

We are definitely going to get fit walking up and down to this place but the view is to die for. The balcony is massive and it looks out over the whole city. Last night we cracked open a bottle of Champagne and watched the sunset before heading down to the city for dinner. It's a tough life on holidays. We have done a lot of sleeping, reading and relaxing over the last couple of days here but today we plan to do some exploring. Of course when we get tired exploring up and down the narrow streets in Dubrovnik we will be heading straight to our favorite find so far, The Buza Bar. The top photo is the view from the bar on our first day here. It's a little bar on the rocks with a beautiful view of the sea. You can find it by following the wall on the sea side of the city until you see a sign that says "Cold Drinks" and points to a hole in the wall. When you go through the wall you are straight into this great little bar. It's making me thirsty just thinking about it now

When in Rome

Due to our detour to Cinque Terre we only had a whistle stop tour of Rome. We arrived at 5:00pm and all the major attractions were closing up for the day. That didn't stop us though. We were determined to see all the major historic sights. We spent about three ours walking the feet off ourselves.
Just as we decided we had enough of the walking and it was time for a beer we bumped into a friend who had also been at the wedding in Tuscany. It really is a small world. M had been wondering the streets himself in search of a good spot for a rest so we joined forces and J ordered one of the largest beers I have ever seen. All that walking works up a thirst you know.

We found a great little restaurant off the tourist track. It seemed to be all locals eating there which suited us just fine. We tucked into plates of delicious spaghetti. I have loved the pizza and pasta in Italy but now I have had my fill and I am ready for some fresh fish and delicious meat in Dubrovnik. What I will miss is my daily fix of gellato.

Cinque Terre

After the wedding we changed our plans and instead of heading straight to Rome we drove to Cinque Terre with some of our friends. These five villages are so pretty perched on the edge of the cliffs. We now know what all five villages look like because we did the walk from Riomaggiore to Vernazza. It took us about 3 hours but it was he best way to check out all the cliff top views.


When we did arrive at Vernazza all hot and dirty from the walk the first thing we had to do was jump in the crystal clear water. The water here is lovely and cold and refreshing. We dried off and headed straight up to the tippy top of the cliff to a restaurant that served cold beer and seafood to die for. What more could you ask for.

Unfortunately I can't remember the name of the restaurant but it was up beside the castle on the cliff top. We tucked into some seafood anti-pasta that tasted like it was straight from the sea. Marinated squid, king fish and anchovies. I always thought of anchovies as those little hairy things on pizzas but since coming to Italy I have a new appreciation for the lemon marinated version that seems to melt in your mouth.

For mains we had a seafood risotto that I am putting up there with one of the best Risottos I have ever had. Moist with a bite to the rice and the most delicious seafood flavour. It also helped that there we so many jewels of the sea throughout. Benissimo !!!

The wedding

The wedding was the most magical day you could imagine. The bride looked magnificent (the groom scrubbed up well too), the venue was like no place I have been before. It was called Villa Grabau. It was a beautiful Villa that was steeped in history. The gardens, where the ceremony was held, were perfectly manicured and no doubt all the women aerated the grass with their high heels. After the drinks these massive doors were opened up to reveal the most amazing 'living' room I have ever seen. There were hanging plants coming down from the high ceiling. Below these plants were set-up tables for the guests to enjoy the wedding dinner. The dinner, like all the food we have enjoyed in Italy, was excellent. As were the many bottles of wine that were enjoyed.

After the dinner the lights were dimmed and disco lights started up so that we could dance the night away and work off all that good Italian food. The DJ was great and played all the old favorites that we all knew.

The day was really wonderful and I am so glad that two of my closest friends are now married. As the groom so elegantly put it at the start of his speech ˝hands up who thought they would never see the day˝

Villa Grabau
Via di Matraia,269
55010 San Pancrazio
Lucca
Italy

+39 0583 406098

Villa Volpi

Well here we are in the magnificant Tuscany. This is the Villa we are staying in. It's called Villa Volpi and I booked it on the internet. I am so glad I did as this place is perfect. It is everything I imagined it would be. The internet is wonderful for organising holidays but there have been some occasions where they have been a bit generous/creative with the publicity photos and when you arrive there they are not so good. That is definitly not the case with this place. It is so beauiful. There is a view of the Tuscan hills from every window. On the night we arrived we checked in late and so missed dinner. We just ordered a bottle of the wine which is made from grapes actually grown here. We enjoyed the local wine at the table outside while looking out over the twinkling lights of Lucca.

Yesterday, after breakfast al fresco, we had a lazy morning at the pool with our friends from Australia who are also staying here. We are all going to a wedding today so in the afternoon we went to another Villa to visit the potential Bride & Groom to see if we could make them any more nervous then they already were. Turns out they were not nervous at all and were enjoying some poolside fun themselves with both their families and friends. In the evening we headed into Lucca for a look around and our first taste of Italian Pizza. It gets the thumbs up from me, as does the gellato cone we enjoyed while watching all the beautiful people walking and cycling by. I have never seen such well dressed cyclists. It puts the gear I wear while cycling into work to shame.

I am loving Italy so far and I know it will only get better as we have the wedding to enjoy this evening.

Hotel Villa Volpi,
Via di Gugliano, 47,
55029 Mastiano (LU) - ITALY

A stylish lunch

Even though my Mum is probably the best cook I know there has been little or no cooking done at home bar the massive fry-up on the first day. There are so many good places to eat out in that we have been eager to try to all out. No doubt if I had longer at home Mum and I would have enjoyed cooking up something special in the kitchen. But this visit home has been all about dining out.

