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!

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!

state of gratefulness

coming to office early on a friday brought me great elation. on my desk stood my two flat monitors, a coffee and buttered croissant. i couldn't ask for more.

i suddenly remembered a progression of stories about food provision at work.

i was twenty when i started working. the workplace was one-level, no pantry, not even a water station. people complained about the lack of structure. i was thankful that i got a job in three weeks after i started looking.

i changed my job immediately after a new post opened that is more relevant to my undergrad degree. in one corner of our office was a small pantry and a water-refilling area - equipped with hot and cold buttons. what else can you ask for if you have unlimited supply of drink?

i moved to singapore. there is tea, coffee and biscuit on each level. in another company, there was a server preparing kopi-c and kopi-o. and another one having a nesvita as an option. i was on cloud nine. still, there were colleagues expecting more. no coke, no orange juice, no milk! the complaints were endless.

kitt and i migrated to australia. i joined a good company generous enough to provide your choice of cereals (muesli, corn flakes, weet-bix etc.), milk (lite, full cream, soy, almond), juice and unlimited coffee (cappucino, mocha, latte, espresso etc), soda and sparkling water, chocolates in the chiller, wine, beer and pizza, chips and fruits or dinner if you ended up working late. i can't believe my luck!

people still rant. no chef-prepared lunch. the juice is concentrated, not fresh. the coffee was not as good as in another level.

as i ate my croissant and sipped "savouring-ly" my free caffeine drink, how could i not feel grateful to have my daily manna!

commissioned work from kitt

nanay's little drama episode

i thought i got rid of it already.

i received a disappointing news this morning. i was frustrated.
kaela was not in her best behaviour. i snapped.

for months, i thought i already rose above my old self. well, it turned out that the recent episode reminds me how human i am. how vulnerable to stimuli that trigger me to choose to be unkind and impatient based on the negative emotion i'm nurturing.

i forgot that i always have a choice. it's a God-given grace.

for the nth time, i asked for forgiveness to Him and to francis.

tomorrow's another day. i'll start over again.

(i hope this is just brought about by quitting coffee cold turkey)

to five years and beyond

we celebrated our fifth year in melbourne, the foodie capital of australia, in the company of our dear friends.

it was consistently sunny during our short vacation, a sweet surprise given the irreverent weather in melbourne.

we had a few places in mind where to go to. amongst on our list were rod laver arena, federation square, royal botanic garden, national gallery of australia, shrine of remembrance, sea life, brighton beach and werribee mansion. we were lucky to go to most of them and so much more.

located at one of the strategic locations in the melbourne cbd,  the shrine of remembrance stands tall and proud. 

at flinders station

national gallery of victoria.

next to claude monet's piece (right) 

at federation square,  enjoying the breeze on a sunny day. 

degraves street. i wish i could have as much coffee as there is.

the royal botanic garden offered us the shade and chill we just needed on a hectic pasyal day. (do you notice how kaela adores her tatay?) 

kaela had her share of the moment at sea life

we were welcomed by ampel and harold for lunch in bear brass at southgate.

thereafter, we had a simple anniversary dinner celebration with our friends, the barcenas and the islas, along with tita yolly, at tgi friday's. we headed to lindt cafe after to have our daily dose of caffeine.

on our last day, our friends (still the same crowd) treated us to a hole-in-a-wall filipino restaurant at melbourne central.

i was in heaven to find the truffle oil in QVM. i can't get enough of this place.

anniversaries may be deemed as a celebration between husband and wife. this exclusivity won't work with us, though. as we celebrate the highs and lows in our relationship, we can't discount the fact that we wouldn't be where we are if not for the help and support we got from people who made sure we would have a smoother sail in our journey. no, we wouldn't have it another way.

happy anniversary to us. and cheers to all the love and friendship we have!

coffee, milk and so much more

we're easy. a coffee for me and milk for kaela, and we're sold out! 

we spent our sunday lazing around in the morning and taking a nap after lunch. and just before i stepped in the shower after the siesta, the little toddler was up, in  high spirits and saying, "hi". 

kaela joined me to my afternoon sunday day-out. we headed to the library to borrow some books for our nightly reading.

not far from the library is my favorite coffee shop - the emporium coffee. we stopped by to have my most needed sip of the day while kaela had her milk delight. it was a splendid time!

 

across the coffee shop is the westfield mall where we window-shop on weekends (and always just buying coffee or going home empty-handed but more memories to tell tatay kitt). kaela was over the moon for a while when she saw the minion plush toys. the next minute she was dying to leave the pram, wanting to grab the fluffies!

in the mall, the giant christmas tree is already standing tall and grand. kaela couldn't miss not posing for a souvenir. it's always love at first sight every year!

what else could we ask for our sunday! it was perfect.