Quentin's Feast!

So, a couple of weeks ago we got creative and decided to have a small casual dinner with friends. As the planning started, I realised that I have a lot of favourite dishes that I wanted to refine, and others that I had never eaten but sounded good in the internal commentary that is my mind! So far from a casual dinner, we ended up with something quite different.

We ended up sitting down to seven courses (over a couple of hours) and drank a couple of really nice wines to go with the meal. One of the best parts for me was that we were eating a fairly formal meal in a formal setting, while in the background kids were running around with spaghetti bolognaise and having fun in the bath.

The meal we served is as follows:

Every meal starts with fresh bread!

Pulled pigs head with free range eggs and salsa verde.

‘Peposo Notturno’ with buttered spaetzle and cherry tomato.

Quail saltimbocca. Pumpkin polenta, asparagus and balsamic glaze.

Twice roasted duck. Sauteed potato and leek, caramelised orange and orange sauce.

Cheddar Napoleon. Cloth wrapped Pyengana cheddar, quince paste and honey roast walnuts.

Chocolate Mousse, caramel popcorn and minted raspberries.

Mint cloud, hot chocolate lining.

I made a brawn from the pigs head (a trotter in the poaching stock would have helped gelatinise the brawn), and let it set. I then cut it into cubes before crumbing and shallow frying it. It was very good, and the eggs were from our garden. They are truly free range chickens too. One in particular gets out into the park during the day, but comes back in to lay and roost. We can’t work out where she is getting out, but I am happy as long as she comes back!

The Peposo Notturno is out of Bill Bufords book ‘Heat’ and is intensely good in its peppery garlickness! It is very simple, and only has five ingredients – Beef shin, garlic, salt, pepper and red wine. The shin is boned out and trimmed, the garlic and pepper are cracked and stirred through the meat with salt. The meat is then covered with red wine before being covered and put in the oven (very low) until it becomes a thick, unctuous paste. I did it in the slow cooker on low, and it took almost 15 hours.

The duck was amazing, and had the most gloriously crispy skin. Jane left her skin, as she was too full (that, and we weren’t eating the duck peking style…), but left it on the plate as though there was still meat under it. In vain, I turned it over to see she had stripped every last piece of meat from the bone. When I roasted the duck initially, I rendered all the fat out. We know have a jar of glorious duck fat in the fridge that we use to sauté our potatoes in.

The Napoleon was probably my favourite dish of the night. The puff pastry worked (never a guarantee in this heat) and the honey, cheese and paste together were great. The mint cloud was good too, but Jane’s least favourite. Understandable, as she isn’t a marshmallow kind of girl. We made a peppermint marshmallow, and set it into a mould. Before we served it, I forced a hot chocolate ganache into the centre with a syringe. YUM!

Because I was at the table for each course, the guests didn’t think I would have been able to cook the food myself, and came up with an elaborate story for the “Fat Chef”, who was outside the kitchen, passing food in through the oven, which isn’t really an oven! I love the concept, and may well use the name (Fat Chef) if I ever have a catering business in the future!

In other news, MacK is crawling (everywhere) and has a fascination with cords. Curtain cords, power cords, shoelaces – he just loves them! Straight in the mouth! He has a heap of teeth, and seems to grow every day. He is eating well, and this week is having lamb, zuchinni, pumpkin, carrot, potato and spinach all cooked in chicken stock. He still only sleeps in 2 – 3 hour blocks, but we are sure (hoping) that will change at some point!

 Sun smart is a good thing!

I went to a buck's party with a viking theme. Before I went, the young bull enjoyed a thrash round the library alcove with the Saturday paper!

Best wishes to all for the festive season!

MacK gets christened

One of the reasons for the trip to Canberra was to christen MacK which we planned for 30 Oct. Dave Kennedy is MacK’s godfather, and he flew in from Sydney on the 29^th where he was able to join us for (early) Christmas with the family and an afternoon investigating some of the offerings of the cellar. It was a rather pleasant way to spend an afternoon.

 The boy getting ready with some fave tunes!

The next day we were up bright and early to get organised for MacK’s big day. We were doing a BBQ afterwards at Jane’s parents so had to organise the food and drinks for that too. MacK was incredibly good, and seemed to enjoy the attention he got from all who attended (must get that from his mother!).

 Melissa is MacK's Godmother (and a beautiful choice she is too!)

 Mum & Dad

 Melissa & David with their new charge

 Random shots from the church...

It was really lovely to be able to catch up with the Canberra/Sydney friends and family, and we would like to thank all who were so generous with gifts for MacK.

After another exceptionally busy “holiday” week, it was time to go back to Townsville. It is already hot and sticky up here, although I think we are starting to acclimatise (but don’t let on to anybody). It was so nice to be in Canberra, and be able to wear a jacket without leaching bucketloads of sweat!

