A Fitting Birthday Feast for a French-born Fellow
What a surprising birthday gesture it was and so fitting for a French-Australian fellow.
Son Tyson and his wife Vanessa came to our island home laden with produce to prepare a fabulous home-cooked feast (packed
with love) to celebrate Olivier’s birthday.
“Out of the kitchen you two, it’s now our domain,’’ says Tyson in his usual assertive manner. Vanessa’s parents, John and Sandra also arrive and Sandra has brought thick, creamy pumpkin soup. She also has brought our table centrepiece, a beautiful basket of pink camellias. The Herbigs live at Mt Pleasant and they will all stay the night as our guests.
It is fitting for the two men to celebrate because Oli’s birthday is the first of a list of many milestones written on our
fridge which we hope to celebrate as we live fearlessly with his life-threatening disease. John had a narrow escape from death during his recent trip to China (read about that in my Travellers’ Tales blog) and we had not seen him since. Suddenly our older men are vulnerable and each birthday is cause to celebrate.
The children have planned a mysterious dish, a piece de resistence, which we now discover is a Jamie Oliver recipe- delicious baked white fish wrapped in proscuitto in a rosemary and lemon marinate. Broccocini spears covered in lemon marinade and lemon mash complete a superb meal.
However, the anticipation began a day before the big event when Tyson telephoned Oli to exclaim that we needed to
find the decanter he had given us a few years back because such was the calibre of the wine that he wasn’t going to open it unless it could breathe properly.
Oli immediately consulted his computerised list of the contents of our 120 boxes stacked in the garage and there it was in
Box No. 64, which miraculously was easily accessible. We have been living so much as gypsies that few of our worldly belongings have been unpacked for the sojourn in our island home while our retirement home is being built at Belair.
However, soon we parents and the guest of honour, step-dad Olivier, are summoned to the table where the dish is presented
with flourish. We are told as we sit Jamie himself said in the Cook With Jamie cookbook that “This combination is a complete winner.’
And so it is! The children used King George whiting fillets instead of Haddock and placed lemon zest in the centre of the
two fillets before wrapping them in the proscuitto. The manner in which the whole filleted fish was poached and then baked made the attractive fish parcels wonderful carriers of flavours.
The wine was a terrific 1998 Limited Edition Jacobs Creek Vintage Shiraz Cabernet and it warmed our hearts to watch
as Tyson proudly poured it from the decanter.
This is the environment for a fun family meal peppered with the fellas recounting their respective recent hospital sojourns,
doggie stories, fishing tales, jokes, a house building report and general camaraderie. London-based daughter and the grand-children telephoned half way through to trigger another round of bonheur. A fabulous mix of French and Australian cheeses are presented with salad and a Wirra Wirra Scrubby Rise 2010 Unwooded Chardonnay.
We somehow found room in our tummies for a delicious selection of French pastries from the Adelaide
Central Market and we washed down the crumbs with a dessert wine I had chosen for tonight at Allinda winery, Dixon’s Creek in the Yarra Valley. Its Allinda Fortified Shiraz Liqueur.
“Une soiree magnifique!’’ pronounces Olivier. To which German-background John replies: “Das ist gut!”.
(See my Foods blog for the cheeses we devoured).
my journal | nadine 08/07/2011