Week ending Friday 20th June 2025
How good is it spending quality time with the people you love!
In last week’s blog, I recounted a wonderful long weekend with my three siblings. This week I’ve managed three fabulous loved-one encounters, starting with some of my best friends at our annual ‘red wine night’; then 24 hours of food and fashion with my gorgeous friend Michelle; followed by an overnight with my baby girl, which included an amazing dinner out in Canberra! Gotta be happy with that!
I also enjoyed a great dinner with my new fellow board members, after I formally joined the board of COMPACT at their AGM on Wednesday afternoon, finishing the week off by hosting a dozen or so of my OzHarvest Volunteers for scones and sandwiches at our monthly afternoon tea yesterday.
Busy week! How did I ever fit work in 😉
‘Red Wine Night’ is an annual event hosted by our fabulous friends, the Perry’s. Shaun and Steph are two of my favourite people… great company, lots of fun and incredibly generous, and it’s a night that I look forward to every year. Eight of us have been getting together to blind taste a selection of wine chosen by Shaun for at least 15 years (none of us can quite remember exactly how many) and each year I reckon it keeps getting better. Without revealing too much, we certainly laughed hard, ate wonderfully, and perhaps drank a little more than we should have 😉
We started the evening with some canapes and a champagne or two, then moved onto wine tasting, then main course, dessert, a little song or two… and my memory is not clear enough to recount much more than that 😜🍷.
The highlight of the food was Steph’s Beef Ribs which were generous, tasty and fall-apart tender, perfectly accompanied by smashed potatoes, cauliflower mornay, golden roasted pumpkin, and greens, prepared by Vicky. Yum, yum.
If you are ever in Canberra, can I recommend RAKU Dining, an upmarket Japanese restaurant in Bunda Street in Civic? While not cheap (what is these days?), it was an incredible meal that has had me dreaming of it since. Victoria and I both love edamame, so we started with a bowl topped with rhubarb salt; then I devoured an incredibly fresh Scallop ceviche; we shared a plate of tempura seasonal vegetables with dashi broth; a piece each of Nigiri topped with seared Wagyu striploin, garlic soy, fried leek; a single yakitori chicken skewer each was devoured quickly; followed by the most delicious miso marinated Kent pumpkin (with miso mayonnaise); finishing with Wagyu gyoza which were drizzled with truffle oil and white ponzu. Each dish was small and delicious… such a great way to taste so many different textures and flavours. Somehow, we also managed to share a dessert of lemon curd, white rum cream, lady finger sponge and yuzu which was coated in salted white chocolate, coloured and shaped like a lemon… what an amazing way to end our meal!
I didn’t take many photos – the room was quite dark (the ambience and decor are stunning), but here are a few Canberra snaps:
Who can resist scones with jam and cream? No one makes them as well as my friend Sandy, but regardless, I made two batches for the OzHarvest volunteers. A big bowl of whipped cream and a recently gifted jar of strawberry and vanilla jam were perfect accompaniments. I balanced that high nutrition (!!) out with a platter of ham, cheese and pickle sandwiches (on wholemeal bread) and popped some gorgeous red grapes I bought yesterday in a bowl just to prove I could provide nutrition… if needed.
It was a bit hectic for me serving cups of tea and coffee and talking to everyone, so I didn’t get many snaps – apart from the one of the scones fresh out of the oven!
It’s now Friday afternoon, so it’s time to publish this and get back to prepping for a catering job I have tomorrow night. I donated a dinner party for six to our Cricket Club and the winners have chosen tomorrow night. Pork Belly, Beef Cheeks and Sticky Date pudding – but more on that next week!
Stay warm everyone!