Note: 1792

The other happening of note for the week was the 1792. A friend of Phyl’s sent a round of 1792 cheese from the Bruny Island Cheese Company in Tasmania. Apparently the courier just dropped it and ran. The aroma of the cheese was huge, and at first a little off-putting. The cheese itself was brilliant (when you climbed inside the smell) and I would wholeheartedly recommend getting hold of this or any other of the Bruny Island Cheese Company wares if you can. Nick Haddow is the cheesemaker, and you may have seen him on the Gourmet Farmer with Matthew Evans. They are making Australia’s only licensed commercial raw milk cheese.

Back to the Farm!

We hadn’t seen the farm since we bought it, so it was really good to have the opportunity to get up there and play. David and Phillip came with me with plans to pull out the internal fencing and play with some of the irrigation. We were just going to swag it on the ground until the neighbours caught wind and insisted that we stayed with them and joined them for a BBQ.

Leaving at 0600 was a bit of a shock for Phillip, but I think he coped. The pie and hot chocolate I bought him in Booroowa probably helped! On our way up we picked up some tools, and were ready to get stuck in when we arrived.

We did have plans to pull out the Star pickets by hand, but gladly took the offer of a front end loader to lighten the load. The land looks great, and seems to have plenty of life even without much recent rain.

We packed a trailer of rubbish for the tip and headed into Canowindra for a counter lunch. The town has a population of 2200 people, and has three pubs. We particularly enjoyed the hospitality at the Royal, where we were able to buy schooners of Bulmers Cider and VB with gold coin change from ten dollar notes. Have to love the country! 

 This is the view from what will be our back door. Grapes in the foreground, running away to olives in the distance.

 The view from the house block

 And again...

 And again!

 This time the grapes run to figs!

 Friendly neighbours!

Sunset- the next door guardian!

We stayed with neighbours, and greatly enjoyed the wines they make. It would be awful to live next to a winemaker if you didn’t like the product they made. I can assure you there are no problems with our situation! They also have fabulous olives and do good things with figs. It is going to be SO hard to live here…..

Jane and MacK came up the next day to have another look, and we stepped out a basic plan for the house block. I had thought the house block was a lot steeper than it is, so it did change my perspective a little. I was able to spend a couple of days fencing, mowing and generally just being on the property. Now I just can’t wait until the stars align, and we can get there for good!

Rugby World Cup - Here we come!!!

Way back when, Tyson came up with a brilliant idea to take Dad to the 3 vs 4 playoff for the Rugby World Cup in Auckland. He bought four tickets, and He and Maddie, Dad and I flew to Auckland to watch the game. It was a celebration for his 70^th birthday, and a great surprise for him. Prior to getting away, I had a few minor things to deal with – such as getting a passport! I hadn’t had one for a couple of years as travel hasn’t been that high on my agenda. We also had MacK’s christening planned for the following weekend in Canberra so had to work around that too.

I flew to Brisbane on the afternoon of Thursday 20 Oct, and stayed with Mark and Tiff in North Lakes. Dad was right in the holiday spirit, and was acquainting himself with a bottle of Canadian Club to great success. Tyson came in from out west late at night, and we ended up getting to bed at about 0100. We had to be up at 0500 to make sure we could catch flights, and Dad was up and about by about 0430. He should have been poorly, but if he was, he didn’t show it.

I had forgotten how long the queues can be at international airports, and Brisbane was no exception. We eventually got through customs and made our way to the gate. We flew Emirates and had a new 777. There was plenty of space, and each seat has an entertainment suite with more than 120 movies, games and TV shows. Brilliant. We had a three course breakfast, and a couple of breakfast Budweisers.

 Dad trying to blend in with the locals on our way in to Auckland

The welcome at Auckland Airport

New Zealand was interesting. I hadn’t been back since 2003, and I couldn’t get over just how green the place is. Most of the homes had silver fern/All Black flags flying, and everybody was dressed in black. The bus driver taking us into town stopped by the side of the highway, telling us he would be back in a couple of minutes. He disappeared for about 15 minutes into the ether, either attending to the needs of his stomach or a call of nature! We stayed in Fort Street in downtown Auckland, in what used to be the red light area (shows how long it is since I travelled to NZ). The whole area has been gentrified, and looks rather posh these days. The strip clubs are still there, but these days are interspersed with fancy cafes and designer shops. I did think that the Velvet Burger might have been a quirky name for a strip joint, but it actually is a burger restaurant – and a very good one too!

I bought MacK a buzzy-bee, and we sampled a couple of Lion Reds for old time’s sake. I tell you, some things should be left in the past!!! We went to the game, played between Wales and Australia and Dad had a great time at Eden Park. The atmosphere was magic, and it was really quite funny to see Quade Cooper being booed every time he touched the ball. We were lucky enough to catch a nearly empty bus back to the city after the game so we could continue our celebrations with a minimum absence.

