Hunter Valley Summer '14

A couple of weeks ago, I and a bunch of high school buddies drove up to the Hunter for a couple of nights. Having heard that dinner is particularly expensive there, we decided to make use of the produce in the area and to assemble meat and cheese platters in the evenings.

Day 1

Lunch: We drove up on a Friday and arrived in the early afternoon, dropped our stuff off at the villa we rented, then headed out for a late lunch at Bluetongue Brewery Cafe (Cnr Hermitage Road & Mistletoe Lane, Pokolbin NSW 2320).

One of my companions ordered a beer paddle that showcases 6 of the Bluetongue beers, complete with an A4 sheet sharing tasting notes. Not a big fan of beer, so the only thing I tried was the alcoholic ginger ale. Very light, great if you're trying to get into beer. If you take the paddle back up to the bar, they give you a standard glass of beer.

I had the lamb gnocchi because I was starving. It was alright - heavily tomato based, and the gnocchi seemed a little mushy - it disintegrated into the sauce. Meat was tender.

Beer tasting paddle

Lamb and gnocchi ($28.00)

Pear, prosciutto and Gorgonzola cheese ($18.00)

Chilli salt squid ($16)

Post-lunch: A cheese shop, our first taste of wine in Pokolbin, hitting up the general store, and frolicking around the villa

Binnorie Dairy (Cnr Hermitage Road & Mistletoe Lane, Pokolbin NSW 2320) is just across the road from Bluetongue Brewery. They let you sample a bit of cheese and sell goats' cheese, cows' cheese, jams, olive oils, vinegars and bread.

Oakvale winery - one of the oldest in the Hunter

Pokolbin Village has your basics - a general store, one of the Smelly Cheese Shops, a chocolate shop, a couple of cafes and a couple of retail stores. Smelly's was great for gathering ingredients for our platter, and that Morpeth bread is so soft and dense. For those in a huge rush, they even have ready assembled platters.

Smelly's - cured meat

Morpeth sourdough - REALLY GOOD BREAD

Frolicking

Our pond with heaps of duck poo

Early part of sunset

Sunset - horse in paddock

And so ends Day 1

Day 2: Olive oil/ wine tasting, liqueur tasting, lunch, wine tasting, gelato, wine tasting, food buying, Christmas lights

Tintilla Estate: Olive/ olive oil/ wine tasting (725 Hermitage Rd, Pokolbin NSW 2320)

Family-run estate founded by Sydney University's Professor Robert Lusby. Beautiful property. Lovely olives. Olive oil and vinegars from Pukara Estate. Bought a fortified wine that was likened to a white port.

Tintilla Estate

Inside Tintilla

Hunter Distillery: (1686 Broke Rd, Pokolbin NSW 2320)
Unlike its competitors, Hunter Distillery focuses on spirits. They have gin that they liken to Hendrick's and Tanqueray No 10, a number of liqueurs, and a formidable range of flavoured vodka. Had a lot of fun with the test tube shots! CC our resident alcoholic had 6 (the max being 8), while the rest of us had 3 - 4.

I bought 250mL of ginger liqueur, which tastes like flat ginger ale (the non-alcoholic kind, not that weird alcoholic ginger beer stuff). Which I suppose makes it alcoholic, flat, non-alcoholic ginger ale :S

Hunter Distillery

Vodka Galore

Vodka test-tube shots

Shopping Village @ Hunter Valley Gardens: (Hunter Valley Gardens, Broke Rd, Pokolbin 2320)

Picked up a couple of jams from the Hunter Valley Chocolate Company, popped into the British Lolly Shop, stopped off for a quick bite. We were looking for Bliss Coffee, but they've closed down and have since been replaced by a random cafe.

As you can see, they didn't have good coffee - very watery and milky. Their pies were pretty good for the price. It didn't taste plastic, and was a decent portion.

Beef and mushroom pie (~$4.20)

Flat white

Hunter Valley Gardens Shopping Village

Hunter Valley Gardens Shopping Village

Tempus Two for gelato and more wine tasting: (Corner of Broke & McDonalds Roads, Pokolbin 2320)

Went to two wine rooms. The people at the first were really friendly. Served by a pretentious and somewhat cantankerous old man at the second.

Good gelato in Smelly Cheese Shop. Have been told that the Thai at Oishii is good, but didn't get to try. Returned later in the evening to pick up bread, cheese and cured meat for dinner.