Dad wanted to take us out to the Radisson in Dublin. This hotel is very close to where my parent live and they like to pop in for lunch as a treat. They have the most beautifully kept gardens. Everything was looking vibrant and lush from the daily dowsing of rain they get. Well there has to be some silver lining to all the rain in Ireland.

Apparently my parents are not too familiar with all the different dishes on the lunch menu as they always order the same thing - the trio of fish. Smoked salmon, king prawns and crab claws and yes, you guessed it, brown bread. We finished off this lunch with some apple tart and ice cream. We enjoyed this lunch in the conservatory and were able to watch four season go by in the space of a couple of hours. You have to love Irish weather and the preoccupation that Irish people have with talking about it.

I did manage to squeeze in a one day visit with my other sister in Wicklow as we had a cross-over between her flying in from France and me flying off to Italy. Such a jet setting family.

We're no Morans

Mum and I drove over to Limerick to visit my sister and check out her new hotel which is doing very well. We had a lovely lunch there and the following day the three of us headed off to Galway to enjoy some girlie pampering at the Spirit one spa in the Radisson.

On our way to Galway we had to stop off at Morans Oyster Cottage in Kilcolgan because my sister raves about the food at this place

I have to say my sister was absolutly right. The food was fantastic. I had the garlic mussels to start and the seafood platter as the main. One of the things I really enjoy about dining out in Ireland is the amazing quality of the seafood. This platter was wonderful and I really enjoyed being able to tuck in to an endless supply of brown soda bread. I will never understand why they serve this bread only in Ireland. It is the best bread availaible and I have to say on this trip home I have eaten it constantly. My family know how much I miss it so they always stock up when they know I'm coming for a visit. And for that I am very grateful.

The spirit one spa is absolutly wonderful and the thermal beds were so relaxing. For anyone who visits Galway ans is suffering from a lack of sunshine you have to try out their beach room. It was so relaxing. Warm sand, the sound of waves lapping up and a day of sun reflected on the ceiling. I really felt like I was on a beach. That was until my Mum said "no flies on this beach" and nearly scared me out of my skin as I had been in a relaxing trance.

I love getting to spend some time with my family and this little girlie trip away was just what the doctor ordered - for all of us.

A welcome home

I had the loveliest welcome home dinner with my parents at l’Ecrivain. I have heard Mum & Dad talk about all the celebratory meals they have enjoyed here so when Mum told me we were going I was very excited.

From the minute we walked in and ordered a pre-dinner drink the entertainment began. All the lovely people started to arrive and the fashion was something to behold. Dad was finding it hard to have a conversation with Mum and I as our eyes were constantly following the next fancy outfit to walk past.

We had the most fantastic meal starting with a Foie Gras entrée that was only divine. The presentation was beautiful but unfortunately the lighting was more on the mood lighting side so I couldn’t take a photo that would do it justice. Our main course was a very luxurious lobster. All the hard work had already been done for us as the succulent meat was already removed from the shell and placed on the plate under the lobster’s head. It was a very extravagant meal and there were constant mmmm’s as we ate and drank.

At the end of the meal while we were having our coffees we were presented with a plate of chocolate truffles and a lovely welcome back message. Apparently my Dad had requested a special table for us and had told the staff we were celebrating my brief return home. Aren’t Dad’s great?

I am so fortunate to have a family that enjoys food as much as I do. In general when we are together we organise our time around food. What better way to enjoy yourself?

L’Ecrivain
109a Lower Baggot St,
Dublin 2
+ 353 1 6611919

Can someone pass the cholesterol

We made it home in one piece. The 24 hour journey was made all the better by the fact that we were both able to sleep for so much of it. The only real mishap was when me tongue and lips stuck to the ice cream they gave us. There should be a warning on those things. I couldn’t even let J know what was going on, as I couldn’t talk. I did some heavy breathing and it did eventually release my mouth.

It is so wonderful to be back in Ireland. It’s been over two years since my last visit and, much as I love Sydney, I do miss Dublin. Everything looks so green and lush at the moment because there has been plenty of rain in the last few weeks. The gods have been good to me though and we’ve had nothing but sunshine since I arrived.

Mum and Dad were out at the airport with the welcome home banner, which was lovely. The first thing we all did when we got home was have a cup of tea. This has been followed by many “anyone want a cup of tea?” questions since. I had put in my order for the meal I miss the most so that Mum could get all the perfect ingredients. This meal is no gastronomic complexity it is a plain and simple fry-up. There has to be the Clonakility black and white pudding, the Superquin sausages and the brown bread (and a pot of tea of course). Mum was very good and let me snap a photo before she served it up. And just so you know that’s not a single serving in the photo, it is the family serving. Delicious, now someone call the heart doctor.

We're Off

There hasn’t been much mention of food on here recently because we have been gearing up for our holidays. We are off to Europe for five glorious weeks.

I have a week in Ireland with the family


Then we have a wedding in Tuscany


Followed by a week in Croatia


Finishing with a wonderful week in Paris

This is the holiday I have been dreaming about for years and at last it is only one more sleep away.

I’m not sure what kind of access I will have to the blog but I will do my best to update here and there as we travel around.

Slán, arrivederci, do videnja et au revoir