Avocado Fries with Chilli Aioli

Dear Readers,

This recipe is a little unconventional in my opinion, I have never seen or eaten Avocado fries in a restaurant or anywhere else, but they seem to be quite popular on the internet these days so I decided to give it a go. I really like avocados, one of my favourite ways of eating it is with just a little sprinkle of salt and pepper. Simple and delicious. I love the creamy texture and the beautiful green colour, it makes me feel I am eating really healthy. Contrary to the fatty perception of avocados, they are really good for you. They are high in Oleic acid that helps prevent Breast Cancer. It is also high in carotenoid lutein  and an excellent source of glutathione, an important antioxidant that researchers say is important in preventing aging, cancer, and heart disease. Health benefits aside, these avocado fries are a great snack and are perfect for entertaining. I hope you enjoy this recipe.

Love,

Cookie

Source: Health benefits of Avocado

Recipe                                                                                               Print Recipe

Serves 2-4

Ingredients

For the Avocado Fries

1 cup Tempura Flour (easily available in Super markets)

3/4 cup Cold water

3 Avocados

Oil for frying

For Chilli Aioli

1 egg

2 Red Chillis, chopped

1/2 Clove Garlic, grated

1 tsp Mustard

1 tsp Red wine Vinegar

1/2 cup Olive oil

1/2 tsp Pepper

Salt to taste

Note: If tempura flour is unavailable use plain flour mixed with sparkling water.

Method

For the Avocado Fries

Cut the avocados into half and remove the skin. Slice the avocado into thin strips.Take a bowl and add the flour to it. Make a well in the center and add the water stirring continuously till you get a lump free smooth batter.

Tempura Flour

Batter

Avocado Fries

Now dip the avocado slices in the batter and slowly put them in the heated oil one by one. Don't add more than 5-6 at a time. Once they turn golden, take them out and place them on a plate lined with absorbent Kitchen tissue to absorb any excess oil. Repeat the process till all the avocado slices are done.

For the Chilli Aioli

Pour the whole egg, chopped chillis, garlic, salt, pepper, vinegar and mustard in a bowl or jug of the stick blender. Using the stick blender combine the ingredients while slowly adding olive oil from the side. Keep mixing till you get a smooth creamy dipping sauce.
Serve the avocado fries with the chilli aioli. 

Stuffed Zucchini flowers and Avocado Fries platter with Chilli Aioli

Enjoy!

Banana Bread

Dear Readers,

One of my pet peeves is wasting food. I am always looking for ways to use leftovers and stale (not expired or unhealthy) ingredients. Using over ripe fruits for making cakes and desserts is a great way to avoid wastage. I usually freeze bananas once they are over ripe and then use them in smoothies and banana bread or even banana ice cream - just put the frozen bananas in a food processor and pulse. Voila, you have smooth, creamy banana ice cream - it's that simple! So don't throw away over ripe bananas, no matter how black they've become they can still be used to create some delish goodies.

Banana Bread is one of the simplest baked treats out there and also one of the most comforting. When I first moved to Australia as a student, I used to live in a matchbox sized student apartment with no oven.The fact that my housemate and I loved desserts, would be an understatement. We really bonded through our love for chocolate and cheesecakes, you should have seen our grocery bills at the time. It was during this time that I fell in love with banana bread, I especially loved it dipped in chocolate - they way they serve it at Max Brenner (Chocolate and dessert place) Eventually we moved out of the student apartment and moved into an apartment with guess what- an oven! I used to bake a lot of banana bread then (bananas are cheap and I love the fruit) and still do. I  have modified various recipes and think I finally have a winner. This banana bread is aromatic, sweet, with a hint of spice and absolutely delicious dipped in chocolate or on its own. Give it a go, I am sure you will love it too.

Love,

Cookie

Recipe                                                                                              Print Recipe

(Adapted from The Big Book of Baking)

yields one loaf

Ingredients

225 g Self Raising Flour

50 g Brown Sugar

100 g Caster Sugar

2 tsp Ground Cinnamon

11/2 ts ground Nutmeg

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

2-3 ripe bananas, mashed

5 tbsp Vegetable oil

100 ml Butter milk

2 eggs

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 C. Grease and line a 900 g loaf tin. In a large bowl, sift the flour, sugar, salt and spices. In another bowl mash the bananas with the Vanilla Extract and butter milk. Now add the whisked eggs and oil to it. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well.

