Stonehurst Cedar Creek, Wollombi Valley Wine Trail, Grape Picking

Grape picking at Stonehurst Cedar Creek, Wollombi.

Lending a hand with the picking was fun on Sunday, gorgeous day and happy times with the Heslop family. Shiraz next ...

Updating Stratford & West Midlands App

Checking prices and news for 2013 for an app update ... tell me your news you Stratfordians/West Midlanders I haven't contacted yet! Thanks Sadie at The Fleece, Bretforton, for the asparagus festival image.

Love shopping at Heathrow.

Love shopping at  Heathrow Terminal 3 and finding something for £12 in the Zara sale. Makes a change from gazing into the hallowed halls of the designers with costs equal to another flight. Nice things, though.

Celebrating Chinese New Year Early ...

... with a brown snake in the house under the fridge. Hope it's a good omen!

Five Star Service: Singapore Airlines & Enterprise Car Rental

Fantastic service from Singapore Airlines at Heathrow last week. Thanks to the team on the desk (especially Miriam), a problem was solved without any fuss and Enterprise Car Rental made it a pleasant experience to hire a car at short notice.  I'll be using your services again.

My flight back to Sydney with Singapore Airlines was great – Changi is an easy airport.


Fantastic, thank you all.
www.singaporeair.com
www.enterprise.com

Meet you for lunch: The Dining Room, Park Hyatt Sydney

The Dining Room, Park Hyatt Sydney.

Having lunch at the new look Park Hyatt Sydney reminded me  how much I love this location! The waterfront restaurant has become The Dining Room and you can enjoy Chef Andrew McKee's seasonal Australian lunch menu with a choice of one ($39), two ($59) or three ($69) courses with a glass of selected wine Monday to Friday.

A dish of cow's milk burrata with heirloom tomato and apple balsamic hits the spot as do crispy balls of potted Alaskan King Crab. Goat cheese gnocchi and a delicious truffle mushroom risotto leave little room for dessert which in my case would have been the hazelnut dacquoise, milk chocolate ganache and milk ice cream. (A dacquoise is a layered dessert cake of almond and hazelnut meringue with whipped cream ... so I'm just hoping it's on the menu next time.)

The Living Room and The Bar also echo the lifestyle feel of the new-look Park Hyatt and an inspection of the stunning premium Sydney Suite leaves us longing for an opportunity to be able to experience the incredible views for longer than just a ten minute look-see.
http://www.diningroom.com.au/diningroom/menus-en.html
http://sydney.park.hyatt.com

The Dining Room at dusk, Park Hyatt Sydney.