Mostly Feasting

It has been a week of much good food, much frivolity and much fun.

We went to Simon's place for dinner on Monday.

Tuesday was a public holiday in Melbourne.  I didn't go to work.  Instead, Jim and I hopped on a train and took ourselves off to Geelong.  I don't recall ever having been to Geelong on the train before.  Trips to Geelong have mostly been of the "Ooh - it's a nice day; let's go to Geelong and have fish and chips in the beach" variety and we have gone in the car. We will definitely go on the train again. It's not very expensive (cheaper on the way there than on the way back - we were off peak going and peak hour returning) and it's a pleasant hour or so sitting and watching the countryside go by. I do wish they had wifi on the trains, though.  It's all very well arguing that people have generous data plans with their phone contracts, but that's no use if you have no phone signal!

Anyway.  I digress.  We went to our friend Irene's place for lunch.  Her friend Gillie picked us up from the station and we had a mighty feast of bounty from the garden, augmented with a few other things.  It was a very convivial afternoon and the food was delicious.

In the evening, Lindsey, Ian, Jim and I wandered down into Richmond and had a remarkably nice Vietnamese meal.  We had two starters and four main courses to share between us. I might have done it more justice had I not had a three course meal at lunchtime, but I gave it a good shot, and everyone else did their best too.  We didn't leave much!

Wednesday was a feasting rest day

Thursday was Jacob's 18th birthday, and the last day of his end of school exams.  As many of the family as were available met at Neighbourhood Wine in North Fitzroy for a tasting menu celebration. It was a noisy and cheerful celebration. The staff were very attentive and the food was lovely.

We came back to Ballarat with Ian on Friday and he cooked up a feast for us in the evening.  Lindsey was feasting separately in Melbourne, but we enjoyed a lovely meal of barramundi with Asian style vegetables and sauces.

It is possible that we might need to do less feasting next week!!

Mind you, I managed nearly 8 km of walking yesterday. I set off for the Victoria Market on foot, then in a moment of inattention wandered off down towards the other side of the city centre.  By the time I realised this and had set myself back in the right direction I think I had added another 2 or 3 km to the round trip.  It was exactly 7 km on my Run Keeper when I got back to the flat - and we still had to take the dog out for a walk before we got in the car to head back to Ballarat!!

There were lots of people on the platform to Flemington at Southern Cross Station on Tuesday.  It was Melbourne Cup Day and they were clearly going to the races, dressed in their glad rags.  Floaty dresses, fancy hats, fascinators and unsuitably high heels for the ladies, lounge suits or dress suits for the gentlemen. It was, in fact, quite a nice day but not nearly warm enough for floaty dresses and skimpy shoes.  I was wearing trousers, shirt and a jumper!