Home again, home again

What a delightful holiday we had at Mum and Dad's. A proper, relaxing holiday with reading, sleeping, walking, cooking and eating. I read Julian Fellowes' Past Imperfect which was a light read and a very interesting look at the English upper classes. I also started George Eliot's Daniel Deronda.

We watched two movies, neither of them particularly happy ones. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is one of our book club books, though I haven't read it yet. I was rather surprised by the ending but not dissatisfied. It was very thought provoking about the nature of evil and the role of upbringing. The Kite Runner is also a very popular choice for book clubs but I haven't chosen it for the RRL Book Club as the most common feedback from last year was "no more Muslim books"....... lovely, but what can I do? I enjoyed the movie, it reminded me a little of Atonement with the child doing something so very regrettable, and especially enjoyed a look at Afghanistan before all the trouble.

As usual there was a bit of cooking to enjoy. Bethany and I made Bill Granger's shortbread dipped in rich, fairtrade dark chocolate while Andrew took Joss and Tobes to see Up 3D in Singleton. I made Stephanie Alexander's Spanakopita which the adults all loved and the children did not. Mum had a book club lunch on the day we left so I made her this Apple Streusel cake.

Every time we visit, Andrew and Toby go on a bushwalk up the hill behind the house. They made it right to the top this time and, apparently, I don't want to know the hair-raising details of the climb. Bethany and I went on "bushwalks" too, only we just walked around the vineyard collecting rock and weeds and a little disco ball that is meant to frighten away the grape eating birds.
Another tradition is the visit to the Hunter Valley Gardens. Actually, we never go to the gardens themselves, just the village where we buy chocolates at the Hunter Valley Chocolate Company, gifts from Susie at the Twig and stock up on English sweets at the British Lolly shop. Mum and Dad looked after the kids while Andrew and I escaped for a while on our own. We had lunch at the Bluetongue Brewery where I was stung by a wasp last year before Nick and Marika's reception. Andrew had an alcoholic ginger beer and we shared wedges and some pasta with chorizo, mushroom and baby spinach which was oily but good. We bought some dessert wine and Muscat from Savannah and some fabulous chocolates from the tiny Adora counter at Tempus Two which has pretty much spoiled me for other chocolate.

Reluctantly, we left at 9am yesterday and were home by 5. Milo was thrilled to see us and now he is walked, the house is cleaner and the pantry stocked in preparation for Tim, Shona and the pumpkin's arrival tomorrow! I'm going to make an orange poppy seed syrup cake and I may even manage to post the recipe....