Scrumdiferous

(cue TV voice over here) Previously on my blog...

HR and I are away for the weekend, staying in Albury, but the main event - dinner - is to be at Miss Amelie which is in Wodonga (go read the blogs). We've had the obligatory domestic, played tourist and now it is time for the finest dining experience one could wish for..........

However, before I move on I must admit to being a bit of an ignoramus...I have been saying Miss Amelie with a long e sound in the Amelie sort of Ameelie, turns out it is pronounced Amelie, like Emily but with an A (Thanks Christian)

Scrumdiferous is the best word to describe the food at  Miss Amelie. Grandificent is the word to describe the whole experience. I'm not sure how to get flippercanorious in but all three words meant 'wonderful' a century ago. Uniquely splendid words for a uniquely splendid establishment and experience!

HR and I took a taxi to the restaurant so we could both enjoy a drink and not have to worry bout the booze bus.
The last time we were here it was winter and quite dark at 6:30 pm. This time it is spring and the light fills the space.
The dining room was beautifully set up and we were shown to our table where Christian looked after us for the evening.
I started with the Miss Amelie cocktail, again, still have no idea what is in it, and frankly if you want to know go to the restaurant and order one!!! It is a delightfully refreshing drink and a perfect accompaniment to perusing the menu (updated since our last visit) HR had a beer.

I started with the- green asparagus, organic duck egg, beurre noisette crumb, salted ricotta- what a riot of beautiful flavours and textures. The gorgeous greens of the asparagus highlighted by the bright yellow of the duck egg a gorgeous feast for the eyes. The crisp vegetable, the creamy yolk, the buerre noisette crumb all combined into a delicious whole. I paired this dish with a glass of - cooper burns riesling ~ eden valley sa -a nice combination.
HR chose the - spanner crab, compressed green apple, daikon, shisho, cucumber jelly- and pronounced himself very happy with his choice. HR had beer with his entrée. No I didn't sample this dish :) I was to engrossed with my own food.

HR and I ,having overcome the earlier contretemps, discussed the relative merits of retiring to the region so it would be easier to dine regularly at Miss Amelie.....

Main course and I have chosen the - confit lamb scotch, spring peas, beetroot, radish, pickled raspberries - what a crime to actually cut into this picturesque dish!!!! However I overcame my qualms and tucked in.....what a delight!!! The lamb was tender and cooked to perfection the vegetables divine the flavours blending perfectly. This Kapay boy knows how to construct a dish to appeal to all the senses!!!
Now I am not a red wine drinker and indeed am fairly ignorant on the subject so I asked Christian to serve my something a little fruity and not too dry - he excelled in fulfilling the brief!! I have no idea what he served but it was lovely and perfectly matched to the meal! (Thank you again Christian).
HR chose - baked potato + parmesan gnocchi, tuscan cabbage, taleggio + fontina - and again declared himself well pleased with his choice.Again he had beer and again I did not taste the dish - seriously it would have messed with my experience AND he would have expected to have a taste of mine and quite frankly that was NEVER going to happen!!!!
Not a lot of chat happening at this stage as we were fully immersed in enjoying our chosen repast. Heaven.
Now those of you who read my blogs (thank you, thank you, thank you) would know that while I know of David Kapay and his recent chef history,we share a passion for the same footy team (the Mighty Brisbane Lions), I have never had the pleasure of actually meeting him. That changed this evening. I asked Christian to mention to David that I was surprised he did not have a maroon, blue and gold (Brisbane Lion's colours) dish on the menu and David laughed and promptly came over to the table and we introduced ourselves. Mindful of the busy dining room we didn't hold David up for long but it was nice that we could have that moment - Thank you.

HR and I consulted the dessert menu...
I can never resist the - lemon soufflé, poppy seed sablé, french meringue, cheesecake ice cream - honestly it is the most awesome experience eating this soufflé like eating lemon flavoured clouds. I chose t have a lovely glass of - montevecchio moscato ~ heathcote vic - the lemon of the soufflé working with the sweetness of the wine. Hey, I'm no epicure, gastronome or whatever,it worked for me!!!
HR had - chocolate + hazelnut praline 'cannelloni', salted honeycomb, orange curd - and while I am not one for chocolate dessert thingies, this thing looked awesome and smelled like jaffas!!! HR was very well pleased. There's a really good write up about this particular dessert in the 'Essentials' magazine . Someone who is way more articulate than I am describes this dessert beautifully and you get some nice back story on our host - David Kapay.


 We've just spent the last two hours wining and dining, we've hardly noticed that the dining room is actually full.