Vinden Estate for a wine tour/ tasting: (17 Gillards Rd, Pokolbin 2320)
Wine tours twice a day - one at 11am, and one at 3.30pm. $10 for just the tour, $15 for both tour and wine tasting of 11 types of wine afterwards (fee waived when a bottle is purchased for every two people). Phone 02 4998 7410 to make a booking.

We spent about an hour here altogether. There were no other visitors so it felt like we had the whole place to ourselves! The staff member who showed us around was friendly. We were told that they're one of the few wineries in the Hunter that grow Alicante Bouschet grapes.

I discovered I much prefer sit-down tastings rather than standing at the counter feeling pressured to hurry up and buy something. Our group bought a dozen bottles and received a further two on the house. Loved the Verdelho and dessert wines.
 

Outside, where the tastings are held

The vegetable patch for Bistro Vinden

Wine tasting :)

Hunter Valley Gardens Christmas Lights:
Bought night only tickets ($22.50). Went up the Ferris Wheel ($6.00pp, $20 for groups of 4)

Rose gardens

The Ferris Wheel

Gingerbread house competition by the schools

The lake

Day 3: Margan, Pepper Tree and the drive home

Margan:

Vineyard with a restaurant. Picked it out from the 2011 edition of Gourmet Traveller. Good (and very filling) breakfast, bought a dessert wine afterwards. Shall return for dinner one day.

Margan

Fresh tropical juice ($6.00)

CC's first 'real' cappuccino (or coffee, for that matter) since we left Sydney ($6.00)

Really cute green tea ($6.00)

CC's second 'real' cappuccino ($6.00)

Chorizo, potato and spinach omelette ($18.00) + tomato side ($4.00)

Went to Pepper Tree before we set off for home. Good dessert wines.

Pepper Tree Wines

The haul

Riddick - One thing that disturbed me... *minor spoiler*

Although I've been keeping this blog strictly limited to food, I just have to write away one thing that's been eating away at me ever since I watched the movie Riddick yesterday. I haven't seen Pitch Black or Chronicles, but you didn't really have to in order to follow the plot (except in understanding the background of one of the bounty hunters out to get Riddick).

So my little internal rant has not been about the plot, the cinematics, the acting or anything that a movie critic would gripe about. Rather, it's about the dog dying. Yes, there's a dog. A ferocious, predatory jackal-like alien canine, but a dog, nevertheless. And you watch Riddick raise it from a little puppy by feeding it, immunising it against the deadly mud creatures (or, less politically correct, testing a makeshift vaccine on a poor unsuspecting animal) and embracing the CGI puppy in his arms (er.. arm, since he's clearly so strong and manly he doesn't need both arms).

And, like most movies with dogs in it, you grow attached to it and then it gets killed off protecting its owner. Why is it always a dog, anyway? Why can't it be a cat? Or a killer hamster?

I try to console myself with the thought that the dog would have died anyway from the mud aliens, and it suffered an honourable death in the heat of battle. But it still reminds me of my own dog and how she's not going to live forever :(

I then started to think about similarly horrible movies/ video games...

•  I Am Legend: Have not watched this on principle because I know the dog dies.
• Marley & Me: Foolishly watched this when it came out in the cinemas. Marley lived a good life, but I don't want to be reminded of the probability that you will outlive your dog.
• The Evil Dead: I don't like horrors. I now detest them after the drug addicted lady butchered the dog.
• Fallout 3: Yes, I know Dogmeat's not fated to die via the plot. And I know Broken Steel practically makes Dogmeat immortal... BUT without that expansion pack, Dogmeat is just that. Furthermore, Original Dogmeat died a tragic death from a forcefield.
• Fable II: Another video game, but this time the dog's death is part of the plot. Obviously I chose the 'Love' ending to resurrect it.

Throughout this whole mourning period, I came across a website that I've bookmarked for future references. The boycott starts now >:(

http://www.doesthedogdie.com/

Kirribilli Markets

I'd been nagging some of my friends to visit Kirribilli markets for the past 6 months, but due to the General Markets only being available once a month, we had difficulties making ourselves all available for a visit. We used the Ennis Road exit of Milsons Pt Station and followed the signs. Greeted by the dismal selection of stalls in the tunnel, we muttered, "What, is that all?".

Gladly there's actually a lot more to the markets than the below picture - and my favourite stalls were actually to be found in that tunnel! There was a stall with multi-coloured hand-painted ceramics at excellent prices, one with cute toddler-sized knits, and others with pretty summery frocks and $2 earrings.

