This weekend was the Hays Annual Sales Conference for ANZ and although I haven't worked for them since 2009, Hays still features in both my professional and personal life! Sad huh?

The sales conference has been held in Melbourne for the last two years and it means that I get to see some of the best people I've worked with and play with! So on Saturday we caught up with J-Cray, Kat and Karen at Gazi for a long, late lunch. They had been out partying on the Friday night so a 2:15pm meeting time seemed the right thing to do. We had a great meal...Bloody Marys, Espresso Martinis, wine, beer, souvlaki, doughnuts, roast chicken, chips, cheese...all those wonderful things gathered in one place for a few hours! And the delightful George Calombaris also swung by for a kiss on the cheek and a hello!

Dessert was the amazing Apocalypse Now which was a broken Greek column of blood orange mousse on a chocolate biscuit base and crumb with blood orange segments. Beautifully zingy and light and then sweet like chocolate...just such a great dessert to finish off a family feast!

After so much food we needed to walk off the excess and as day turned to dusk we headed northwards and frequented a few rooftop bars, sat around a few heaters, drank a few jars before finishing the night with KFC!

I loved the enthusiasm everyone had for Melbourne and how easy it was to be in each other's company, Kat came and left, Louise joined in and brought Rachel whom we'd never met before, we saw Simon in KFC and it was all just so fun and easy. Pleasure to see everyone again and here's to next year...

So after the shenanigans of Saturday and effectively a 12 hour drinking session, Steve was feeling somewhat dusty. Dusty is an Aussie term for hungover and it's a pretty accurate description - sawdust in the head, dry mouth etc.

I dragged him out though for a quick explore in the CBD as I'd read about a little craft market that I wanted to see and it was cute and worth the journey. We picked up some yummy home made cakes too before lunch and a supermarket shop.

Since then we've come home and just had a lazy day and now looking forward to roast chicken for dinner! Weekends are just sooooooo gooooood!

What comes round once a year? A blog post written by Mr B.

This one also coincides with my birthday and a weekend away into regional North Eastern Victoria. We knocked off a couple of hours early on Friday to beat the Melbourne traffic for the 300km / 3 hour drive up to Stanley. True to form Minda was asleep within 10 minutes of leaving home and remained so until we reached our first destination. In her defence she's been fighting a cold all week so the journey was time she could rest and recover.

Our home for Friday night was the Stanley Pub which did pretty much what it said on the tin - being a pub in Stanley. It was very much a village pub with a number of locals occupying the bar and a couple of attached rooms, of which we took one. Dinner was in the pub and was a positive early experience of local produce with a menu which included local chestnuts, apples, goats cheese and red wine.

We retired to bed with heavy rain beating down on the roof and woke up from a very comfortable bed a number of hours later to the same beating rain. A morning drive from Stanley to Beechworth confirmed the extent of rain with a number of swollen streams and rivers.

We arrived in Beechworth at 10am for a walking tour of the town for which the rain thankfully largely held off. A couple of hours in a group of just four of us (probably largely due to the weather) gave us some insight into the history of one of Victoria's gold rush towns. Upon the discovery of gold the population of the town grew from a few hundred to 60,000 over a couple of years in the mid-1860's. The population has gradually declined since the end of the gold rush down to its current 3,500.

We also learnt that Ned Kelly had spent some time in town, including making a number of appearances in the local courthouse.

The end of the tour coincided with the weather coming back in so we needed some cover and headed to the Bridge Road Brewery. A tasting paddle of 10 beers was the perfect accompaniment to some chicken wings and a couple of pizzas. We followed lunch with a visit to the local Pennyweight winery where Minda agreed to drive so I tasted my way through the full wine offering before buying a couple of bottles.

Mid-afternoon we retired to our destination for Saturday night, Provenance Restaurant, in Beechworth. With a few hours before dinner we took the opportunity to lie on our very comfy bed and managed to drift off for a nice nap.

Dinner was the degustation menu at Provenance with was a Japanese influenced 7 course meal with a focus on local produce. A variety of early vegetable focused courses were followed by courses featuring bonito (fish), pig cheek and a fantastic piece of Wagyu beef. All of the course were well accompanied by generally local wines, although a couple of sakes were thrown in there.

Appropriately satisfied we retired back to bed where I spent a couple of enjoyable hours watching England getting further on top on in the Ashes.

After a full cooked breakfast at the restaurant we headed into Milawa, another town famous for its cheese, olives and other produce. A tasting at the cheese company lead to the purchase of a number of cheese ready for dinner on our return to Melbourne.

The drive back saw another extended nap for Minda; still fighting those cold and flu germs now turning into a chesty cough.

The weekend wrapped up with watching RIchmond secure a well deserved win against Fremantle to maintain their chances of playing in this years final series. Dinner was Milawa white cheese on toast with a tasting of other local cheeses and prosciutto.
All up - even taking into account the almost constant rain - a very enjoyable weekend with an unsurprising focus on good food and drink. Thank you for all the birthday wishes, cards and greetings. My clever goddaughter sent me a card and a few new pictures of what she has been up to this week including stroking a bunny and making her parents smile!