Of the three words I used at the beginning of this blog 'Scrumdiferous' is the one that most suits how I feel about Miss Amelie and that is why I used it as the title.

 It's been a pleasure as always and we have made plans to return in February 2017.

talking to brick walls

Quick recap: HR and I are away for the weekend and so far so good (see To the Manor Born Blog).

It's Saturday morning and we've just had breakfast at Hampton Court. Up to now HR has been reasonably communicative. Seriously if HR didn't have shoulders he would NOT be able to communicate - shrugs once for yes and shrug twice for no.
Anyway, thus far, 0945, and all is well. 0955 and he has ignored me (reckons he didn't hear me, old mongrel is going deaf too it seems) and we get into the car cos we are off to Rutherglen, apparently its a food and wine zone. Only 45 minutes down the road so not all day in the car.

On the way out of Albury, down the main street and what do we see in the park? Oh YES a Triumph Rally! Heaps of the classic little cars of all models......

HR and I browsed the cars for a little while and I engaged a perfectly lovely Nanna in chat. HR was not very forthcoming about the cars when I got back to him.
After we looked at the lovely cars it was time to resume the trip to Rutherglen.

For the next 45 minutes I try to engage the curmudgeonly HR in conversation and get donuts, zip, zilch, nada, Sweet FA.
I get a little agitated as most women would under the circumstances. So when he asks ME a question I ignore him. I ignored him only one time, not multiples like he has me, oh no just once and he lights up like a Christmas tree, huffing and puffing like a freaking steam train!!!!!!!
So he asks again did I want to go to Brown Brother's winery (another 45 mins down the road, remember I didn't want to spend all bloody day in the car) and I tell him to please himself (with a few expletives for good measure) and remain totally silent for the whole time it takes to get there.
We duly arrive at the winery and he asks if we are getting out and I let him have it with both barrels!!
How on earth could he expect I would want to go into the winery ?
We sat in the car park for 30 minutes and 'discussed' the issues. Then we left.
By the time we left we had come to an accord.
We would revisit the winery next time we are in the region (Feb 17)
We would go and find some food (emotional outbursts make one very hungry)
We would enjoy the rest of the afternoon
and we did.....
We grabbed some schnitzel burgers from Schnitz and went to the Botanical Gardens in Albury for a picnic. It was lovely in the gardens, a tad breezy and the food was decent.
HR lived in the region when he was a youngster and he indicated it would be cool to have a wander down memory lane.
Off we went to Bandiana. We saw where he went to school and the vacant land where his house had stood.
On the way out we noticed a sign for the Bonegilla Migrant Experience and HR obligingly turned off the main road for me to have a look.
Now almost fifty years ago I arrived in Australia from the 'Mother' country and as Dad was joining the Royal Australian Air Force  we were promptly housed at the Smithfield Migrant Hostel in South Australia (recruit training was done at RAAF Base Edinburgh in the 'old' days). Visiting the Bonegilla Migrant Experience reminded me of the months we spent in that drab establishment before we were sent to Norlane Migrant Hostel when Dad had to go to Victoria for his category training after recruits.
Norlane had Nissan huts unlike the other two hostels that had barracks. While we had our own 'rooms' we used communal bathrooms and eating halls. It was very thought provoking wandering through the buildings and recalling things I hadn't thought of for many years.
The last port of call for the afternoon was the Hume Weir.

Awesome scenery!!!!! and apparently a popular place for Brides to have wedding shots taken.
By now it is time to go back to our fabulous hotel and get ready for dinner...
Dinner at Miss Amelie.........

To the Manor Born.......

HR and I have been gallivanting about the countryside yet again.
I finished early on Friday and fled the Crypt with indecent haste, got home, packed a bag, grabbed a traveller and HR and off we went.

It's my birthday next week and we will both be working so we figured we'd take this weekend and go do some birthday type stuff.

I decided I wanted to go to Miss Amelie for dinner and that we should stay somewhere nearby so we could grab a cab and both be able to enjoy a drink with dinner. So Albury/Wodonga was our destination.
Three hours into a four hour drive I mentioned coffee to HR and we promptly pulled into Holbrook.
Now I may have mentioned J&B Cafe in Holbrook as being an excellent purveyor of Eggs Benedict and entirely drinkable tea and it is to this establishment we made a beeline only to find them closed.
So HR executed a quick U turn and we moseyed on in to the Holbrook Bakery.
Well what a bloody revelation!! They have almost any baked good you could desire and it all made on the premises.There are prize certificates proudly displayed in the window for their pies.
They have THE most divine Apple Crumble and the columbine donut thingy HR had  was filled with delicious custard and Chantilly cream and was very very very decadent.

