“Holidays are as important as paying the bills….!” are words I have heard Tez utter on so many occasions. I never take for granted the opportunities I have had to travel in my life and the amazing places and people I have encountered along the way.

It is fascinating to reflect on the changes that have occurred over the years in regard to where and how we do our holidays. Once upon a time it was about as many places as possible, as cheaply as possible and it was about the experiences and people. Never been a big fan of churches, temples, monuments and other historical tourist attractions, but always more inclined to the local “culture”.  The art, dance, food, of course, and the shopping that make up the experience and the people. Not saying this is every ones idea of going to other places, but it is what really appeals to me. I do confess that in recent years, a quick two hour bus trip around a new environment to orientate me with a new city has been beneficial. In my younger years I was happy to just roam, now I am more inclined to make sure I know where I am heading to be able to save the “heartbeats” for the areas I really want to explore.

Tez has the bug for travel as much as I do, and fortunately most of his interests are similar to mine. He can also maintain a fierce shopping pace when inclined, let me tell you!

Having lived and worked overseas for a while has meant that we have friends around the globe and that often influences places we choose to visit. Not to mention many of our circle of ‘nearest and dearest’ are also intrepid travellers.

Dinner conversations often lead to making plans for travel and a couple of years ago such a conversation led a group of four other couples, together with Tez and I rendezvousing on a Greek Island called Symi. Has to be one of the best locations for a chill out holiday…..ever!

That holiday is now all about the happy memories we made.  Great people, great food, awesome memories and a brilliant location.

The same group of people had another dinner conversation….in fact it may have occurred while we were in Symi ??! The eventual destination for the group to rendezvous was decided, Budapest, Hungary would be where we would get together in 2014.

So it is time to get on the jet plane!

Take off!

Tez and I will take a little extra time pre Budapest and have some time visiting friends and a couple of locations we have not visited before. After a couple of days in Paris we will head to Budapest.

A visit to Sicily after Hungary, before we head back to Australia.  So many people have told us how wonderful Sicily is, so we are certainly looking forward to that last leg.

Bon voyage

We look forward to sharing our travel and happy tastings with you.

DC 

Some enquiries recently about the next scheduled cooking classes stirred me into thinking about “exactly, what have I been doing lately” ?

Although we had classes scheduled, they did not go ahead as planned. Various reasons, but the most important thing for me to share is that I really want all PCH & PCCS experiences to be worthwhile and good value for money. Sometimes life just happens and things don’t always go to plan. Rather than “in love” I feel very much “in life”, (of course, I am still in love with Tez! I do apologise to those who were looking out for those particular classes but, I am sure that in upcoming months there will be more to appeal and some favourite regular chefs returning. 

Stay tuned!

A couple of kids cupcake decorating classes for Mother’s Day were busy though. A new bunch of kids – predominantly boys, showed us flair and colour as they decorated cakes. I do love the unrestricted enjoyment and free use of colour that kids demonstrate.  It seems to me as we grow older somehow life tends to curb that natural instinct in many of us….what a shame.

There has been plenty of cooking happening in the Plough Creek Homestead kitchen….dare I declare publicly – even creating a few PCH versions or interpretations on recipes. Finally near completing my first original recipe, (is there actually such a thing as an original anymore? is everything simply an interpretation of something else? – maybe I need to consider that in another post…) that I am creating for my darling friend Jules who runs a glamping site at Markington Hall in North Yorkshire. Just want to trial a couple more times before it is released!!!

PCH has been the venue chosen for a few private functions recently. 

One of the events allowed me to indulge in preparing and serving a lunch for a group had me visit my Italian heritage.  What do you think of this menu?

PCH high teas have been booked a couple of times. The menus for high teas allow me to indulge in wonderful bite sized eats and many of them. Recently the menus have expanded to include a chocolate indulgence menu or a Devonshire tea menu.  All very delish – if you will indulge me to say so myself !!

One of the people (among many) who inspires me since my interest in food and cooking has been elevated over recent times,  is the delightful Kate Spina (nee Connor). Kate and Alfie have settled into Auckland, with Alfie impressing all in a new restaurant over there.  Kate has commenced her blog and I have to say that every single recipe she has posted so far has my feeling hungry.

