The tan is fading, memories getting blurrier and the anticipation for the next holiday grows...another 8 weeks away!

Weather in Melbourne has been up and down and on one of the beautifully sunny days, love was in the air!

We had lunch one Saturday at the Masterchef pop up restaurant which is based at Crown  Casino on the rooftop. Housed in a big tent like dome, it's a concept that serves a set menu inspired by the various Australian Masterchef series and it cashes in on the celebrity appeal by having various ex contestants pop in and mingle as well as work in the kitchen.

Saturday lunchtime wasn't a popular service and the place was relatively quiet. So much so that ex contestant Callum Haan went round the tables several times! We also saw this year's runner up Lynton work up a sweat in the kitchen.

MENU

TO START

Brasserie Bread with Pepe Saya butter
The Tomislav Immunity Challenge in Series 4, asked the contestants to create a dish with either bread or butter. Kylie won the Immunity Pin with her bread dish, but we think this butter is equally delicious.

FIRST
MasterChef Garden
In Series 5, we saw an incredible Medieval Feast Challenge. This dish is inspired by the garden centerpiece the contestants prepared in a medieval great hall. Please feel free to dig in with your hands.

SECOND
Organic Smoky Bay Oysters with Thai dressing
Let’s reminisce with this Series 1 inspired dish – Julie’s oysters with a Thai dressing.
OR
Master Stock poached chicken, eggplant cream, white radish, soy & ginger
In the final week of MasterChef: The Professionals the chefs were put through their paces with a master stock poached chicken Pressure Test. Rhys won on the day with his delicate balance of flavour and texture.

THIRD
Roasted Northern Rivers pork loin, crackling, apple, caraway & bacon jus
The Series 5 Barossa boot camp saw the contestants visit MasterChef favourite Maggie Beer on her home soil. Her melt-in-the-mouth roast pork MasterClass is the inspiration for our dish, and features her favourite ingredient, verjuice.
OR
Baked Tasmanian Petuna Atlantic salmon, Snowy River sea herbs, scallop, zucchini & tomato
The very first episode of MasterChef: The Professionals saw the contestants facing both Marco Pierre White and a 3-course service challenge. Cassie came out in front, and the baked fish that tested them is the inspiration for this dish.

FOURTH
“Strawberries & Cream” – whipped orange blossom crème fraiche & olive oil biscuits
Julie wowed the judges in Series 1 with her strawberry tart with crème fraiche filling. This delicate balance of sweet, tangy and fruity fragrance is inspired by our original MasterChef winner’s dish and Lipton Forest Fruits tea.
OR
Zokoko black forest cadeau with cherry Gelato Messina 
A fiendishly freezing challenge saw the contestants in Series 5 recreate Nick Palumbo’s Gelato Messina masterpiece, Black Forest Gelato Cake. Here is our version for your shivering delight.

TO FINISH
Vegemite Caramel Chocolate Cup
In Series 4, Julia faced an Invention Test with the wicked combination of Vegemite and chocolate. Her Vegemite ganache features in this must-try mouthful.

We tried one of each when there was a choice and the sommelier was very obliging and poured us both measures of wine for both dishes. Stand out dishes for me were the salmon and the pork.

It was a very pleasant lunch - long, lazy and boozy. Needless to say not much else happened the rest of the day!

We had had Sunday lunch with the Mortons recently and they arrived on their matching bicycles!

This Sunday we had a cultured afternoon at the theatre watching a UK production of "Brief Encouter". We enjoyed lunch beforehand and the whole event was in the lovely company of Carrie and Bianca.

In my last blog post, I mentioned about changing employers but still working in the same offices. Well the week before was the first week for us as a new team and there was a great green welcome for us as you can see.

The table of green goodies kept us going through the week - sweets, crisps, apples, teabags basically anything that was green seemed to be on there!

And here's a pic of my new desk complete wit welcome balloon and notice. I've made myself at home. My comforts are within easy reach and my photos are up on my partition screen.

So I spent 4 days working with everyone before our holiday to Bali..yay! As luck would have it though I began to come down with a sore throat on Wednesday which I hoped was hayfever but it wasn't. So by the time I left the office on Thursday I had no voice. That didn't stop my enjoyment of the holiday and Steve probably enjoyed it all the more as I was pretty quiet for the first few days!

We had a week in Seminyak, Bali and stayed in a villa with its own pool. The accommodation was great and it was so convenient and easy to have our own pool. It was so hot that a dip whatever the time of day was very pleasant. The villa complex also provided a driver service which was handy, food delivery from nearby restaurants and we would have two people come cook breakfast for us every morning and deliver afternoon tea if we were around. Talk about being well looked after!

Our holiday basically consisted of lots of lying horizontally; on a lounger, on a sofa, on a massage table, in bed... and reading lots. So easy and relaxing. We were also across the road from a wonderful day spa and we enjoyed some great massages and treatments.

We organised to have a driver for a day who took us to various sites including a couple of silver jewellery making places, a batik place where they demonstrated how they printed the designs on silk and other fabric and some art galleries. We also walked round a temple. It was so hot though and escaped to the mountains where we had lunch with an incredible view of Mt Batur, a local volcano.

We avoided the monkey forest having been told the little creatures were quite aggressive and stealing cameras and sunglasses and caps! Also avoided the bird sanctuary as I hate birds. We spent some time in Ubud which is another town in the area that is the place for Balinese art and literature. It was a little quieter than Seminyak where we stayed and pretty enough. I'm glad we stayed where we did though as there was more to see and it was less remote.

Naturally we ate well at different restaurants including one set in the rice paddies and a champagne brunch at the W Hotel which was buffet style and very impressive with ducks hanging on a rail, roast suckling pig, lots of fresh shell fish, chocolate fountain and all sorts.

Bali is a 5 - 6 hour flight from Melbourne and it was very manageable for a week. The flights we took left late in the day and our return flight was through the night. I think that and the 2 hr time difference made it quite an easy journey. We landed 7am on Saturday morning and felt that we'd had just enough sleep to go out for breakfast and do the grocery shop as well as the post holiday unpacking. Luckily there wasn't a huge amount of laundry as they did a lot of it for us at the villa! Yay!

Having said that the new departure terminal at the airport literally opened last week so when we rocked up on Friday night with 3 hours to go before our departure time thinking we'd have time for a leisurely mooch round and have dinner, we were very much mistaken. Teething problems with check in desks and systems meant it took us 3 hours to get through all the proceedings and board the flight. Inevitable we were delayed as other people behind us had to get through it all too. Nevertheless the total delay was only minor and we made up some time during the actual flight.

I can see the attraction of a Bali holiday. I can also see why it's called the British equivalent of a package holiday to Benidorm. The bars, cafes and shops are all so Western. Honestly, when seated in a bar or cafe surrounded by Aussie tourists, we could have been in Australia. But sometimes, some holidays are just meant to be slow and relaxing and about lazing around rather than constantly having to be somewhere or see something.

So after our tropical getaway, we met up with Ling and Noah in Box Hill on the Sunday. Ling is close to her due date now and doesn't have long left at work. She's looking great though. We enjoyed lunch together before tea and an egg custard tart. All delicious and all very fun.

So whilst Steve and I were enjoying tropical sunsets and high temperatures it seems the UK are heading towards Winter and it's woolly hat weather....

Amelia is really growing up now and becoming more and more independent. She no longer needs feeding apple and banana and manages those herself. Very much a dear little girl!