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The Annual Strawberry Fayre at Myattsfield Winery and Core Cider House, Bickley Valley

Posted by  | Categories: Attractions, Events, Featured, Food and Wine Festivals, Perth, Pizza, Restaurants, Winery

The Boy and I were desperate for some time-out. We planned to visit Adelaide for the weekend of my high school reunion and to make the most of our trip, we organised a full schedule including winery visits and lots of eating. I booked our flights months back but with all the havoc and uncertainty recently; the trip couldn’t have come at a better time. We were both really looking forward to switching off and relaxing. That is, until one of our darling fur-children fell ill. Now bear in mind that we are without human children and our two Burmese cats are the next best thing. Well, in my opinion, they ARE the best thing!

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The darlings.

Eddie is our youngest “son” and has the softest, sweetest nature. If he was human I’m sure every sentence would start with “Please” and end in “Sorry”! The night before our departure for Adelaide, Eddie started with profuse vomiting and the poor little guy was still unable to hold anything down the next morning. After rushing him to work and running blood tests, performing x-rays and an ultrasound, we diagnosed a flare up of his inflammatory bowel disease which may have possibly been worsened by pancreatitis. He needed an overnight stay in hospital so he could get intravenous fluids, pain relief and further treatment.

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I sure you will understand that upon realising this, neither of us could pack our bags, leave him and get on that plane. I was reminded again that I married the perfect man when he jumped onto the phone to Qantas without hesitation and rescheduled our trip to early next year. At least we are equally crazy about our kitties. Eddie was discharged from Perth Veterinary Emergency the following day. By Sunday he was obviously feeling much better asking to be picked up for a cuddle like usual. How does a cat ask this you say? Well, being Burmese he IS quite talkative but when he wants to be picked up he does something that is a little toddleresque. Standing up on his hind legs he reaches to tap-tap-tap on my upper thigh with his soft front paws. If I reach down to pick him up he stretches his “arms” right out to reach over my shoulder and then snuggles into me. So fricking cute.

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Relieved that our child was well on the road to recovery the Boy proposed a Sunday country drive to enjoy the first of Spring’s warming rays of sunshine. I wanted to visit Myattsfield Winery to try more of their sumptuous reds so with my old map from the Bickley Valley Harvest Festival in hand we drove up into the Hills. To our surprise we found a hive of activity at the winery; it was their annual “Strawberry Fayre” where the winery recreates the celebrations from their ancestors when they used to cultivate both wine and strawberries.

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There was live music, wood fired pizza and their full range of wines for tasting. Strangely there were no strawberries however. We worked our way through all their wines; from their whites through to their reds and ending on their sticky. It was hard to choose what to bring home and we ended up buying not one but two cases of our own personal selection including a couple of bottles of that delightful Shiraz Mourvedre Viognier that I fell in love with at Dear Friends.

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Smokey Jack’s wood fired pizza (not GF)

As the Boy lined his stomach with some pizza I looked on in starving envy soaking up some sun while my tummy grumbled furiously. After much whinging about the lack of gluten free edibles, I suddenly remembered the Core Cider House was gluten free friendly and so we left the Fayre goers behind in search of something I could eat.

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So pretty

For those who haven’t yet managed to spend a lazy Sunday at Core Cider House, you are definitely missing out. Every time we have visited them they have been packed to near capacity and we were very lucky according to our waiter to score a table as they were fully booked.

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Cider tasting paddle

Despite being obviously under the pump, the wait staff were all very jovial and friendly. Whilst by no means fancy, this place oozes character and charm. Tables are spotted about on the grass under the apple trees overlooking views of the orchards and vineyards. I could consciously feel my stress levels drop down notch by notch. All their ciders are gluten free although I doubted they were fructose friendly so I downed a couple of glucose tablets to counter act any issues and shared a tasting paddle with the Boy.  Not being a big cider drinker I am probably the worst person to review them but for what it’s worth I really enjoyed “Pith’d”; a refreshing sparking lemon cider and “Core Reactor”; a medium dry more traditional cider made from apples and pears.

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Warmed brie ($20)

We ordered a couple of plates to share starting with the thyme and garlic infused warm brie. Deliciously gooey in the centre it was served with candied walnuts, Cabernet sauvignon sultanas and toasted gluten free bread. The bread was not stodgy or crumbly and held its texture perfect while we smeared the molten cheese on it.

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Orchardist’s Platter ($26)

Our second platter was one of the vegetarian options called “The Orchardist’s Platter”.  Thick rounds of aged creamy chevre Rondelle (soft goat’s cheese), some blanched broccolini and rich red pepper puree, more gluten free toast were flavoured with rosemary salt, roasted garlic cloves and preserved lemon slivers. Although we enjoyed this platter, I did feel it was a little overpriced and it could have easily been improved with the addition of more vegetables.

Overall we had a wonderful day out in Bickley Valley, it was a nice alternative to the more mainstream Swan Valley and I am chuffed to see my wine rack filled once again. I’m not sure how long they will last though!