Then HR spotted the Wagon Wheels. These Wagon Wheels are freaking ginormous!!!

We bought two for spares on the Sportage and trundled off to our weekend destination (The Wagon Wheels are delicious by the way).


We have stayed in various hotels throughout the Albury/Wodonga area and while they are all good clean places I wanted something different.  I decided to use the TripAdvisor app on my phone to have a look - and found the Albury Manor House.  What an awesome place! " The Albury Manor House is a truly individual 4 star boutique establishment that offers character and warmth in an English Tudor Style"  Reception has two suits of armour, each a different knight. The restaurants are Elizabethan themed ( we had breakfast at Hampton Court) and the room we stayed in was called Queen Elizabeth I Suite.

A beautiful King size four poster in a huge room with comfy lounging chairs and a cute little tea table and chairs, beautiful bedside cabinets and credenza, and a generous size bathroom with a spa. A range of pillows was provided and even though HR and I bring our own pillows, HR used the hotel pillow and was well pleased. The bed was really comfortable. The best thing? The MOST sensible thing? The thing that really will have us coming back again? There were FOUR, yes FOUR, towels in the bathroom. The women get it......

 HR and I do not get up early when we travel and so it was almost nine before we chose to break our fast.
Breakfast at Hampton Court was a buffet affair and well provisioned. A choice of warm croissant, English muffins or toast with all the condiments one could wish for as well as yoghurt and fruits, cereals AND they even had my green tea with Jasmine.
Hampton Court overlooks the swimming pool and the sound of the water fall was very pleasant.
The Albury Manor hotel is a very popular wedding venue and they even have their own stretch limmo!! We decided that rather than share a dining room with pre wedding guests we would forage afar and eat in our room. Hopefully we can try some of the restaurants next time (February next year I have made an executive decision!) and of course Saturday night we went to Miss Amelie.

Stayed tuned for the next Blog where we discuss the discussion (screaming argument) outside Brown Brothers Winery and other interesting Saturday events.......

Money Money Money

HR and I are on a good wicket. We each earn a good wage. Sure we help the kids out but, we still have enough to do the stuff we want; new cars,weekend brunches, weekend trips away, cruises and the New Zealand trip next year, always a few dollars in the pocket.
Yep we earn good money. However, it seems we will have to sell a child or take a personal loan to pay the winter gas bill.
I have been 'down south' for 6 months now and all of it has been cold. I love the cold, as long as I have a heater and a blanket. The first heating bill (gas) we got was in the region of $650 dollars and after HR got over his heart attack I mentioned that the heating was gas. He argued of course, I mean seriously how could I know it was gas? Anyway he checked the books and the gas meter and confirmed what I had told him. The electric bill was minimal.
Now some of you are out there saying there are ways we can minimise the use of the heater and,  you may well be right but not in this place. It seems that the heater is on, in every room, or it is off. There is no way to close the heat off in any of the rooms. Seriously, the upstairs is always ten degrees warmer than downstairs and we only use two rooms up there so closing the unused rooms off would be a no brainer. But we can't. If we closed any of the vents the system would over heat and shut down and then we would be up for repairs which may cost more than the gas bill.
Anyway we decided that the cold was too severe and we could afford the bill so screw it we will use the heater. Right up until yesterday when the second bill in 6 months rocked up. $1020.60!!!!!!!!! for 90 days. $1020.60 you have got to be joking!!!! A total of over $1600 for winter gas. That is ten times what we were paying in Queensland.
I figured I would see if there is an alternate power provider for the area - wasn't that a hoot. Bloody hell they want to know how many pairs of pink knickers you have as well as you credit rating before they will tell you the smallest thing.
HR is the name on the bill so he rang the energy provider and was a tad terse, seems as he scrutinised the bill further he discovered the bill was an estimate. He spoke to a very nice young man who advised that the people contracted to read the meters had not provided the information in time so they had taken a best guess. Great if they were anywhere near accurate. The numbers on the bill were so far out from what the meter read it was ridiculous (the meter read hundreds of MJ's less than what the bill read). So the young man mentioned that since the bill had been issued the required info had rocked up and that a new bill would be issued in the next few weeks.
HR and I have decided we need to move to a more temperate region or at least one where the gas is a lot bloody cheaper.
Until then we will sit here huddled in blankets sipping hot drinks to ward off the cold and dream of warmer days.