Pinot Noir tasting

We had a blind Pinot Noir tasting at our house last night. The Friedlaenders, Kightleys, Langenfelds and Stacey's joined us for a good evening. I was not feeling well so unfortunately couldn't taste as well, but everybody tasted the 9 wines blind and selected their favourites. We had wine from Australia (Mornington, Orange and Tasmania), South Africa, New Zealand, Chile, Germany and France. All around the $20 - $25 mark. The wines that stood out were the Bouchard Finlayson from South Africa, Nanny Goat from New Zealand,  Maycas Limari from Chile and Graf von Kageneck from Baden in Germany. Ernst used to work on this farm and went back there recently when he bought this. Great fun evening with good friends!

Could you help African food entrepreneurs?

Could you help African food entrepreneurs?

Let me know if you would like to get involved.

24 Jan 14

Rainy day in Sydney which is quite nice as it was becoming quite dry here. I watered my plants and also transplanted some cuttings which will hopefully grow into nice Bonsais.

The flash for my camera arrived from Hong Kong. I tested it late at night after dinner with Peter and Sachiko Dittmar. The pic looks ok but there's no doubt that natural sunlight always wins!

But then again it worked really well on the spider that Lynne is looking after outside out front door!

23 Jan 14

Warm and humid in Sydney. And the seas were quite rough. I took this pic at Curl Curl after a walk with David to Shelley Beach.

22 Jan 14

I want to get my bonsai Rock Fig to grow on a rock, so I went to see Karol up in Cromer Heights ans he showed me around his property where we found a good rock. Let's hope it works!

21 Jan 14

Another rainy day in Sydney. I took Udade for a walk in the Forest next to our house and took this pic there.

20 Jan 14

Rainy day in Sydney, and I'm sure every photographer loves a spider web on a after the rain.

19 Jan 14

Lynne and I went for a walk with Ernst and Sue from Curl Curl to Long Reef, followed by a swim and coffee at the end. Great fun. Took this pic of Ernst looking up the NSW North Coast from Long Reef headland.

18 Jan 14

Another beautiful day in Sydney. Went for a swim at Dee Why beach and then to the Bonsai shop in Terrey Hills. I bought this native Rulingia to replace the bonsai that I destroyed when I tried to shape it with wires. Hopefully this one will last. Apparently it gets really nice blooms in spring.

17 Jan 14

Dinner with the Friedlaenders and Langenfelds. Ernst brought this excellent Syrah from a farm in Stellenbosch - delicious!

16 Jan 14

Walked from Curl Curl to Shelley Beach with David Irvine. While walking back along Manly Beach we saw the council workers remove one of the old Pine trees align the promenade. Interesting how shallow the roots are. And I wonder where they were taking it because it looked like they were planning to replant it somewhere.

15 Jan 14

I am quite proud of the fact that I have now done 15 days in a row - wow!
The weather this morning was perfect - hot with blue skies. So Lynne and I decided to go for a quick walk from Dee Why to Long Reef headland where we took this pic. Afterwards I had a swim and we had a quick coffee before it was back to work.

14 Jan 14

Another day for a walk with David Irvine. This time we did a repeat of the walk from South Curl Curl to Shelley Beach. Took this pic of the South Curl Curl pool with the sun breaking through the clouds.

13 Jan 14

Beautiful day in Sydney. And the start of the Australian Open tennis tournament. Guess what we will be watching for the next fortnight!

12 Jan 14

Went to the Frenchs Forest Farmers Market this morning. This was the first week they were all back from the summer holidays. Very good produce but bloody expensive.

11 Jan 14

Went to the Bonsai nursery in Terry Hills. They have a magnificent collection. Afterward I came home and "shaped" my Cotoneaster Corokia, Raoul.

10 Jan 14

Dinner at home with Mike and Vicki Baard. Had a great evening and took this shot of our starter with the Pouilly-Fume that Cecile gave Lynne and I  for Christmas. Delicious!

9 Jan 14

Went for a walk with David Irvine from South Curl Curl to Long Reef heads. Nice walk (about 10km) with wonderful sea views.

8 Jan 14

Busy planning what to make for dinner on Friday. There is an excellent Thai restaurant in Freshwater where I had a wonderful starter when Lynne and I ate there last Saturday. It was a prawn on a betel leaf with the most flavoursome sauce. I thought I'd try that so I too a pic of their menu. But they have a "secret ingredient" so its difficult to make.

7 Jan 14

David Irvine and I went for an early morning walk from Curl Curl to Shelley Beach and back. The seas were quite rough and I took this picture of Curl Curl looking north.

6 Jan 14

Beautiful and hot day in Sydney. Lynne and I took Udade for a swim at Narrabeen Lake late afternoon after a walk through the forest.

5 Jan 14

Went to the Farmer's market in Frenchs Forest this morning. They only really open next Sunday but there was a small fruit stall and a lady who sold eggs.

4 Jan 14

Johan and Jessica gave me a Bonsai plant with tools and book for Christmas and my birthday. Today Lynne and I went to Woollahra to meet Thor, the guy who sold the plant to Johan. He showed us around and gave us good tips. Here's a pic of my Chinese Juniper.

3 Jan 14

Beautiful day in Sydney. Went for a swim at Dee a why beach. Water nice and warm - 23 degrees. We had a take-away coffee from Bacino which is where these photos were taken.

2 Jan 14

Today started with a bike ride with David Irvine at West Head. Hard work as I felt the after effects of an over indulged festive season. Later that afternoon Lynne and I went to see American Hustle - great movie which we'd like to see again to fully understand it all. For dinner we had boerewors - which I made myself - on the braai. I thought I'd also add a pic of the lasagna I made for dinner on the first. I used roasted eggplant and baby marrow instead of pasta.

New Year's Day - 2014

I thought it might be a good idea to do a post every day this year. Nothing too serious, just something to remind me of what we did on that day. And also to get me more used to blogging which could help me with social media for my business - ProActive Media.
OK, here goes: After a rather quiet NYE celebration at home (we were still hung over from a big night with 13 friends the night before to celebrate my birthday), we went for a walk from Dee Why to Collaroy and back. Later that afternoon we took our dog - Udade - for a walk behind Cromer, where I took this picture of Lynne.