Myattsfield Vineyards
Cellar Door Union Road, Carmel Valley, WA | www.myattsfield.com.au
 
CORE Cider House
35 Merrivale Road, Pickering Brook, WA 6076 | (08) 9293 7583 | www.corecider.com.au/core-cider-house
 
Price:                     $$$ (Share plates $10-32, Mains $19-33)
Food:                    3/5 (excellent range of gluten free, would like better value on the platters)
Service:                3.5/5 (bright and bubbly just like their ciders)
Ambience:          3.5/5 (a great way to lower the blood pressure)
Drinks:                  2.5/5 (spritzy Pith’d lemon cider was so refreshing)
Total:                     12.5/20

CORE Cider House on Urbanspoon

Piccos Kitchen, Rollie and some Bathers

Posted by  | Categories: Breakfast/Brunch, Desserts, Perth, Restaurants

Last week’s blogging silence was a result of our world being turned upside-down due to one of our darling little boys falling ill.  Like some other couples our age, we don’t have any human children.  In fact there is a very good chance that we never will.  Instead, our children are two adorable Burmese cats named Rollie and Eddie (or Roland and Edward when they are naughty!).  For those who are unaware of the delight of a Burmese – imagine an animal that is somewhere at the half way point between being a dog and a cat!  They sit on command for their treats, they always come when called even if they are not hungry, they both sleep under the bed covers with us every night (sometimes with their head on the pillow) and they will be waiting patiently at the door for our return from work.  They will alternate between each other being my constant shadow around the house, and are both happiest when their life includes copious amounts of cuddles and company.

We call Rollie the “complicated child”.  I figure there is always one in every family.  From a young age he developed a form of obsessive compulsive disorder called fabric chewing.  Oriental breeds of cats such as Siamese and Burmese are thought to be genetically predisposed to this condition.  We generally keep this condition under control with plenty of “environmental enrichment”.  There are a number of ways in which this can be done – the more the better.  In order to mimic their natural predatory behaviour, they both have to “hunt” for their food each morning as it is hidden around the house.  We ensure our house has a lot of “vertical space” with numerous ledges, tunnels and vantage points to view the world from above in addition to keeping the house filled with kitty happy pheromones using a couple of plug-in diffusers containing Feliway.  They have a basket of toys to choose from which ends up scattered around the house by the end of most days, and finally we try our best to avoid letting him have any access to his favourite materials however this is easier said than done.

Despite these strategies, in situations that involve changes within the household his OCD behaviour can start to return, most notably when we have guests stay in the house.  Unfortunately during my sister’s recent stay, Rollie managed to get hold of a bathing suit and devoured part of it which then obstructed in his stomach requiring emergency surgery to be removed.  Being in an extremely emotional and worried state, I knew it was unwise for me to perform the surgery myself, so I asked my dear friend and trusted colleague Chris if she could come into work and operate for me.  Despite it being her day off, she rushed in to the hospital with no questions asked.  After initially stabilising our little son with intravenous fluids and pain relief, he went into surgery and thanks to Chris’s gentle yet lightening quick skills he was in the recovery ward before I knew it.  The boy and I are both so eternally grateful to her for doing such an amazing job of saving Rollie’s life.

As a gesture of our thanks, I invited Chris out for breakfast at Piccos Kitchen.  The two of us often go out for breaky together and we are always on the hunt for new and interesting locations and menus.  I have been here once quite some time ago with the boy and recall for once his comments on his food went beyond the normal “nice” or “ok” into the realms of “really delicious”.  Not a common occurrence.  We were greeted by the friendly staff and our coffees arrived very quickly.  My espresso was at the perfect temperature and I noted they use Rubra coffee, a fair trade company that is based locally in Perth.   I hadn’t called in advance to notify the kitchen of my no gluten, no onion requirements so I asked the waitress if she could assist me in narrowing down my selection off their creative and mouth-watering menu.  She immediately then went to the kitchen and got the chef Sharna, who was more than keen to help me create something delicious. When I asked her if the haloumi and zucchini fritters with house smoked salmon were going to be suitable for me, she informed me that they contained wheat flour.  This was of no concern to this passionate and extremely accommodating young chef.  She kindly offered to especially create for me a gluten free variety of the original menu item and off she disappeared into the kitchen.  She returned with a number of different non-wheat flours to check if they were going to be ok for me – we opted for a combination of millet and rice flours, both are gluten free.

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House smoked salmon, zucchini and haloumi fritters, greens and hollandaise

Although Sharna had warned us to expect a bit of a wait, our meals came out pretty quickly especially when you consider she was creating something new.  Both of our plates were heaped high with food, if you want a decent sized breakfast you will most definitely get your value for money here.  Without gluten to bind everything together, a lot of gluten-free carby things like fritters and breads can have a tendency to crumble and fall apart.  These zucchini and haloumi fritters held their shape and texture really well.  Piled high on top of the fritters was the house smoked salmon with dill and capers, and big handfuls of fresh rocket and herbs.

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Flourless orange cake

Chris ordered the Spanish scrambled eggs with roast capsicum and tomato relish, Spanish chorizo and sourdough.  Her meal was also a generous size although in keeping with our usual breakfast outing tradition, we did manage to save a tiny bit of room to share a little bit of sweets.  We ordered the flourless orange cake.  It was incredibly moist and zesty and despite the fact we both felt like we would explode from fullness, we kept on eating it until it was all gone!

Thankfully back at home our lives are starting to return to normal.  After a sleepless week of caring for our convalescing child, his little quirky behaviours started to return one by one.  Finally last night when he attempted to steal our pizza (his LOVES pizza), we knew he was thankfully well on the road to a successful recovery.

Burmese Rollie after surgery

THANK YOU SO MUCH CHRIS – YOU ARE THE BEST! XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Piccos Kitchen
38 Peninsula Road, Maylands 6051 | (08) 9272 4491 | www.facebook.com/PiccosKitchen
 
Price:           $$$       ($12-22 Breakfast, $18-29 Mains)
Food:           4.5/5     (fresh locally source produce, lots of flavour, creative options)
Service:       5/5        (went above and beyond)
Ambience:  3.5/5     (hard to assess on a quite Monday morning)
Drinks:        4/5       (great coffee – they also do take-away coffees)
Total:          17/20
 

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