The week before the BIG UK TRIP was a busy one so I'm not sure my title is apt. Maybe it should be the storm before the calm?

Anyway on the Tuesday night we went to our final Melbourne Food and Wine Festival event which was at The Press Club which is one of our favourites. It was great to be able to go there one last time before it closes and evolves into something new.

It was a set menu matched to different beverages and each course cooked by a former chef at Reserve which was George Calombaris' first restaurant which would be in its tenth year if it hadn't have closed.

We enjoyed the evening and the different courses. Standard wasn't as high as a meal at Press Club on a normal evening but having to serve over 100 people all at the same time is not easy and it was more an event than a meal out.

Our table companions weren't as open minded and didn't like the fact that our courses were matched to things like cider, champagne, sake, a take on a slurpee and wanted wine and they were denied. They were older, wealthy ladies obviously well travelled, well educated and just very demanding! Interesting for sure!

This weekend was the Australian Grand Prix. We've attended the last two years and I was happy to opt out this year and for Steve to go alone but as it turned out one of Steve's clients invited us so I decided to go and enjoy the corporate experience.

This was a great option for this year which was somewhat wetter, greyer and colder than the previous two years. I enjoyed the great view, the shelter and cover, the drinks and food and the access to TV screens!

Right now we should be on the plane UK bound but I heard from Emirates earlier today that our flight had been cancelled so now we wait a few hours and catch a later plane. We miss our original connection in Dubai though and have to spend a day there to catch the next day's connection. This basically means we arrive 24 hours later than planned which is disappointing especially when I've been so desperate to be there but in the grand scheme of things it's only 24 hours. And the reason I was given was that the aircraft had to be recalled for maintenance so I guess that's a good thing as opposed to flying on a dodgy plane!

Anyway I don't want to let this setback ruin things so we're all being very brave and just coping with the delayed arrival. At least this way we get to break up the lon

Melbourne Food and Wine Festival continues and over a public holiday so more time to have fun!

This weekend we joined Lamaro's Restaurant in South Melbourne and went with them and 22 other people on a trip to the Mornington Peninsula. It was a pretty early start for a Saturday morning not helped by a Friday night out with Kim and Kirsten at Cumulus but I made it.

First stop was at an organic vegetable farm where we disrupted the locals from their shopping and descended on the farmer and his small farm shop. The produce was beautiful and there were samples of fresh golden beetroot and stripey beetroot to try.

We also stopped by Red Hill Cheese and enjoyed a tasting as well as a walk to the cheesery as little did the organisers know that the road there was off limits to buses! And it was well over 30 degrees! Luckily there was a stop for refreshment at one of our favourite wineries - Port Phillip Estate where we enjoyed some canapes and a hefty amount of tasting.

We were also invited to actually visit the winery to watch the work be done as the fruit was coming in and the wine maker took some time out of a hectic and crazy busy day to take us round.

We returned back to Melbourne around 4pm and we headed home for a quick sit and breather before freshening up and heading back to Lamaro's for dinner.

Dinner was three courses with matching wines from Port Phillip Estate. Some tasty food including a yummy duck confit dish and it was fun having some dinner table conversation with other people.

Sunday was market day for us and we spent the morning there and I followed that with a 4 hour nap which was peppered with beautiful cooking smells as Steve toiled away in the kitchen making dinner!

Steve made a beautiful three course meal starting with a scallop, roast tomato and prosicutto salad on a smashed bean puree flavoured with anchovies, chilli and garlic. It was truly delicious and he plated it up so prettily it was restaurant quality! Loved it.

Main course was roast fillet of beef rolled in fresh herbs and wrapped in porcini mushrooms and prosciutto. Accompaniments were an incredible decadent pommes dauphinoise using a naughty Nigella recipe and some wilted spinach.. Chef Steve cooked the beef perfectly as it was so juicy and pink on the inside,

Dessert was marshmallow meringue with a mango and passionfruit cream and strawberries. He makes a good meringue, crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside.

Steve did so incredibly well. He even washed up as he went along! It did mean he used every dishcloth we own but small sacrifices!

Steve had set a really high bar from Saturday night's dinner with restaurant quality food with an Italian ish bias so I decide to go Asian.

I spend the afternoon making dumplings and even make the little pleats like my Grandma Boo Boo used to do. I also make a fresh chicken broth so we have dumpling soup. I like to add a dollop of chilli oil for some fiery goodness.

Main course is a popular Asian American dish that is commonly cooked for Thanksgiving. I ummed and aahed between using a turkey or a chicken but went with chicken as there are only two of us. I researched different recipes and chose two of my favourites to blend together.

I loved the sticky rice filling and the fact there was lots leftover and the sweet Asian flavours of chicken. I think this will be something my sister will love as she is a sticky rice fan so I'm hoping to make this for her when we visit. Speaking of which, this trip is less than a week away! I'm thinking about it a lot! What it's going to be like, what we're going to do....all that stuff and cuddling Amelia Grace is high on the agenda. She is growing up fast - sitting in the highchair, holding her own bottle or sippy cup, eating solid food...it's all there and I want to see her soon!!!

I know that most of our time out of work seems to revolve around food. Melbourne Food and Wine Festival started this weekend so it's going to be a period of gluttony!

I was invited to my first bloggers event (read free lunch) at Virginia Plain where I met fellow bloggers and learnt that I have a very pathetic point and shoot camera whereas these guys are the true pros! So many impressive cameras and lenses! Dining with these guys tends to take time as before we eat there's usually a photo shoot that needs to take place first!

After the lunch we had a masterclass led by one of the head chefs at Virginia Plain and a former Vue de Monde chef. We learnt about making a chicken liver parfait, cooking a perfect steak and the most amazing chocolate and pistachio souffle.

On Sunday, Steve and I headed to one of the Western suburbs known as Footscray which is well known for its Vietnamese population. We were taking part in the Rickshaw Run which involved being taken round different eateries by rickshaw!

One of the stops was at the local market where we saw many an unusual fruit which we sampled including this achacha which is a grown in the Amazon basin of Bolivia. Quite sweet and soft in texture it has a big stone like a lychee.

As well as fruit, the market had plenty of meat and seafood including fresh green lip abalone and lots of weird looking offal.

One of our stops involved making our own rice paper rolls. A stickier job than you'd think!

Not a bad result for a beginner!

We also stopped outside a bakery where we were served little skewers of beef wrapped in a vine leaf, a small cup of iced sugar cane juice and a quick but invigorating neck and shoulder massage all whilst listening to a Japanese musical duo and sat in a rickshaw. All a bit strange but certainly enjoyable! We also had some seriously sunny weather. In fact for the first week of Autumn we've had really warm temperatures of 30 degrees and above and this sunny spate is meant to continue.

As well as rice paper rolls, we enjoyed fresh oysters, noodle salad and crispy spring rolls. It was a really enjoyable Sunday afternoon and our rickshaw pullers were great. They are volunteers who take the opportunity to promote Footscray as a community and the whole event that is run across a couple of weekends, is managed and delivered by volunteers and the Footscray Trade Association. We had a great time and felt like royalty being carried around in our rickshaw and people stared and waved and jumped out the way!

There's only two weeks before we head back to the UK for our 3 week trip and I get to meet the little missy pictured below. It's come round relatively quickly and I only have 3 days of work left this week, then 4 next week (public holiday on Monday) and then 2 days and then that's it! Not that I'm desperate to leave work; it's more I'm super keen to be back in the UK and squeezing the little cheeks of Amelia Grace!