Day 14 - Maldon & Mulled Cider

Today was the "Maldon & Beyond Food and Wine Festival" and since we are still up at Castlemaine (which is only about 15mins from Maldon) we thought that sounded fun! We woke to rain. Not a good start to a day we were planning to go to an outdoor festival... But we braved the elements and went anyway. I must say it was a huge disappointment. We weren't even tempted to taste any of the tiny range of wine, and found it pretty much a yawn the first time around, so we went to a local cafe and had a scrumtious Devonshire Tea. We did one more lap of the little festival before we headed off and actually were suprised to find some interesting produce! We got a couple of vegetarian tarts for dinner (that were very yummy!), some relish and other bits and pieces... So it wasn't a loss after all.

On the way back to Castlemaine we went via Harcourt, which isn't actually on the way to Castlemaine from Maldon, but let's not get into a geography lesson... Anyway, we went via Harcourt because we wanted some more wine and produce from the fabulous Bress, and some of Henry fof Harcourt's Perry (aka pear cider - but I wouldn't dare say that to Henry's wife!) and premium apple cider so I could make some mulled cider, which I did as soon as we got back to my folks.

I took Henry's premium apple cider...

And Henry's Mulled Cider recipe...

And some spices...

And bunged it all in a pot (in the proportions and methods as described by the recipe)...

Trust me - it tasted WAY better than it looks!!!

After about 10mins or so it was ready to drink. Yummy! A nice, warm mulled cider to take the chill off a cold winter's day :-) The bottle of cider was 750mls, and when you mull a bottle of cider (or wine or whatever you can mull) you do the lot... So everyone had a little try, said their niceties and then left the rest to me... Hmmm... 650mls of lovely warm mulled cider went down very nicely, but I must admit I felt a bit sickly after the last glass!

All in all, a wonderful, relaxing Sunday with hubby topped by dinner with my parents. Back to the "real world" tomorrow...

Hope you all had a great weekend!

x

Day 12 - Cider Heaven!

Being near Harcourt (famous for apples) cider is pretty popular up here in Castlemaine... But I was shocked (and thrilled!) when I went to the local Cellarbrations. There were not the usual choice of two or three (if you're lucky) apple ciders that I'm used to finding in your standard local liquor store - there were 3 FRIDGES full of different ciders! THREE FRIDGES!!! Well, that stopped me in my tracks - instead of having to make a quick "which one?" decision, I was faced with a "Wow! I love that, and that, and that... What do I really feel like?" decision!

There was all my favourites (and comments regarding the term "pear cider" will [probably] be ignored!) - Strongbow, a whole range from Rekordering, Henry of Harcourt's Perry, Bress, Kopparberg, Bulmers, Sail & Anchor, Monteiths, and the list goes on! Henry's, Bress & Rekordering top my list, but I came back with a 6-pack of Strongbow Summer Pear because it was (a) mostly cheaper and (b) the others were by the bottle and not in a convenient pack, and (c) in the case of Henry's and Bress, I want to pop in to their cellar doors tomorrow anyway.

I'm going to go have some happy, slightly intoxicated discussions with my father regarding systems security now *hiccup* lol!

x

Day 11 - Living it up in Castlemaine

I'm up in Castlemaine staying with my parents for a few days - so I can pick my dad's brain because it is his Network & Internet Security course I've been studying. Nothing like having the lecturer all to yourself for a few days to teach you one-on-one!

I just love it up here in Castlemaine - it's such a gorgeous town, lying approximately 1.5hrs NW of Melbourne. Mum and dad have been living here for a few months now, in a sweet little cottage close to the centre of town.

I had a lovely wander through town this afternoon - just having a look at what there was. Lots of wonderful stores from fashion to food, from gardening to art. Definitely not a boring little country town! And there is still so much to explore! One shop in particular caught my eye - it had a Prudence clone in the window.

For those of you who don't know, Prudence is my beloved teddy bear who has been with me for a number of years, and has been through many good times and some very bad times. I ventured into the shop and there were about 10 Prudence clones! I was shocked - not that there were other Prudence-like bears, but because of how much she has changed since my mum first gave her to me. She has definitely been well-loved and shows it!

Here is a Prudence-clone, and what my Prudence looked a lot like when she was new:

But now, after a lot of loving, she looks like this:

A little more of a grey than white, a bit worn around the edges, and a bit more squishy... but a whole lot more loveable that any of the brand new clones! There's nothing quite like your teddy bear :-)

x