Photos from Tasmania Trip

We loved our trip to Tassie. We flew into Launceston, where we went to the Trowunna Wildlife Park, did a Tamar Valley wine tour, etc.

Then we drove to Hobart, stopping along the way at Nant Distillery in Bothwell for a tour and whiskey tasting. In Hobart, we went to the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), had dinner at Garagistes, went on a Gourmania Food Tour, went to Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary, and toured the Cascade Brewery.

It was a pretty great time, mostly just food, wine, art and animals! We got a pat a Tassie devil, and got to hold a wombat joey, which made me very happy! :)

A very happy Amanda - holding a wombat joey

Nant Distillery in Bothwell

MONA

Matthew giving food and scratches at Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary

Here's the album with our photos from the trip, and a couple of videos. 

Tasmania Trip

Wine night

My precioussss. Tasting tonight: Turkey Flat Mourvedre 2007, 2008, 2009. Ten Men Shiraz 2011 - regular and submerged.

Trip to Melbourne

Last week we went to Melbourne for my birthday and for Matthew to give a talk at the AusNOG conference. We had a great time! We went to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne Zoo, had cocktails at Eau de Vie Melbourne, and dinner at Birdman Eating and Movida Aqui. While M was at the conference, I went to the Melbourne Aquarium and to the National Gallery of Victoria, where I saw the "Napoleon: Revolution to Empire" exhibition.

For my birthday dinner, we went to Cutler & Co, where we had the eight course degustation with matching wines. Everything was fantastic, and it was nicely paced. They were very good on portion and pour size, so we weren't overstuffed. Here's what we enjoyed:
Selection of appetisers, including oysters, marinated octopus, foie gras cigar
Oyster broth with scallop
Mud crab with buttermilk potato
Baked carrots with goats curd and toasted grains
Smoked and fried duck with morcilla
Roasted suckling pig with kohlrabi
Apple sorbet with dill
Earl Grey ice cream, chocolate and Pedro Ximenez prunes.

I didn't take any photos, so here's a couple of the restaurant itself.

Restaurant exterior - photo from Cutler & Co's website.

 

It was another great visit to Melbourne! Here's a link to the album with more pics:

Trip to Melbourne

Happy Anniversary to Us!

We've been living in Sydney for two years now! Our anniversary was about a week and a half ago, and we went to dinner at Bloodwood to celebrate. 

We've eaten there several times before, but this might have been our best meal there yet. We shared cassava and sweetcorn croquettes; smoked trout and kale salad; grilled Greenslade chicken with brussel sprouts and smoked speck; chocolate torte with caramel mousse. So delicious. 

It was too dark, and I didn't feel like taking photos, so this will have to suffice. :)

Anne and Tom's Visit to Australia

Matthew's parents were just here visiting Australia for the first time, and we had a lovely time together! We showed them around Sydney, then we went to Melbourne for a few days, drove the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, then headed to Adelaide for three days, then back to Sydney. It was fun showing them places we'd been before and also exploring new places together (it was our first time to South Australia).

We visited four different wine regions: the Yarra Valley and Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, McLaren Vale and the Barossa Valley in South Australia. 

We saw heaps of animals at Healesville Sanctuary (near Melbourne) and Cleland Wildlife Park (near Adelaide). I even got to hold a koala at Cleland, which was very exciting for me, and was one of the highlights of my entire time in Australia so far! :)

We also saw wild koalas for the first time while driving near Cape Otway, Victoria. Matthew spotted the first one, and we pulled over immediately and took pictures, but he was quite off in the distance. Then we got back in the car, drove a bit further, and started spotting another and another; it was pretty awesome! Here's a video of one of the wild koalas eating some dinner.

A few photos from along the Great Ocean Road.

Anne and Tom at Cape Patton Lookout

At the Twelve Apostles

At the Twelve Apostles

Here's the album with the rest of our photos from the trip.

Anne and Tom's Visit to Australia

Anniversary Trip to the Hunter Valley

This past weekend was Matthew and my sixth wedding anniversary. We spent couple of nights in the Hunter Valley, where we tasted heaps of wine, ate some nice meals, and just relaxed. It was a lovely weekend!

The wineries we stopped at: Capercaillie, Madigan Vineyard, Drayton's Family Wines, Adina, Tulloch, Tower Estate, Pepper Tree and Ballabourneen. These were mostly random stops, and were good overall, with only a couple I wouldn't visit again.

Here's the album with a few more of photos from the weekend.

Anniversary Trip to the Hunter

Around the House

As I've already mentioned, we've had a lot of rain. All the moisture has caused some mold in our house, so we bought several containers of Damp Rid brand desiccant. One was a hanger-type, which we put in our wardrobe. Well, it's really working! I can't believe how much moisture it absorbed in only one week:

It works!

In other news, we finally got a microwave. We haven't had one in a year and a half, because we thought "maybe we don't really need one?" and also were holding out on buying yet another device with an Aussie plug that we'll have to get rid of when we move back to the USA. However, I got tired of not wanting to eat leftovers because reheating on the stove takes too long! So, we got one second-hand through Gumtree, an Aussie website that's similar to Craigslist. Hooray!

So convenient!

Finally, we also bought a second-hand wine fridge. (So much for restraint on extra devices!) Unfortunately, the only spot it fits gets a few hours of direct sunlight every day. So, Matthew was very crafty and made a decorative heat and light barrier out of some styrofoam, poster board and decorative paper.

