Food, wine and Lotsa Rain

Friday evening and on my way home from work and she says (Sue that is), "buy some sparkling red to start the weekend with." I always do as I'm told so that was the beginning of our weekend.
I usually start with a Saturday morning ride but my back is playing up and from mid-Friday to early Sunday we have had a huge rainfall so cycling was out. I actually didn't mind really, forgot what a sleep-in was like.

For 48 hours it has rained and rained - that's a good thing with our water catchment areas are filling.

We decided on doing a late morning market thing at Prahran and buy some ingredients for our Saturday night dinner. The Prahran market is not the cheapest market but is a little special in many ways.

Sue had in mind rabbit (Lapin) for dinner and I have to say that this was the best I have EVER had. It was fall of the bone stuff, so tender. I'll let Sue tell you how it was done.

An entree of scallops
Scallops were little, but local. They were great quickly seared and on a broad bean puree with some crispy prosciutto.



Complemented by a Riesling from the Strathbogie ranges.





We love rabbit, but his photo looks like rabbit that disagreed with someone!! Good one Leon!

It was simply braised in stock and wine after browning with shallots, garlic, celery, mushrooms and prosciutto. Dampened parchment paper and a lid on top for an hour or so, then finished with a spoonful of light cream. We served it with a mash of potatoes, garlic and peas. Yummo.

It's a shame that rabbit is expensive here and not that easy to get.



The red was from the Languedoc region in the south of France - perfect with bunny.

Still wet Sunday AM, and a date to catch up with friends on the Mornington Peninsula didn't allow for a ride, but that's OK.

Our friends Glor and Baz just returned from their trip to Italy and France and we wanted to share their experiences. What with a week in Sicily, then Rome and then Nice before a week in Avignon, they had plenty to tell us.

Many riders would have been on the 220 kms ride for 12 hours.
There were probably as many as 10,000 riders.



The guys above were going to ride 220 kms around Port Phillip Bay and that included a ferry ride to the other side of the bay. Brave or stupid??????

 While we drove down to see our friends we were amongst virtually 1000s of cyclists on the annual "Round the Bay" ride. I did this several years back (2006 I think) and you can get 4 seasons in one day over the 220 kms. The start was at 6.00 AM and we returned home at 6.00 PM, and so were many of the riders looking very fatigued.

Can't say I missed not riding really................

Annette Kellerman- the Aussie Mermaid

While recently reading thru my History of Mentone book, I was reminded of Annette Kellerman, a local girl  who with her family settled in our local suburb. She was credited as influencing synchronised swimming (in my case synchronised drowning).
I'm afraid we can't take much credit for her infamous career in her latter life as she took off to the US to become a celebrity in many ways - Wikipedia (as always) has something to say about this young lady who spent some time from around the corner where we live.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annette_Kellerman#Early_life

I'll just post a few piccies of this delightful young mermaid of the pool.

And there is more here - happy reading, she's fascinating.

http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/marie-claire/features/life-stories/article/-/5887692/annette-kellerman-australias-forgotten-icon/

San Gimignano - Manhattan in Tuscano

Tuesday, October 17, 2006 and the sun was rising over the hills in Monticchiello. It was another day of discovery. We'd read about San Gimignano in our DK Eyewitness Travel book before we left Australia.
It's one of those must see hilltop villages in Tuscany. Why do I call it the Manhattan of Tuscano?
It's because it has 13 towers rising from the village dominating the skyline.


San Gimignano - Go on, knock on this door. I dare you!





San Gimignano was on the Pilgrim route to Rome.
During the mid-1300s it went into decline when hit by the black plague.
Today it is on the itinerary of most tourists through Tuscany.

 Built in the middle ages, 12th and 13th centuries, the towers are truly majestic. Even before we arrived at the village walls, several of the towers could be seen from afar. We arrived to the eastern side of the village and naturally the car needed to be parked outside the walls. Fortunately, as I've mentioned several times before, we had very few tourists about. Is October a non-tourist time?



Now tell me, is this a medieval Manhattan?



