God Bless Lilly-Grace

June 23, the date Olivier would have turned 75 was always going to be difficult to endure. And, yes, there were tears, but there was also joy in the family celebration of the Naming Day of my grand-niece (Am I really old enough?) Lilly-Grace, daughter of my niece Katie and her husband Josh.   Lilly-Grace is a tiny little babe with special needs  who behaved herself impeccably in church except when she had the microphone thrust in her face when in baby lingo she gurgled disapproval!

Afterwards at Hogs Breath Lilly-Grace never cried or complained and why should she – so well fed, so well loved and so pampered as everyone wanted to hold this sweet little girl.   May God bless you Lilly-Grace the way he has blessed you with exceptional loving parents – and grandparents, aunties, uncles and great-aunts as well as five cousins!

Celsius earns Wow Factor for Fine Dining

There is only one word to describe a Saturday evening 7-course degustation with matching wines at Celsius – “Sublime’’ !

Celsius chef Ayhan Erkoc (funny name, but don’t let that put you off)  is a culinary genius in the kitchen of his Gouger Street contemporary restaurant where his unique dining concept has already earned him Chef of the Year and Restaurant of the Year.  Each dish carries a “Wow’’ factor for its delightful presentation, exotic treatments of vegetables, herbs and flowers intricately complementing the flavours of main meat, game, seafood or shellfish.  He takes ingredients which sound similar such as Atlantic Salmon, Scallops, duck breast and Coorong Angus,  but that is the only familiar thing about his dashing dishes. His ingenuity with food makes each course a culinary adventure. Such as discovering finely sliced raw parsnip,  Egyptian egg,  rainbow chard, carrots the size of match-sticks and chestnuts no bigger than one’s finger nail. All delicate presentations are a delight to the senses when they arrive in a dazzling artistic display.

There is a  sense that Ayhan loves to play with food and uses his plates as an artistic palette, decorating with delicate violas and edible nasturtium leaves and “olive liquorice’ as glossy black dollops around the plate.  His treatment of ingredients bears no resemblance to anything you could imagine, but the moment the waiter places it before you with an enthusiastic flourish there is no doubting the genius in the kitchen. Each morsel is a taste treat.

Matching wines are also worthy of this four-star restaurant.  Take 2012 Poonawatta Estate: The Eden Riesling from Eden Valley, for instance, was a delightfully fresh accompaniment for Atlantic Salmon,
Beetroot, “Olive Liquorice’’, lardo.  The entrée of Scallops  (only two, but poached perfectly)was  accompanied by 2011 Espelt “Vailet’’ Grenache Blanc, Macabeo from Spain. A superb French pinot blance – 2011 Domaine Schlumberger “Les Princes Abbes’ was as much a treat to the palette as the Egyptian egg (crumbed), pine mushroom, rainbow chard and chestnut.

A glass of Three Dudes Pinot Noir 2008 enhanced the flavour of  duck breast, cooked to a perfect pink, while a hearty 2008 Murray Street Vineyards “The Barossa; Shiraz, Grenache Mataro 2008 accompanied the Coorong Angus, escargot, potato, parsnip and caramelised onion.

Desserts seemed too divine to eat and bore no resemblance to any previously devoured “cheesecake’’ or rhubarb dish.

 

Ayhan created extraordinary signature dishes with stunning wines to present guests with an unforgettable dining experience in a stylish intimate restaurant.

Seven-course degustation $120; with matching beverages $180.00

 

 

Family, friends help turn a new page

Hello everyone.  June heralds half a year already and time to send out my writings for the last few months.

I have so much for you to read on www.nadinewilliams.com.au, you are sure to find something of interest. Grandparents will love “When a Grandchild is Born’’, and those who want to laugh should look up “Keep Calm and Carry On in KI’’,  and Boomers who are still caring for frail, aging parents will empathise with ‘’Father Frank Finally Returns Home’’.

As I promised my late husband, Olivier, my new life of widowhood will include women’s friendships and getting back to writing and there is heaps of it in Ooh la la to Lovely Adelaide, In The Company of Women, Brave Angelina, and Iron Lady’s Legacy Lives On.

This note to you is important to me because I passed the first anniversary of Olivier’s death on May 11 and I have written about those terrible 12 months in May Maketh Days of Diamonds and
Some of Stone. The good news is a page has been turned as you will read in My Journal.

I am also tracking the progress of my garden for Olivier and as always, there are some wonderful floral arrangements in Life and Style by Nadine Williams – this time they are professional arrangements, not only my humble home efforts.

Kind regards and if you like my writing please forward the link on to all your friends.

Nadine Williams-Foubert

Father Frank finally back in Adelaide

Today (May 23) has been a day of diamonds . Sister Anne and I have secured a bed for our frail father at Glynde Nursing Home bringing the 94-year-old back from Renmark where he has lived for 13 years of his life.  Our little family group – Anne, my brother Andrew, my daughter-in-law Vanessa and myself  were given a tour of the large facility and of dad’s proposed room with its ensuite and street views. Our father has become increasingly lonely and isolated living in high care in Renmark hospital’s aged care residential facility.  After a two-year effort to find him a room, here we were thrilled at the level of accommodation and its various outdoor spaces .  We were hamstrung in our efforts to secure a room for dad because he wanted to move into a facility run by the Lutheran Church of Australia.

However, I have lived through this experience – the frustrations of trying to care for an elderly parent from afar.

Dad and I a few months ago in the Riverland

Now Anne and Ken will go to Renmark to pick Frank up on Wednesday so by that afternoon he will be in his new home…a nice big single room.   It is superb and it’s about time he got a benefit like this for his lifetime service to the Lutheran Church.  At least now I don’t have to try and hitch a ride to Renmark. This year in October he turns 95 and I think he is remarkable and tracking well to match the age of his auntie who died at the incredible age of  100 years eight months. His sister Auntie Lilian will be 92 this year, too.  If so, we will have five more years at least to enjoy his company as our family’s patriarch.