Traffic was reasonable, and we narrowly missed a very casual white goose ambling across the road at the Lockwood intersection (unfortunately couldn't get the camera out quickly enough)
Reached Inglewood just after 7pm, had a quick pit stop at the house, unpacked, and picked up a bottle of wine, and then onto Arleen's for a casual dinner. Terry had invited us up the week before.
The drive to Kingower was luckily without kangaroos, and there was a beautiful lingering sunset with pastel clouds
They (Arleen, David, Terry, Dermott & Finn) were all sitting around a small chimera fuelled by dry vine cuttings. Bubbles, cheese, dips very nice. Then reds with small pizzas cooked in the chimera - very efficient. We'd brought jackets, as we thought it would get cool, but it stayed mild, and was a really lovely night. No photos (didn't want to appear too gauche)
I drove us home, and yes there were plenty of kangaroos between the winery and the end of Kingower, saw a rabbit as well. Back home, and sat on the veranda for a while chatting some more.
Surprisingly rained overnight - it had been so clear and mild - so I didn't bother watering the garden. Had some breakfast, but then went to wake up karen around 8.50 - she was shocked by the time - thought it was much earlier.
And then drove up to Terry's to start cooking for the Music night
Chrissie was already there slicing up lots of onions, and Arleen arrived soon afterwards.
Karen and I started by peeling many cloves of garlic, and then I sauted the onions over a number of batches. Dermott browned off the beef
We were making beef bourgignon
We also prepared antipasto platters - Arleen made some celery boats with cream cheese, and I also ended up making my red dip
Karen sliced up lots of salami
Karen and I also started peeling 5kg of potatoes for the mash - however the potatoes oxidised very quickly and seemed quite green. Arleen took one look at them and said to throw them out and start again. We didn't have any more potatoes there, so said we'd do it back at Inglewood
Given that Terry had so much parsley in the garden I suggested making up a gremolata to go on top of the bourginon. We didn't have lemons, but Terry had a very full lime tree, so I zested them, and Terry went and dug up some more garlic. Can't get any more local than that. Arleen and I both had a taste when it was finished. Although we said it was good - we both thought it was a bit bitter. Confessed this too each other at the Music night - but it had mellowed by then, and tasted pretty good over the mash and beef.
Given that Arleen, Terry and co had been picking grapes during the week, Terry hadn't had time to prepare us a fabulous lunch. That said, he pulled out some pesto that he's made previoulsy and whipped up a fresh batch of pasta that he made into fettucine - pretty good for a "slapdash" lunch. Simply delicious!
Back to Inglewood after lunch. Justin and Fraser arrived soon afterwards, and Chris & Yvonne an hour or 2 later. Sarah was after 5pm as she had had a crisis at work, During this time Karen and I peeled and boiled another 5kg of potatoes - took ages for them to boil. Good thing we had started relatively early.
Went back to Kingower around 5.45, as Karen and I were helping with the set up. Took a while to get everything together and pack the cars. Needed to muster 7 chairs, and then there was all of the music equipment.
There were 3 tables of 12 - so we picked our preferred table and staked a claim, and then put out cutlery, glasses etc,
Served up the meal at 7pm. Had a great production line going. I passed the bowl to Karen who filled it with beef, then Nicole put in the mashed potato, Fraser the gremolata, and Justin went and served the people. If we had had one more person they could have been the quality control and wiped the splashes off the edges of the bowl. That said, we were a well oiled machine, and everyone was fed very quickly
The music started up soon after the 1st course was served. It was supposed to be the Kingower Rangers up 1st, but Alvin didn't come (they'd worked him too hard with the grape picking) and Mark was going to be late, so I suppose David didn't feel like being the only one. Therefore Terry got Justin and co up first, and they played for quite a while. Were initially supposed to have a 45 minute set at 8.50pm, but Justin said they played for at least 2 hours. At least they have a large repertoire
They were well received, and David and Arleen even got up to dance at one stage.
David P did a homage to Leonard Cohen with assistance from David R, and Mark eventually showed up and did a set with David R also.
The weather was also lovely and mild - like the previous night. We didn't need jackets.
We put out antipasto platters after dinner - which was sort of the wrong way around, but better to have finger food in the dark, than knife and fork food. And Jan had made lovely cupcakes and petit fours.
Dermott also got up towards the end of the night and played his banjo, and then we had an almost a capella performance - which was lovely - a highlight being Lion sleeps tonight.
Some large spiders came and shared the stage also. They were quite nimble and quick, and apparently had baby spiders on their backs. Karen was not at all impressed
Unfortunately for Justin, he drew the short straw and was the designated driver, and ended up making 2 trips - taking the 1st lot home, and then coming back for the 2nd (I was in the 2nd group)
I thought the others would be in bed, but no, they were all still up (Fraser was upstairs though).
I didn't stay up much longer as it was around 1am by this stage - so cleaned teeth and went to bed - the upstairs red room. As our room downstairs is next to the bathroom, and I didn't want to be woken up by people having to go to the toilet at all hours (has happened before)
As it was, I took a little while to fall asleep, and then also woke up earlyish around 7.30, so it wouldn't have mattered if we were downstairs.
So, I was first up, and watered the garden a bit. Sarah and Yvonne were up next and we had some toast and coffee outside. The others then got up in dribs and drabs.
Chris and Yvonne left quite early, around 10am or so, and Karen left before lunch too as she was going to America on Wednesday and had to get organised.
The rest of us had an easy morning, read the paper online etc. Bought some pasties from Cousin Jacks (very nice) and ate them under the tree. Sarah left after lunch, I had a nap, and we left around 4pm
Another excellent music night weekend
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