 Ready for the big game!

 Dad at Eden Park. Great seats!

 Dad and his boys

 The Welsh team warm up

 The view from our seats

I was amazed though – I was at an ATM when I was approached by a bloke who asked me if I used to play rugby for Te Kawau (Palmerston North). It turned out this was Rodney Field, who I played rugby with and last saw in 1990. Quite incredible. It just goes to show how small a place New Zealand really is. Later that night, we were in a pub when Matt Pedersen, who I did stage work in Palmerston North with up until 2000 spotted me. Huge coincidence, and good to catch up.

The morning after, I caught up with Tonya, another long term friend (was about to say old friend, but that is a touchy subject these days!) for breakfast. Tonya teaches hospitality these days, so it was probably a bit tough on the restaurant staff to have the two of us as customers! Really good to catch up though.

 Two old hookers...

 Dad and the Faiinga Twins

Dad, Maddie and Tys flew back to Brisbane, and I went direct to Sydney to meet up with Jane and the boy in Canberra. It was a good fun trip, but not long enough. Next time I will definitely take Jane over to show her where I grew up!

 And on grand final night, ready to support the mighty Blacks

Thumbs up for the Blacks!!! (even if they did give us all a heart attack!)

The boy crawls...

Since returning from our wonderful holiday to Mission Beach, we have both been ridiculously busy. It isn’t an excuse for not blogging, but a statement of fact. I have had to get a submission ready for uni – the case study was only 2500 words, but the appendices to back it up were a further 8000… Jane has also gone back to work for a couple of days each week, so has had the added fatigue of that.

I think we are back into a state of normality now, and MacK has definitely settled into his couple of days in care each week. He is such a social kid, and has always loved company from wherever he can get it from. The first afternoon I went in to pick him up, he turned and looked at me, and gave me a smile that would melt the frostiest of hearts, and then promptly turned back to what he was doing. I think the message was clearly that he was enjoying what he was doing, and that he would get back to me when he was ready!

Naturally we have also spent a little time in front of the idiot box over the past weeks, watching the glorious Rugby World Cup. Whilst Jane isn’t quite so happy that the Wallabies couldn’t sneak past the All Blacks last week, she knows that the AB’s were simply awesome! Now we just have to trust in the lads to take it one step further and lift the cup again. The stadium of 4.5 million will expect nothing less!

October is also a month for birthdays for my family. Camille is first, followed by Dad, Mum and finally Summer. They were very special days this year for Mum & Dad, celebrating their 60^th and 70^th birthdays (respectively). For words that mean as much as anything I could say, see Jacinda’s blog at http://pembrokerd.blogspot.com. Seriously, they are two of the hardest working, most loving people I know, and I am both humbled by the example they set, and proud to have had them influence my life. We weren’t able to be there for either day, but sent all our love and look forward to the day when we are a little closer to all our families.

We have still got one birthday present for Dad though- Tyson, Maddie and I are taking Dad to Auckland on Friday night to watch the Wales vs Australia match. It is only an overnight trip, but will be great fun. I think we get in to Auckland in time to check in and head to Eden Park via a pub or two, and fly out after breakfast!

I will then fly straight to Canberra, where we are spending a week before we are legitimising MacK by dunking him… We will also spend a couple of days on the farm pulling out some old fences, so will have lots of photographs of where we will put down our roots!

Back to the title- Very exciting. MacK can now make his way across the room unaided. It is more of an Army leopard crawl at this stage, but he will be off and running before we know where we are. We look at him in wonder, and see fresh milestones each day. He is a bit of a food snob though- He hates farex, and didn’t much care for plain veges either. We make a really flavourful chicken stock, and do all his veges in that! Still, with parents like us, who can blame him???

See below for a range of latest photographs of MacK - 

I am very good at reading the paper... Daddy doesn't like it so much when I try to eat it though...

Someone has to stand sentry while those two old buggers are sleeping!!!

Me and my Dad on our first father's day! I gave him lots of hugs!

I have got the coolest transformers couch and sleeping bag!

 My very first swing. Not too sure about it all, so lucky Mummy was with me!

Every now and then you get a chance to dress up in the tropics. This one was for my work Ball. Jane didn't come, as we were going out the following night also to the Defence charity ball, and we didn't want to have a babysitter for MacK for two nights running. The photo below is of Jane and I at the Townsville Entertainment and Convention Centre for the charity ball. Isn't she beautiful?

GO THE ALL BLACKS!

These are my first two teeth. Since this photo was taken, I have another three, all on the top!

I do like my veges! Shame Dad isn't too crash hot on the spoon in mouth kind of thing!

 As much as I like my veges, I don't mind getting a sniff of Dad's beer when I can manage it either. Shame he won't let me dive in, but then somebody has to be responsible around here!!!!!