Stanthorpe getaway Part 1

Long, long ago, back before the dawn of time,  Mr Pickings and I used to go camping.  This was your regular kind, not glamping- just the tent and the sleeping bag and the billy on the fire.  And we used to go mid-winter when it was absolutely freezing!  One of our favourite places was Girraween National Park down near the QLD/NSW border.  It is a beautiful and relaxing area in which you can chill out and walk and listen to the birds- aah the serenity!  (movie quote in case you are not an Aussie reader).

These days our old(er) bones don't like the hard rocky ground so we tend to stay in cabins or B & B's.  Our most recent trip was a long weekend away at Stanthorpe, on the Queensland side of the border.  It is a great little country town, surrounded by vineyards, and other tourist havens like olive and lavender farms, jamworks, and a fabulous apple farm- Suttons-where they make their own seasonal juices, ciders, and apparently the best apple pie in the State!

We had a great time driving around the countryside, taking in the beautiful sweeping plains and the big blue skies.  And don't forget the wallabies, kookaburras, ducks (and 6 adorable babies) and all the other wildlife. And of course there is lots of great food around.  

glorious mountain views on the road to Stanthorpe

lunch at Warwick's Cherry Tree Cafe-yep that's a lot of chips!

the sunsets were glorious and glowing

We were lucky that it was almost the full moon, so we had the most wonderful sunsets then a beautiful moonrise each night.  As there were controlled burn-offs each day, it meant there was lots of smoke haze in the air, leading to divine nightly shows as the sun glowed through the clouds.

On our first full day, we went off to Hidden Creek Winery to have lunch.  We seemed to be the only tourists around this particular day so we had the cafe to ourselves.  It was lovely sitting in the sun at the front of the cafe, watching the farmer pruning his vines with an air-compressor tool.  No hand jobs for the modern vintner!

pinkly-glowing magnolia tree at the front of the cafe

I had grilled barramundi and vegies, while Mr Pickings had a beef and red wine pie.  As I am being kind to my liver lately, I only had lemon lime and bitters to drink.  Kinda ironic being in a wine growing area, but guess what! I drank no alcohol all weekend.  After lunch, we went to the lavender farm just over the border and spoke to the old lady who runs the place. She was a bit of a ditherer but the nice thing was that she said we had made her day.  We were her only visitors so she was very glad to see us.

who could resist this cute bear?  Not me!

I can never resist buying boutique olive oils so off we hot-footed the next morning to the Mt Stirling Olive farm.  They also sell local fudge, and chilli products so it is heaven for me.  Mr Pickings just holds the basket!  So yes I bought infused oils and olive forks and olives and fudge- you get the idea.

Ok this is just one of the many items I bought!

We headed off to a local winery for lunch which is on the opposite side of the highway to the olive farm so how could we resist such serendipitous proximity?  They are right up on top of a ridge so you get wonderful views from the restaurant, so you can eat and drink and admire.  More about this in Part 2!

Violet truffles

Yep I know- chocolate again!  But I can't resist flower scented chocs.  I have had this recipe floating around in my recipe folder for ages, so this week I thought now is the time. I ordered some violet liqueur from Mount Tamborine Distillery last week (as any sort of violet liqueur is not easily come by in Brisbane), and I bought some violet colouring so I was good to go.  The recipe does not call for colouring but I thought it would look better rather than plain white.  I was not able to obtain crystallised violets either in shops or online, so I used some little Queen decorating flowers and coloured them with the violet colouring and then chopped them into tiny pieces to sprinkle on top of the truffles.

Chocolate is best made on a cool day so it was probably not a great idea to pick the hottest week for September in years but I didn't let that stop me!
(BTW- I suggest melting the chocolate in a pyrex jug so that you have a nice deep puddle in which to roll your truffles.  You can then stick a skewer through them, jam those into a piece of styrofoam then pull them off and place in petit-four cases.  I  wish I had done this with these!)

getting ingredients together

a few more ingredients

starting to roll the ganache filling in icing sugar

these little beauties look like sausage mince!

dropping the mix into the melted dark chocolate

the finished truffles- don't laugh at their funny appearance- it was hard to do!

Stanthorpe break

Mr. Pickings and I took a short break to Stanthorpe for a long weekend.  It was my birthday a couple of weeks ago so we were on our usual annual trip there.  It was amazingly warm this time and we didn't even need the fire on all the time.   The stars are so clear and close, and we always see satellites  going over and planes in the distance and shooting stars.  It is very lovely tho a teeny bit scary. It is extremely dark and silent where we stay- an old farmhouse- and I am afraid my vivid imagination goes into overdrive about serial killers leaping out of the bushes. :)).  As usual we bought heaps of local products, and ate a lot !

We went to a lovely cafe- Jersey Girls cafe- which is part of the Granite Belt Dairy.   They use local produce, their own or their neighbours and make hearty honest fare. If dear readers you are in the area do stop off for a bite or buy some lovely cheese made with milk from the jersey girls! Jersey Girls Website

My lunch- bangers and mash- all produced locally.  Their butcher is in- house.

Mum and joey in the pouch just outside our cottage.  The rabbit proof fence below amazes me every time I see it.  No rabbits in Qld till you get south of this fence. We did see rabbits on the southern side.