that polish kind of easter lunch

our housemate and friend we fondly call "ciocia bo" invited us for a polish style easter lunch. she briefed us that the theme of the dishes would be anything with eggs, as symbolized by Jesus' resurrection from the tomb. it was an interesting likeness as i was not aware why egg is popular during easter despite the prolific usage of "easter egg". francis and i were excited but at the same time pondering how filling it could be to have just eggs for lunch (please understand that filipinos are very fond of rice in every meal and the thought of having just egg could be a little new to us even more so for lunch).

i was wrong. it was such a heavy lunch after eating to my heart's content!

to start with,  we had kir (made from black currant) and semillon wine mix.

there were three appetizers (aside from bread and butter that was served on the side) served in bowls:

stuffed egg: a mixture of yolk, mayonnaise, garlic, dill stirred together and stuffed back to egg halves
egg and mushroom garnished with spring onion
a salad with ham, cheese and corn

three appetizers neatly set on the dining

i was so full by the end of the entrées. i certainly underestimated how heavy they were that i overindulged, scooping twice from the serving bowls each time!

the main was a beautiful and traditional white barzcz żurek, made from fermented wheat and served with white and brown sausages and halved boiled eggs. the sour taste of the soup blended with the smoked sausage and marjoram was exceptional. it is the kind of taste that i think will stay with me for a long time.

very rich barzcz żurek soup

for dessert, we had mazurek topped with dark chocolate, walnut and coconut flakes; and pascha with orange peel and raisins shaped like the tomb of Jesus. 

mazurek

pascha

it was not like our ordinary lunch. it was cooked with ciocia bo's heart and soul 
(together with her two friends who brought the two appetizers). now i understood why she hid for two days in the kitchen.

the polish ladies and me

kaela's prim and proper before the easter lunch

a day at hunter valley

we turned down lina's invitation to go to hunter valley on black saturday. we thought that we would be busy on good friday for a picnic and catching up with friends that we wouldn't have the energy to go out the next day. our plan didn't pan out quite well and we ended up relaxing in most part of the day. by late friday afternoon, we agreed to push through the plan to join my friend and her family.

a coach was booked to give us a private tour of the area. the place is located two hours away north of sydney and is very popular for its wineries. according to james, our driver, there are about 170 wineries in hunter valley and about 40 plus varieties of wine. i confirmed the fact that wineries are not really that profitable to embark on. why, the number of competitors in the area, the temperamental weather in the valley, the bottling plus the agricultural expenses and labour to maintain a vineyard are just so big an outlay. i can only imagine!

we went to a couple of wineries in pokolbin (one of the villages in the valley) : bimbadgen, cellar door, towers, roche estate. pinot noir, semillon, moscato, pinot gris, shiraz, sauvignon blanc were some of the wines i had the pleasure of tasting. apart from my all time favorite moscato, i found another love in pinot noir. i would keep it in memory to come back to bimbadgen and enjoy this wine with the hint of earthiness and sweet spice.

in front of bimbadgen entrance

 
i'm not really a wine fanatic but having a good wine to pair with a nice meat is something i appreciate from time to time. as the quote from the magazine goes, "one's life is too short to keep drinking a bad wine". that's true, somehow. but you see, if you have a true love, it's like also having a good wine... it gets better with time. i decided to stick with my true love. =)

with my true loves

 

we stopped at hunter valley chocolate company for a sweet treat. the place was packed with tourists hoping to get their fair share of chocolatey fudgy goodness. i bought a gluten free nougat for a dear colleague at work who celebrated her birthday the day before. i was thinking to buy the blue cheese salad dressing (yes, they also sell dressing, olives, oil  and chili paste) but after checking the ingredients, i agreed with francis that it's doable at home. other than that, we're just ok looking around and keeping kaela's hands busy so she wouldn't grab anything we're passing by.

 chocolate tasting

at the entrance of hunter valley chocolate company

we had lunch at amanda's. it's a restaurant with the feel of a cottage house and al fresco dining. we were served with ciabatta and butter for starter. kitt liked the beef eye fillet with potatoes. i ordered lamb rack with spinach in filo pastry. the spinach was overbaked and the lamb was dry. the slow service didn't help the hungry tummies at half past one. the price tag... well, that's something you don't ask when you're in hunter valley. you pay for the experience.

amanda's restaurant provided a good cottage house ambience

making a good use of the waiting moment by taking a group photo

the roche estate, which we went to for wine tasting, has also a small stall where cheese, bread and gelato are sold. a lady was kind enough to let us have cheese tasting despite having no booking in advance. the pesto cheese was nice but i decided to go for garlic and herb fromage frais. francis stayed with kaela in the van and i bought him forest fruit gelato, which was very good for the the hot temperature in the parking lot.

cheese tasting at roche estate

 a view of roche estate with its pleasant and very modern architecture

 what will you do if you have a room filled with cheese?

