High life with a taste of noir

Posted on September 12, 2014 by John

I enjoyed a lovely evening – a wine dinner at Epping Club with Viv and Chris and Norm and Lynne. The wine was “a selection of award winning Ara Wines from Marlborough” in New Zealand.

Fancy scallops

Fancy scallops

There was Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc and a couple of Pinots Noir. The wines were all good and the noirs had a lot more flavour than some of the light, flowery noirs I’ve had before.

The food was excellent. Here’s the Seared Scallops with Mango Capsicum Salsa, Pickled Fennel and Ginger. We also had Marinated Grilled Quail
Tabouli, Quinoa, Kale Salad, Drizzled Pomegranate and Orange Sauce – then Fillet of Venison Wilted Spinach and Celeriac Mash, Red Wine and Wild Mushroom Jus, ending with a cheese plate including some lovely honeycomb.fridge

The exotic food was very welcome. Jan’s been away for a few days now, so I’ve taken the opportunity to clean the fridge and and sort out the contents. I think it now much better suits my lifestyle.

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A taste of the high life

Posted on September 7, 2014 by John

An invitation to dinner at the Jones’s on Saturday turned into a splendid special occasion. Christopher Jones very kindly shared a bottle of Penfolds Grange with me, Jan and Viv.

He won the bottle of 1998 Grange as a door prize many years back and had recently re-discovered it.

There was a moment of tension as the cork started to break up on opening, but that was completed without any cork falling into the wine. Then came the decanting, with Chris pouring carefully and me holding the torch to warn when sediment was about to approach the neck.

Grange - mmmm . . .

Grange – mmmm . . .

Chris let it breathe in the decanter for an hour before he shared it out into some big red wine glasses. Then the tasting – mmm. Very special – wonderful aroma, full of flavour, smooth and dark.

 One critic said of the 1998: “The wine is exceptional and certainly lives up to its reputation as Australia’s No. 1 wine. Opaque black crimson colour. Superb nose with that distinctive aromatic marker that is Grange. Perfumed notes of violets, ripe plum, cedar and spice emerge over a distinctive American oak background. The palate flavours explode and delivers flavours of great length and depth. Mouthfilling with flavours of confectionary, ripe plum, American oak, cedar, dark chocolate, liquorice and violet infusions. Perfect balance . . “

Snacks had been prepared to go with the wine. We finished it before moving on to the main course. The food was lovely as well, of course.

Now it’s back to the usual plonk. Sigh! (Just kidding – the usual plonk isn’t bad at all.)

Correction: See Viv’s comment – they weren’t snacks, they were canapés!

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Water, water everywhere

Posted on August 29, 2014 by John

There’s been lots of rain in Sydney over the past week or so. But us brave Aussie golfers laugh at the rain and take it in our stride (and strides).wetgolfcrop

Norman Arnott and I played 18 holes at Massey Park in slightly difficult conditions. It was cold (16 degrees) and we were rained on a couple of times. But, being tough outdoors types, we just shook ourselves like wet dogs to get rid of the water.

The standing water on the course was a bit of a hazard, however, as you can see from the photo (taken by Norm, of course, who always has his equipment ready for action. He never misses an opportunity to whip it out.)

I chickened out and wore long trousers instead of my usual shorts, but Norm bravely bared his knees. The extreme weather didn’t seem to affect our scores.

The bad weather has put paid to gliding for a while. The low cloud and rain makes it impossible, plus the grass runways at Camden have been too soggy to use.

 

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Skipping past another milepost on the road of life

Posted on August 24, 2014 by John

We had a splendid celebration on Friday to mark the 70th birthday of Chris Jones. Chris and Viv treated 20 friends to a slap-up* banquet at Abhi’s Indian restaurant, a regular in the SMH Good Food Guide, and one of Chris’s favourite places to eat.jonesbday1

We gathered in a private part of the restaurant. On arrival we were greeted with a glass of champers as we mingled with the other guests. There was an almost complete lack of speeches, just a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday.

It was good to catch up with lots of interesting people.

Chis was wearing a special hat sent from England by Julie Lymn. It was very fashionable and much admired. He’ll be able to wear it for any occasion.

Keen photographer (and excellent golfer) Norman Arnott took some great pictures – see the one above. He is very well equipped and has a very big flash.

Eunice, who is in France, commented: “Je suis heureuse que tu as passé un bon fête d’anniversaire.”  And who can argue with that?

(*No person was actually slapped during the banquet.)

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Pedalling to Parramatta (and back)

Posted on July 27, 2014 by John

Had a lovely bike ride today, a leisurely 30 kilometres from home to the centre of Parramatta and back. Most of the route is on cycle tracks that go along the Parramatta river so it’s quite a scenic ride.

Steve, Jan, Pam and me by the river in Parramatta.

Steve, Jan, Pam and John by the river.

We went with friends Pam and Steve. We’ve booked a cycling holiday with them in New Zealand in November, so we need to get in some training. The cycling will be along the Otago Rail Trail which is surrounded by spectacular mountains but is reasonably flat, thank goodness.

We had breakfast (bacon and eggs, yum!) at a cafe on the river in Parramatta, a lovely spot near the rivercat ferry wharf.  The weather was spectacular – clear blue skies, a little cool in the morning but rising to 20 degrees later.

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