Category: Food

Happy Ruby

/ Renae / 1 Comment
My parents celebrate their 40th Wedding Anniversary this year. The actual date is still 2 weeks away, but we were almost all in town (poor Hubs had to work 🙁 ) so we went out for a fancy-pants lunch yesterday at the Ocean View Estates Winery. It’s also the same place where one of my cousins is getting married next April, and where my dear friend got married back in 2007. The weather was absolutely stunning.

I didn’t realise Mum was mid-blink for this photo! But it’s still cute 🙂

This was taken during dessert – I ordered the chocolate fondant with Guinness ice cream and salted caramel. Oh boy. It was ridiculously decadent. I had ordered the crusted prawns for entree which were delicious and the crispy lamb ribs for main which was probably the best lamb I’ve ever had in my life. Oh man I want to try making that at home.

After dinner and a few beverages, Aunty Kate decided to join Chanbe on his rolls down the hill. It was rather gorgeous.

And although Uncle Kris didn’t partake in the rolly-poly, he was happy to do some spin-arounds.

And Grumpy was happy for a footrace down the hill, and a slow trek back to the top.

We decided to hire a mini van so we could all travel together. That is, so everyone who could drink, did drink, and I drove the booze bus home 🙂

It was such a wonderful day. The kids were absolute angels in the restaurant and made me very proud. The food was delicious and the ambiance and view were delightful.

Happy Anniversary Mum and Dad. Here’s to the next 40! 🙂

Electric Blue

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You know when you have a great night out, and on the way home you get treated to some awesome tunes to top off your night beautifully? That’s what happened to me this weekend. On Friday night I met my two dear friends from high school – yes, we’ve known each other over 20 years! – at the Alfred and Constance for dinner and lots of chats. It was a great night out and after catching the train from The Valley to Eagle Junction, I jumped into my car and cranked the tunes, hoping for the best.

I got a few gems including “More than Words” which is one of my most favourite songs and a great one to sing along to in the car. I was on a high when I got home, really feeling blessed that after 20 years of friendship, I can still depend on these lovely ladies in my life, and that is a great feeling.

And it happened again tonight. I met 2 of my dearest friends from uni, girls I’ve known for 15 years and have been a huge part of my life for that whole time. We went to a place called The Royal which is an Italian restaurant in Nundah. The food was so yummy and the company a delight. I hopped in the car and started cruising home. A few sing-along songs came on, but the one that finished off my night, and ended just as I turned the engine off when I pulled up, was Electric Blue, by Icehouse. This was one of the first albums I ever bought on record and it’s still sitting in my parents’ collection. I put it on sometimes when I’m visiting the house at Kelvin Grove. Good times.

So that’s 3 dinners with 6 of my most favourite women in just over a week! And there’s more to come this week too. This is incredibly therapeutic and I’m really enjoying such great quality time with the wonderful women in my life. Thanks ladies. I’m looking forward to more great times to come.

Happy Birthday Ma

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The main purpose of our visit this time around was Hubs’ Mum’s 60th birthday. Hubs and I took it upon ourselves to organise the “do” and it was so lovely to be planning such a lovely occasion and being surrounded by family is always wonderful.

We stayed at the family house in Wooloowin which was  vacant at the time, so it was a bit of a “camp out” which was fun! And a bit chilly in the mornings!

We came across my old violin that I had in primary school. (Did you know I played violin for 3 years? I then saw the light and switched to double bass. I never looked back, and I think everyone was grateful!) Hubs decided to pick it up and give it a crack, and I asked if he’d like me to teach him to play Happy Birthday for his Mum. He did as much practice as time permitted (not much) and Chanbe was happy to help him out with a few pointers too.

Saturday, the day of the party rolled around, and there was lots of preparation to be done for the 4 potjies we put on. Okay okay, Hubs put on! I was his Sous-Chef for the day and just did what I was told (within reason…) He was the master of ceremonies though, and did an amazing job keeping everything bubbling away.

He did 4 pots in total; 1 lamb, 1 beef cheek and ox tail, 1 beef brisket and 1 goat. I was rather skeptical about the goat but it was incredibly tasty!

This was the final product: 4 amazingly tasty dishes, each with its own flavours, served over polenta. Everyone raved about the meal and I was very proud of Hubs’ efforts – feeding 30 or so people is not easy!

We then took our places around the fires and kept toasty warm. It was a rather chilly evening, so I was so glad we had these. It also created a wonderful party ambiance. 

Ma made a lovely speech and Hubs said a few words too. It was so special for Ma to have her 4 kids and partners and all of her grandkids together.

Everyone had a lovely afternoon and evening and it certainly kicked off a great holiday for us!

Happy Birthday Ma! And here’s to the next 60! 🙂

Happy Birthday Hubs

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On Hubs’ birthday last year, we found ourselves at a cocktail party, drinking far too much and finding out our friend Sonia had decided to apply to go to Mount Isa in 2014, mainly because of all the extra financial incentives. Hubs and I told her she was crazy and that was that. Or so I thought. We then started joking about how funny it would be if we considered Mount Isa. Then we looked into it. Then Hubs applied. And the rest, as they say, was a disaster… ha ha. I mean history… We still joke about that night with Sonia and now that we have made it halfway through, we are feeling like we have achieved something that we found quite challenging at the beginning.

