new gisborne

On sunday, I drove up to my parents place (as is almost a weekly occurrence) to have dinner. It was kind of my brother's birthday (well it was actually the week before but he was in Sydney). I drove to their house, then my dad drove us to a pub in the country for dinner. The town has a somewhat uninspiring name: New Gisborne. It's your typical one pub, one train station type of town - sleepy and farmy. The sun was setting as we were driving there, of which I have photos. I'll post them as soon as I find the cable thingy for the camera. We bought a bottle of local chardonnay, and shared it while sitting on a table in front of an open fire in the practically deserted restaurant part of the pub.

Surprisingly, being that far from any water, the menu was full of seafood. I decided however to go for the Angus 300g rump steak. I figure people pay lots of money for Australian beef in other countries - I should probably enjoy it while it's relatively cheap (~$25). It tasted great, though was slightly over-done for rare. Topped with garlic butter. I'm pretty sure I have a photo. Vegetables tasted great, not sure if they were local produce or not. Slightly under-cooked, though I like them like that. The wine was also great - again about $25 for a bottle, from the Gisborne area. Apparently there is a winery around there that we are planning on visiting. I might have to pick up a case.

As much as I like to wonder out loud how anyone could shun the conveniences of living in a city for country existence - in some tiny town where everyone is anglo, meat and three veg is the nightly staple, and drunk driving is expected - I do love visiting these places. I particularly love eating local food (if possible), drinking local wine, and trying to imagine what my life would be like, if I decided one day to leave Fitzroy and move to the country. It's totally a romantic notion I know, and those of you that grew up in the country I'm sure would love to alert me to the harsh reality of country living, but still.. I could play my drums at 2am. Though I can do that now.

We went back to my brother's house for dessert - they had bought a whole lot of little cakes and pastries from somewhere or other. I got to play with his dogs (which I dont get to see that often). All in all a pretty good night. It's a pity that neither of my sisters were in attendance, nor was Bradles. Ah well, I'm sure there will be plenty more nights like that.