Another winery tour

April 22, 2010 / Renae / Leave a comment

Our friend Nate came down a few weeks ago (okay, over a month ago!) and we hired a car and set off for the Mornington Peninsula wineries! We had arranged to stay with Hubs’ Dad down at Sorrento Saturday night, and we’d been recommended quite a few wineries to visit! The first one we came across was Hickinbotham of Dromana. Silly name, good wine. I was designate driver (as usual!) so I didn’t really try the wines here.

Nate really liked the Pinot Noir, but he knew he was in Pinot territory, so he didn’t want to buy the first one he tried, so we moved on, empty handed. We then popped in to Dromana Valley Wines cos, you know, it was there, and we were there, but the wines weren’t so great, BUT we bought an $8 bottle of Pinot. We’ll see how that goes (haven’t tried it yet!)

The next winery was recommended to us – Ten Minutes by Tractor. We should have known what sort of place this would be (fancy-pants) going by the person who recommended it to us (fancy-pants). We had to pay for tastings ($5 per person, taken off the total if you make a purchase) which I’m not a huge fan of, but having said that, they really did provide a great service – were very informative and helpful. Again, I just had a little sip of Hubs’ tastings. These wines were gooooood.

Look how professional they are with their tastings!

We didn’t buy anything from here, but I think Nate may have. The wines were very nice but also quite pricey, so we just enjoyed the tasting.

Now I THINK the next place we stumbled upon was Mantons Creek Vineyard, and it was definitely one of our favourites! The place itself was absolutely gorgeous!

The service was personal and helpful and the wine? Oh my gosh. The Tempranillo was incredible. We were enjoying the tasting so much, and the gentleman who was serving us just mentioned off-hand that their duck, pear and rocket pizza goes very well with that wine. We were hungry, we loved the place so we thought “why not?” And he was right. Oh so very right.

I LOVE when they match the food with the wine and this partnership was a success. We sat ourselves down on the veranda and watched a storm roll in. So I mentioned the Tempranillo. Now let me tell you about the Gewurztraminer. I can’t recall if I’d ever had that wine before, but Nate was super excited when he saw it on the tasting list. He’s been looking for a good Gewurzt for a long time. And he found it here. It is such a beautiful, smooth white wine – I was in love. We bought a couple of those and Nathan got himself a half-case and will no doubt be ordering more! We were sad to leave this winery, but ecstatic that we’d accidentally found it in the first place!

From here, it went downhill for a little bit. We headed to Red Hill Estate and they weren’t tasting they’re own wines that day – they had a “hurry hurry hurry all stock must go prices SLASHED for this weekend only!!” day. It had started raining by this stage, and as we were given our own little plastic shot glasses to help ourselves, and a list of 50 different wines, we knew we were in dodgy territory.

The faces the boys were pulling were hilarious! They certainly didn’t hold back! There were people everywhere, and we felt like we were in a cattle shed – noisy, a bit smelly, and chaotic! We didn’t stay long. It was now pouring with rain and our next stop was the Red Hill Brewery which my brother had told us to check out. Unfortunately by this stage, every man and his dog had tried to find somewhere to take cover, so we couldn’t even do a tasting. We could, however, buy a pot, so Hubs chose a stout which was really tasty!

And Nate got all fancy with the camera!

After this, we came across Montalto Vineyard and that was actually quite nice. They had basil-infused olive oil which was SO delicious (and which I’m SO going to try and make!) and the wines were lovely too.

The last winery for the day was Tucks, and we certainly ended with a goodie! I think I bought a Shiraz Rose from here that I’m looking forward to cracking open for a special occasion. Here we are at Tucks:

We met some people here who were, you guessed it, down from Brisbane for the weekend! Crazy right? AND they lived in the AUCHENFLOWER/TOOWONG area! Of course we played “who do you know” and came up with some common acquaintances. Small small world.

After this, we headed down to Sorrento for a night of roast lamb, excellent wine, great company, and a good night sleep. Ready for the next day’s adventures! To be continued….

Hot Cross Scones

April 1, 2010 / Renae / Leave a comment

I LOVE hot cross buns, and I’ve been so distracted by goodness-knows-what lately that I’d forgotten to buy some for Easter! So on Tuesday night at dinner when we were discussing these delectable delicacies, I decided I was too lazy to walk down to Woolies to buy some, (and too stingey), but I wasn’t too lazy to try and bake some! So when I got home, I looked for a recipe on line and they had yeast in them. No yeast in the cupboard. So I googled “yeast free hot cross bun recipe” and it came up with this one. Bingo!

