by Krista | May 9, 2012 | Fabulous Friday
It’s awfully nice to return to a favorite restaurant or cafe and be remembered by the staff.
But it’s even nicer (and more amazing) when you return to a place you’ve only been to once and are not only remembered but welcomed like old friends.
Such was the case a few days ago when Bear and I drove up to beautiful Preston Peak Winery to celebrate his birthday.
We’d only been there once before, five months ago when we visited to celebrate my birthday, yet our Turkish host, Kor Ersoy, not only remembered us, he remembered where we lived, what we did for work AND what wines we preferred.
Amazing. 🙂
Needless to say, we were soon chatting away as if we actually were old friends. Sharing stories about family and travel and our mutual issue of Australian Immigration. Much to my delight we discovered that Kor has the same immigration lawyer I do and affirmed that she is fantastic. I love when things like that happen.
Eventually we got back to more serious matters such as wine-tasting. 🙂 We sampled new vintages and although they were good, we decided to stick with our old favorites. This time around we joined the Preston Peak Wine Society. This is an excellent way to keep beloved bottles on hand and save money by purchasing numerous bottles at once.
We went for the Wild Flower Selection. This means that for $110, eight of our favorite bottles will be set aside for us every six months. They’ll even ship anywhere in Australia for only $10. Perfect.
After making our selections we strolled over to the Preston Peak Winery Cafe and chose a table right next to the windows so we could enjoy the fabulous view. We placed our orders and then I wandered out to the rose garden which is still blooming even though it’s nearly winter.
Before too long our food arrived: creamy iced coffees, thin-crust pizza with chicken, pesto, feta and tomato sauce, and a to-go platter of various cheeses, sausage, ham, olives, caramelized onions, sun-dried tomatoes, roasted peppers, and crusty bread right out of the oven.
We lingered long, enjoying the warmth of the setting sun, the savory food, and good conversation.
Where is your favorite place to go for special occasions?
by Krista | Nov 28, 2011 | Gulliver Tuesday
Starting your life over completely is a scary, overwhelming and wonderful thing.
Along the way you run out of money, meet amazing new people, and parts of yourself come to life that have lain dormant for ages.
You have great days and weepy ones, and sometimes, right when you need a shot of hope in the arm, something good comes along to cheer you right up and give you renewed courage.
Like a birthday. In Australia.
I turned 37 this weekend and have to say it was the best birthday I’ve ever had. 🙂
My bear pulled out one surprise after another to make it a beautiful week of great memories and new adventures and I love him for it. 🙂
He started with Nearly Birthday Day, whisking me away to town for silly little things that make me happy. Like taking me to a new thrift store and letting me pick out whatever treasures delighted me: a slightly gaudy medieval necklace, a rather lethal looking rake, two wonderful old books by two of my favorite authors (John Buchan and Baroness Orczy), and a splendid hand-painted champagne bottle that looked like something from Eastern Europe.
We went to a tiny, local butcher and bought bacon that was over a foot long (!!) and a pork roast with a thick rind that will make the best cracklings. Then he loaded up with all sorts of fresh fruits and veg from the outdoor market – I’ve been juicing and cooking like mad with all those yummy things! Next stop was the shopping center for a hot date in the Food Court where we dine luxuriously on hot dogs, potato wedges with gravy, and coffee milkshakes.
Later bear surprised me with a lovely filigree pendant, two new chooks – gorgeous Belgian ones in soft gray with bright red combs – and three adorable baby ducks who cheep like crazy when they see food. We also had dark chocolate mud cake and a jolly visit with dear friends and wow, I felt utterly spoiled.
But the dear fellow wasn’t done yet. Sunday afternoon he picked me up and took me for a drive up through the hills near Toowoomba to the Preston Peak Winery.
It is a gorgeous, sprawling estate of vineyards and flowers with a chapel and reception room for weddings overlooking the valley.
We climbed up further to the tasting room and cafe perched above the grapevines lining the hillsides and took in the stunning views.
Tearing ourselves away from the scenery we entered the Preston Peaks Winery tasting room and were greeted by Kor Ersoy, a lovely Turkish man who made us feel so welcome, answered all our questions, and lavished us with samples. While everything was good, my favorites were the Wildflower series, Golden Gleam (White Muscat), and the delectable Touriga Port.
After all our sampling we were more than ready for some solid food, so we wandered over to the cafe to see what they had to offer.
What they had was a stunning view, cool breezes blowing in through the open windows, and a menu chosen to suit the wines they produced. It was perfect!
We were ravenous so we ordered our bevvies: iced coffee to perk us up after all those tastings, wine and Double Sars (double sarsaparilla) to go with our meal, and then tucked into a feast: spring salad, warm cheesy bread, to-die-for pizza, and an antipasto platter with olives, sun-dried tomatoes with lavender, pesto, salami, smoked ham, caramelized sweet onions, and roasted capsicum. Phew! Needless there’s no way we could eat all of it, and I happily did not have to cook the next day. 🙂
We drove home as the sun was setting over the hills, sleepy, full, and so very, very happy.
It was the best birthday ever.
What is your favorite birthday memory?
