The Feaster Bunny

Well it's been a busy, but lovely, Easter long weekend...and we somehow haven't had to cook a single meal.

It started - as weekends usually do - on Friday, and we were invited out by my Dad to a local restaurant for an impromptu dinner. Got to spend some time with many of my nieces (Susanna, Erin, Grace, Beth & Eliza), my nephews (Connor, Darcy, Samuel & Jesse), two of my sisters (Rachel & Keren), one of my brothers-in-law (Jeff), Dad & Maureen and of course, Mel & Jessica (thanks Dad!).

On Saturday, after work, we went into Donovan's in St Kilda, and had lunch with our 'old' friends from Sydney, Matt & Melissa. Had a great time catching up on their news and introducing Jessica, and it's truly a beautiful place to spend an afternoon. It's pretty pricey, and the portions are quite small (well, by my all-you-can-eat-and-then-some standards), but the food was delicious, the service was excellent and the location and atmosphere were fantastic. It was a freezing day outside, and the restaurant is right on the beach, so were enjoying looking at the choppy waves from the comfort of our warm, luxuriously-rustic surroundings (here's a couple of pics). And to top off a lovely meal we all had Bomb Alaska which - although sans flambe (doh! - I was looking forward to that) - was still great. And as the whole meal was a gift from Matt's former boss, it was doubly delicious! (thanks Matt, and thanks Matt's former boss!)




Then on Sunday, we were treated to an amazing Easter Sunday gathering at Mum's. Having arrived shortly after 1pm, we didn't leave until after 9pm, and food was never far from me for the whole time. I dragged myself away from the table long enough to share an Easter Egg hunt with the kids (I think the record find was 14 - 14 more than I found). We also played some great games including one where two teams are given a word at random, and they have to sing a song containing that word, at which point the other team has to counter with a different song containing that word, countered by the first team, and so on until the timer runs out. Easy with "love", a bit more difficult with "broccoli"! Our team didn't exactly win, but we were almost helped across the line by the extra credit awarded for our team's special dancing (thanks Connor!). Got to catch up with Mum & Becky & Jamie & Rachel & Jeff & Keren & Stephen & Susanna & Erin & Grace & Beth & Connor & Darcy & Samuel & Eliza & Jesse & Tanya & Jasmine, and it was a real treat. AND we were festooned with so many delicious foods (yes, Biscotten Torte was there... but with everything else that was on offer I was only able to manage 4 or 5 servings!). A really great day (thanks Mum and Bec!).


And then Monday morning we headed off to Yum-Cha with our other friends Eddie & Shirley, who were also down from Sydney for the weekend. I think I'd only had Yum-Cha two or three times in my life, so the meal was great fun and very tasty (we went to The Golden Dragon). We were going to be joined by Eddie & Shirley's son, Darren, but he's 16 and apparently deeeeply in love with a Melbourne sweetheart, so the idea of having lunch with us didn't really rate on his list of priorities. It was Eddie & Shirley's first opportunity to meet Jessica too, and they seemed suitably impressed. I'm sure Jessica will really enjoy her time with "Uncle Eddie" & "Aunty Shirley" as she grows up, though she might need to close her ears for some of Uncle Eddie's more colourful anecdotes!

So it was a terrific weekend of food, fun, food, friends, food, family...and food. In my defense I did manage to avoid eating a single Easter egg (no, that's not code for having eaten more than one, either), but that has less to do with self-discipline, and more to do with forgetting to bring home the eggs we were given at Mum's! I don't hold out much hope for the four Cadbury Sitting Rabbits that are currently sheltering in our cupboard, waiting to be taken around to Mel's sister Jenny's house for her kids: if those bunnies are not taken out of the house in the next 24-48 hours, or locked away somewhere, I can't be held responsible for their continued safety...