Weekend away - Bathurst Part 3

Dinner was at what I think was the only restaurant that wasn’t in a pub or Chinese take away. Cobblestone Lane was just beautiful. So filling, oh my goodness I think I could have rolled out of the place.

Entree - Hazlenut & chive souffle

Main - Spinach & Ricotta gnocchi with swiss chard

Chocolate fondant. To. Die. For.

The next day we woke to a not great day, weather wise. All the more fun I think, I was prepared for cold, I didn’t get cold on Saturday, but boy, did I get cold on Sunday! Another good thing about Bathurst is that everywhere is adequately heated. You actually need to take a layer off when you go into a shop/cafe/where ever.

We found a cafe (that was in the pub) open early so we ate a hearty breakfast (me the toasted muesli, him the omelette with bacon, mushroom and shallots) and head up to “the Mountain” to do some car things.

On the starting grid, pole position, of course!

At the very very top of the Mountain, the view is breathtaking.

Oh, there is a Museum on cars too.

A few hours and some rumbling tummy’s later it was lunch time. We had spotted a steak house place so we’d thought we’d give it a go. Wish we hadn’t. We had no luck with lunches in Bathurst! Oh well, we will try a pub lunch next time.

My steak sandwich was ok, not sure it tasted Angus-y though.

Oh and did you think we could leave without another trip to Annies? I think not.

Husband didn't really have 2 ice creams, he was trying mine.

Thanks for reading my epic tale of our little trip to Bathurst.

Weekend away - Bathurst Part 2

I had seen Annies Ice Cream Palour on the big map I bought and thought it was one of those typical ye’ olde parlours you see in every other touristy town (you the ones that just have the massive tubs of Streets of Peters, and you hoped that the milk maids were out back churning the ice cream by hand). Well yet another gem found in Bathurst. Its ALL homemade!

Bathurst is big on War Memorials.

In the other park, more of a garden.

Lovely little cafe, unfortunately was closed :(

But! We got Annies!

Oh it was as a kitsch as I'd hoped!

In the little Bathurst Museum, $4 well spent I think.

By 5pm it was starting to get pretty chilly. We headed back to the unit to have some coffee to warm up and quick back before dinner.

We had foxtel in the room too which was a bonus. Only because we had the sport channel and the 5.30 game was about to kick off. Ask me who was playing, go on. You guessed it, the Eels! I couldn’t believe our luck. And I had made a 7.30 reservation for dinner too, so that meant we could watch the entire game. Usually I make dinner for 7pm, someone was looking over us that day! Oh and yes, we won too.

Weekend getaway - Bathurst part 1

Last weekend, we went to Bathurst. Everyone we told assumed there was some kind or car related reason as to why we were going. Ok, so it is home to a pretty popular and unique race track, but surely there is more to this country town than a race track.

Gladly, I can report there is.

There is the superb gardens in the town centre, the views of the surrounding paddocks and hills when you look down the streets, the old houses (some of which are being restored to their former glory), the one of a kind shops (most of them were closed though, but I love that they still believe in closing at midday on a Saturday) and Annies.

We left home about 9.30ish on Saturday and headed the Bells Line Of Road way, as opposed to through Katoomba. The drive was gorgeous, thanks to perfect weather. I was so tempted to stop at the fruit shops at Bilpin, but decided that on the way home was probably a better idea (FYI, we didnt stop on the way home, far to cold and wet, just wanted to stay warm in the car).

Arrival at Bathurst around lunch, perfect, time for food! We checked into our accommodation (side note, people at Bathurst need to look up the word 'luxury' before they use it to describe their hotel) a lovely self contained unit. Thankfully, ours was truly luxury. Well, compared what else was on offer. We cann't rave about the encore apartments enough!

The bed was tidy, but i just had to jump on it before i took a photo

We walked into the town centre to search for some lunch. As i mentioned there was not much open, even the cafes closed at 2pm. The husband is a bit of a meat pie connoisseur so we tried Becks bakery. I opted for a turkish bread roll with chicken cheese and sundried tomato. Verdict on the pie - not good. Drats. Not to worry, time to explore the town (and take photos!)

Is it normal to be in love with icecream?

If its Digger flavour from Homer Hudson then yes, i think it is normal. This has done nothing to help my already unhealthy love of icecream.

Thankfully its a limited edition flavour. For the waisteline and the wallet, its $6 per 500ml!

But oh so worth it!

I demand you all rush out to coles/woolies/franklins and get yourself a tub. NOW!

Monday night football!

Monday night just gone the Husband and I went to the footy. His mum had scored free tickets, which is lucky because we would not have gone otherwise.

You see, we support the Parramatta Eels. And if you follow the NRL, you would know what a cruddy season they are having. I didn't really want to spend money on seeing them loose. Again (and also in the freezing cold!)

So, you can imagine my joy when they won. THEY WON! Against Melbourne Storm, which is a bit impressive. 18-16 to be exact, yes a missed conversion was all that separated them.
Funny that that was the final score. My Grandpa (bless him) and Nanna used to be on the footy. But only the Friday night game and would always bet on the 'pick the score' option (can't you tell I'm a massive TAB junkie with my wealth of knowledge) The score they would pick? 18-16. Every single Friday night game.

You'd be suprised how often the score ends up like this, and when it does, I smile and think about Grandpa.

Anyway, here are some picks from the game (which was also Nathan Hindmarsh's 250th first grade game, all played for the Eels)

Meal Plan

The shopper, the bargain hunter & the cupcake maker

The shopper

The bargain hunter

& the cupcake maker
(recipe courtesy of the lovely Alicia from http://the-red-deer.blogspot.com/2009/06/baking-mondays-f-is-for-ferrero-rocher.html, do visit her blog, its amazing!)

The meal planning is coming around faster it seems since I've started blogging. I do have a fresh one ready to show you all, I know you all are on the edge of your seats waiting (nod people, nod!hehe).

Oh and the last ep of Master Chef is being aired tonight, BOOHOO! I will miss it, I love watching cooking shows. I hope Julie wins, I would LOVE a copy of her cookbook.

I hope you all enjoyed your weekends, I know i did!

DC xoxo