before we ended the day, we went for a cup of coffee. james took us to an old convent, now converted to a winery - the peppers convent, next to roberts circa 1876. the manicured garden with benches was a good spot to enjoy a hot drink to cap the afternoon. much to our disappointment, the place just closed for the day. we traveled back to hunter valley chocolate company to get our caffeine fix.

coffee fix with the whole group

 

 with lina's niece, kellen

the large parcel of land behind the restaurant served as a grazing area for cows. kaela and i attempted to go to the cows but the fellas tending the area whistled at us to come back. we just moo-ed at the cows from a distance, as mighty as we could (kaela must be thrilled to have a nanay as young at heart as her!).

an escape to the cows

we came home with a happy heart, full of good memories to share and tell. will we come back again? only time and moolah can tell!

a good friday morning at mulgoa

my body knew i needed to get up early. and so, at 3:41am, even before the cock crowed (and of course, there's no such thing around the apartment we live in), sleep left  me with no choice.

the morning was still very young but the clanging in the kitchen had started. the oven was set to pre-heat. the frozen spinach, defrosted. the puff pastry, thawed by the brewing warmth in the room. soon enough, the spinach and ricotta quiche aroma filled every corner. it's done and it's time to start the day.

i would never want anything more than a freshly baked quiche in the morning

i woke up francis. then kaela. i checked my phone to confirm that lichelle, our friend, would make it.

the trip to mulgoa lasted for 33 minutes. it is a place frequented by catholic devotees to celebrate holy week by doing stations of the cross. the parking was still not packed. it was a chilly and dismal morning that i was half regretful that i didn't bring a jacket.

nevertheless, the mission to reflect on Jesus' suffering still carried on. above all else, it was the most important task of the day. i thanked the moment. it is not always that i get to re-learn and refresh my memory of what happened during that fateful day of Christ's ordeal to redeem us sinners.

the light drizzle signaled the end of our short journey.

God is good all the time. all the time, God is good.

walking back to the car after the stations of the cross to enjoy a good bite of our quiche

payday fun

after my appointment with the chiropractor, francis met us at george street. it was our usual customary once-a-month lunch after the payday. all month-long, francis would cook our meals. only once would we go out. it's something i look forward to (not intending to downplay francis' skill to cook because he's really good at what he is doing!).

francis chose to try "kanzo", a japanese stall tucked in the dingy sidestreet of parramatta. he enjoyed his order of sashimi platter and asked for another round of sushi and sashimi. the rice with seaweed and pork flakes (i think) was also exceptional. i was disappointed with the ramen, though, replacing the usual tamago with boiled egg and the soup that didn't pull off the authentic taste of japanese cuisine. the lunch was fairly ok and comes with a reasonable price.

 appetizers: salad with seaweed sauce and miso soup

sashimi platter

 

baby chicken roll

 beef ramen

another round  of sashimi and sushi

satisfied customers

after lunch, kaela and kitt went home and i went to the library to borrow some magazines.

on my way home, i realized that gap was on sale and i shopped for a few articles as part of our christmas shopping for pinas. as usual, francis and i didn't buy anything for ourselves. why is it so appealing to buy for others but not for ourselves? probably, clothes are not really our thing!

before i got tempted to buy the whole westfield mall, i came home, half-tired and happy.

leveraging on my depleting energy, i still baked red velvet cupcakes for snacks and served them at 6pm (that's right, 6pm!).

when the sun set down, i was already lethargic to move.  the movie "p.s. i love you" capped the night.

i capped it with tears :P

scarecrow nanay

in most nights, kaela and i are enjoying drawing on the paper-lined wall.

this time, we agreed to draw her hands. then a shirt. then i said,  "ok, let's make it like olaf... with a hat". then the pigtails.

kaela grinned at the perfection of our work.

nanay and kaela's masterpiece

i told kitt before we slept that it scared me to look at the drawing at night. it's disturbing how the broad smile with lonely eyes would work together. it reminded me of a scarecrow.

the next day, francis asked me to come home early. he claimed kaela missed me.

apparently, she walked towards our sketch, pointed mightily and blurted out, "nay, nay". and kissed it.

that sealed it. i look like a scarecrow then.

apple-picking at mt. tomah

mt. tomah is an hour away northwest of parramatta within the blue mountains region. it was sunday and at 20°C, it was a lovely day to pick apples. bogusia (or "bo" for short) and monica (bo's friend) joined us for this trip. this is the first time in two years of staying together with bo that we shared an outdoor activity. we are always busy making different plans for the weekend - i.e. our plan is usually to stay home and  bo's is always to mountain-climb.

we reached pine crest orchard at 10am.we are amongst the early birds and we took pride of having had a bit of chit-chat with the lady manning the the front shop of the farm.

the orchard has a wider range of apples apart from the typical kinds we see in the grocery shop. normally, supermarkets prefer produce that they can sell all year round. hence, some variations are not seen in the market. some of them were really worth trying especially while they are still in season.