So what does this all have to do with Hubs’ birthday? Well, since his birthday falls in the middle of the year, and since we move every year, we have usually established some new friends who make up the guests at Hubs’ birthday gathering. And as I looked around at the 10 adults and 5 kids that made up our little group, I couldn’t help but feel very blessed that even though we haven’t had the best of years, we have still managed to befriend some wonderful people who were excited to be a part of the celebrations.
Although Hubs had to work the night shift that night, he still had a lovely time and I know he appreciated our new friends making the effort on a Monday night. Chanbe had already told me that we had to make a green dinosaur cake for Dadda, so I had to oblige. Certainly not one of my most skillful efforts, but with Chanbe decorating with the smarties, it turned out pretty cute. And it was this recipe which is my current chocolate cake go-to. So delicious!
Just happy.

Happy birthday Hubs. It’s been an interesting year, that’s for sure. I love how you still say and do things that surprise me and keep me guessing. You are such a good egg and I love that so many people get to find that out for themselves. You show them the real you and that’s who they get to know and love, just as I have and continue to do. 

The Wedding and the Good Breakfast

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And what a lovely wedding it was. Since becoming a marriage celebrant, I pay much closer attention to the ceremony at a wedding. This wedding was in an Anglican Church, and I must say I was very impressed with the Priest who conducted the ceremony. He made it personal by sharing a little something about his marriage; he made a timely, appropriate joke to calm the nerves a little; and I felt he really engaged with the audience with his friendly manner. He also partook in gelati with the wedding guests in the church car park afterwards! I’m not sure I could take any pointers as such, but I hope that when I am officiating at ceremonies, I am as relaxed and engaging as he was. And if not yet, then it’s certainly something to aspire to.

Here’s a photo of Hubs and I walking to the reception. Yes, he looked rather lovely too!

Hubs and I stayed at South Brisbane for 2 nights (Friday and Saturday night) and had this rather nice view from our balcony:

On Saturday morning, we went searching for a good old fashioned brunch. We checked out the menus for pretty much all of the places along Little Stanley St at Southbank, and when Hubs saw Brioche on the menu, he wanted it, and he wanted it bad. And bad it was. Actually, Hubs’ Brioche French toast wasn’t too awful, but my “Mediterranean Breakfast” was. I left half of it on the plate, and if you know me and how much I LOVE breakfast food, you know that’s a big deal. The poached eggs were not only completely cooked through, but hard and dry, the haloumi was like rubber and the toast was completely soggy. I gave them the constructive feedback, and in hindsight I should have said I didn’t want to pay for it. Has anyone ever done that??? I wouldn’t know how??

I know I seem to be complaining about food a lot lately, but I just get disappointed when we’re paying good money for bad food. Especially when Hubs makes me amazing breakfasts at home for me often.

So when we woke up this morning, we decided we needed a good brekky to make up for it. And it happened. We ended up at Paddington at a lovely place called Anouk. The service was friendly and speedy, the coffee was hot and strong and the food… aaaaaah the food. Hubs ordered the spicy creamy mushrooms with cheesy toast…

… and I ordered their simple and delicious version of Eggs Benedict:

We also ordered a fruit “shake” to share. Everything was top notch and I made sure I told them at the end. I would recommend this place and cannot wait to get back there.

A lovely Mothers Day brekky for me 🙂

The first of many

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We had our first “dinner party” in Mount Isa last night, with 5 doctors in attendance. I was a little nervous to be honest, as I hadn’t even met 2 of them, but I had a pretty solid 3 course meal planned, and as long as there’s wine, it’s always a success! I served bite-size tomato, bococini, basil layer thingies that Hubs and I are kind of hooked on at the moment. It’s such a fresh, light, tasty little something to have on the side or before a meal. I then served beef cheek stew which is Hubs’ favourite. It slow cooked in the oven in my chasseur for 6 hours! It was only supposed to be 5 but the kids took a while to go to sleep. I think the extra hour made it even better though 🙂

And of course for dessert, Hubs’ other favourite, chocolate mousse. The food was a real hit (yay!) and the company was just lovely. And the best thing? We mostly talked about everything other than medicine!!! I sometimes don’t really look forward to the conversation at these dinners, as I have very little to contribute to the conversation. Hubs always makes an effort to not talk shop too much, but it’s hard when you don’t have much in common with other people other than your work. But the people who came over last night were very interesting and it wasn’t hard to keep the conversation away from rashes and cannulas.

Unfortunately this morning, as I was getting dressed, I put my neck/shoulder out quite badly and couldn’t actually move. I’m so glad Hubs hadn’t left for work, and he was able to stay home and look after the kids. I was in quite a bad way this morning, but after some pretty strong pain killers, and lots of rest, I’m not too bad this evening. And I’m really hoping it settles down a lot overnight. It hasn’t been this bad in such a long time, but it’s been niggling all week, so it was only a matter of time before it snapped. Fingers crossed for a speedy recovery!!

