The flight itself was non-descript enough, wrote the diary of the preflight drama and read more of the latest Wheel of Time book - got into Launceston right on time, met up with V and headed off to the casino for dinner. We thought that after eight on a Friday night all the other places would either be full or the kitchens would be closed.
Wandered in, and the casino itself was only half full - V said it was amazing, I said well maybe there are better things to do on a Friday night, and it would actually be good to see a casino not make money hand over fist. Surely there are better ways to boost an economy than gambling (says he on Melbourne Cup day LOL).
Had a very nice meal of chicken stuffed with cream cheese on sweet potato mash and with a mango drizzle, while V had some toasted club sandwiches, which were also yum from the small bit I tasted. Eating was going to be a theme for the rest of the weekend LOL.
Wandered across to the bar for a relaxed bourbon and coke, were enticed over there by the band playing Chuck Berry's Cest La Vie, Sade's Your Love Is Real, The Beatles (or Tiffany's, depending on your generation) I Saw Her/Him Standing There - all easy listening AOR - adult orientated rock- which made us slink from the restaurant to the bar...
And then, almost as soon as we sat down, the girl - well, woman, mutton as lamb, with no dancing skills - harsh, but fair LOL - the girl started singing as if we were at a Blue Light Disco, with Britney Spears One More Time, TLC's No Scrubs, that I Love The Nightlife song off Priscilla Queen of the Desert (whoever sings that, or was it off Muriel's Wedding LOL).
And whereas, from the distance of the restaurant, with the more AOR soundtrack, the singing sounded OK, this woman could not sing teenybopper stuff. And the people giving the loudest applause were pensioners hmm, play to your audience lovey LOL. Mentioned to V that seeing the old guys clapping (while the old girls were no doubt at the slot machines, doncha love stereotypes LOL), seeing them clapping made me think the better song to sing may be Blue Birds Over, White Cliffs Of Dover - or perhaps We'll Meet Again, but I try to avoid thinking of that song too much, just a feeling that it is overplayed to death whenever WW2 or the 1940's in general are mentioned. Quirky thinking, but eh, that's me.
Had a good laugh at the singer, lingering over my bourbon, but how much would a singer make on a Friday night at a casino, she's probably laughing all the way to the bank - oh, with her sidekick, dude on guitar and keyboards.
Headed up to V's home town - her brother was watching the International Rules match, Ireland versus Australia, occasionally shouting instructions to the players and referees on the television LOL. A mixture of Australian Rules and Gaelic football, which only two countries in the world play - hmm, like the US and Canada playing the baseball world series, but at least even baseball isn't a mishmash of a game hmmph. Not that I'm an Aussie Rules fan at all either :)
Next morning, lazed around watching Rage - very relaxing. Decided to go for a drive in the countryside to head to a country gardens cafe kinda place for lunch. Was a lovely drive out to there, and then discovered that it looked like a wedding party had taken over the place for the day. Just as the appetite started kicking in LOL.
The next good idea for lunch was to head completely in the other direction to a newish place, Fitzpatrick's Inn, in Westbury. Walked through the bar, dark wooden panelled walls and bar, fireplace - gave a great first impression. Headed out through the sitting room, also amazingly gorgeous, in a Georgian kind of way, into the dining room. Gorgeous setting, very hard to describe though - reminded me somewhat of the Blue Baths tearooms in Rotorua back home, set up as if we were still at the height of Empire :)
If only they could get rid of the faux jazz CD - Robbie Williams and Kylie Minogue singing Something Stupid is NOT jazz LOL. This is from Fitzpatrick's - and the food, migod, delicious. Started off with a chicken and vegetable soup, just like my grandmother or mum used to make. And then a smoked salmon baguette - was OK, nothing too exciting, but V's choice of the hunger buster burger migod, must have been about a kilo worth of burger patty alone LOL - well, not quite perhaps, but definitely a pound of flesh. Looked yum, and V couldn't finish it off - and don't even look at the chips :)
We then wandered back to the bar, I had a beer, while we talked to the owner and staff. The place was apparently originally built in 1833, before the bar was added in the 1850s - had a continuous license until the 1960s apparently, but then lost it over having only one toilet - the owner said the licensees back then tried to get around that by putting a urinal in the gardens, but it didn't fly with the inspectors. The place has just had two years of renovations, including the gardens, and didn't it turn out well. Very reasonably priced as well.
There were cars of some charity driving through town, and the barman borrowed a broom from out the back, took the brush off the end, put an apron on it as a flag, and went out and waved it around. The waitress in the restaurant gave V tips on how to eat the burger, and not to feel bad if she failed completing it. The cook was a mother of one of the kids at V's school, and with the owner showing off all the music video DVD's he had to us (we were the only customers in the place at the time), it was just all very friendly. Reasonably priced, good food, some rooms for hire out the back, and definitely worth another visit - we were so impressed with lunch we asked to scan the dinner menu, which looked just as good :)
Then headed over to KDO's place - V's niece - for V to put together the icing for an Elmo birthday cake for a one year old's birthday party the next day. I was on entertain the other kids detail, three girls aged seven to twelve. Started off quietly enough, with the gingerbread man pattern which had started out as the Elmo shape to cut the sponge cake around doubling up as colouring in paper. Both sides even. Then the girls said let's go outside and play on the trampoline - of course I went along with that plan. V came out and took a couple of pictures LOL, they came out OK.
And then I was convinced into a game of tag - which I played with the three girls for about ten minutes, maybe fifteen. And coming back into the house I was spent. So much for that nice shirt for going out later that night, was covered in sweat LOL - and it wasn't that hot down there, just I exerted myself too much. Too much, fifteen minutes of slowish running, yeah I definitely need more exercise and stuff. Got into the shower, freshened up.
