Andrews 40th Birthday celebrations

 

Friday 19 March

With vehicles heavily loaded with food and wine, we headed down to Mt Martha for the weekend to celebrate Andrew’s 40^th birthday. We have booked a six bedroom house on the hill overlooking the Bay and with distant views of the city skyline. For once, the Melbourne weather is typically autumnal with a beautiful 23 C. The locals in our crowd used the swimming pool while Flashy managed to remove his fleece jacket. We have brought a mountain of wine. Christopher has managed to bring the top shelf Champagne and a couple of 389’s while the rest of us have enough just in case we are isolated here for a month! Tonight, there are 11 of us plus the three grandkids and Andrew has requested a French menu for Flashy to prepare. Joanne steps up as my sous chef and we make some tagliatelle with a borrowed rolling pin, hanging the hand cut strips over broom handles suspended between the island bench and the cooktop.

 The smoky pancetta, blistered cherry tomatoes, caramelised shallots and torn basil tossed through the pasta opens the batting and is well received by the very tough crowd. Rose and Pinot Noir from the Peninsula are appreciated by some. The Sumah Viognier, picked up last week during the Yarra Valley expedition is magnificent, but there is a longing by others to open the proper reds.

Once the tops are off and the deep purple shiraz’s are poured, Flashy plates up the duck a la Orange, duck fat potatoes and wilted bok choy with the help of Lady P and Joanne. The crowd aren’t throwing cutlery at chef, so it appears that the tucker is pretty good. The dessert of upside down Tart Tatine (that’s an upside down, flipped over tart) with craft ice cream and cream is devoured with appreciation. The rest of the night is a bit of a blur, but next morning there is evidence of many good wines having been consumed.