Late Autumn

This is what greeted us on our return from Brisbane in mid May (the 18th to be exact).... magnificent Autumn foliage in our front garden!

There's a "grove" of Acer Rubrum "October Glory (maple)" planted in our apartment's north facing parkland (right in front of our unit). We think they were planted about 3 -4 years ago when Hassett Park was being established. They are really looking good this Autumn!

 Our apartment's volunteer garden group finally got approval, after a lengthy bureaucratic process involving both local govt. and federal govt. bureaucrats, to establish garden beds in the 2 metre wide piece of parkland that abuts our building. Our small group got cracking this week and got the job finished..... it already looks so much better than the scrappy grass borders established after the builders had finished. It is a huge advantage living in an apartment block with no gardens of its own to look after - but it does make it more complicated when we want to "take over" some of the "public" parkland for our own purposes.
As well as being a great month for Autumn foliage May is the month for some important birthdays too. We helped Wayne celebrate his (delayed) birthday today, at Grazing (in Gundaroo). The restaurant is in the old Royal Hotel (established 1865) so the atmosphere is very cosy, with fireplaces and lovely old timber floors in every room. The menu was very refined and layered with seasonal flavours. However, the very discerning people in our group decided that the wine list did not quite match expectations..

Happy birthday Wayne!

Lobster lunch (lucky 13)

We all look forward to our annual lobster lunch weekends at beautiful Rosedale. Judy and Jurgen are supremely generous hosts and the gorgeous Rosedale setting creates a special kind of magic for these get togethers . 

But of course it's also about the food!! ……………………

The gorgeous Jane and Louise no longer cater for our lobster lunches (sob sob) but they did something absolutely amazing for us this year …. personally delivering one of  their stunning Bombe desserts ….. as a lovely gift for us. How lucky are we!

Lunch started bang on 12.00 yesterday (as planned) with the opening of the Majella and Jennie's appetizers on show (gorgeous flavours: fig, mushrooms, pesto, duck - yum!)  

 James and Fiona had "crossed the ditch" to be with us this year - and did their usual fabulous job with the Clyde River oysters entrée.

But our lunch is all about the celebration of the lobster (BTW we all know it's about more than that - especially celebrating friendship!). 

The lobster this year was stunning; luscious and brimming with flavours of the sea. I really enjoyed the Tyrell's Hunter Valley Semillons served with it too (both from 2009 and each with its own special character) 

 With the lobster devoured the Bombe emerged for dessert - plated up with plums and syrup and sparklers for Jurgen's birthday!

 Jurgen allowed all the February - March birthday boys and girls to join the Bombe fun. Maxie was invited to join too - just because!

And so ended another wonderful lobster lunch - taking many hours, many bottles of wine and many topics of conversation and laughter covered. And we're sitting outside at Rosedale, constantly reminded of the amazing and unique environment surrounding us …... 

 You can hear the surf as a constant backdrop to the noise of parrots and kookaburras and the rustle of trees in the breeze.  This is Judy and Jurgen's backyard view...…….

 Talk about generous hosts, Judy and Jurgen invited us all for a sleepover on Sunday night - meaning no need to drive home over Clyde Mt after all that amazing food and wine - and more time to share the company of this gorgeous group of people.

A late afternoon walk along Rosedale's pristine beach is another tradition of our lobster lunch weekends.

 And there were more walks (and swims) on the beach this morning - another perfect day on the south coast. We rounded off our Rosedale stay this year with a very long lunch at the Mossy Café. We spent hours eating more great food, good coffee and continuing hilarious conversations about tennis stars, favourite(?) politicians and family dramas, with a few well directed character assassinations thrown in for good measure. 

I wish we could see this wonderful group of people more often and spend many more happy hours in their company, but thank you Judy and Jurgen for making all this happen for us THIRTEEN times already. 

Can't wait for the next one!