Making Pierogi

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A few months ago, my lovely cousin asked me for my recipe for pierogi, as she wanted to try her hand at it sometime. I suggested that when I was in town the following month (October), that maybe we could make it together. Actually, I said “LET’S MAKE THIS HAPPEN” in no uncertain terms. So we did. And it was awesome. And so was the pierogi 🙂

Getting pretty close to how Nanny used to make it! A few more tries should do it 🙂

What’s going on?

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Even though we don’t leave Townsville (moving to Ingham for 10 weeks for Hubs’ last placement as an intern) til Friday the 8th of November, the removalists are coming on Monday to put everything into storage, and we are moving in with our friends Haz, Maz, Jaz and Az (Haz and Maz are good friends of ours – Maz and Hubs are interns together – and Jaz and Az are their boys who are the same age as Chanbe and Quindy.) Got it? Confused?? Yeah, me too 🙂

But we are getting there! And my stress levels are surprisingly low, hence me feeling like I can spare 10 minutes to write a blog post! There’s still a lot to do, but I’m 100% sure it can be done in time for the moving van to arrive Monday morning. And the great thing is, Mum is still around looking after the kids, and Hubs has had most of this week off. He also has 3 days off next week so we can get the house ready for new renters to (hopefully) move in asap.

Quindy has been somewhat out of sorts (probably teething…)
But she’s still been providing us with lots of smiles and chats.

My poor little Chanbe. We keep selling the furniture while he’s in bed or out with Gran. He woke up the other morning and said to Hubs 
“Ummm Dadda, where’s the couch?” 
But he really is such a trooper, and not to provide TMI but the toilet training is going SO WELL. Woo!!!
There’s also been a fair bit of this:

Granted, not the best timing, but Hubs and Haz have been doing some serious male bonding over the kombi. And it makes Hubs happy, so whatareyougonnado?
Don’t you just LOVE the matchy-matchy jumpsuit and kombi!!

Oh, and there was also this:

 We all came into contact with a caterpillar cocoon that was in our friend’s pram. It was pretty nasty!

The kids were a bit upset initially, but even though the rash hang around all week, it didn’t seem to bother them at all (as you can see)!
 I still have a slight rash (this was taken last Sunday, after the incident on Saturday night) and it gets itchy when I get sweaty, but it’s getting better. We had NO idea what it was to start with, but then we found the cocoon. We’ll be checking from now on I think!

So yes, as well as moving, there have been the usual amount of goings-on. But like I said, my stress levels are way down on this time last year! Hubs and I took full advantage of Mum being here and went out for a delicious Japanese dinner last night. Just our luck. We’re about to leave town when we find an awesome place to eat! Can’t believe we’re already packing this house up. Where did the year go?

Oh well. On to the next adventure!!

A picnic for 2

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A couple of months ago, Hubs and I were given a bottle of Moet Champagne, and have since been looking for/trying to make an opportunity to share it in celebration of Hubs finishing his PhD. The time came on Friday night when Hubs and set off for a picnic on the banks of the Ross River. Mum is staying with us at the moment, so we headed off around 5:30pm and wished Mum all the best.

We found a lovely clearing about 10-15min bike ride from our house and set ourselves up.

We got there just in time to watch the very pretty sunset.
And I made sure I had packed real glasses, because real Champagne needs real glasses.

The view of Annandale across the river, and Mt Stuart to the right.

Hubs’ answer to “give me something special!”

I was getting worried that we had gotten there too late and that we were about to run out of sunlight. I looked in the other direction to find a full moon!!! 
(A bit hard to see here if you don’t know where you’re looking but it’s there!)

We had such a lovely time chatting and eating yummy things. And the Moet? Little bubbles of absolute bliss.

Our holiday in photos (and a few words…)

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We began our holidays at Rainbow Beach, in this apartment, with this view:

 There was “incy wincy” cake:

 and books to read:

and more beautiful views:

 Then there was Melbourne. And what does Melbourne mean? Melbourne means coffee:

Then there was Wang. And Wang meant catch ups;

meeting new friends:

more coffee;

and more coffee:

and good times at old places:

and more catch ups with old friends:

and more meeting new friends:

Remember these guys?

Then back to Melbourne for some underwater fun:

and more catch ups:

and of course, more (awesome Melbourne) coffee:

Lots of lovely times at the park:

And a few snoozles in the car:

 And so many cuddles with Big Brother;

 Nanna;

And Poppy.

And one of the best things of all; ice creams in the car after a long drive.

A truly amazing mix of complete relaxation, delightful catch-ups, crazy toddler getting cabin fever in the car, yummy coffees and not-as-bad-as-you-might-think Victorian weather. Hubs is on his way back to Townsville in our “new” car (we bought Mum and Dad’s land cruiser off them) and the kids and I are in Brisbane (Woody Pt) until the 11th of September. Might see you round 🙂