A RACLETTE EVENING

Raclette is a fun meal to have in winter. We thought it would be nice to invite our friends Helen and Paul for a Raclette evening and reminisce about our holiday together when we visited Switzerland. So we bought some Raclette Cheese and pulled out the Raclette Grill. The table is set the guests are here so on with the fun. 

The Raclette grill is in the middle of the table and each person melts their own cheese in a little non stick pan which slides under the grill. The hotplate on top can be used for an indoor BBQ meal with lots of different meats and sauces. Once again each person cooking their own. That is another fun meal too.

The little pans are sitting on top getting warm. Black on black is a bit hard to see.

You need about 100 to 200 grams of Raclette Cheese (or a soft melting cheese) per person.

A bowl full of hot, boiled potatoes in their jackets. 

For side dishes the Swiss usually have Cornichons (pickled baby cucumbers) and sometimes Büdnerfliesch, for which we substituted Bruschetta. We also added a few other side dishes such as antipasto, tomatoes..........

.......pickled vegetables, savoury roasted mushrooms, olives and pickled onions. Pepper and Paprika for seasoning. Take a hot potato and slice it on your plate, then put some cheese in your little pan and slide it under the grill. Add some pickles to your plate then pull out your melted cheese and......

...pour it over your potato. You can use a little spatula to scrape it all out. 

Sprinkle with pepper and eat...yum, yum. It is good with white wine or tea, it is supposed to help with digestion. Then you chat, laugh, keep warm and do it all over again and again until full.  It is not recommended to drink water as it could solidify the cheese in your tummy. 

Continuing with the Swiss theme, Bill cooked a delicious Apfelkuchen for dessert.  When we were in Switzerland we went to a restaurant in Zermatt and saw this fellow cooking Raclette, but he was using a different grill. He had a whole cheese cut in half sitting in a rack which he could swing under the grill (the black thingy) then he would swing it out and scrape off the melted cheese onto a plate and take it to the table.

To Market, to market to buy a fat pig.........

I can remember my Mum singing this rhyme to me when I was little: To market, to market, to buy a fat pig, Home again, home again jiggety-jig. Yesterday we went to a market to buy some cheese not a fat pig. We want to make Raclette, which is a traditional Swiss meal. To do this we need a special Swiss Raclette cheese. We know a Swiss cheese maker who sells at the weekend farmers markets, so we found out that he would be at the Mitchlton Markets this weekend. That meant a trip through town as Mitchelton is a northern suberb and we live in the south. Blackwood St was blocked off and full of people buying fresh groceries. I wish we had markets closer to us. Bill found his Swiss friend Christian and they had a chat in their native tongue. We couldn't resist buying a few different varieties as well as the Raclette cheese.

Then we collected some fresh vegetables and fruit.

There were some colourful characters entertaining the crowd.

Bill couldn't resist some home cooked cookies to go with his coffee. Before going home we had lunch at Des Alps the Swiss Restaurant in the same street.

Then it was...Home again, home again jigety-jig.

Up the driveway past the camellia trees in time for afternoon tea and cookies.

SPECIAL VISITORS

It was pouring with rain and darkness had fallen. The plane was delayed for two hours but at last our daughter, Sonya and Bernie arrived safely from Sydney after a bumpy landing in the bad weather. They came to visit Bernie's brother on the Sunshine Coast for the weekend, then Bernie had to fly back for work while Sonya came to spend a few days with us. We were excited to see them again.

Brisbane Airport

The Oldies

We took Sonya to our favourite restaurant. (same chin)

It is hard to believe that our baby is 35. (same nose and eyes)

Chinese BBQ Chicken

Coral Trout and vegetables in black bean sauce.

Noodles and Vegetables.

Too soon Sonya had to fly back to Sydney. Just as she was to leave for the airport, her bag handle broke. She quickly took everything out and tried to fix it.

Just as she was about to give up she and Bill managed to remedy the problem and off to the airport.

Bye Bye 'til next time. (snivel, sob)

On Saturday they are both going to Thailand for a holiday. Sonya has a break from production managing at the Sydney Opera House and Bernie has a break from acting in the TV soap "Home and Away"

SUNNY SANDGATE

We are very lucky to live in Queensland, where it doesn't really get very cold in winter. We get very hot summers so when the temperature drops to 10 C  in the early mornings, we feel very cold. During the day it can reach 20C-25C in Brisbane even hotter further north. Yesterday we went to Sandgate a northern suburb of Brisbane to have lunch on the beach with David's parents, Alma and Bill.

Sandgate lies on the northern reaches of Moreton Bay. When it is high tide like this day it is beautiful.

Looking south along the walkway.

Looking north towards Redcliffe Peninsular.

It has become a tradition to have fish, chips and salad with Alma and Bill every now and then.

It got so warm and sunny we took off our jumpers and Bill had to make a hat out of the chip bag to keep the sun off his face.

Enjoying the winter sun.

Gulls enjoying the sun.

A typical old "Queenslander" style house overlooking the fabulous view of the bay.

BIRTHDAY BEAR GETS SOME CULTURE

As I am working on my birthday on Wednesday, we celebrated yesterday. We had lunch at the Foyer Bistro in the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) in the city. It is situated on the South Bank of the Brisbane River, together with the State Library, the Museum, the Art Gallery, the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (opera house), the Conservatorium and Convention Centre. This area is one big Cultural Centre on the banks of the river. It was my turn to receive Birthday Bear and I was quite excited trying to anticipate how she would be dressed this time.

Here she is dressed as a gardener. That's me! She has on her overalls, garden gloves and garden shoes. Of course she has a visor and sunnies.

She even has a little wheelbarrow full of lemons. She also has a watering can and fork and shovel, with froggy handles. I love frogs.

Ann and George (in front) did a wonderful job of dressing bear and making the props. Thank you. From left to right...Ann, Mary, Bill, Birthday Bear, Paul, me , Helen, George. We even booked a place for Bear, which the waitress thought was funny.

I had Pork Belly with apple and rhubarb sauce and side vegetables.

BB had Salmon and schwabi sauce with fries on the side.

Then Bear wanted to check out the view from the deck. The GoMA building at the side overlooking the new pedestrian bridge and the city on the other side of the river.

The city cat glides under the partially constructed pedestrian bridge connecting the cultural Centre with the CBD. We had a lively discussion about the aesthetics and cost of the bridge. Some of us liked it and others didn't.

The very old William Jolly Bridge a few metres down stream.

After lunch we went to have a look around the modern art gallery, which was featuring Chinese artists but Bear wasn't allowed to come she had to wait in the cloak room and look after our umbrellas. Yes it has been raining for 2 days now, which is very unusual or this time of the year, but it is better than the drought we've had over the last 5 years.

We went up to the other floors and saw some really way out art. Some was interesting and some was rediculous.

This huge lady in bed was interesting

Up close her skin was almost translucent and very life like.