I don’t normally go nuts after French  stuff, well they make crap cars and pollute the planet with their N tests and they insist on proof all the time. The last time they insisted on it it came rolling down the champs elysees wearing a swastika, I know old joke. However I have discovered a remarkable butter, I know you were expecting wine, well I’ll get to that.

Anyway here it is and  from Isigny Ste Mere comes this remarkably delicious natural butter, produced since the 16th Century. The soil of Isigny is soft and damp, and the cows there thrive on grass that is rich with iodine and beta-carotene. This appealing yellow Normandy butter has hints of hazelnut flavors, a flexible, fine and elastic texture, and is full of vitamin A. This smooth butter’s origin is protected by the AOC (Appellation d’Origine Controlee).

I kid you not, try it, cook with it or just plain spread it on bread, it is truly remarkable.

Now when your having bread then the natural choice is wine, and I must say over the last stressful few weeks I have taken or should I say my palate has taken to French wine.

I will be going to the northern hemisphere in August and this is generally where I get to sample many wines from most of the regions, well this year I’m also headed to Egypt so god knows what the alcohol will be like!

Well what an interesting week, I finally got my job , woo hoo! fuck what a relief.

To say it was hard was an understatement, the interview was tough  I was required to do a presentation on the spot on one of the driest subjects known to man, which was a surprise as I did not expect it. To think on the spot and then be coherent takes skill, thank fuck I have a degree in BS! Anyway that’s over and I now look forward to the whole of health restructuring,which means applying for other jobs, o fucking joy!

I was updating safari this morning and the update apparently fixes a bug with iphoto, well one thing led to another ad I started to look through some pics.

L-R the 1st pic is of Eaglevale winery in Margaret river where my friend is the winemaker, he is French and makes some of the best wine in the region and is a great help to me as I also try and make wine… The second is an old pic of Tim in the car he built with his Dad, Tim and I had some fine times hooning around in it. Third contains my Norwegian students who became good friends and we shared many nights of food and wine.

Lastly is my wine label for 2004, yes its a mans wine, full bodied, a voluptuous wine and this label does it justice.

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A funny thing happened to me tonight, well I know quite a lot of funny things happen but this one spun me back to San Francisco.

San Fran is a funny place, it is eclectic and has an inordinate amount of older gentlemen with younger travelling companions! The food scene is great as you can imagine the fashion, I must say it really grew on me. If I had to be honest I could live there but I do know I would lose weight as there are so many hills, god they must have a low rate of MI’s.

Anyway whilst I was there I did see a phenomenon with the fog, now if your not a sci fi fan you won’t get it, but there was a tower that had legs up to a platform then a spire rising from it. The clouds had enveloped it and it looked like something out of star wars, no wonder where Lucas gets his inspiration . Tonight as I was coming home from picking up 25 exams to mark (O the joy of teaching) I was approaching the freeway (North Perth end) and looking over Perth I could see a cloud bank that was really low and it reminded me of San Fran. I then remembered all the good looking chicks that my cousin Tim and I checked out in Hooters! and the wine in Sonoma god I could go back tomorrow.

Ok its not Perth but you get the idea of the fog bank.

Last week, in fact the day I was to find out if I got my new job, more on that in another blog… I left to go to the coldest place in WA, Wandering. Now I am used to the cold but I must admit I had forgotten just how below zero is such a bastard. Anyway I set up camp in my new tent and immediately rolled out my sleeping bag which was designed for temps to go to zero but not below, hmm should not have been so tight! Anyway I also bought a camp bed, yes lots of camp things going on and I can just see my cousin laughing… we’ll well 2 weeks in San Fran will get to you! Anyway I then set up the table where we placed the wine, yes I was worrying about it being too warm! but it cooled rather well and we had a some commercial stuff and my home made stuff. I must say that this vintage which will probably be my last is the best by far, rich and dark with a nice Shiraz bite that grabs you at the back of the throat, sounds like the ideal woman, well back to the story… As the temp decreased so did the layers of clothing increase, until I finally succumbed to donning a kiwis best friend, yes the old sheepskin jacket, I really never thought I’d use it here in sunny Oz.

The purpose of this madness was to gain as many points as possible, now there are idiots that jog the course day and night, well I’m not one of them!

Anyway here’s another  pic

What a week its been, battling flu like symptoms for the past week and I’m finally getting better.

Had a bugger of an interview for my job, had to do a presentation which was a shock, as the topic was dreadful. Mind you if they let me go on

I would have described the harvesting and making of wine! Still don’t know the outcome, should find out this week!

Went out to a place called Dreamland that night with the crew from work, where we had a karaoke  booth, not a bad night, expensive but bloody good fun.

Had some fun at work with this after my interview

Bloody hilarious

I updated my facebook the other day and I took a quiz and apparently I’m Brian

Well its nearly Sunday as I sit here and compose what I hope to be coherent prose..

Last night I had the opportunity to sample two things, to pilot my girlfriends EOS and to devour some superb Lebanese cuisine .

Now I must say that it is Autumn here in Australia and it should be rainy but we have had some fabulous weather I kid you not.

Anyway  last night we headed out for some Lebanese and Syd who is her flatmate and I must say if he ever gets fired for being a teacher could easily get a job running his own cafe as he knows the finer things when it comes to culinary delights. Anyway we headed off with the top down and I must say that I did manage to have the turbo sing, if you know what i mean, ask my cousin  TIM (joshisaband.com) as he will instruct you in the finer points of turbocharging! suffice to say that we managed to get out of  impulse power.

Driving with the top down is a new experience as I normally pilot a Discovery, a totally different beast, and when its dark and still 24 degrees in autumn its marvellous!

The place that we arrived at is in a slightly unusual suburb, Dog Swamp, I kid you not, but it does have the most scrumptious food, not even Nigella Lawson  could use an appropriate adjective to describe this place! However I  was telling you about the food, now I can cook Lamb, any which way you want, but I must say I will be going back to have a word with the chef as the Lamb was really tender, they must marinate this for a day at least.

As I was the designated driver, it was the first time I had driven the car at night, I was amazed at all the lights that came on when I parked, lights to help you see  where the keys are, yes the wing mirrors light up and the headlights stay on to so you can see your way to your front door, bloody Germans think of everything!

Anyway if you don’t know what an EOS is , here’s a picture of my girlfriend Michaela and her new chariot

Before I get into too much trouble I’d better share some info on the girls in my life.

Michaela as you can see has one of the warmest and infectious smiles, Missy on the other hand can’t smile because she is doing what she does best!

I will post some pics later of Michaela’s new car, once she stays still long enough for me to photograph it!

A couple of months ago I lost my best friend to cancer, she was only 10 and struck down in the prime of her life.

I thought I’d share a few pics

As you can see a dog that enjoyed life and one of a kind.

I do have another one, who is going through the grieving process just like me, and in time when its right I’ll get her a companion.

Well this is the new site, set up by Cousin Tim, you’ll get to hear and see a lot  about him in the coming months as I will be planning a vacation in January to the US, and yes that’s Tim the thin one!

Most of you will have seen my old blog, Ramblings of a Highlander, I’ll post a link and you can see what I’ve been up to.

Today in sunny Perth its actually bloody cold, not cold like the Northern hemisphere folk, but for us sun worshipers its bloody cool, well its 14 degrees, too warm for beer but cold non the lesss.

I configured the site so I can post from my iphone so no doubt I’ll get the hang of that soon, which will surprise my students as they were amazed to find out that someone my age had A: a facebook account and B: a blog, well anybody over 30 is OLD for them!

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