Pour the batter into the loaf tin and bake in the pre heated oven for about an hour. To test the loaf, insert a skewer into the centre. If it comes out clean, it's done if not bake for another 10 minutes and test again.

Loaf tin ready to be baked

Remove from oven and invert it onto a cooling rack. Once it has cooled down, slice it and serve.

Banana Bread Loaf

Sliced Banana Bread

Enjoy!

Tips: 

How to Make your own Buttermilk:

If you do not have buttermilk at home, you don't necessarily have to buy it. You can easily make your own at home. Add 1 tbsp of vinegar or lemon juice to one cup of milk and let it stand for 10-15 minutes. Buttermilk is ready.

The Colours of Holi - Gujiya flavoured Cupcakes

Dear Readers,

Firstly apologies, I wanted to have this post up before the festival of Holi and not a day after it. It has been a busy time with both Holi and Easter around at the same time and so many other commitments. For those who don't know about Holi - Holi is a Hindu Spring Festival celebrated in March. It signifies the ultimate victory of good over evil. 

Holi has its origins in the legend of Prahlad an ardent Lord Vishnu devotee and son of King Hiranyakashyapu. The King had been granted a boon by Lord Brahma (creator). The boon was due to his long penance, after which he had demanded that he not be killed "during day or night; inside the home or outside, not on earth or in the sky; neither by a man nor an animal; neither by astra nor by shastra". Consequently, he grew arrogant and attacked the Heavens and the Earth. He demanded that people stop worshipping gods and start praying to him. Prahlad, the King's son continued to be devoted to Vishnu which angered the King and he decided to kill his son. He tried many different methods of killing him but failed. Finally, he ordered young Prahlada to sit on a pyre in the lap of Holika, Hiranyakashipu's demoness sister, who also could not die because she had a boon preventing her from being burned by fire. Prahlada readily accepted his father's orders, and prayed to Lord Vishnu to keep him safe. When the fire started, everyone watched in amazement as Holika burnt to death, while Prahlada survived unharmed. The salvation of Prahlad and burning of Holika is celebrated as Holi.The burning of the bonfire during the festivities signifies the burning of Holika even today.

The festival also has links to Lord Krishna and his playful nature and love for Radha. The colour throwing part of the festival may have its origins here. Gulaal (the colour pink) is the most common colour thrown during the celebration. It is a fun filled, exuberant festival enjoyed by everyone. 

Sources:

Wikipedia
BBC
Myths and Origins of Holi

Holi is my favourite festival. During my school years I would have my friends over and we played Holi on our terrace or the family would get together and play. We would throw colours, water balloons and pichkaris (water guns) and get so dirty by the end of it all, totally unrecognizable.  Mom would make some delicious snacks which we gorged on after getting cleaned up. The traces of colours would sometimes stay on and when we would go to school the next day, we could tell who has played Holi and who had not.

I was missing the Holi festivities in India, it has been a long time since I was in India during Holi. There is a Holi Mela scheduled to happen on the weekend of April 6-7 at Darling Harbour. I can't wait to go sample some good food and get all coloured up in the colours of Holi. So if you live in Sydney and like Indian food and dont mind getting a little coloured up then check this out Holi Mahotsav Sydney

In the mean time I decided to indulge in creating something new and exciting. Gujiya is a traditional Indian sweet preared during Holi. I initially thought of making Gujiya but then decided to use those flavours in creating a cupcake. I have been wanting to use traditional sweet inspirations in creating modern desserts for a while and this was a great occasion to be doing it. Gujiya is basically pastry filled with coconut, cashew nuts, mawa, cardamom and then sealed to form little dumplings and then fried. 

Taking Gujiya as my inspiration I set out to make my cupcakes. The cake is vanilla-cardamom flavoured. The icing is saffron and cardamom flavoured with toasted coconut and cashews sprinkled on top. The cupcakes were a huge success, I was so pleased with the taste and texture. It really tasted like an Indian sweet and the frosting tasted like Shrikhand ( a popular dessert made of thick yoghurt mixed with saffron and cardamom) Hubby was both amused and amazed and scoffed down a few last night. I am pleased with the experimentation and happy that the flavours worked and I was successful in re-creating the Indian sweet flavours in a new form.

Love,

Cookie

P.S.

I selected this post to be featured on Indian Food Blogs. Please visit the site and vote for my blog!