Piazza Della Cisterna and the fountain in the centre - there's a nice Gelato shop nearby.



A lovely drawing of Piazza Della Cisterna
from a different angle from where I took my photograph.
Not my drawing and no ownership known.



After a somewhat drive of misadventure (we got lost a few times) we entered the city walls and decided that an espresso was required before discovering San Gimignano. Just as a side story, I had difficulty in pronouncing the village's name, so I renamed it, "San Jiminy Cricket." I have since improved but found when quoting Italian, I need to wave my hands around alot.

Again I digress (I do that a lot - sorry), anyway we had a lovely coffee in the sunshine at the first cafe just inside the first gates. As pleasant as this was, the sad part was that Sue, feeling rather warm and taking in some vitamin D, decided to hang her woolen cardy over the chair and that was where it stayed after we moved on.

On these steps we ate pizza in the sun and took in the local atmosphere of San Jiminy Cricket.

We must have come from the high side of the village as the narrow main thoroughfare took us towards the Piazza Del Duomo. There rising above us was the oldest of the towers built in 1239. We sat on the steps of the Duomo eating a slice of pizza and drawing in the atmosphere of the Piazza Del Doumo and the adjoining larger Piazza Della Cisterna. It was named after a well that sits in the middle of the Piazza and is the centre of the old part of town.


The towers of San Gimignano - an amazing sight. I'm glad we went there.

 We moved on from San Gimignano in the mid-afternoon arriving back at Monticchiello in time to enjoy the sun setting over the Tuscan hills with a chilled glass of Bianco.


Andrew, our son joins me for a glass of chilled Bianco as the sun sets over the Tuscan hills.

The following day was to be our last day in Tuscany with Andrew. We were driving to Chuisi to have our Citroen C3 serviced and then taking the train to Florence so Andrew could fly out to Moscow, but that's another story full of misadventure and drama. More of that next Wednesday.

A Sign with a story, Birds in the Trees, and Empty Chairs .

A Sign with a story.

During the latter part of the week, I drove over to spend some time with my father at the indoor velodrome on the other side of Melbourne from where I live. I may have mentioned in past posts that Jack is now 89 years old and still enjoys cycling five days a week at the local cycling track. He loves the sport and joined the Northcote Cycling Club in the 30s.
About 3 decades later I also took up the sport as a member of the Preston Cycling Club. A friend of mine who was a member of the Northcote club invited me down to the local Northcote bike shop, The shop was also the Club's registered club rooms. I was introduced to the President of the Club and he said, "You must be Jack Sims' young bloke. I may have something here for you."
Looking through some old files, he then pulled out a membership form that just happen to be my father's.

The sign below is all the remains of the old Northcote Bike shop and the Club's club rooms. It has been hidden for years by a taller building which recently was demolished to make way for an even higher apartment block. The sign will once again disappear soon. I'm glad I just happen to be there at the right time.

A sign of special memories.



My Father's membership form to the Northcote Cycling Club dated 1938.
At 89, he is still pushing the pedals.

Birds in the trees

Doves are a regular visitor to our backyard and they know I'm a soft touch.



This guy although wary, was looking forward to an easy meal.



Well come on, feed me now.....

Listen to the Turtle Doves song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCB4-JWZ1kQ&feature=related



Empty Chairs

Towards the end of the week we had some heavy downpours from the skies and this kept the garden chairs empty, but Saturday brought sunshine (as it should).

Rain filled garden chairs Friday Arvo.



But by mid arvo on Saturday a cool sparkling red awaited me, after I'd mowed the lawns, that is!

Sue enlisted a David Libovitz chicken recipe for tonight's dinner with potatoes cooked in duck fat, broad beans and sweet corn. A glass or two of a crisp white wine went down well on a balmy evening while sitting on the timber decking with a James Taylor CD playing in the background.
Back to work in the morning.

David Libovitz link - http://www.davidlebovitz.com/recipes/

Funky Friday Foto

Our cat Rosita enjoys teasing the garden dog but he just ignores her. 

Maybe someone can add a caption!



Or this one!