Headed back to home base for a bit of a rest before heading out again, this time to have dinner with V's friends from work... will write about that tomorrow I think :)
Pauly
Wandered in, and the casino itself was only half full - V said it was amazing, I said well maybe there are better things to do on a Friday night, and it would actually be good to see a casino not make money hand over fist. Surely there are better ways to boost an economy than gambling (says he on Melbourne Cup day LOL).
Had a very nice meal of chicken stuffed with cream cheese on sweet potato mash and with a mango drizzle, while V had some toasted club sandwiches, which were also yum from the small bit I tasted. Eating was going to be a theme for the rest of the weekend LOL.
Wandered across to the bar for a relaxed bourbon and coke, were enticed over there by the band playing Chuck Berry's Cest La Vie, Sade's Your Love Is Real, The Beatles (or Tiffany's, depending on your generation) I Saw Her/Him Standing There - all easy listening AOR - adult orientated rock- which made us slink from the restaurant to the bar...
And then, almost as soon as we sat down, the girl - well, woman, mutton as lamb, with no dancing skills - harsh, but fair LOL - the girl started singing as if we were at a Blue Light Disco, with Britney Spears One More Time, TLC's No Scrubs, that I Love The Nightlife song off Priscilla Queen of the Desert (whoever sings that, or was it off Muriel's Wedding LOL).
And whereas, from the distance of the restaurant, with the more AOR soundtrack, the singing sounded OK, this woman could not sing teenybopper stuff. And the people giving the loudest applause were pensioners hmm, play to your audience lovey LOL. Mentioned to V that seeing the old guys clapping (while the old girls were no doubt at the slot machines, doncha love stereotypes LOL), seeing them clapping made me think the better song to sing may be Blue Birds Over, White Cliffs Of Dover - or perhaps We'll Meet Again, but I try to avoid thinking of that song too much, just a feeling that it is overplayed to death whenever WW2 or the 1940's in general are mentioned. Quirky thinking, but eh, that's me.
Had a good laugh at the singer, lingering over my bourbon, but how much would a singer make on a Friday night at a casino, she's probably laughing all the way to the bank - oh, with her sidekick, dude on guitar and keyboards.
Headed up to V's home town - her brother was watching the International Rules match, Ireland versus Australia, occasionally shouting instructions to the players and referees on the television LOL. A mixture of Australian Rules and Gaelic football, which only two countries in the world play - hmm, like the US and Canada playing the baseball world series, but at least even baseball isn't a mishmash of a game hmmph. Not that I'm an Aussie Rules fan at all either :)
Next morning, lazed around watching Rage - very relaxing. Decided to go for a drive in the countryside to head to a country gardens cafe kinda place for lunch. Was a lovely drive out to there, and then discovered that it looked like a wedding party had taken over the place for the day. Just as the appetite started kicking in LOL.
The next good idea for lunch was to head completely in the other direction to a newish place, Fitzpatrick's Inn, in Westbury. Walked through the bar, dark wooden panelled walls and bar, fireplace - gave a great first impression. Headed out through the sitting room, also amazingly gorgeous, in a Georgian kind of way, into the dining room. Gorgeous setting, very hard to describe though - reminded me somewhat of the Blue Baths tearooms in Rotorua back home, set up as if we were still at the height of Empire :)
If only they could get rid of the faux jazz CD - Robbie Williams and Kylie Minogue singing Something Stupid is NOT jazz LOL. This is from Fitzpatrick's - and the food, migod, delicious. Started off with a chicken and vegetable soup, just like my grandmother or mum used to make. And then a smoked salmon baguette - was OK, nothing too exciting, but V's choice of the hunger buster burger migod, must have been about a kilo worth of burger patty alone LOL - well, not quite perhaps, but definitely a pound of flesh. Looked yum, and V couldn't finish it off - and don't even look at the chips :)
We then wandered back to the bar, I had a beer, while we talked to the owner and staff. The place was apparently originally built in 1833, before the bar was added in the 1850s - had a continuous license until the 1960s apparently, but then lost it over having only one toilet - the owner said the licensees back then tried to get around that by putting a urinal in the gardens, but it didn't fly with the inspectors. The place has just had two years of renovations, including the gardens, and didn't it turn out well. Very reasonably priced as well.
There were cars of some charity driving through town, and the barman borrowed a broom from out the back, took the brush off the end, put an apron on it as a flag, and went out and waved it around. The waitress in the restaurant gave V tips on how to eat the burger, and not to feel bad if she failed completing it. The cook was a mother of one of the kids at V's school, and with the owner showing off all the music video DVD's he had to us (we were the only customers in the place at the time), it was just all very friendly. Reasonably priced, good food, some rooms for hire out the back, and definitely worth another visit - we were so impressed with lunch we asked to scan the dinner menu, which looked just as good :)
Then headed over to KDO's place - V's niece - for V to put together the icing for an Elmo birthday cake for a one year old's birthday party the next day. I was on entertain the other kids detail, three girls aged seven to twelve. Started off quietly enough, with the gingerbread man pattern which had started out as the Elmo shape to cut the sponge cake around doubling up as colouring in paper. Both sides even. Then the girls said let's go outside and play on the trampoline - of course I went along with that plan. V came out and took a couple of pictures LOL, they came out OK.
And then I was convinced into a game of tag - which I played with the three girls for about ten minutes, maybe fifteen. And coming back into the house I was spent. So much for that nice shirt for going out later that night, was covered in sweat LOL - and it wasn't that hot down there, just I exerted myself too much. Too much, fifteen minutes of slowish running, yeah I definitely need more exercise and stuff. Got into the shower, freshened up.
Headed back to home base for a bit of a rest before heading out again, this time to have dinner with V's friends from work... will write about that tomorrow I think :)
Pauly
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