Tessalaar Tulip Festival 2008

We were puppysitting two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, Willow and Chester on the weekend of 20th Sept so I came up with the idea of visiting the Tessalaar Tulip Festival in Silvan, Mt Dandenong as it would be a nice treat for both the pups too. The journey took 1 hr 30 mins, luckily the pups were well behaved and sat quietly in the car.

It rained before we got there so the grounds were very muddy and wet. Our shoes were covered with mud and I got little paw prints of mud all over my black jeans too when the pups tried to jump up for a cuddle. They seemed to love walking into puddles of water and getting themselves dirty. Luckily our car seats are leather so it was easy wiping the mud off. The pups weren't too happy when we got home as they went straight into the bath tub and got a good scrubbing hehe.

The theme at the tulip festival was Dutch so we got to sample all kinds of Dutch food. My favourite is still the mini pancakes called Dutch Poffertjes with dusting of icing sugar and maple syrup. Simply delicious. The tulips were very pretty at Tessalaar but I felt that the Araluen Tulip Festival in Perth which I went to 4 years ago wins hands down.

Now for photos, photos, photos! :)

Beef braised with Guinness

I had a day off and decided to experiment with Neil Perry's recipe of beef braised with Guinness. I was totally caught off guard when paying for the Guinness at Woolies because the cashier had asked me for my ID. What the heck?

Anyway, the recipe turned out great and even got a nod of approval from masterchef Keith :P Here are photos of my dish served with mash potatoes.