Now I think I’m pretty handy in the kitchen, but really, I should stick to recipes at least when it’s the first time. I MAINLY stuck to this recipe, but the end result was not what I expected. I mixed all the ingredients like it told me to: (pardon the yellow tinge to the photos – no idea how to use Hubs’ camera…)

And then did some kneading:

Then cutting out with my cookie cutter that I’ve never used before!

Then I prepared my flour and water mixture for the crosses

Then they were ready to put in the oven! I was pretty excited by this stage!

Hmmmm…. these don’t look like hot cross buns. I wonder how they taste?

Very sconny indeed. Oh well. I tried. And I’ll take them down to Sorrento to share them around. They are quite lovely as scones I must say! Thankfully we had HCBs for morning tea at work the next day, so I didn’t miss out! And maybe Hubs’ Dad will have some for us in Sorrento! 🙂 3.5 hours to go before I’m on holidays! (yes, again…)

HAPPY EASTER!!!

Pierogi Party!

March 30, 2010 / Renae / 3 Comments

My Nanny has been making pierogi for a LONG time. Ever since I can remember, pierogi has been part of our family. We wouldn’t have it every weekend at Nanny’s, but certainly often enough for it to be a favourite. And I’ve only ever assisted Nanny with making it.

Until a couple of weekends ago.

A few girls at college, including Aleks from Poland, were keen for a pierogi party and they made it happen! I was SO excited, but very nervous. What if it was a disaster? What if I couldn’t cook pierogi? The pressure was intense!

We got together on the Saturday morning and with some tunes in the background, we got straight to work. We first mixed up the pasta dough and did a bit of kneading. Because we are non-discriminatory pierogi-makers, and there was a vegan amongst us, we made a few different types; the traditional pork, traditional spinach and feta, spinach and feta with rye dough, and spinach with rye dough (vegan).

Wifey making the dough

Getting ready for kneading (with the tongue poked out in concentration)

And then there’s the rolling!

The rye dough was coming along very nicely as well! It was much more difficult to roll but Aleks did a super job!

Then cutting out the circles:

And the fun part! Filling the little friggers! I made up a traditional pork filling, but in hindsight I should have used more flavouring (salt, pepper, garlic, onion). I’ll do that next time.

This part is actually quite tricky. You want to put in enough meat to not have an “empty pierogi” once it’s cooked, but not so much that you can’t seal it, and susequently have the filling fall out during cooking. Easy does it…

Success! They look like Nanny’s!

(Okay, so this wasn’t my first attempt – I think it was about number 6, but that’s not too bad!!)

We had quite a production line happening!

And the rye pierogi were looking fantastic also!

Next up, you boil them for about 10 minutes to cook the meat and pasta.

In the mean time, we were heating the butter in the pan ready for the final stage – frying! (Obviously we didn’t use butter for the vegan variety – oil worked well too).

This is my “oh-my-goodness-they-look-like-Nanny’s-pierogi” look!

It seemed to be a success! And now for the taste test!

Winners all round! They were SO GOOD. As I mentioned, the pork filling needed a bit more flavour, but the spinach and feta ones were just delish!

This was such a great day for me. I felt so good afterwards, knowing that this is something I can continue with my own family. It might take another 40 years, but maybe one day my pierogi will be as good as Nanny’s. Thanks Aleks, Alyssa and Chelsea (who didn’t make it into the photos cos she was too busy taking them!) for organising this. It really meant a lot to me and I had a GREAT time.

Mmmmmmm…… pierogi……

Spy vs Spy

March 29, 2010 / Renae / 2 Comments

We recently went up to Bribane for my good friend Ah-del’s 30th and she had a spy party! Hubs and I threw around a few ideas for costumes including a “Get Smart” combo and “Mr and Mrs Smith” and then Hubs suggested “Spy vs Spy”. (Actually, he wanted to dress up with our friend Nate, but I had a little tanty and got my own way! Ha!) Of course, not being a nerd myself, I had to ask what it was, and after reading into it and looking at some pictures, I decided it would be a fun project to undertake!

Cos, you know, when we visit Brisbane we always have plenty of time to kill…

So I got to work and with the help of my cousins and Godson and Billy-Bob’s Mum (mainly direction from her!) I put it together. Through all of this, Hubs was helping a friend of his put finishing touches on his bar, so it was a solo effort by yours-truly. I did, however, ring Hubs just as I was leaving, to tell him I had worked very hard on our costumes and that he needed to go ape-sh*t over them. Cos if you know my Hubsband, you’ll know it takes a bit for him to go ape-sh*t over anything, so it was just a friendly warning that I needed a VERY enthusiastic response from him!

And I got it, of course, cos check out these costumes:

My favourite bit was the dynamite, also home-made! I was quite worried that no one would know what the heck we were but we had quite a few people recognise the characters, so I fel that all my hard work had paid off. The party was a great success with the birthday girl looking absolutely spy-a-licious!

