This was after the crappiest day at work I've had in a long time.  Tired, unbelievably crappy software (which I'd rant and rave about, but I'd probably get fired), got on people's nerves, got depressed.  So left at 3:30 and walked home with Tony.

A couple of k's from home, this dog came up to us, and ended up hovering around us as we walked to rest of the way to Tony's place.  No collar (although evidence of one) and just running all over the place, including the road :(  When we got to Tony's place we got him through the gate - but he just jumped right out!!  But got him back in again and Tony kept him entertained so he stayed.  I continued on home.  Good news is, the owner found him cause Tony posted some details online.  Apparently the owners had taken off the collar that morning because he had a bit of a rash, but he jumps fences - doh!  

We had some garlic bread which was very nice, although apparently not as good as last time I went to Ardeche, and shared a bottle of Larida Estate chardonnay (the sweetie got the bigger share, as he'd had work drinks prior and I became designated driver).  

Stu had the risotto special, which was pretty good.

I had the Poulet Ardéchois, which was nice enough, but a very big chunk of meat, and a little bit dry in places.  

We had desserts as well.

Stu got a croquembuche

And I got a lemon tart which was really good.  And I love love love the sugar nets - best part of the meal I think :)

The sweetie finished off by contemplating an espresso

So not a bad night.  

We decided to go to Courgette in Civic.

I even wore a blouse .. *gasp* !

That didn't make me feel any less like I didn't belong there.  I'm just not a fancy restaurant kind of person (not that I wouldn't like to be - I do like nice food, I just feel out of my depth).  

Please excuse the crappy iphone photos.  It would just have been too weird to pull out my real camera, and it wouldn't have focussed on my meal anyway without standing up from the table.  Maybe I should have stolen Dave's camera heh.

We ordered a pre-dinner cocktail (Kir Royal) each, which was a blackcurrant flavoured champagne.

They also brought out these mini cups of crab and seafood bisque with a prawn foam - really really tasty!

We ordered a bottle of Southern Highlands Wines Pinot Gris which amazed Stu.  Will have to find some more for him :)

For entrées, Stu had the "Hand picked mud crab and rare yellow fin tuna sausage, wasabi mayonnaise, crisp rice wafer".  This was cold which surprised me.

And I had "Prosciutto wrapped pan seared scallops, confit chicken wings, pea purée, lemon olive oil, balsamic reduction" which was delicious and tender, although I don't recall seeing any actual prosciutto.

For mains Stu had the "Roasted corn fed chicken, sautéed livers with apple and sherry vinegar, braised lentils, Jerusalem artichoke crème, truffle brioche, brandy jus".  The chicken was delicious but I didn't try any of the chicken livers (should have saved one for Nat ;) )

And I had "Sticky pork belly with roasted loin, caramelised apple pear gallette, celeriac mash, pomegranate seed, white balsamic and cider vinegar split jus" which was pretty awesome except that the big two pork pieces in the middle were actually a bit tough to cut through - I almost had to hack my way through it with the knife when cutting it up.  That would be the only complaint I had for the whole evening.

There was a group of six people on a nearby table, and I swear one of the girls looked naked.  All I could see out of the corner of my eye was flesh..

While thinking about dessert, they brought out some watermelon sorbet which was *amazing*!

We ordered desserts, as well as a glass of Penfolds Grandfather Fine Old Tawny port.

We both had the "Vanilla crème brulee with seasonal mixed berries and short bread finger".  Yumm yumm yumm. Real vanilla, crunchy top, super awesome.

And the sweetie got a coffee as well

So all in all an expensive but lovely night out.

Our wedding anniversary is the same date as the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.  In the past couple of weeks, in the lead up to the 25th anniversary, there's been a heap of articles on English Russia, and other places as well.  For some reason this disaster totally captivates me.  No idea why.  Silly really.  I even wrote a time travel story in high school that mentioned it.  I was in year 12 at the time.  It was about a girl who suddenly woke up in April 1986 - she'd gone back in time five years.  She remembered that April 1986 was when the Chernobyl disaster happened and was trying to warn people.  But of course noone believed her (except her older brother who realised she couldn't suddenly know calculus overnight unless it were true).  The disaster happened and she went into hiding because suddenly everyone wanted to talk to her.  A month later she woke up back in her own time.  I actually scanned that story (and some others) before I threw out all my school work before leaving Sydney.

Arrived a bit before midday and just had a wander around the place.

And the Busk Stop

And the colourful stalls

Our first stop musically was for Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band.  They were ok I guess.

After they'd finished we did some more wandering.

