Pesto

This afternoon I met up with Richie for a coffee and chat.  The basil in my veggie patch has also been going berserk, so I harvested quite a bit and decided to make some basil pesto for my own dinners and lunches, and to also give some to Richie.

Using the mortar and pestle to crush pine nuts with the basil leaves.

Then mixing in crushed garlic, grated parmesan cheese and extra virgin olive oil.

Richie was very pleased with the fragrant, fresh pesto and I also gave him some basil leaves to put on his home made pizzas.

We had a lovely time together at a wonderful local coffee shop I have just discovered in Kilsyth.  It's called Essenza and came very highly recommended.

Richie said the coffee was really great.  I don't drink coffee, but I had a peppermint tea and we shared a savoury muffin.  It was presented so beautifully - it looked like a pot plant - and tasted delicious with basil pesto, slightly warmed cherry tomatoes and parsley on top and butter and tomato relish on the side.

Family Picnic

It was Richie's 23rd birthday during the week, so I asked him if he would like to celebrate it by having a family picnic.  He thought that would be good, so we sent out the word to everyone and we all came together at Jells Park today.

Lizzy, Richie, Nick, Mum, Jack & Phil

There was Wayne & I, our three kids Victoria (Torie), Richard (Richie) and Elizabeth (Lizzy), Torie's boyfriend Nick, my Mum Dawn (who had travelled all the way up from Phillip Island by bus on Friday for the occasion), Wayne's sister Debbie and her husband Phil, and Wayne's brother Mark, his son Jack and Mark's new girlfriend Suzie.



Phil, Debbie, Jack & Mum



Mark & Jack

Everyone brought something, so the load was shared nicely between us all.  We had cheese and biscuits to begin with, while we waited for everyone to arrive.

Mark, Torie & Mum

Lizzy, Richie & Nick

Then Wayne and Phil fired up one of the electric barbeques that are at the park and cooked up a whole load of different meats - steak, lamb chops, sausages, chicken wings and salmon fillets, while the rest of us laid the table with four types of salad, bread rolls, mustards and sauces.



Richie, Nick, Lizzy, Torie & Phil

Wayne, Jack, Debbie, Mark, Suzie & Mum

The weather was just perfect!  Sunny and warm and about 18 degrees Celsius, which was a relief because it had been overcast and raining all week.



Suzie, Mark & Phil in the foreground

The only family member who couldn't join us was Wayne's Dad, Geoff, which was sad and we missed having him there.  But hopefully we will be able to do something similar in Stratford next time and he will be able to be with us.

Torie with Daisy

We brought the dogs too - our two spoodles, Jarrah & Daisy and Debbie brought her schnauzer Schminke.  Mark said his dog was too smelly to put in the car today!

Richie & Lizzy throwing the frisby

After lunch, the kids had a bit of fun throwing a frisby while we cleared away the mess into big garbage bags to take home.

The birthday cake

Then we put the kettle on a little portable gas stove that we had brought and made coffees and teas and brought out Richie's birthday cake as we all sang "Happy Birthday" to him.  Everyone gave him their presents.










Earlier in the day, when they were able to have some quiet time together, Mum gave Richie her present which was very special ... it was Dad's wedding ring.  Dad passed away a year ago last weekend, so to give Richie his ring was a very moving thing for both Mum and Richie.  He was rendered quite speechless by such a special gift from Mum and gently tried it on each of his fingers until he found the one that it fit perfectly.  Then he wore it all day, but said he would put it away safely afterwards and only wear it on special occasions, as he wanted to take great care of it.

Richie wearing Dad's wedding ring

It was a lovely family day and everyone said they enjoyed themselves.

Movies with Richie

Richie & I went to the movies this afternoon to see the new Scorsese film on the life of George Harrison. It was really long - 3-1/2 hours, with an interval after 1-1/2 hours, but we didn't even notice how long it was. It was a really great documentary that showed his life from his childhood to his death from cancer.

There were interviews with some of his closest friends like Eric Clapton, Eric Idle, Jackie Stewart, Paul McCartney, Ringo Star, Yoko Ono, his wife and his son, with heaps of footage, photos and music.  The film went into great detail about his time with The Beatles, the breakup, the Concert for Bangladesh (which I knew very little about), his music after The Beatles, his spiritual journey and relationships with the Hari Krishna movement and Ravi Shankar, and the formation of the Travelling Wilburys with Jeff Lynne (ex-ELO), Tom Petty, Roy Orbison & Bob Dylan (what an eclectic line up!).

I think what I am most grateful for has been the opportunity to get to know more of George's music, especially his album "Living in the Material World", which I hadn't even heard of (amazingly).  It has some really lovely songs, including "Give Me Love [Give Me Peace On Earth]" and a new one for me, "The Light That Has Lighted The World", which is just beautiful!  Some of his words are:

I'm grateful to anyone,
that is happy or 'free'
for giving me hope
while I'm looking to see

The Light that has lighted the world

If you want to hear the song, you can find it here:

http://youtu.be/_Qgf8fYGcmk

This movie is well worth seeing!

Richie Top Gun!

Ritchie went to a fancy dress party tonight where they had to dress up as a character from a famous movie. Richie went as Iceman from Top Gun. How cool does he look??!! Not sure about the guy in the mask, though!