Trick or Treat

Halloween is not anything I have ever before paid much attention to except through the Simpsons or other American sitcoms.  Usually Halloween night involves closing all the curtains, turning all the lights off and pretending I'm not at home.  This year was no exception, Barnadi was working and I was home alone, sitting watching TV in the dark and trying to ignore the doorbell. After the third pack of trick or treaters had been and gone, I get a call from Barnadi to inform me he had bought some chocolates for the very purpose of giving to our neighbours kids.  An unexpected change of heart from Barnadi based on an idea that now we have bought a house we should be more friendly and involved with the local community.  So for the final ring of the door bell I reluctantly opened the door to a little 5 year old devil and his big sister and filled his pumpkin basket with as many chocolates as he could carry.

We have been experiencing a lot of treats ourselves of late, making use of presents we received almost a year ago.  The first was a night down at Lindenderry winery at Red Hill, and the second a 5 course dinner at Estelle restaurant in Northcote.

Lindenderry, Red Hill

Driving down the Eastlink last weekend, it looked at first like we had picked a bad day to use our voucher for a night down the Mornington Peninsula, the rain getting heavier the further south we went.  But as we arrived in Portsea in time for lunch the weather had pretty much dried up.  After some fish and chips we drove on into the Nepean park where we parked our car at the Nepean cemetery and took a walk along the beach and over the hills towards Fort Pearce an old abandoned military barracks.  We didn't get as far as Fort Nepean or the tip of the peninsula however, as we hoped to get back to Red Hill into time for afternoon tea which was being served from 2-4pm.  We pulled up at the winery with only minutes to spare after a longer than expected winding journey up Arthurs seat  road and enjoyed High Tea in the library.   The Voucher also included dinner in their restaurant, Barnadi wasn't too impressed with his starter, but we both enjoyed our mains, and the bottle of Semillon Sauvignon Blanc went down well.  The following day rained and so we headed home earlier than planned, after a little detour through Point Leo and some other smaller towns on the eastern coast of the peninsula.

Last night we caught the tram down to our old home of Northcote for a posh 5 course degustation menu at Estelle restaurant.  The courses seemed small, but were surprisingly filling, and with a "snack" at the start and the end it ended up being 7 courses.  Our meal included a starter of corn and fetta, some tuna shishami, a beautiful steak and a flavoursome fillet of john dory.  The New Zealand Pinot Gris  was a good accompaniment and the cocktails that followed left us feeling rather merry as we headed out into the fresh air to get our tram home.  Unfortunately the tram was cancelled due to an accident somewhere along the line, so we were forced to stay out and enjoy a few more drinks.  Time slipped away and we didn't crawl into bed until 3 this morning.