Semaphore beach #beach #semaphore

Even on a winter's day in Adelaide, it can still be great weather for a 

stroll along the beach. 

Semaphore beach runs for kilometres and is flanked by enormous sand dunes.

The jetty is one of the longest along the Adelaide coastline, 

standing at 585 metres long.  When it was built in 1860 it 

was 652 metres but storms have knocked off a few metres.

The main shopping strip in Semaphore is Semaphore Road, one of the 

widest boulevards in Adelaide. The jetty leads directly off it.

Norfolk Island pines line the esplanade.

photo courtesy of National Railway Museum

The cute Fort Glanville stream train runs along the sand dunes from 

Fort Glanville to Semaphore on Sundays through Spring to Autumn. 

But for a full list of opening times and details, click here

It was a perfect day for fish and chips with my mum and sister, soaking up the winter's sun.

Flowers for the weekend #flowers #beautifulthings #delft

There is just something about fresh flowers to brighten up a house.  

It is a long weekend coming up in Adelaide and to herald it, 

a bunch of pretty yellow tulips seems just right.

I like to put yellow tulips in a blue delft vase that my in-laws bought when 

they were living in The Hague many years ago.  

And of course a bunch for my bestie.

I hope you have a lovely weekend.

Magill Estate Kitchen #food #wine #magillestate #penfolds

The stylish new Magill Estate Kitchen is run by chefs Emma McCaskill and 

Scott Huggins who are also in charge of the up-market Magill Estate Restaurant up on the hill. 

This a very casual but beautiful place to have a bite to eat while trying more of those delicious Penfolds' wines.

You can choose from a good selection of cheeses and charcuterie, salads and small or large plates.

The beech tables are set in an understated way but there is nothing understated 

about the style of the place.

Bin 28 Kalima Shiraz 2012

Beetroot, radish and goat's cheese salad

Pumpkin and treacle tart with ice-cream.  A took a bite before I remembered to
take the photo. Oops. Am I bad?

Penfolds Magill Estate Cellar Door #Penfolds #wine #magillestate

Modern appropriately scaled architecture really compliments the heritage buildings nearby

Yesterday I visited the new Penfolds Magill Estate Cellar Door and Magill Estate Kitchen - only opened last week. The cellar door and kitchen compliment the already established and high end Magill Estate Restaurant. In today's post I will focus on the cellar door and leave the wonderful kitchen experience for a further post.

The new multi-million dollar cellar door and kitchen sits alongside the old 

Penfolds buildings at Magill.

That beautiful bluestone again.

Penfolds was established in 1844 by Dr Christopher and Mary Penfold. While Penfolds vineyards can be found all over the state, the Magill vineyard and Magill Estate is only a 15 minute drive from the CBD.

Penfolds is known around the world for its iconic wine, Grange.  Originally known as Grange Hermitage, the wine was first made by Penfold's Chief Wine Maker, Max Schubert in 1951.  

Schubert was a pioneer of the multi-vineyard, multi-district blending philosophy but his first few years of Grange Hermitage were not viewed well by the board and he was ordered to stop making the blended wine. 

Luckily Schubert was a persistent fellow and kept on making Grange and hid his vintages in underground cellars at Magill Estate until the board change their minds in 1959.  

In addition to the small 5.24 hectare vineyard at Magill Estate (that is hand pruned and picked) Penfolds has vineyards in the Barossa  (Koonunga Hill, Kalimna, Stonewall, the Waltons, Zilm, Barossa Valley), McLaren Vale (Bethany, Bencowe, Booths), the Coonawarra and Robe.

Penfolds has dozens of wines, with their high-end wines listed under the
Penfolds Collection (including Grange, Yattarna, Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon,
Magill Estate Shiraz, St Henri Shiraz, Bin 28 Kalimna Shiraz etc.),
 to Cellar Reserves, Ports and Sherries and their entry
level table wines, Koonunga Hill.

The Magill Estate Shiraz range started in 1983

At the Magill Estate Cellar door you can choose from a $10 - $20 wine tasting 

selection.  The cellar door is opened from 9 to 6 every day.

Tomorrow I'll post on the Magill Estate Kitchen experience.

Vietnamese Chicken from The Cooks Pantry cooking class #Vietnamese #thecookspantry #cooking

As promised, more of the recipes that were demonstrated at a cooking class 

my daughter and I attended at The Cooks Pantry at Grange.

Today we have yummy Vietnamese Chicken.

Ingredients to serve 4

50 gm chicken thigh fillet (much juicier than breast)

4 x eschallots or 1 large brown onion

2 to 5 chilies, seeds optional (the more seeds, the hotter it gets)

1/2 tsp fish paste (brand names Prahoc or Bragoong) or a couple of dashes of fish sauce

4 cloves of garlic

3 sticks of lemongrass

1x 3rd of thumb of fresh galangal

1 tsp 5 spice

1/2 tspn grated fresh turmeric (or powdered)

salt and pepper

15 kaffir lime leaves

juice of lemon or lime

1 tbspn brown or palm sugar

Wooden skewers

fresh galangal, turmeric, ginger and finger root

My daughter's beautiful hands

Method

Cut the chicken into large bite sized pieces

Put the remainder of the ingredients (except lime leaves) into a mortar and pestle or a food processor and process until smooth, adding vegetable oil or water if needed

Shred 5 of the lime leaves and add to the paste.

Add chicken and marine for at least five hours.

Put wooden skewers into water to soak.

Thread onto skewers interspersed with lime leaves and cook on BBQ or hot plate for about 15 minutes or until cooked (test by touch - if still soft to touch, it isn't cooked through)

Serve with steamed rice

Still to come, the Amok Fish in Banana leaf cups and Vietnamese Grilled Quail

West Lakes Golf Club #golf #westlakes

The North Adelaide Ladies played Westward Ho at West Lakes Golf Course today.

We won 3 to 2. Yeah. 

West Lakes course is a par 70 covering 5,632 metres. It is situated in sand 

belt country near the beach, with Grange and Royal Adelaide courses nearby. 

Impressive clubhouse 

Ladies getting ready with a few practice putts

My opponent Leila about to hit up on the 13th hole. Just look at all those bunkers!

It was a day of grey skies one moment, blue skies the other. 

Another bunker

The greens were very quick and quite tricky.

The fairways were narrow, although with virtually no slope.

I have never played a course with so many bunkers.  I managed to find 5 of 

them during my round and luckily bounced out of a couple more.

It's an attractive course, only 20 minutes drive from the CBD.