 Beyond the tunnel lay a number of food stalls, which greeted us with an array of poffertjes, banh mi, chorizos, potatoes-on-a-stick and freshly-squeezed-lemonade. The crooning musicians and warm, sunny weather, made for a lazy Saturday of selecting pretty trinkets and rifling through racks of vintage clothes. There was one arm of the markets selling fresh produce, which added to the community vibe.

 

Come lunch time, food was easily accessible:

Chorizo roll ($8)

The good ol' gaytime attracted me for its throwback to a favourite classic. Don't expect too much, and you'll be content enough with it. It was covered by a layer of tim tam and mixed with gaytime ice cream and crumbled cookie. 

Good Ol' Gaytime ($5)

Freshly squeezed lemonade (<$5)

Once we tired of navigating the markets, we made our way to the water, where we sat and talked until the sun went down.

3 week holiday

My desertion of this blog for well over a month can be attributed to two things: Firstly, working and studying nonstop, and secondly, flying off to London for a 3 week stint as a tourist to empty my bank account.

Having spent over 24 hours travelling (20+ hours of flying and the rest stuck in transit) and fallen asleep for 14 hours, I believe that I am well on the way to recovering from jetlag :)

So what did I get up to?

London - where I spent the most time

• I have family in London, so it was nice to catch up with them :) They live in Notting Hill, which meant we didn't have to trek to go anywhere central

• Notting Hill = Portobello Markets

• Borough Markets

 

•  Lots and lots of eating

- Lunch at Oblix in the Shard, tallest building in the EU

The Shard

Entree buffet - the Israeli cous cous was to die for

 - High tea at Claridges - refills unlimited (but aren't really needed)

Under their selection of rare teas - White-Silver Needle tea

 

Sandwiches

Scones with jam and clotted cream

Desserts

Good coffee

I didn't think I would ever find good coffee in Europe (except perhaps Italy, which I haven't visited yet), but my cousin showed us a few good coffee places in Notting Hill, which made me miss Sydney a little less:

- Granger & Co (175 Westbourne Grove London W11 2SB)

A FLAT WHITE!

Ricotta hotcakes with banana

 - Ottolenghi (63 Ledbury Rd, London W11 2AD)

- Daylesford (208-212 Westbourne Grove London W11 2R)

An organic store and cafe rolled into one, it's a great place for caffeine addicts, organic-produce-consumers and vegetarians.

• Watched a matinee (afternoon) performance

Tickets to plays and musicals are sold at discount to clear out last minute tickets, often on the day of the show. We bought ours through the official ticket vendor, TKTS at Leicester Square (Chinatown), so we didn't have to worry about getting scabbed like what happened to a couple of friends of mine. Although you can only purchase them in person, you can check what might be available via their website. There isn't much of a queue at the ticket stand - we went there around 11 in the morning. The seats weren't bad either, as we were only 7 rows away from the stage and near the middle.

• Visited Bicester Village and a few others in Oxfordshire

• And because we don't have enough in Sydney, we visited one of the new Westfields to see Despicable Me 2

 Bruges 

Bruges, in Belgium, is a quaint town in Belgium. It was full of chocolate, canals, frites (fries), horse-drawn carriages, Belgian chocolate and set menus with 1/2 roast chickens/ Flemish beef stews/ mussels/ chocolate mousse.

Paris

By this time, my relatives were craving Asian food (and I was craving soup). So we had ramen and pho, which were surprisingly delicious. I was told I shouldn't be surprised about the Vietnamese, since the French used to occupy Vietnam. As for the Japanese, I don't know how a little Japan of sorts ended up around Rue de Richelieu.

Fauchon cake

Mozart Requiem at La Madeleine Church

L'escargots!

!

Pho 14

Pho 14 spring rolls

Le Bon Marche

French bubble tea - not great, sadly

Ramen - extra rich, which we misconstrued to be spicy

Marche des enfants rouges

The market was just starting to open

Merci, a French store, was connected to this book cafe

This is not a book

Pickup lines

The Marais district

Antique store in Village St-Paul

French parking

Sunday brunch at Coutume

Lovely latte

• I also managed to cross off all the items on my 'to buy' list:
• Beige Burberry trench
• Dark brown leather jacket
• Numerous dresses, pants, etc.
• Perfume
• 2 pairs of shoes
• 100+ euros of makeup from Sephora
• Belgian chocolate
• Innumerable socks and other undergarments

 Not a bad 3 weeks.


EDIT: Due to the popular demand of Spidey, I have included a photo of our frites and moules.