Wedding Anniversary 25th May 2017

 Today was our 26th Wedding Anniversary and we went to the Currant Shed to celebrate.
It is a lovely little restaurant situated at the end of a narrow road and sits among vineyards which are changing into autumn colours.
You look out onto a grove of citrus trees pruned into umbrella shapes and they look very pretty.
In amongst them flit a lot of fairy wrens busy eating all the bugs that bother plants.
The shed is actually very comfortable and has good acoustics with a straw ceiling which absorbs sound and so you don't have to shout to each other to be heard.

We looked at the extensive wine list and decided on a shiraz from Tasmania. We visited the Holm Oak winery probably fifteen years ago when we took our campervan across on the Tasmanian ferry. We could both remember the Holm Oak trees, which are evergreen and can be pruned into hedges. The winery itself we vaguely remember as a shed.
The shiraz was typically cool climate and on the light side, not unlike a pinot noir really. Certainly not the full bodied, mouth filling wines grown in our Willunga area.
We were brought some delicious morsels of food to start with, one oyster each which were fresh and crisp and some deep fried kale holding a creamy paste.
Then some deep fried ribbon of beetroot with a lovely cream holding chopped Kalamata olive. I just find it such a lovely surprise to have these little tid-bits while we are waiting for the first course.

Brian had chosen the quail/grape/miso/watercress for his entree.
It is served on a lovely handcrafted plate.
He wasn't quite sure where the quail was and thought it must be in the sausage shape.
I had avoided the quail as I usually find the little bones a bit hard to cope with.
He enjoyed it very much and the light shiraz went with it very well.

I chose the squid/chorizo/beans/fennel for my entree.
It had some grilled corn with it which was an intriguing addition and the beans were delicious.
The squid was real squid with its grilled little tentacles making me feel a little sad, but then as I said to Brian, they really only live a short little life in their environment so we may as well eat them as not......

We both chose the venison/cabbage/white peas/curry leaf for our main course.
The venison was medium to rare and the cabbage, some of it red pickled cabbage went with it very well. The Holm Oak went very well with this and though Brian thought his knife was not as sharp as he would have liked, I had no such difficulty. You do wonder where the venison came from as the deer up at Yacka are driving Janet and Horst mad on their farm and they would be happy for shooters to come and eradicate them so their trees can grow to a decent size. This photo was taken by our waitress who volunteered to take it with us standing in front of the little citrus trees. I wonder what the next twelve months will hold........