Lindsey's Birthday Weekend

It was Lindsey's birthday on Saturday, so we made a weekend of it.

She and I, as usual, went to the fortnightly market at the lake. On this occasion, Ian came too. The market was very busy! We went out to the Smythes Creek Farmgate Shop (Formerly known as the Ballarat Mushroom Farm). It was very busy there too. It's good that the farmgate shop is busy. At one point they were thinking of closing. But it is VERY busy on Saturdays at the moment. I might think about going on Thursdays, instead. 

Our second fortnightly vegetable box came on Saturday afternoon. I don't think it will ever have really interesting, exotic veg in it; it's vegetables that the supermarkets have rejected for various reasons and supermarkets don't tend to be adventurous in their vegetable supplies. But it does have things that we might not have thought to buy unless we needed them for something specific. Such as pak choi. Celery. And sweet potatoes. I don't often buy sweet potatoes, unless they are called for in a recipe and ordinary potatoes won't do.

I visited Stella in the afternoon and reminded her that we were going to Lindsey, Ian and Hugo's house for lunch on Sunday. We had hoped to go out for lunch, but had failed to note that it was Mothers' Day. By the time we thought about it we couldn't get a table in any of the pubs we usually go to, so arranged to meet Up On The Hill.

I was invited to join Lindsey and Ian at a local Japanese restaurant on Saturday evening. I don't really like going out at night anymore, but an invitation to a birthday dinner in a proper Japanese restaurant (run by actual Japanese people cooking actual Japanese food) is not to be turned down for no good reason. And it was delicious. Edamame, a little plate of salad, a plate of sashimi with a superb spinach and creamy side and a savoury custard, a plate of tempura, then a serving of tooth fish with rice and miso soup, followed by black sesame, and matcha  ice cream. I don't recall ever having had tooth fish before. It was absolutely lovely.

While we were there we had noticed people posting aurora photos on the Buninyong and the Ballarat Facebook pages. When Lindsey and Ian got home they walked to the top of their hill to see if they could see it. And they could. Purple, pink and faintly green. Ian's camera got fabulous shots, showing the irridations and swirls that the naked eye couldn't pick up around here. It is highly unusual for the auroras to come to Ballarat, so no-one was complaining about the light levels. Everyone was just very excited  

I did not walk up their hill. They dropped me off at home and I went to bed shortly thereafter. I did, however, note the beautiful display of stars overhead as I walked up my driveway and paused to admire them - to the consternation of Brandy and Whiskey, watching me through the window and wondering what on earth I was doing!

Ian's photo, on a 10 second delay.
Admire the colours - but zoom in and just look 
at the stars to the left of the photo

Lindsey's photo, with no delay

And so to Sunday. 

I went to collect Stella - and found her in the dining room, about to tuck in to what I have to say was a lovely looking plate of roast pork, roast potatoes and various vegetables. The veg looked to be beautifully cooked. She looked at me and said: "I'm supposed to be going out, aren't I?" I said she could, of course, stay there and have her Sunday roast - but Lindsey and Ian had oysters and prawns at their place. She pushed herself back from the table very quickly, said goodbye to her dining companions and intimated that she was ready to go.

We had seafood, sausages and other proteins from the market, salads and veg from the veg box, a Mothers' Day charcuterie platter from the supermarket, donuts from the market and various bits and pieces from all over the place. Freyja and Simon joined us. Hugo had a great time - he loves having visitors, plus he gets lots of tasty titbits when people are there for Sunday lunch. He is getting more Rupert-like; at one point he pushed his head under my arm to encourage me to feed him tasty morsels. He never did that when Rupert was there (but Rupert did 😉)

Celebratory Sunday lunch (Freyja's photos):

You'll never be able to lose us in a crowded place!