So pretty!

Canberra Trip

Matthew and I went to Canberra this past weekend with our friends Lindsay and Grant, who grew up there. They did a wonderful job showing us around Australia's capital. We went to the Australian War Memorial, Parliament House, the National Gallery of Australia, the National Library, the Royal Australian Mint, the National Zoo and even a few wineries on the way home.


While the National Zoo was quite small, a particular highlight was that we got to pat a kangaroo! I have now patted a kangaroo and a koala. If I ever get to pat a wombat, I will be in heaven! ;)

Here are the rest of our pictures from our trip:

The State of Australian Beer

What a small, twisted world. I was reading about some Aussie breweries, and learned the "Big Two" here are Fosters and a Japanese-controlled company called Lion Nathan, which I'd never heard of. (Kirin Holdings owns LN.) LN owns: Tooheys, Hahn, James Squire, Boag's, etc. They also own several Australian and NZ wineries, and one in the USA: Argyle Winery in dear ole Dundee, Oregon. Wacky.

Also, Little Creatures, which I thought was independent, is actually owned by Little World Beverages, which is about 40% owned by...Lion Nathan. (Although, Little World director Howard Cearns characterizes Little Word as "fiercely independent," saying Lion Nathan's stake is a "passive investment.")

Finally, last month SABMiller put in a $10 billion takeover bid for Fosters. Apparently some of the smaller Aussie brewers want it to go through, because if it did, they would be some of the last Aussie-owned breweries left. The Australian reports, "A successful foreign purchase of Foster's would leave South Australia's family-owned Coopers -- with just 3.6 per cent of the domestic beer market -- as Australia's leading brewer."

Sources:
http://www.perthnow.com.au/business/wa-company-news/boutique-brewers-raise-glass-to-takeover-talk/story-e6frg2s3-1226080417937
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/bn-fosters-bid-from-sabmiller-leaves-bitter-taste/story-e6frg8zx-1226079564027
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_World_Beverages
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion_Nathan

Birthday Dinner at Restaurant Atelier

The other night we went to dinner at Restaurant Atelier with our friends Lindsay and Grant to celebrate Matthew and Lindsay's January birthdays.

We went for the seven course degustation menu with matching wines. The summer degustation menu wasn't printed, so each course was selected by the chef and was a surprise for us!

We thoroughly enjoyed the evening. Everything was lovely, so it was hard to determine a favorite course. Below is the menu (from my notes!), if you'd like to drool. ;)


2009 Mader Riesling (Alsace)
Flash fried and crumbed Kangaroo Island hen’s egg with white asparagus and goat’s curd.

2010 Ocean Eight Pinot Gris (Mornington Peninsula)
Alaskan king crab spring roll with wasabi aioli, soy beans, pickled daikon and ocean trout roe.

2009 Capercaillie Cuillin Chardonnay (Hunter Valley)
Flash fried and crumbed chicken confit with salt cod brandade, frisée and garlic marmalade.

2009? Bloodwood “Big Men in Tights” Rosé (Orange, NSW; Malbec and Cab Franc)
Or, 2008 Domain Metrat et Fils Chiroubles Cru Beaujolais (Gamay)
Roasted swordfish loin with corn puree, Spanish peppers, eggplant and red capsicum, dusted with fennel pollen.

2007 Chateau Mont-Redon Cotes du Rhone (Grenache/Syrah/Cinsault blend)
Honey braised duck with carrot puree, broad bean salad and a pickled quail egg (pickled in Chardonnay).

2006 Yering Station Late Harvest Riesling (Yarra Valley)
Strawberry sorbet with strawberry salad and basil garnish, and
Poppy custard with fig sorbet and "Pop Rocks."

2007 Grand Maison Monbazillac Botrytis Semillon
Soufflé with mango, paw paw and pineapple, with lime milkshake with a chocolate straw, and coconut ice cream.

P.S. Americans, red capsicum is red bell pepper, and paw paw is papaya!

Winos

We are winos. Here's our new liquor cabinet, with recent wine shop purchases, and the wines we brought back from the Hunter Valley:

Photos from 3-4 November Wine Tasting in the Hunter Valley

On 3 November, we rented a car with Kate and Stephane and drove to the Hunter Valley to do some wine tasting. Located in New South Wales, the drive was about 2.5 hours. On Wednesday, we went to Keith Tulloch Wine, Brokenwood Wines, McLeish Estate and Tamburlaine Organic Wines.

We checked into our motel, which was right on the Thalgara Estate vineyard in Polkobin, where we ended the lovely afternoon by sitting on the back porch and sharing a bottle of wine while we watched the birds - and a family of kangaroos in the distance. We met up with Stephane's friend, Tracy-Ann, who lives in Sydney, but they met years ago in Liege, Belgium. Then we all went out and had a really nice dinner at Muse Restaurant.

When we woke up the next morning, the kangaroos were closer to our hotel room, and Kate got a great photo.

On Thursday, we went to Mistletoe Wines, Arrowfield Estate and Hungerford Hill before we headed back home. In all, it was a great trip. I think Matthew and I ended up buying three reds (a Shiraz, a sparkling Shiraz and a Pinot Noir), a sparkling rosé, and two dessert wines (a Botrytis Semillon and a Muscat).

Here's the link to the rest of our photos from the wine tasting trip.