jonathan, jonagold and quince are some of the apples that are rarely sold in supermarkets

we tried some of the apples we've never had before:

golden delicious. very juicy and sweet.

jonagold. a breed between jonathon and golden delicious. sweet, yet not as juicy as golden delicious.

quince. with velvety and fibrous skin, slightly sour with a hint of lemon.

in my water: substituting lemon for quince

kaela enjoyed walking around the rough terrain than picking apples. she touched every kind of surface there was. at the end of apple picking, she knew two new vocabularies - butterfly and duck. truly, first hand experience is best when teaching children.

taking a picture with an apple tree

 tatay's vision of his orchard paradise came to life in this photo!

 boohh! scaring you with a scarecrow

with kaela's ciocia bo and ciocia monica

picture before leaving pine crest.

we spent our lunch at blue mountains botanic garden along with our cfc family. it was a pleasant afternoon to devour four different home-cooked adobo (we didn't coordinate obviously who would bring what), sinigang and roasted pork. i guess my stomach stretched out like i'm pregnant after that lunch.

cfc family

it was a relief taking a walk around the park after what seemed to be like a prisoner's last meal. the warm surrounding and the windy afternoon was enticing anyone to stop and have a siesta but of course, everyone's looking forward to driving home and have a rest before starting the week the following day.

kaela with ciocia bo

we enjoyed our day-trip activity. we wish to have more of this event from time to time. totally a good day to tip the scale to living a normal life.

state of mindfulness, cut short

i had a high chance of going out this afternoon after a busy morning, but i didn't. sometimes, i think of staying out of the house in saturday afternoon as sacrosanct. i have to break it today, though. i grabbed the just-baked banana loaf in the kitchen and my favorite english breakfast tea (despite the high temperature outside) and settled myself on the dining table.

i've got many things lined up to do but at least for now, i want to respect the moment by giving myself a rest. it's a treat to be in communion with your spirit, free from any demands. away from the crowd. just me alone and my thoughts. this state of mindfulness doesn't pass by very often. i need to inhale it, savour it and let it penetrate my being. that by itself is sufficient to recharge, to have enough energy for the rest of the day.

the air from the fan is enough to break the heat. the noise in the background are the symphony of car horns, the caws of the crows and the laundry machine. the afternoon beckons for a nap. yet, i'm too selfish (or selfless) to give in to it. i want to stay awake and let the hours slowly pass by.

..... until the little one popped out of the room... and headed towards my direction. it's time to go back to a more true-to-life mindfulness with lots of screams and negotiations ;-)

up and happy

beaching at maroubra

my stubbornness brought us to maroubra beach.

i packed all the stuff we needed before kitt and kaela woke up. i boxed the leftover food so we didn't have to buy lunch outside. it was all planned well. except that kitt didn't know the plan.

as expected, kitt was so unwilling to go out of the house. i was itching and dying to leave. by all means. i coaxed him to go to maroubra. i've never been there. we've never been there.

still unmoved by my lovingly coerceful way, it's time to shift to plan b.

i said if he didn't want to go, kaela and i would just commute. things started happening. i tried to hide the glint in my eyes.

 you see, plan b was not to commute. it was to get tatay to drive us to the beach.

we reached the beach in one hour after missing a few turns in the city.

the smell of the salty water was incomparable to our daily routine. totally a relief to my sinusitis. i squinted at the beach when i removed my sunglasses. it's amazing to watch how the sea impregnates the waters and the bulge that releases its stress to the shore. it's a magical place.

 but nanay, i don't want to go to the water!

kaela was not fond of the water. she's still scared of the regular splashes. i brought her pail and shovel to keep her calm. they didn't. in the midst of being busy with the sand, i leaned on a blue bottle jellyfish at the shore. talk about karma for being insubmissive!

we didn't stay for so long but just enough to get a good dose of sun, sea, sand and the waves.

a happy wife is a happy life. true that.

when we came back home, kaela and i took a nap. it's so refreshing for a sunday afternoon!

mr. max brenner and us

it was scorchingly hot outside.

kaela and i had to run an errand before the household prayer meeting. despite the heat, we made a side trip to church street, hoping to stroll around eat street and enjoy some free acoustic music. we were disappointed. i realized it was past 3 o'clock in the afternoon  and the event was over.

i was quick to decide to go to the library instead. another hope turned sour. it's already closed.

opposite the library is the parramatta station where max brenner coffee shop is located. i'm not a fan of branded coffee shops but one dissappointment that led to another plus the hot weather prompted me to reckon, "why not"?

i ordered flat white and brownie with ice cream. kaela had her usual comfort drink - milk.

the coffee was nice but the fudgy brownie with chocolate syrup was just too sweet for me. at least, the vanilla ice cream compensated for the sugary dessert.

 beating the heat with these

 

we hang out for a few minutes. taking selfies. watching the bus and cars passed by the busy parramatta street. it's our priceless moment.

lounging at max brenner

did we beat the last wave of summer heat? oh, it couldn't be better!