Long Weekend in Bendigo

We spent the weekend in Bendigo, visiting friends at their beautiful country property.  T&J are two of my parents' (and my) very oldest friends, from their university days.  Their lovely, clever children are both in high school.  Their son has Coeliac disease, so I baked a couple of flourless chocolate and hazelnut cakes to take up with us.

They are superbly simple - melt together 200g dark chocolate with 200g butter.  Set aside.  Beat together 6 egg yolks and 2/3 cup caster sugar until creamy.  Beat in the butter / chocolate mixture, then beat in 1.5 cups of hazelnut meal (a packet).  Beat 6 egg whites until firm peaks form, then carefully fold into the mixture (mix through 1/3 first, then fold the rest through).

Bake at 170 degrees in a 20cm springform pan (greased and lined) for around an hour.  A cake tested should come out still quite moist.  You could make a ganache or something, but I think dusting over a little icing sugar and serving with double cream is about right.  It makes a nice change from a standard almond meal flourless chocolate cake (I have a recipe for that HERE if you're interested - it's the second recipe in the post, and is also gluten free).

The family has three dogs, two cats, two horses and six Isa Brown hens.  In other words, paradise for Tabitha and myself (and my sister - my parents and sister also came to Bendigo).

Here is Tabby cuddling Scout, the elderly Cairn Terrier:

Hanging out with Jem, the exuberant and tolerant Golden Retriever - don't their faces look like they've been busted doing something naughty?!

My sister claims that Jem is her 'best friend in the whole world':

Jem is one of those big dogs who tends to forget her size - here she is cuddled up in the lap of T:

My favourite of their dogs is Honey, the divine, elegant and silky Whippet.  Whippets are so gentle and dainty - something like a cross between a cat and a dog.  Until you see them run, of course!  When we have room for dogs of our own, I am pretty keen to get Whippets.  Many vets rate them as one of the most 'sound' dog breeds around, and they are reputed to be one of the best dogs with young children.  They also have incredibly fine, thin fur, which is a bonus for me (as I'm terribly allergic to most animals, including my own cats).

Jem loves to fetch branches from the dam:

And then rinse herself off in the pool!!  She was retrieving Tabitha's toy plastic baby from the pool all morning.  "Help!  A Golden Retriever ate my baby!!"

The pool is in a wonderful position on the property - on one side, a large manicured lawn and rose gardens, then on the other side, acres of bushland.  Here is Tabitha wrapped up in her towel, watching Jem swim after her baby:

The two horses.  So silky in the Summer.  Lucky E has a beautiful menage to ride in, with a set of colourful jumps and dressage letters.

Tabitha really enjoyed watching and patting the horses (or the 'neigh neighs' as she likes to call them):

Despite an absence of sensible things like boots and jodhpurs, I couldn't resist jumping on E's galloway Josh for a ride.  He is the exact same size as my last horse, my beloved Chestnut mare, Belle.  I miss riding so much - hopefully I'll have time to get another horse one day.

Tabitha had a ball playing chicken farmer.  She was initially nervous of the pecking hens - they swarmed at her once they realised she had grain - but she quickly overcame any fear, marching around, throwing grain, and shrieking with excitement.

When our new house is finished the build (fingers crossed for a March move) I'm planning on getting some Pekin Bantams, so I was thrilled to see how much Tabitha enjoyed these hens.

Isa Browns are excellent layers - check out the stash of eggs in the fridge:

Our friends' home and garden is just outrageously beautiful.  I could happily sit and stare out at the gardens and bushland for hours (with the fabulous soundtrack of T playing piano).  It really was the most relaxing weekend - including a trip into town, a visit to the gallery and even an afternoon at the local horse show (again, making me miss my horsey days terribly).

Of course, one of the best parts of country living has to be enormous Sunday roasts.  We ate plenty of lamb and veggies, and finished off with some of my Christmas pudding and homemade custard.

Healesville and Giant Steps

We have had friends from the Netherlands staying with us for the past week or so - they are now in Port Douglas, then driving all the way back to Melbourne over the course of a few weeks.

It's nice having visitors, because you do end up making more of an effort to get out and about.  On their last day in Melbourne before QLD, we took them out to Healesville Sanctuary and then to Giant Steps winery for lunch.

The Daddy and I really love Healesville Sanctuary - but there is one important 'insider trick'.  You must get there early, particularly in Summer and even moreso in school holidays.  It opens at 9am, and as long as you arrive within the first half hour or so, you will have a brilliant time.  If you arrive later, there may be 1 hour+ lines, in the sun.  Then, when you get in, you may find that the animals are few and far between, because they are a) hiding from the heat and b) sick of all the people.

Arriving early means you can get through in under 2 hours, seeing all of the animals, without any crowds, and you can enjoy strolling through the bushland without feeling like you are going to keel over from the sun.

We went with our guests, Chris and Cyrelle, as well as my parents, sister and her school friend.  The drive up there took about an hour, and Tabitha was great in the car (Cyrelle works in early childhood in Holland, and is kind of a baby whisperer - she can stroke her forehead in a certain way and put her into a trance!).

When we arrived, Tabby was thrilled to stretch her legs and eat an Anzac cookie:

I didn't take loads of photos because I was too busy enjoying the experience (plus other people's photos of wombats are never as thrilling as the real thing).

But there was one absolute doll of a baby wallaby who was so friendly and curious, she came right up to us and nuzzled in for us to pat her under her chin!  Because we were the only ones in the area, we got to spend plenty of time with her.  In fact, Tabitha got so chummy that she reached out, cuddled her neck and pulled her face in for a big kiss on the lips!  My mother got it on video which is gorgeous.

Here is the sweet little thing:

Right by the kangaroo enclosure, there was an enormous trampoline / super awesome jumping castle sort of area.  Basically, a giant, incredibly bouncy bubble, larger than our entire apartment!  In the middle, below, you can see my sister in the air, doing a forwards flip.  Adults are allowed to play, and I spent a good ten minutes leaping around through the air.

To be frank, having a good play on this thing is worth the $25 or so entry alone, in my opinion!

Tabitha was shrieking with excitement watching us all bounce around (it's far too intense for her to have a go in the middle).  She enjoyed bouncing around the gentle edges:

After Healesville, we all drove across to the nearby Giant Steps winery restaurant.  Everyone I know who has been there raves about it - we've been there many times, and never get sick of it.  The food is really gorgeous, even the chips (skin on, hand cut, with homemade aioli) and the bread - sourdough made on site, the best sourdough I've ever had (we always bring home a loaf or two).

The kids' menu is really decent too - Tabitha had homemade fish fingers (blue grenadier) with broccoli, which she loved, since fish and broccoli are two of her favourites.

Eskimo kisses for Q:

The best pizzas outside of Brooklyn...

Red rockling curry:

Here is my dad with our Dutch visitors:

The Portuguese custard tarts and the flourless chocolate cake are well worth a go, as is their pink Moscato sorbet.

Excitingly, Chris and Cyrelle have taught Tabitha a few Dutch words - finished, yummy, stop, more and maybe some others.