A celebration of togetherness calls for gastronomic decoration. That's how it goes in our household. It always has. More so, recently.

When you lose a loved one, you're drawn to that which brings you comfort. The cathartic, creative practice of cooking does that for me. My parents too. And so on holidays, when it gets particularly tough, togetherness and cooking is always on the menu. It's assumed.

We gather at my parent's house in Red Hill and decorate the space with earthy aromas, baskets of bulbous fresh tomatoes from the garden and honest little mounds of languid dough balls, sitting in a bowl on the floor, over in the corner near the fridge. Edging towards the warmth to help it on it's journey. Cooking helps.

Wine also helps.

How nice of Wine Selectors to send me a couple of bottles, right in time for Easter. These wines are a part of their Regular Deliveries program, whereby you can select a series and have them delivered. With benefits and all that jazz. I must thank Carla, from Keep Left PR for the chance to taste these beauties. I don't say no to wine - I'm from Red Hill. I'm pretty sure it's illegal to do so.

On the Saturday night of the Easter long weekend, Ben and I went down to Red Hill. We stayed for two nights. Bliss. On Sunday our family came together for food. We made hot cross buns and exchanged chocolate. And did a lot of cooking...

Tomato and Mushroom Tarts (recipe).

Sunday Lunch with my Grandparents.

Smoked Trout and Olive Oil Toasts to start...

With Helm Classic Dry Riesling 2011 (link).

I enjoyed this Riesling. I'm sort of a Riesling novice, rather I tend to gravitate towards Sauvignon Blanc - dry, never sweet. This Riesling was lovely, without the biting "hello" that some whites have. The quality speaks for itself, I guess. Even my parents, who have a long established favouritism towards red wine, enjoyed this white (and that is saying something).

Tart time. My favourite time of day.

Sunday Dinner.

It would seem that Ben and I were particularly lazy in the latter part of the day, as mum and dad did all of the cooking. They prepared a bounty of beautiful food for us, and all we did was sit back and bask in the deliciousness. I suppose we provided the wine...can we call it even then?

Riposte by Tim Knappstein No 1 Pinot Noir 2010 (link)

Again we were surprised by this wine. Usually we move away from Pinot Noir, finding it a tad...dilute. I like body in my reds. It has to do it's job and fill my veins me with a rich, romantic lava, leaving me content, soothed. I like soul-enriching reds. This red was indeed soothing and satisfying, dare I say soul-enriching. It was delightfully more complex than a lot of pinots I have had in the past. I would absolutely buy this Pinot Noir again.

Dad's homemade Ricotta Bread, a Daniel Leader recipe (see this link for a near recipe).