Xmas Day 2016

Its Xmas in Melbourne and time for another degustation day in North Carlton this year. Attendees were Ruthy, Richo and Katie, Mo and Steve, Louisa and Riccardo, Yi, Peter, Gwenda and Ian and of course us.

The theme of the day was Fairy Stories! So the hardest part of the meal was working out if a dish had any vague connection to a fairy story. We tried!

The first two courses were made by Richo, starting with 'The Little Mermaid', Kingfish Bacon, served with smoked salmon roe, washed down by a Moet rose...

The dish was a delight, great start to the day. The video work was a bit mixed, as Stuey stuffed up the focusing, but never mind. This is cancelled out by the excellent effort by the girls - Katie doing her bit in front of the camera with Nicky and Ruthy cackling in the background. The grog was starting to hit the mark and its only the first course!

Course 2 was a goats chevre with beetroot present in so many ways I would get RSI if I tried to type them all. This was matched with 3 contrasting pinot gris from Australian and New Zealand. It was just about voted as course of the day. Its fairy story was Three Billy Goats Gruff. I will let Richo explain, and for some reason this was enhanced by Katie doing the vertical splits...

 

Next up, course 3, was pork done three ways, AKA Three Little Pigs, of course, which consisted of:-

 

Pork belly - by Nicky

Pork cheek - by Steve, sabotaged by Nicky

Vietnamese pulled pork sliders with Asian slaw - by Stuey

 

This was helped along with 3 different Passing Clouds pinot noirs

 

 

We were treated to some magic tricks by Katie and her 'beautiful' assistant between courses. Many of them were remarkably similar to last Xmas. But that is OK.

 

Course 4 was called the Emporer's New Clothes....

 

 

 

The aim of this dish was to have a break and do some exercise, like go for a walk. That didn't happen as it was 37 degrees outside, so we all hunkered in with the air con!

 

Next came course 5, the beef dish, by Yi and Stuey. As Gwenda and Ian Langford were with us this was washed down with copious amounts of Mt Camel Ridge cab sauv and shiraz, from 04, 09 and more recent vintages.

 

 

 

 

Then we moved onto the sweet courses both by Ruthy. This was paired with a 2000 Calvados, when ensured that if people were not pissed beforehand they would be so after. First Course 6...

 

 

And finally the hansel and Gretel dish, course 7. Ruthys reference to asbestos was not literal. I hope!

 

 

The recycle bin got a bit of a hammering...