Patapan Food: Gourmet Club and more

ps:
I knew the vodka shot wasn't a good idea! I forgot to post pictures in my last blog of the Aussie Biscuits I made before we ate them. Sorry! At least I have the before pictures:

Back to this week. It has been a bit of a rush as we have tried to tie up everything in Brisbane in preparation for going to Port Fairy in Victoria for our annual Gourmet weekend. We still managed to fit in some nice home-made meals:

Louisiana seasoned chicken, plantain and salad

Turmeric, wood-ear fungus and rice noodles with bok choy

Multi-flavoured pasta and home made pesto sauce:

However, it was hard to get enthused while trying to pack. And I didn't get time to write up a recipe.

In Melbourne, before heading off to Port Fairy, I was a lucky enough to be taken to the zoo by some of my young friends. They shared their dyed eggs with me:

and we hoed into the fare which their parents had supplied, which included goats' cheese and salad sandwiches with home- made bread, and fruit salad.

Then, it was off to the Gourmet Club reunion. The Gourmet Club started when a group of us who had met in university, decided to keep in touch by regularly going out to a different nationality restaurant, or cooking food with a certain ethnic theme. I seem to remember a Russian restaurant somewhere in the dim dark past and an Indian meal. Unfortunately, we all spread around the state of Victoria and, at one stage, South Australia, due to our changing careers, so we decided to meet up in autumn and spring, either at one of our homes, or at a farm stay or motel, somewhere in western Victoria and each bring a contribution to the meals. We shared breakfast ingredients, and each brought meat for a barbeque, but each took it in turn to provide the lunchtime salads, an entree, a main course and a dessert. Things went swimmingly until we started producing children, and gradually survival instincts kicked in and meals became less elaborate, although, I must stress they have always been excellent and imaginative, and we have all eaten far too much. The children joined in with the cooking and grew up with a set of extended families. Now that we are back to being four couples again, since the children are grown and have their own lives, we fly down from Brisbane, then we and the others drive from all over the state, to the venue for a three day weekend. Nowadays,we tend to turn up with what we have in the pantry and fridge, and buy the ingredients for lunch at the local supermarket, or simply buy take-away or go out to a restaurant or cafe. We also, needless to say, drink enough alcohol to ensure that we don't ever get drunk, but we do feel very mellow and relaxed. And the venue is far more upmarket and comfortable than when we were having to devote our lives and finances to our growing families. It is not all sloth though. In the beginning, we used to go for long hikes and sight see-ing trips. These days, the aches and pains have taken their toll, as have busy lives, so reading, chatting and shopping have taken over as a priority, but we still take off for walks along the beach as individuals or as groups. we also like strolling along and admiring the little port and the beautiful blustone cottages. It is the best relaxation in the world! Good food and drink, old friends, a beautiful venue. Bliss.

This trip we rediscovered some old favourites. I managed to eat a scallop salad at the Hub, which was very good.

My friends also enjoyed their vegetarian wraps.

However, apparently the cheese topping of the salmon stack was a bit like eating rubber.

We also enjoyed our coffees and Turkish Delight at Ramella's . I intend to go there for dinner in the future. The main courses look wonderful.

My toastie and salad at Rebecca's was good, but not wonderful

but apparently, the bruschetta and the salmon were excellent

We bought the obligatory tubs of mini yoyos at Rebecca's too. Mega yum!

Just before we left, we forced ourselves to try the hand-made ice-creams at Poco Artisan Ice-cream in Cox street. I had the berry and Bob had the watermelon, then voted. The watermelon won, but both had me promising to go back again.

As if that wasn't enough, we headed off for Mt. Gambier, the home of the Blue Lake and beautiful limestone buildings. There, my daughter in law cooked us a lovely dinner of chicken schnitzels with steamed vegetables.

She also took us to buy gift chocolates at the Molten Chocolate cafe. We've had them before and they are brilliant!

Afterwards, we had lunch at Metro, which as usual, was very good. Bob had his favourite eggs Benedict,