Text 9270, 137 rader
Skriven 2006-12-25 13:12:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: echo picnic 740
=======================
I'd found some nice South Australian scallops with roe at
the Greek fishmonger's at the Central Market (same place
where the mussels had come from), so for breakfast we had
sauteed scallops with sherry and butter over toast, very
nice, if I say so myself; then it was time to gird our
loins and prepare for the picnic itself.

We showed up early at Leonore's and chopped things up and
helped make salads and kebabs and things. Gradually people
showed up, and eventually we ended up with enough guests
to almost qualify for an official echo picnic. Present (15):
Leonore, Glen, Carol, Michael, Liz (Glen's daughter), Nancy
(Jamieson family friend), Carla (friend of Leonore's), Tony
(friend of Leonore's), Colette (Leonore's sister) and Rob
(Leonore's b-i-l), Jason (Glen's son) and Jemiah (Jason's
daughter). Greg & Dorothy Mayman, Kevin JCJD Symons.

=

With what Leonore provided, what we brought, and the
contributions of the other guests, we ended up as usual
with quite an abundance and assortment of food.

Of course there were chips and pretzels, which some people
made the mistake of starting off with, not knowing what else
there was to be. Also many kinds of nuts: cashews (giants,
unsalted as well as salted), peanuts, almonds, walnuts, and
macadamias (toffee as well as regular, brought by Nancy).

Salads for the health nuts among us: a spinach-onion salad
and a lettuce-tomato salad with green onions, pea sprouts,
and Brie. Both were abundant, each being enough for the
entire crowd. Leonore made a seafood and rice salad as well.

Leonore's smoked salmon cheesecake with dill was a hit (it's
not really a cheesecake, more a cream cheese dip garnished
with salmon); and there was a platter of several kinds of
cheese, including the famous Watsonia, which is like a
medium Cheddar only much softer.

I was in charge of the meats, beginning with Hungarian
salami and bum burners from the Mettwurst Shop - the
former was not unlike a mettwurst, surprisingly enough,
but perhaps more sour; the latter were quite spicy, and
I don't think many people partook. The highlight to my
mind was a pickled tongue (got for $3.99 a kilo at the
Halal butcher - take that, you tongue-deprived guests at
the most recent Enfield Lobsterfest), which I simmered for
a couple hours with spices and that Glen said brought him
back to his childhood: between him and myself we took care
of most of it (taking a few days to do so) - even though
I'd sliced it up, most of the party didn't seem overly
enthusiastic - or even willing to give it a taste. In
addition I made kofta kebab and beef satays - probably
about 50 or 60 all told; there was enough food. We also
had a kilo of kangaroo and emu snags that went unwanted
in the fridge and eventually made their way back to Glen's
for the nourishment of his hungry sons.

The wines were Yalumba Pinot Grigio 05, Minchinbury Brut de
Brut Private Reserve, Carrington blush, Cockatoo Ridge
sparkling, and Brown Brothers Tarrango 04. None of these
did I find particularly interesting. the Pinot was fairly
respectable; of the three fizzies, the most expensive, the
Cockatoo Ridge, got the worst notices from the crowd,
probably as it was also the most acid - I found all three
pretty clean, neutral wines with no character whatever and
could just as well have been drinking soda water with a
slice or three of lemon. The Tarrango would have been
interesting, but I think that even at 2 years of age it was
over the hill, gone stale, sort of old-raisiny-tasting,
flat, and unprofitable.

Dorothy and Greg brought a decent (very pruny and raisiny)
cleanskin Petit Verdot from someplace in the Fleurieu as well
as three not so lovely beers from Lovely Valley in Myponga -

Bloody Lovely Stout with lemon, which would have been okay
but for a strong aroma of Lemon Pledge, which sort of kind
of dissipated with time; it was also a bit too fizzy, as
stouts seem to tend to be around here;

Smooth Lager with a Hint of Chili: Carol thought it tasted
like Thai food; I thought it tasted like nothing; and

Pioneer ginger beer, which had a hint of ginger mixed with
crabgrass but an annoying Pine-Sol aroma, taste, and finish.

=

Leonore is really in her glory with desserts -

rhubarb apple pie was the usual, although quite tart by
comparison with most of the ones we normally get; a lot
more characterful than most;

Sherry trifle, which was made because she was distressed at
my never having had a proper Australian trifle, having had
only English versions. Kevin, always eager to complain about
something, asked where the custard was; we all and almost
in unison pointed to a yellow layer readily visible on his
serving and shouted, "there!";

her superb fruitcake;

and a banana cheesecake, which was rather rich and full of
poisonous dairy products, but which I ate some of anyhow
(it was quite nice).

There were also store-bought and home-made candies of
various sorts, those nuts (hardly touched amid the vast
quantity of other food), and Leonore's ubiquitous famous
chocolate-dipped kumquats and cherries - the kumquats had
been soaked in brandy; the cherries were of two types,
Captain Morgan soaked and Bundy OP soaked. All were
excellent, the Captain Morgan receiving the most requests.

We finished off with glasses of the decanted liquors in
which the fruits had been macerated.

And so to home, rather unsteadily.

We hardly had room for anything else, but late in the day
it was determined I should make some spicy eggplant, which
was accompanied by a bottle of wine I'd discovered orphaned
above the cupboard in Glen's kitchen.

Rosemount Estate Semillon-Sauvignon Blanc 02 was, as you
might be able to guess, a beautiful warm golden color and
rather over the hill. The more objectionable oxidation notes
did blow off, though, and what ended up in the glass was a
weakish, lightly fruited picnic wine with hardly any of the
ugly characteristics of a wine heavy in Sauvignon Blanc.

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