Family Brunch at Red Hill
The weekend that Ben and I arrived home from our Asia trip, my family organised a lovely brunch. We told stories of our travels, recounting exciting adventures and beautiful moments. It was wonderful.
The air was crisp, unusually so for February in Melbourne. And so we found warmth in each other's company. Cups of tea and beautiful local produce were also welcomed…
Outside on the barbeque, Dad cooked eggs (courtesy of our chooks).
Gathered around the hot plate, we caught up and had some laughs with Roo – David, my older brother, named my grandfather “Roo” when he was very small, and the name has stuck.
My grandparents are so special to me. My cousins and I would watch all the “Road to…” movies with Roo when we were young. Just this past Christmas we all watched Road to Morocco together - my favourite. Bob Hope and Bing Crosby – is there a better combination? I don’t think so. He and my gorgeous Nana have such a fabulous, fun relationship. They’re so active and are always travelling. I hope to be just like they are when I’m their age.
Back to the barbeque, we also cooked a heap of mushrooms and a big bunch of asparagus. I found myself quite enamoured with the beauty of the mushroom.
Asparagus spears are quite pretty too...
Blue cheese for the mushrooms - Dad’s a cheese nut. He's actually a member of the Richmond Hill Larder Cheese Club. He's a nerd and we love it. I must say I am beginning to fall a little in love with blue cheese myself.
My parents still have leftovers from their sizeable Christmas pork purchases, so naturally we nibbled on some freshly sliced prosciutto.
On this occasion we tried Boks Bacon, a high quality product from Tasmania. It was absolutely divine, a real treat! Possibly the best bacon I have ever had.
I had fun exploring the property - actually they only have half an acre, but there is lots to photograph and plenty of room to frolic. And frolic I did. I missed this house while we were away.
Our chickens scare me…it’s a bird thing. It has something to do with me being terrified they’ll poke my eyes out with their pointy little beaks. Yeah. I would always get my younger brother, Jackson, to feed them. Sorry, little chickens. I do so love the eggs you give me, though...
The garden is looking so beautiful – the vegetables are flourishing and the roses blooming!
Although the lemons are becoming scarce *sob*.
My parents planted these orange roses for David, and they're just beautiful. Mesmerising. Orange was his favourite colour. He even had orange Converse.
As a child, I would spend so much time in the garden. I would find a little corner and sit under a tree, pretending to be Alice in Wonderland or Mary in the Secret Garden.
As a gift from our travels, we bought mum an assortment of hand-woven placemats from Baan Dada. This is one of them. Some of the kids and local women make gorgeous hand-woven products to earn a living and raise money for the home.
Isn't this rocking chair sweet? Mum recently stumbled across it and had to have it. She has such a skill for finding gems like these.
To follow our eggs we had fruit salad and thick, natural yoghurt. Mum knows me so well, she always has fruit and yoghurt on hand when I visit.
Dad came up with the ingenious idea of sprinkling a little cardamom and pistachio sugar over the yoghurt. Mum and Dad have recently introduced me to Gewurzhaus, a fantastic new spice shop on Lygon street. This cardamom and pistachio sugar is from this store. I constantly find myself dreaming up excuses to visit Gewurzhaus, I adore it.
We chatted and laughed as we ate. I do so enjoy weekends together.
Family brunch at Red Hill. Lovely.