Readers, is there a traditional recipe that you modernised? Did it work? I would love to hear about it, please leave your answers in the comments section.

Recipe                                                              Print Recipe

Yields 8

Ingredients

50 g Softened Unsalted Butter

85 g caster Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla

1 tsp Cardamom Powder

1 Egg

100 g Self Raising Flour

65 g Milk

Saffron Frosting

2-3 tbsp Warm Milk

100 g Spreadable cream cheese

50 g Softened Unsalted Butter

3 tbsp Icing Sugar

Cardamom Powder

10 Saffron threads

3 tbsp roughly chopped cashew nuts

2 tbsp dessicated coconut

Red Food colouring (if using)

Method

Preheat oven to 180 C. 

In a medium sized bowl, cream the butter, sugar and vanilla till light and fluffy. Gradually mix in the egg. Add the cardamom powder, half the flour and half the milk and mix well. Now add rest of the flour and milk.

Line a muffin tray with 8 cases and fill with batter till 3/4 full and put it in the pre heated oven for 20 minutes, the cup cakes should have a light golden colour, well risen and cooked through. A skewer should come out clean when inserted in the center. Let the cupcakes cool on a cooling rack.

Cupcakes

Saffron Cardamom Frosting

Soak the saffron threads in warm milk and keep aside till the milk is coloured golden. 

Cream the butter and icing sugar till pale and fluffy. Add the saffron-milk mixture followed by cardamom powder and cream cheese. Beat the mixture till it is smooth fluffy and of a thick consitency that can be easily piped. (taste the frosting to check for sweetness and flavour, add sugar or cardamom if required) 

Saffron Cardamom Frosting

Divide the mixture into two halves and colour one half with a few drops of red food colouring, I wanted a pink colour but probably added a little too much red and got a deep pink instead. You can leave the food colouring out altogether, I was just going for a colourful Holi themed dessert. I filled two piping bags with the two batches of icing and piped a rose swirl on the cupcakes. 

To toast the coconut, take a pan and add the dessicated coconut to it and lightly toast it on low heat till golden.

Toasted Coconut

In a mortar and pestle lightly pound the cashews to roughly break them up.

Pounded cashew nuts

The cupcakes looked so pretty that I did not feel like adding the coconut and cashews, but did it anyway to give it that extra crunchiness and flavour. It had to have coconut and cashew nuts the essence of gujiya. I am glad I did as they tasted wonderful.

Enjoy!

Home Thai Restaurant, Sydney CBD

I realized I am still new to Sydney when I was trying to find my way to Hotel Park Royal from Cockle Bay Wharf. Sydney CBD and its meandering streets are quite confusing, especially when one is used to the precise grid of Melbourne CBD. I found my way there finally (thanks to Maps on my I phone) to meet a dear friend who was down for work from Melbourne. We were both famished and were actually walking towards an old favourite Din Tai Fung when we stumbled upon this fiery beauty. Home Thai Restaurant reminded me a lot of Chat Thai, another popular Sydney Thai Restaurant- the modern Asian vibe and decor was very similar. The Restaurant has a large open kitchen near the entrance, the decor is minimal and modern with exposed brick walls, some art pieces and a touch of green with plants. The restaurant was filled with customers - always a good sign and there were also a number of people waiting to be seated. After about ten minutes we were escorted to our table, we settled down and ordered away. The menu had a good selection of  vegetarian dishes, which was great as both me and my friend are vegetarians. 

Drink: Bengal Quinee/Quince Juice

($4)

I ordered this drink purely out of curiosity. I had asked the waitress as to what Bengal quinee is (I think it is a typo and actually refers to Bengal Quince/Stone Apple) and she was quite clueless and said its a herb. I didn't buy it and wanted to find out about this mystery ingredient. The drink looked like ice tea and tasted really sweet and had no particular flavour. It was nothing special in my opinion but if you are after something sweet to drink it's allright I guess.

Bengal Quince Juice

Entree: Keuw Tie Lod 
Noodle rolls, bean sprouts, hard tofu, black mushrooms and garlic chive. Served with Spicy Sauce 
($6.5)

We were served two large rolls/dumplings filled with a delicious mixture of sprouts, noodles, tofu and mushrooms. The sauce lived upto its spicy description and tasted delicious, it had the fiery hit of green chilli and when combined with the mild sticky dumplings it was a great combination. I loved the fact that its authentic and the chilli levels are not reduced to suit the Western palate. A very enjoyable dish and probably my favourite from the night.