In both costumes!

And here is Bethie, Ah-del and Myself. We have celebrated 18 years of birthdays together! Incredible!!

We had a great time catching up with friends and celebrating this occasion. We hope you had a great night birthday girl (I know you did!) and looking forward to celebrating many many more with you. x x x

A drinking game – the results!

March 25, 2010 / Renae / Leave a comment

So let’s review the 6 South African drinks:

And the order of preference overall, went something like this:

1. Savanna (yay!)

2. Klipdrift

3. Windhoek

4. Black label

5. Archers

6. Castle

Well, that’s how I saw it anyway! I hope you enjoyed the purely scientific experiment!

A drinking game – Archers

March 24, 2010 / Renae / Leave a comment

Until we started this experiment, I didn’t realise that Archers was a South African drink. (I can’t find any good links to the drink, so let me know if you do!)

We tried the peach variety with mixed results.

Come on Clayton. Bring it home.

Hooray! A different reaction! Maybe not a great one, but a different one!! (Clayton wasn’t a fan!)

Unlike Anne!

One of her faves

I gotta say I was expecting big things after all the hype!

But I gotta say, I wasn’t overly impressed

And last but not least, Hubs

Hubs = not fussy (read: will drink anything!)

I think the results for this drink were a bit mixed. Anne loved it, I didn’t mind it, Hubs would drink it, and Clayton wouldn’t. An interesting result for the last drink! I’ll have a wrap-up tomorrow.

A drinking game – Klipdrift

March 23, 2010 / Renae / Leave a comment

Klipdrift is a brandy when, mixed with cola, is known as a “Klippie”.

And the taste?

Right. Same face. I give up!

Give me something to work with, Anne!

I think she likes it!!

And I gotta say…

I loved it! (that’s a happy face, just in case you can’t tell!! (What a shocker!))

In fact…

We wanted to go and buy more!!!

We did leave some for Hubs

And lucky we did too! Thumbs up from Hubs!

Klippie was a favourite across the board, and to be honest, I’d never tasted anything like it so it was extra exciting! Not sure if I could drink more than one – it is quite a strong flavour and quite high in alcohol if I remember correctly (which is unlikely!) Only 1 more drink to go!!!

A drinking game – Savanna

March 22, 2010 / Renae / Leave a comment

Mmmmm Savanna. Just thinking about it now takes me back to the long, warm summer days, lazing around the braai, shooting the breeze. This was a big part of our trip and a great one at that.

Clayton, what did you think?

What does that face mean?????

Let’s see if I can get more of a reaction out of Anne…

Ooooooh yeeeeaaaahhhhhh

Well we already know how Wifey feels about Savanna

And just to show you that I don’t take myself too seriously, here is possibly the WORST photo of myself I’ll EVER post on the internet!*

And Hubs? Well he was the one who introduced me to this delicious drink!

He loves it!

So I would say that Savanna is the clear winner at the moment! And I think it’s still my favourite! I need to find somewhere in Melbourne that sells it…

*I realise other people will put embarassing photos of me on the internet, but what I can’t see, can’t hurt me!!

A drinking game – Windhoek

March 21, 2010 / Renae / Leave a comment

(Prounounced Vintook). The last of the beers in our experiment, Winhoek Lager is actually imported in from Namibia and is the beer of choice amongst Hubs’ South African relatives. And it may have been the beer of choice amongst these 4 Aussies too! Let’s see…

Drink 3 – Windhoek

Clayton was looking forward to this one

Not that his reaction was any different to the first 2 beers!!

Anne liked the 2nd beer better than the first, but what about this one?

Hmmmm… take or leave it?

Let’s hope Wifey has a better facial reaction to this one at least!

Not great, but certainly better! And the beer? I seem to recall I liked it!

And what about Hubs?

Oh so classy…

It kind of looks like he didn’t really like it, but maybe he still had traces of burp in his mouth! Gross!

I believe this was Hubs’ favourite beer, even if his face doesn’t show it! I seem to recall it was generally liked by all involved, and certainly the favourite of the 3 beers.

A drinking game – Black Label

March 20, 2010 / Renae / 1 Comment

So the next drink off the ranks in our experiment was Carling Black Label. This beer isn’t strictly brewed in South Africa, but there is a brewery there, so it counts! (I’m sorry for the lacklustre research on this topic, but you get that.) I believe in South Africa, this is typically seen as a more fancy beer. Castle Lager, (as mentioned in the previous drinking game post), is more your everyday drinking beer. Like XXXX!

Drink 2 –Carling Black Label