freebird

I'm a free man. The pub sale went through at long last on friday, not a moment too soon for me. It dragged on so long we actually ended up going on holiday prior to the sale finalising as we had accomodation booked and our window of opportunity before Lize starts her new gig was rapidly running out.

So we beetled off for a fortnight to beautiful Port Fairy. A lovely old whaling town on the south west coast, it combines the charm of an irish fishing village with the sparkling calm blue waters and white sands of a tropical paradise. So it was beach during the day; pints, oysters and steak at the pub at night and mojitos and tomfoolery later on in the spa back at the little chalet type place we stayed in. I swam for the first time since the early nineties, went for big walks and had a stress free existance for the first time in three and a half years (especially after that fuck off big cheque hit my account on Friday).

Went to a ripper little restaurant called Portafino down there. It gets great reviews all the time in the foodie bits of the paper so to celebrate the big sale Lize and I thought we'd take a look to see what all the fuss was about. It was fantastic. I'll preface this 'review' by saying my experience of dining out normally involves something with chips at the pub or if I'm feeling adventurous Mexican or Thai. This place was in a different league with nothing parmagiana on the menu at all. For starters I had the duck liver parfait and Lize had a goats cheese with something moroccan, washed down with frosty boags beer. Next up mains, with me opting for a filet of beef from a shorthorn angus that had lived (and presumably died) a couple of miles down the road. It was served on the most intricate scalloped potato i've ever seen and the jus that it came with just begged to be licked off the plate. (i refrained, but it was a close thing) Herself had duck three ways which seemed interesting with the sausage, confit and breast grouped around a pilaf. We had a nice bottle of coonawarra red and at this point we were almost drunk on the food as much as the booze. We finished with a shared summer pud and had armagnac and negronis. It was a bloody good repast and while a touch pricey (about $250 including tip) well worth it if you're celebrating something significant. We popped in to a little bar next door for a couple of quiet gins and whiskies afterwards and ended up at the little chalet waltzing to Elliot Smith. A perfect night.