Gourmet Between

Apologies for the late posting of this blog entry.  I ran out of puff at the end of last week.  The gourmet between period in South Australia sapped my energy.  But, here now is the entry.

Gourmet in Sydney

Thursday 14 July Andy, a friend from Glebe Uniting Church days, dropped in for a morning visit after visiting his dentist.  He arrived with a numb mouth but left feeling more normal after sharing many stories and some humorous anecdotes.  Barbara and I felt uplifted by his visit.  It’s been good seeing Andy a few times this year.

Lunch was with our neighbours Joy and Graeme, which we enjoyed at Naggy’s on Glebe Point Road.  They make good lunches – so it was a touch of gourmet!

Friday morning I was up early to drink my barium drinks a half hour apart and be at Alfred Imaging at 8.30 am for my CT scan.  Well, I confess, I found this a bit of an ordeal.  Coming so soon after finishing the chemo, I felt the effects of the barium more strongly.  However, I had to have the CT scan then because we were in South Australia the next week.  At 11.30 am Katharine and I met at Pain de Sucre for coffee and cryptic crossword training.

Christmas in July in Sydney

Saturday night was our annual Christmas in July.  During the afternoon two of us played Scrabble and five of us walked around to the Blackwattle Café at Bellevue House on the Harbour.

By the harbour with Anzac Bridge behind

Barbara, helped by various Heyco’s produced a delicious turkey and wide selection of vegetables followed by a scrumptious collection of cheese and gourmet cakes.

We each received one gift (limit of $10) from one other person as our traditional way of present giving plus some unexpected ones.

Sunday we enjoyed yum cha (Chinese brunch) at Marigold Citymark on George Street, Sydney.  Thus ended our gourmet time in Sydney.  Time to fly to Adelaide for the main gourmet events.

Gourmet in South Australia

An engagement present from a relative of our third oldest fiancé's relative was a week in a home in Port Willunga.  Sunday afternoon six of us flew to Adelaide.  We picked up our Hertz Kia Carnival people mover and drove to the Adelaide Hills for our first night.  Barbara and I stayed with Nadyne (who was my personal assistant at Arthur Young from 1986 to 1989).

On Monday Nadyne showed us around Mount Barker where she displays artwork and teaches at a gallery. Then on to Hahndorf a famous German settlement town, where we visited the Hahndorf Academy where Nadyne does some of her artwork, followed by coffee in nearby Cafe Assiette.  Nadyne recently was awarded a prize for best picture at an art show. 

We then hooked up with the others at the Shaw and Smith Winery, enjoyed a wine tasting and purchased some pinot noir.

Then we went to The German Arms Hotel in Hahndorf for German food, after which we drove to Port Willunga.  My brother joined with us to Wednesday.

David with his trio of German sausages

Brothers sitting in the home at Port Willunga

Tuesday was our Adelaide day.  We drove to Glenelg a southern beachside suburb for breakfast, after which all the others caught the tram to the city while I drove the Kia and met them at the Adelaide Central Market, which operate Tuesday, Thursday and Saturdays.  Barbara and I really liked them and they reminded us of the great markets we had seen in European towns. 

Meanwhile, the others walked around the city, shopped and ate and we all met up at 2.00 pm.  We enjoyed afternoon tea with my second cousin and her husband.  My brother had not seen them for thirty years and our children and partners met them for the first time.

Wednesday to Saturday we enjoyed the local area: enjoying coffees and Saturday Farmers Market in Willunga; dining and wine tasting in McLaren Vale winery area; on Friday the others travelled to Victor Harbour http://www.victoryhotel.com.au/ and Port Elliot while I had time off at the beach; Willunga and house; and dinners at the Victory Hotel and Star of Greece, and of course, enjoying the holiday house.  Our sons also played two rounds of golf on courses they thought were picturesque and challenging.  We assembled two jigsaws, enjoyed the slow combustion fire and consumed breakfasts, wine and other drinks, cheeses, dips, nibbles.

Around the town of Willunga and lunch at – d’Arenberg, Chapel Hill, Coriole, Pertaringa:

At Christina's Café

at Three Monkeys

At the Slate Museum

Sitting on a seat on High Stre

d'Arenberg lunch, my oysters

d'Arenberg lunch, my kangaroo

Chapel Hill Winery

Coriole Winery

Pertaringa Winery

Watching the wine tasters

Dinners at night - the Victory Hotel:

Saturday Willunga Farmers Markets:

Barbara with future in-laws

the honey store

Port Willunga jigsaw puzzle solving:

Sunday 24 July we flew home to Sydney.  We had all been ‘gourmeted out’ and were eating less food by the end of an active, enjoyable and entertaining week.  I felt very tired and remember looking at my clock at 6.36 pm as I got into bed.  I was asleep within a few minutes and slept well, which meant that I would be ready for chemo round 9!