Check out the Green Pea Pantry blog and follow Green Pea Pantry on Facebook. I promise you will not be sorry!

So plenty of cooking still happening in the kitchen, recipe books are still inspiring and recipes being trialed and tried, but most of all I love talking and tasting food…..(maybe not in that order!!)

Let me know what is inspiring you with food lately?

Happy tastings … DC 

In usual style of planning a surprise, Tez organised a weekend away for our 18th anniversary. I had no clues to what he arranged.  I had thought of three possibilities; firstly I wondered if maybe he had booked us into a cooking school in Tasmania I have been lamenting. Then I thought we may be going to Melbourne for some wining and dining. Lastly I was anxious he may be considering a camping getaway. I do remind him often I prefer to sleep five star rather than under five million of them!

As we ventured of it was not until we had driven past the Airport turnoff on the M1 that I could piece together we were heading down the Great Ocean Road – to a still secret destination. Finally after driving through Lorne, he told me we were staying somewhere near Apollo Bay. Over the 20 years we have known each other, we have had many a fun weekend or short holiday at various places along the Great Ocean Road. Certainly a magnificent part of this great country of ours.

Arrival at our final destination revealed a booking at a venue near Apollo Bay, Chris’s Beacon Point. 

Dinner on the Saturday night was an average meal – good wholesome winter fare, that was comforting. What stole the show was the spectacular view from our room and the restaurant.

However, the big event was the next day, on Sunday. 

Nearly 20 years ago, during our early days of courtship, Tez took me for lunch at a regional restaurant called Sunnybrae. I recall we enjoyed a wonderful lunch and the setting was idyllic. Regional, old style venue and although I don’t remember the specifics of the menu, I do remember we had a delicious lunch.

Sunnybrae had changed ownership some time ago and a well-known chef from another regional town, had taken over.  Some refurbishment and a makeover for the menu and grounds has re-established the restaurant and venue.

Lunch at Brae was our 18th celebratory treat.

Usually I rave or rant about the food. As I have said before, I am not a food critic, I don’t pretend to be a critic, just a discerning customer, but I do like to share what I like and don’t like so much. Probably it should only be about the food when talking about a restaurant. For me though, it is the whole event/experience.

At Brae, quite simply I loved the food. I couldn’t do justice to the description of the food that a chef friend recently recalled to me after his visit there which was far more “food knowledgeable & discerning” than anything I could put into words.

But this happy place left another amazing impression on me. It was the atmosphere and service that I was really impressed by.

The décor  is interesting (bad word but I mean it in a very positive way). It was simple in some ways and intriguing in other ways. However, it felt VERY comfortable – to my mind, this in itself lends to a greater dining experience.

The staff and service were very impressive by their professionalism but not in a smug or arrogant way. Quite simply they just all seemed to love working there.

There were lovely features of sofas near the wood burning fireplace to have a rest between courses or just chill-out for a while. There were some spots to walk around the garden and there was even a very welcoming looking courtyard where I observed the staff got together and shared a meal at the end of service. I like a venue that looks after staff!

All in all, it was a long way from home, but worth the trip. For us it was certainly worthy of our special celebration and we were happy to go away not being disappointed.

For all round wonderful experience it definitely has a 4 Nonna rating for me. 

Yes, I would recommend the time to have this getaway and definitely say YES if you asked me if I would go there again.

Happy tastings … DC 

The number of weeks since my last blog on 23 April have been quite a ride. Life seems to have been incredibly busy. Definitely have lots to share and write about.

The weather has been a bit crazy also. The weather pattern and my biorhythms seemed to be having some sort of “experience”. Can’t explain – just schmoozing along the journey!

As many of you know I love what mother nature creates by her seasons and I love the way the trees shed in winter offering the promise of what is to come in spring.

Our apple tree will be great this year by the looks of the winter leaves falling.

Today is a birthday celebration of one of the loves of my life.  Hope he has a wonderful day.

So, I am back in the writing chair after a few weeks of no posts on the PCH blog….and will be catching you up on the news over the next few weeks.

Happy tastings, as always.

DC