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.

One day free

Today we woke up nice and early, full of organisation. We're heading off to Canada for a short skiing holiday and the adrenalin is already flowing. We are just organising the last minute details of the packing when I noticed that there is a missed call on my mobile phone. It’s the airline to say that our flight has been cancelled. We are both so disappointed. All of a sudden we’re not going anywhere for another 24 hours. Should we go into work – No way!

I am, by nature, an extremely organised person, so to be given a gift of a free day with absolutely nothing organised is a rare pleasure. After many, many phone calls this morning reorganising our plans, J and I headed, with the dog, to the local park for some sunshine, a sambo and a chance to register that we weren’t going on holidays for another day. We came back and the hassle of the morning had worn us out so we both ended up napping in the afternoon sunlight on the couch in the lounge. No greater pleasure than napping in the afternoon.

Today is the 29th Feb and so it is already an extra day in the year but today was our very own extra little day. Two wonderful things happened today. One was that when J and I were out walking the dog he showed me a park right beside our house that he has known about for months. We did talk about this park when he discovered it but I think I was distracted and so didn’t comprehend how convenient it actually is. Since I am the person who walks Teddy every morning it is so wonderful to find a park so close to our house where you can let the dog off lease. I am very happy about this find.

But much more important then finding a new park was having a meal with my favourite chef. Art has been staying with us recently on and off while they spend some time in Sydney. They were going to mind lil Teddy for us while we are off skiing but since we didn’t leave Sydney today we were able to gatecrash his dinner with a friend tonight. While clearing out the freezer before going on holidays I came across a frozen bag of some unidentifiable black food. I phoned Art and asked had he left anything in the freezer and he informed me that they had brought some Abalone back from Tasmania. Tonight was the night to enjoy the abalone with their good friend. All of a sudden two more guests would be joining. Being the excellent chef that Art is, he just added a few more veggies and a little more wine to the sauce and hey presto the meal would stretch to 5 people. There is nothing I enjoy more then having dinner cooked by Art and so today really was a treat for us.

Of course a certain little dog has come to learn that when the suitcases come out it means he will be left behind and so he has been in a little bit of a sulk today but it is very cute to watch my little puppy trying to sulk while still wanting to be involved in everything.