Dumplings filled with noodles, tofu and sprouts with spicy sauce

Main: Lad Nah

Stir fried Flat rice noodles with Chinese brocolli in bean sauce 

($11.9)

The noodles were submerged in a tasty yellow bean sauce and studded with beautiful vegetables. The sauce was delicious and the vegetables were crunchy and had good flavour. I could slurp these noodles down any week night, they were that good.

Flat rice noodles in yellow bean sauce

Main: Pad Ma Mong Hin Ma Pan

Stir fried with chilli jam, cashew nuts, onion, shallots, dried chilli, mushrooms 

($13.9)

This was a slightly sweet vegetable stir fry with cashew nuts and chilli jam. The sauce had a subtle sweetness to it and the crunchy cashew nuts really lifted the dish. It was a pleasant dish but not my favourite of the night.

Stir fried vegetables with cashew nuts

Service 6/10

Food 8/10

Ambience 6/10

We thoroughly enjoyed the meal, it was fresh tasty and great value for money. The service can be a bit better, staff tend to get rude to customers when busy and  they should have a better understanding of the menu. I would definitely go back for the food!

Cracked Pepper Restaurant

During our recent trip to the Hunter Valley we visited this gem of a restaurant. It's nestled in the gardens adjacent to the Butterfly Garden gallery which showcases some quirky treasures and the award winning de luliis Winery. This was our last meal in the Hunter Valley before we headed back to Sydney. We made our way to the Winery first as we reached a little early. After wine tasting we proceeded to the restaurant, our reservation was for 12 pm for lunch and there were many guests enjoying brunch/breakfast. The restaurant is modern, simple and has a beautiful view to the garden. 

Interior of the Restaurant

Butterfly Garden Gallery treasures displayed - looks like something out of Tim Burton's movie

We were in a hurry to get back home unfortunately so it was a quick meal. We only had mains but hope to go back to try more dishes.

Main 1: Pan fried Crumbed lamb's Brains on buttered spinach and crisp potato wafers with bacon batons, creamy honey mustard and thyme sauce

Price: $18.5

Hubby ordered this dish and was very pleased with it. The lamb brains were crispy on the outside and were creamy inside. The sauce complemented it very well and it had great texture with the addition of the potato crisps. The portions are not huge so we ordered a side of the chips as well.

Crumbed Lamb Brains with Potato Crisps

Main 2: Warm tartlet of roasted pumpkin, sage, pine nuts, Binorie fetta and local roquette

Price: $18.5

I absolutely love pumpkin and just had to order this dish and it definitely did not disappoint. The pumpkin, fetta filling was delicious and the pastry was nice and crisp. I loved the addition of the sticky balsamic. It was an enjoyable dish. 

Pumpkin, fetta, pine nut tart with Rquette 

Service 8/10

Food 9/10

Ambience 8/10

One of the things that stood out about this restaurant was the fact that they take pride in serving vegetarian, vegan and allergy friendly food. They are also committed to using local, fresh and sustainably produced ingredients. I would definitely recommend this restaurant, it has a nice ambience, great food and lovely staff.

Note: As with all restaurant reviews I try and be as objective and detailed in my review, and  I do include non-vegetarian dishes which are tried by others as well. This in no way means that I support it, but I do respect another person's freedom and choices.

La Dolce Vita - Weekend in Hunter Valley

Entrance of Tuscany Estate

Dear Readers,
I have been wanting to write about our romantic Weekend getaway to Hunter Valley ever since we got back. Things have been busy and so I have had to put it off until now. A very dear friend gifted me a Scoopon Voucher for a getaway to Hunter Valley for my birthday last October, we finally booked ourselves in for the weekend of 8-10 March.  So on 8th March, Friday we set out for our little holiday. We were supposed to head out by 10 am so that we could reach Hunter by lunch time, unfortunately hubby had to work from home that morning till about mid day.We live in Inner West, Sydney and the drive to Hunter was about two hours. By 2 pm we were already famished and so we stopped on the way to pick up some take away Chinese for lunch and then finally reached Tuscany Wine Estate, our beautiful abode for two days. The entrance to the Estate is clearly marked and very welcoming. There is greenery all around and the views are just breathtaking. I was already excited, my exact words were -"Who needs to go to Italy, we have a little bit of the Tuscan sun right here in Australia."

