Saturday, June 26, 2010

Yarra Valley (again)

I think the yarra valley is practically our home away from home. We've been there a number of times. It's so close to Melbourne, but you feel so far away. We're even getting to appreciate the wine, despite the huge difference between them and the big SA wines that we're used to.

My sister, Megs, and her friend, Lauren, were visiting for a long weekend recently so for Queen's birthday Monday, we thought we'd take them up for a wine tour. And we knew that it's not a trip to the Yarra without Ali and Carter, so we organised to meet them up their with baby Jenson.

The first winery on our list was Helen's Hill. The guy who served us was really lovely and hung over, which somehow made him even more likeable. They had a fantastic french oak fermented Sauvignon blanc, which had such a different flavour to the Crisp grassy New Zealand sav blancs that I'm used to. A great start to the day.

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The next winery was Bianchet, which had a couple of Italian varietals that I'd never heard of before; one of which I ended up buying - a Verduzzo. To be honest, I can't remember exactly what it tasted like, but the bottle tells me nougat. I guess I'll find out sooner or later how accurate that is. Haha!

Next stop was lunch and beer tasting at the Coldstream brewery. The food, beer and cider here was great, but the service was lacking. They were either seriously understaffed or very lazy. I think it was the former.

We bought this tasting sample of beer, my favourite of which was the Naked Ale. The porter was just a bit too heavy for me and the chocolate ale wasn't my thing. The cider and the pilsner were both very good.
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Beef and Winter Ale Pie
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Twice Cooked Lamb
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Jenson had loads of fun in his high chair with his new toy, the toothbrush, and was very tolerant of the paparazzi. He only threw the toothbrush at me once and I'm sure that was just a miscalculation.
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After lunch, we continued on the winery tour, the next stop of which was at Yering Farm. The labels for Yering Farm are very cute and have cartoon farm animals on them. You should check them out. As with most wineries, the view from the cellar door is lovely.
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The fourth was Yarrawood, which again had a lovely view and a great tree. My cellar and visa bill tells me I liked the wine here. I bought two very reasonably priced Rose's for $15 each, a delicious, liquid gold tokay, a verdelho and a cab sav.
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This is where we parted ways from Ali and Carter who had to get baby Jenson back home but not before I got some family snaps.
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And they got one of us...
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The final winery on our list was De Bortoli. I wasn't sure what to expect from this. Sometimes the biggest labels don't have the best cellar doors. But there's was good. They did a cheese platter that you could match to the wines. The cheeses were delicious and the wines were great. I fell in love with their bubbles and bought 3 bottles of fruity sparkling shiraz and one sparkling white.

This winery also had a great tree in a courtyard.
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The sun was setting as we left the Yarra Valley after a rather expensive, but fun day.
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New Family Photos

It's been a while since I've posted any pics of the puppies, so here they are. You'll have to excuse the photos of me. It's a weekend, I was make up free and half asleep, but Paul has said that since I've posted so many unflattering photos of him, it's only fair that I share the load.

Sleeping on the couch is what puppies do best!
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Myf can't figure out why Morgan has to be the focus of all the photos.
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Friday, June 18, 2010

30 days to change my life

I was reading a Marie Claire recently and there was an article about how you can make a small change to the way you do things over 30 days and it could have a lasting impact on your life. One woman called her Mum every day and it improved their relationship. Another woman decided to eat every meal off a plate (rather than on the go out of a take away container) and it gave her extra time to communicate and bond with her fiance.

This got me thinking about something that I could do to improve my life. I want to set myself a challenge to eat my evening meal at the dining table (or restaurant table if I'm out) every day for 30 days. Paul and I do this sometimes and I really enjoy it when we do, but too often we get slack and sit on the couch and watch tv or a movie and don't really interact with each other.

Although I don't think this will have a lasting impact on the quality of my life, I think I will enjoy the extra time spent with my husband and also the chance to appreciate and savour the food I spend all that time cooking.

My 30 days starts tomorrow 19th June and will end 18th July.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Me and My Pregnant Friends

After this weekend, you could easily be mistaken in thinking all of my friends are pregnant.

Yesterday, I was meeting up with the girls from my last job for lunch. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, only one other girl could make it to lunch; my 7 month pregnant Dutch friend, Marleen. We met at a vegetarian cafe in St Kilda, Soulmama. I don't know if that sets off alarm bells for any of my readers - two women, one of whom is pregnant, eating at a vegetarian cafe... We were mistaken for a couple. Haha!

It was a great afternoon though. The food was pretty good and it was definitely value for money. But more importantly, it was great to spend time with Marleen. We haven't really spent much time alone together so it was great to chat one on one.

Today, I went out with another 7 month pregnant friend, Stefania. It was lovely to see her again. We always have fun when we go out together. We have many interests in common and she's great to chat to.

We saw Rasta Thomas' Rock the Ballet at the Arts Centre. It was a modern ballet performance set to rock music. Because the songs were iconic, the dance was based around the music and lyrics, where usually in contemporary dance, the music complements the dancing, but doesn't overpower it. Normally that would make me think of video clip style dancing, but it was sooo much better than that. The dancers were graceful and athletic at the same time. The choreography itself was a mixture of classical ballet and contemporary styles with some jazz and hip hop thrown in for good measure. I think my favourite dance was the modern piece set to Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, with the Michael Jackson's Man in the Mirror piece a close second. They finished on a hilarious note with I'm Too Sexy - which drove many women in the audience crazy when they ripped their tops off. I have to admit that I wasn't to displeased with the result. ;)

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Why is this blog so empty???

I feel the need to explain my absence from this blog lately, but the truth is that I don't really know why I'm unable to make it on here. My excuse is that I sit in front of a computer all day and I don't really feel like sitting in front of a computer when I'm at home. But I know that is a cliche and I did sit in front of a computer at my last job. I think I just need to sort out my new lifestyle and try and work in old hobbies around it.

Another reason that this blog is so empty is because I haven't got any photos to put on here. I have taken the odd one or two, but my darling puppy decided that the camera cable was a tasty snack and has chewed through the usb plug. Clever puppy!!

Speaking of puppy, Morgan graduated from obedience training today. She can sit, wait, drop, come, go to her bed, walk on a lead and a few other things. She still has crazy puppy behaviour, though. Like last night when she chewed through the nose of one of her stuffed toys and pulled out a chunk of stuffing, so now the toy has to undergo some rhinoplasty before Morgan can play with it again. We've also had to barricade the bookcase because she's taken a liking to books. After 2 Agatha Christies, 2 cook books and the entertainment book we decided that something had to be done!

Both dogs are currently sleeping on the couch. Perhaps if they didn't chew through toys all night they wouldn't be tired all day!