Kangaroos (costumes straight out of the Amazing Race?)

Scottish dude and his dog (apparently he's there every year) Edit: Big Rory and Ochie :)

Saw the first half of the Festival Fiddlers.

Another Festival Fiddler.  She later played snippets from Monty Python and Black Adder which was a highlight for me at that point (since I'd never heard of a single piece of music I'd heard up until that point).

Then across to Eric Bogle.  Was disappointed because he didn't play And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda, but I suppose he's performing so often over the course of the weekend he's probably saving it for Monday or something.

That left me a bit grumpy, so didn't get a photo of the next act (The Fagans), and only one of Danny Spooner.  Spent a good chunk of the time on my phone reading Twitter and news feeds.

Wandered around some more and got an early dinner of Tapas (yumm!!)

Then to see Political Satire with Shortis & Simpson.  They were a lot of fun, I quite enjoyed this one.

Then stayed in the Coorong for Infinite Rocky Horror Heat 2.  This turned out to be a bit of a fizzer.  They only had three acts (Kim Cunio and Heather Lee did an operatic version of There's a Light; The Fiddle Chicks did I'm Going Home, which was a bit of fun; and another duo did There's a Light which was ok).  And they did a bit of an audience participation version of The Time Warp.

At this point the sweetie was peopled out (not helped by a very stuffy Coorong), so he went home, and Dave and I soldiered on.

Totally Gourdgeous played to a packed tent.  Penelope Swales is pretty awesome, I liked her.

Caught the tail end of Martin Pearson and the MP3.  He was fun too, might have been good to see more of him.

The Good Lovelies were kinda cute, I think the sweetie would have liked them.  Took a few videos for him.

And finally the Spooky Men's Chorale.  These guys were pretty cool.  I liked their "Swedish folk song" - well I could guess straight away it was going to be something by Abba :)  Took a few videos of them too.

So yeah.  Long day.  Not sure it's worth the $80-odd dollars to go for a day.  Well not for me anyway, not knowing any of the artists or any of the music (except for snippets here and there).  If you were into that sort of thing I suppose it'd probably be pretty good value...   *meh*  .. :)

Just for fun, here's a snap I took of the moon as we were leaving.

We got 101 points, second got 102.5 and first got 103.5.  So we were pretty close.

Definitely wasn't as well organised tonight as other nights (and yes, we did have our high standards for people to live up to ;) ).  But still fun anyway.  And came home with a box of Roses :)

People suck.

He's a bit (lot) older now than when I remember him (twenty five years ago!).  I grew up watching his afternoon tv show "Come & Get It".  Phil thought we were mental cause he'd never heard of him :)

 

Where's the cheese?

ahhh memories :)

We got a spot just east of the gravel at the end of Anzac Parade.  Toilets were an issue.  One pair servicing a huge area had a queue with probably fifty people in it.  So wandered further east and found a group of eight with no queue.  Go figure (although later apparently the queue was massive, so wondering if I jumped a queue without realising it.. shrug..).  People on the RiotACT were complaining about the queues for toilets too, and lack of food outlets that were advertised. 

Anyways.  Was there just in time for an FA-18 Hornet to buzz the crowd.  Man those things are loud!  Then had a beer and tucked into a picnic dinner.  Dinner was hastily put away when it started to rain, but fortunately it didn't rain for too long.

Fireworks started at 8:30.  Played with the camera trying out different settings, and taking *lots* of photos :)

Fun night, glad I went :)

Two notes to self:

* always remember to take ear plugs along to these sorts of things

* never ever book tickets on the floor of the Convention Centre

Apart from having to jam my fingers in my hears for maybe a third of the night, and getting very frustrated from not being able to see the stage from behind all the tall people in front of me, it was pretty good.

He alternated between doing a song and then playing video clips of mock interviews, clips from tv shows etc that referred to him.  While the clips were on he'd be getting changed into a different outfit for the next song.  A lot of different outfits!  He did many of the most popular songs, eg Fat, Eat It, Amish Paradise, eBay, and The Saga Begins as part of the encore, with plenty of audience participation :)  and plenty of songs I didn't know too.

So that was all good.

Afterwards the sweetie was trying to see if he could get a tshirt, but didn't know if they had any in his size.  So he hung around at the back of the queue to check.  Which meant we were still there very late, almost the last to leave.  Which meant that when somebody mentioned a signing, we thought we'd wait and see... and sure enough - he came out!!  Very squee!!  So got a heap of photos, and even got an autograph on the CD I'd just bought.  !!

And I got to shake his hand too - w00t!! :):)

Very cool :)

Outside just missed the moon setting..