One of the many wonderful views from Tuscany Wine Estate and Resort

We proceeded towards the reception to check in. The staff was very friendly and explained all the fine print about our voucher. We had $60 of food credit to use towards breakfast and dinner for both days and we were also entitled to a discounted rate for the Winery tour which we booked for Saturday the 9th of March. We then headed to our room to relax and have lunch. The room was beautiful and very much in keeping with the Tuscan theme with the use of ochres, yellow and blue. They even provided us with a complimentary bottle of Tyrrell's Sparkling Wine, the weekend was off to a great start.

Our room at Tuscany

Tyrrell's Sparkling Wine - gift from Tuscany Estate

Once we sat down to eat we realized the take away lady had forgotten to give us forks or spoons The Indian in me surfaced and I think I was happy enough to slurp down the noodles using my hands, I was very hungry!.We then realized Tuscany Estate is a boutique accommodation and so does not offer room service. We then went to the reception and asked for plates and cutlery and finally sat down to eat in the beautiful grassland behind our room. They had set up a little table and two chairs to enjoy the outside scenery. It was beautiful and serene, perfect weather too, only exception were a few pesky flies which were undoubtedly attracted to the food.

Outdoor setting

 We had a dinner reservation at The Mill Restaurant which was part of the Tuscany Estate. The Restaurant review can be found here - The Mill Restaurant Review. The next day we quickly got dressed had breakfast and waited for our our ride to the Wineries.

The Winery tour

Pick up: 10.30 am

Drop off: 5.30 pm

Destination: 5 wineries, other haunts included Hunter Valley Chocolate shop, Cheese Shop and The British Lolly Shop.

With who: A group of merry people

Winery 1: Iron Bark Hill

Address: 694 Hermitage Rd, Pokolbin NSW 2320

Phone:(02) 6574 7085

Website: http://www.ironbarkhill.com.au/

You will have to excuse me I do not have pictures from this winery. The lady who did our tasting was a funny personality and she was at her personal best giving us a stand up comedy routine alongside wine tasting. The winery itself was a small boutique one. They even have a chapel for weddings and a beautiful Reception area. It's a good setting for a private function or a wedding. 
Coming down to the wines, they were good and  we tasted the Hunter Valley Verdelho as well. Verdelho is a white grape wine variety from Portugal. The grape has been successful in the vineyards of Australia, particularly the South Burnett wine region in Queensland, Hunter Valley region, Langhorne Creek, Cowra and the Swan Valley. Australian versions of Verdelho are noted for their intense flavors with hints of lime and honeysuckle and the oily texture that the wines can get after some aging. Info on Verdelho

After tasting all the wines we settled on our favourite (well my favourite, I like sweet)and ended up buying a bottle of the beautiful Moscato. It was summery and smelt of berries, was a combination of sherbet, Turkish delight and berries and very easy to drink. It is from their falling leaf Range.

Iron Bark Hill Moscato

Cost $20

Iron Bark Hill Moscato - Falling Leaf Range

Iron Bark Hill Moscato

Winery 2: Peacock Hill Vineyard

Address: Palmers Lane, Pokolbin, NSW 2320

Phone: +61 (0)2 4998 7661
Website: www.peacockhill.com.au

We then proceeded to the Magical Land of Peacock Hill. If there was an enchanted whimsical place I would like to live in Peacock Hill would be an ideal name for it. The winery is beautiful resplendent with sunshine,greenery and breathtaking views. Its also a little quirky with the presence of dinosaurs and cool motor bikes.  (I forgot to take a picture of dino, darn!)

Peacock Hill Vineyard

Peacock Hill Vineyard Barrels - that's where the magic happens

It's owned by a lovely couple George and Silvi Tsiros, who seemed very passionate about their wines. We really enjoyed the reds and bought the Vintage Godfather Shiraz, even the name has a big presence. I think this was hubby's favourite pick. We also ought the 2010 Urban Myth Fortified Wine, it's a fantastic port with deep berry flavours which would match perfectly with chocolates and cheese.

I think my favourite purchase of this trip was the Fond Memories - so so delicious and pretty! It tastes like summer in a glass, imagine sweet strawberries, raspberries mixed with a good red wine this is what you would get. I know it sounds extremely girly but would you just look at the bottle and the name- Fond Memories evokes such a beautiful feeling. The bottle is gorgeous, with the deep burgundy hue, the image of the beautiful vineyards from the magical land of Peacock Hill - it's  my kind of secret place to get lost in. 

