Hello from the land of Covid Isolation. Yes. Both Philip and I have tested positive in the past week, Philip on Monday and me on Wednesday. We have very mild cold-like symptoms so the booster we received last month has certainly done the trick. Thank God for vaccinations. It now seems that the vast majority of people in ICU on ventilators are the unvaccinated. There is no cure for stupid and that's all I will say on the subject.
What a month it's been with lots of travel, food and good company. The month started with a flight to Brisbane and then a drive to Marcoola on the Sunshine Coast for a girl cousins long weekend hosted by my cousin Debbie at her beautiful beachfront home. Only six of the nine cousins were able to make it but that is understandable. We all have commitments that are sometimes hard to break away from. Deb's mum, my Aunty Ann, also came along. She is, and always has been, everyones favourite Aunt and has really kept the whole Mitchell clan together, hosting many family reunions at their farm, "Hawthorn", near Pittsworth. She also phones everyone regularly filling us in on each others news.
The weekend began on Friday for a late lunch of fresh prawns and a variety of delicious salads all made by Debbie. She is a bit of a wizz in the kitchen and I admire her unflappable nature as she puts together delicious meals. I would be a blithering idiot if I had to cater for that many people for three days!
The whole weekend was a talk fest. It was emotional at times and other times we were splitting our sides with laughter. Laughter is so therapeutic. There was a copious amount of alcohol for those who enjoyed a tipple. I enjoyed a glass or two but on the whole refrained from drinking too much, although cousin Vicki's Sangria on Saturday night was AAAHHMAZING! I think the secret was soaking the fruit for many hours in Liquor 43. I avoided the fruit knowing how much of a punch it would throw. We played games to slow the drinking down a little but we were in stitches playing "Bullshit" (or Cheat). None of us knew the rules except Debbie and she kept changing the rules! I might say that uhhhmummm, some of us got a bit flustered about this 😩 (I'm looking at you Cousin Vicki 😂).
On Saturday we all made our way to Noosa where we were booked to have lunch at Season restaurant right on Noosa's main beach. Oh....my.....god! The food here was sublimely delicious. Every single one of us ordered the Snapper and not one of us was disappointed. It was so fresh and pan fried to perfection. It sat delicately on a bed of potatoes accompanied by a creamy garlicky lemony sauce all topped with a mix of micro greens. Some of us only ordered a main meal but I couldn't resist starting my meal with the scallops topped with pancetta and onion served on a champagne foam while Philip decided to have the fresh prawn salad. Both were excellent choices.
I said goodbye to Philip at Noosa as he was going to spend a night with Marco & Suzie at Gundiah so that he wasn't in the way (he was't) of the girls continuing their "girly" weekend. After lunch and arriving back at Marcoola we all had a mini nanny nap before partying well into Saturday night. Leftovers for dinner as we were all so full from our delicious lunch.
Sunday came all too fast and after another delicious lunch of BBQ meats and salad we started saying our goodbyes all vowing to continue this tradition each year. I did offer to host the next get-together but everyone declared it too hot in the tropics in February. They are probably right so we might have to change the date sometime in the future.
 |
| Deb's beach house is right behind the pool in this photo |
