How crazy and busy our life has been over the past two months and now we are back on the road again in our Winnebago, but more about that in the next post.
It has been great being home at Paringa and catching up with our friends both in Cairns and Port Douglas. Our little group that we have nicknamed Olgetta Connisseurs, (Olgetta means all together in Pidgin English) decide on a different restaurant to eat at once a fortnight and we have eaten some really great food at Elgreko in Palm Cove and Bayleaf in Cairns North.
Philip and I celebrated 46 years of marriage at NuNu Restaurant in Palm Cove on the 25th March. NuNu never disappoints both for ambience and food. An added bonus was the full moon rising over the Coral Sea.
Easter this year was busy with the Olgetta group coming together at our place for Good Friday where I baked a whole side of Salmon and accompanied that with a simple salad and homemade bread. The lemon tarts, that Jane made, were a perfect end to our meal and the little easter bunnies atop each tart reminded us that it was Easter.
On Easter Sunday we drove to my cousin Susie’s place north of Mossman for a delicious lunch of steak and salad and another delightful dessert of chocolate mousse topped with a Chocolate Easter Bunny. It really isn’t Easter with chocolate is it……
We have stayed in Port Douglas a few times in the past couple of weeks and it was a treat to catch up with our friends Rod and Ange. We dined at the Mexican Restaurant one night and the next evening we ate at the local Vietnamese Restaurant. We topped off the week-end with tickets to the local Clink Theatre for a production of My Fair Lady. It brought back wonderful memories and we all hummed and clapped along to the songs that we know and loved.
Other places in Port that we enjoyed were cocktails at Barbardos and pub grub at the Tin Shed where we watched the boats coming back to the marina on sunset. Of course Flagstaff Hill walk is always on the agenda and the weather was picture perfect.
I was given some sourdough starter on our last travel and after a few disasters (I totally underestimated the growth of the starter after you feed it and had my benchtops covered in the goo many times) I think I have now mastered the feeding technique and have been rewarded with some delicious recipes. My favourite has been the sourdough crackers and the focaccia. The lemon cake that looked fabulous as it came out of the oven was way too dry and ended up being used in a trifle. We have also eaten quite a few pizzas over the past month or so as the pizza bases, using discard sourdough starter, are the best I have ever eaten. Thin and crispy the way we like a base.
I have been spending some quality time with the "girls" since we have been home with lots of coffee/lunch dates. They have taken me to places that I never knew existed. The view from the Food House Cafe on the top floor of Crystalbrook was spectacular.
Last Saturday the “girls” had a day out on the Tablelands where we played tourists for the day visiting all the sites including the waterfall circuit at Millaa and ending with a walk into Millstream Falls followed by a delicious café lunch at Ravenshoe. There is something very satisfying spending time with your girlfriends!
So that is the last few months in a nutshell and although it has been hectic it has also been a lot of fun. I'll leave you with this photo of our apartment building that has just been repainted. It looks so lovely and has brought the 1980's building into the 21st century......
No comments:
Post a Comment