Peacock Hill - Fond Memories

Peacock Hill - Fond Memories

Winery 3: Drayton's Family Wines

Address: 555 Oakey Creek Road, Pokolbin, NSW 2320
Phone: 02 4998 7513
Website: http://www.draytonswines.com.au

I was already feeling the effect of all the wine tasting, so sensible decided to take it easy till lunch. Drayton's is a family owned business and produces good value for money wines. It has some incredible prices like the gallon of jungle juice for $50 or something ridiculous like that. Lots of people from the group bought the big bottles, it was a steal really.

We settled on something a little different, the dark chocolate liqueur  You all know by now about my love for baking and as soon as I smelt this divine concoction, ideas came flooding through my mind. Hubby just had to take one look at me to know we were buying this. It's a really beautiful liqueur, smells like cocoa and tastes chocolatey with a hint of caramel but not too sweet. It's delicious, we have been enjoying a drizzle of it on warm banana bread.

Drayton's Chocolate Liqueur

Drayton's Chocolate Liqueur

Winery 4: Kevin Sobels Wines

Address: 5 Halls Road Pokolbin, NSW
Phone: 02 4998 7766

Website: www.sobelswines.com.au

Kevin Sobels Wines

After lunch at Drayton's the happy group (it really was happy by now) reached Kevin Sobels. I had given up on wine by now and was looking forward to the Cheese and Chocolate shop. Hubby tried the wines here and thought the Shiraz was good. We didn't make any purchases here though.

The Winery itself was beautiful with the white roses leading to the entrance. There was a market on that day on the grounds of the Winery. I was just walking around when I found this little whimsical place. It looked like a very happy spot, so I spent some time there till it was time to hit the road again. 

Winery 5: McGuigan Wines and Hunter Valley Cheese Co.

Address: Corner Broke & McDonalds Rd, Pokolbin, NSW 2032.
Phone: 02 4998 7402
Website: http://mcguiganwines.com.au

Wine tasting at McGuigan Wines

McGuigans is a celebrated Winery with many international accolades. We have tried their wines before and really enjoyed it. Unfortunately though I had had enough of wine tasting for the day and so did not try all the wines. I did try a few and I enjoyed their Sauvignon Blanc and their dessert wines a lot. They have a great collection and a good sized cellar where tastings take place. There was a group of girls for a Hens Day Celebration, they seemed to be having a great time. That's pretty much what I remember and then we headed to the Cheese shop. The Cheese Shop was quite crowded and the staff was quite disinterested in helping with the tastings. The cheeses were good and we bought some blue cheese from here which hubby loves. Unfortunately the cheese packet got left behind in the bus. Hubby was very disappointed, so I just purchased some from the market in Sydney and made a nice salad with blue cheese dressing to please the poor man. 

After McGuigans we made our way to the Hunter Valley Chocolate shop and the British lolly shop. The Chocolate Shop was nothing special, we did buy some handmade chocolates from there. They were nice but I have had better at Koko Black and Max Brenner. The Lolly Shop was fun I felt like a kid in a Candy umm Lolly Shop. You had the familiar sherbet limes and oranges, milk bottles, sour apples and so much more. I loved the British Guard outside the shop and even posed with him, it was a lot of fun. This was the end of our tour and we bid farewell to the lovely people we met and headed back to Tuscany. 

The British Lolly Shop

After a little rest and a quick change we headed to the Brokenback Bar in Tuscany for drinks and dinner. Brokenback Tapas Bar was the Casual Cousin of The Mill Restaurant. It had good music and a really fun vibe. They served some great tapas like goats cheese croquettes with honey and almonds. I had a mushroom pizza which was delicious, and hubby ordered an Asian inspired Pasta dish which was over salted with soya sauce. The staff were very polite and did not charge us for it and even gave us a complimentary dessert. I think the hospitality and the lovely staff more than made up for that one dish. 

The next day it was time to say goodbye to Tuscany and Hunter Valley. We loved the beautiful wineries, the delicious food, warm hospitality and the wonderful people we met. It was an an unforgettable weekend and we will be back for sure, until then we can enjoy their wines :-)

Wines from Hunter Valley

I have a question for all you lovely people, we have all had great long vacations, but a quick weekend away is what we need sometimes. So tell me, what was your last mini vacation like and where did you go? 

Please write your answers in the comments section below.