We spent this weekend having a great time in Sydney. It all started on Friday afternoon where we hopped on a plane and in a very short time had arrived and were picked up by Karly and Indy. Since the Barnes moved to Sydney at the end of last year, they've sadly feature less in our live not because they're any less important (far from it) but distance means we can't see each other as much. But this weekend reminded us that we all still have as much fun as ever!

Friday night activities saw us at Circular Quay having drinks at the always wonderful Opera Bar followed by a decadent dinner at Aria with J-Cray and Kat.

Martinis and beers kicked off proceedings and as guests to Sydney we were given the seats with the beautiful Opera House and water views.

Conversation flowed as did the wine and 7 courses and before we knew it, it was Cinderella time. I think our bodies felt it though given it was a Friday night after a week at work. Lucky J-Cray have most of this working week off and are enjoying themselves in the Hunter Valley. So jealous!

Saturday was spent with the Barnes and they so kindly took us around the Northern beaches of Sydney. We enjoyed lunchtime views at Newport before a short walk at Palm Beach more well known as Summer Bay of Home and Away fame. Cam entertained us with tales of his not one but two occasions he appeared as a fireman extra. I think the first time he went into a burning Bayside Diner and did such a good job that he was called in again to rescue a boy stuck on the roof or in a tree or something. Anyway, most apt to be there with an almost series regular

Indy went to her grandparents on Saturday night giving Mum and Dad a rare night off. We planned to paint the town red and stayed local enjoying drinks before dinner, a sumptuous Japanese banquet followed by a couple of nightcaps including espresso martinis at a piano bar which we were expecting to be the height of sophistication but were promptly reassure was not the case with plastic martini glasses, sticky floors and duct tape covering holes in the carpet! Nevertheless we still felt at home but sadly are feeling our age and post midnight shenanigans are really left behind these days. You'll be glad to hear there were not attempted piercings or throwing things at cranes...we're so grown up these days. In fact the end of the night finished with a little snifter at port for the gentlemen, a couple of chocolates and bed!

Saturday morning was about some much needed energy inducing sustenance and we headed to Newtown for a big breakfast! Bacon cures all ails!

To blow away the cobwebs we enjoyed a stroll around Balmoral beach which was very pretty and the mild Winter felt like Spring. With calm lapping waters and sunshine made it very pleasant and a great way to end the weekend. A short journey to the airport later, brief zip through the clouds and we are back home in Melbourne with the laundry going on in the background and a tense cricket game on the TV!

Sydney was a great jaunt and a reminder that it's actually really accessible and close by should we want to do this again which I think we will. Sadly the one not so good souvenir I've brought back is a horrible cold. I hope I can see it off before next weekend when we enjoy some time away again...

We managed to get some sunshine this weekend but nothing like temperatures back home in UK we hear. Amelia Grace is certainly enjoying the sunshine in her new paddling pool and ball pool.

After time in the country with Jacqui, I've had a speight of get togethers with former Hudson colleagues. This week I enjoyed a weekday dinner with Tanya. It's been ages since we've spent time together so it was lovely to catch up and also enjoyed an A team lunch with Charlie and Stef. Although we never worked in the same team we are the Asian team!

On Friday evening we caught up with Ling and Noah. Friday night football traffic meant we were over half an hour late! Poor pregnant lady Ling had to wait for us before feasting. Ling is now 16 weeks pregnant and definitely showing. Noah is not doing too badly either!

In spite of sickness, Ling is looking great and the two are so excited for the imminent arrival and I'm really happy for them too. They have had such heartbreak and distress to get to today which makes us all so much more grateful for the joy.

Saturday was a busy day. We did the usual market shop and lunch. Steve went to watch Richmond play and I stayed at home and made chicken stock before date night in St Kilda at The Stokehouse where we enjoyed beautiful food and wine.

For those interested, I also squeezed in a hair cut and it's the shortest it's been for years - just to the shoulders.

The hairdresser was recommended by my colleague Kylie also known as Spinners. He's Australian Korean and I have to say I was surprised as we certainly did not chat about holidays or nights out! Instead discussions centred around modern day literature, the contrast between light and shade and different takes on being Asian! All very deep and profound for 5pm on a Friday and in spite of being his last client, he was still very upbeat and full of energy. Definitely and interesting character.

Ok so after date night, came stay at home Sunday except we headed out for yum cha at Spice Temple which is one of my favourite Sunday activities. In between yum cha, sofa time, TV time and snoozing, I made chicken, smoked ham and veggie soup as well as chicken enchiladas for dinner all from the one chicken which is economy at it's best!

We have enough to feed us forever but no doubt it will come in useful. Steve is having some dental work done Monday - Wednesday which involves local anaesthetic so the soup will be welcome then.

We've had dinner of enchiladas and now feeling very stuffed...

And onto the usual Amelia Grace news. So she has come back from cruising the Med with the Chinese family - Granny and Grandpa Chan, great granny Boo Boo, all the great aunties and uncles and they all had their handsfull looking after this ball of energy known as Amelia. I've been told she adored the attention and the buffet food. But now she's back with Mummy and Daddy enjoying the British Summer and her friend Grayson's first birthday.