Friends of ours are about to embark on a journey across the Nullabor to Western Australia by motorbike. Chris and Ellen have matching ex-police BMW bikes. They tell me they take great delight in scaring the daylights out of people who break the law by using a mobile or speeding because their bikes look just liked unmarked police bikes.
Both have upgraded from sweat wheels, pedallies, you know, push bikes. Ellen and I had previously been trained under the same coach for the Master's World Titles over a couple of years. I guess you could say last night's dinner was to celebrate both our impending journeys later this month.
As storms raged across Victoria, Sue and I were shopping for shoes, not one of my passionate pursuits in life but I understand that there are fundamental differences in the male/female psychy. I'm the sort of "get in there and get out" shopper. After trying on an uncountable amount of shoes, Sue left barefoot so to speak.
BUT, she did buy a new cookbook despite that her cookbook bookshelf has now caused the foundations of our house to sink under the pressure. Anyway I digress - she was inspired by a few of the recipes for our desert in the book but instead of following the recipe by the book, she used an idea and did her own thing.
What's on the menu, did I hear you say - Hmmmm, I should let Sue explain.
The Entree: A favourite. Figs with blue cheese melted into them with proscuitto and a balsamic glaze. Just with a little bit of rocket.
Main course: A spicy lamb tagine served on preserved lemon and orange cous cous with a layer of roasted parsnip, carrot and sweet potato and sweet chilli and coriander yoghurt. Also a little bit of spinach and rocket to feel virtuous.
And the dessert: Roasted nectarine tarts on a brown sugar/sour cream base with a raspberry coulis to cut the richness a little (a very little, hah)
The Wine:
Chris and Ellen walked in the door with one of our favourite sparkings, a Grant Burge Pinot Chardy Brut. Since the French became all precious, we can't call our wines Champangne, Hermitage or Burgundy. This is a sparking made by the Methode' Traditionelle and a lovely drop it is, very dry and perfect with our nibblies. I remember riding by his vineyard at Tanunda in the Barossa Valley, South Australia.
To compliment the entree we had a rediscovered wine from a few years back - Nepenthe Sauvignon Blanc is another South Aussie wine from the Adelaide Hills which overlooks the city from the highest points of the area. Back in January when visiting the Tour Down Under we decended from Mt Lofty at speeds above 60 kph, exciting stuff.
Yet another South Australian wine was selected for the main course. Several weeks ago I took a Coonawarra Cabernet from the wine shop shelf because I liked the simple label and the quirky name. I can't remember ever having a bad Coonawarra red. The district, close to the Victorian border produce a unique flavor from the Terra Rossa, limestone soils of the region.
I went back to the shop several times buying a bottle two until recently I discovered that they only had four left, and they were all mine, mine, yes mine..........ahahahaha!!
The storms have now passed by and already the grass is turning back to green and as the sun hits the backyard, we can see, what's more even hear the grass growing. Out with the lawn mower this afternoon.
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