Friday 4th November- Pearls on the Beach The leg is very slightly better today but still needs rest so, another day of enforced indolence. Di went to Zumba on her own in the morning and Natasha took Ollie to the park where she met up with friends Amanda and Natalie with their kids. I kept busy thanks to my iPad. I do so much with it. I have quite a few books on it, I read the Times newspaper and do their interactive crossword, I read the Sydney Morning Herald, and I also get the Sunday Times. I have a few movies stored on it, including a couple of my own, and it also acts as a store for all the photos I take. I have even found some photo-enhancing software so I can crop, sharpen, change the contrast etc. I have various entertainment apps like Scrabble, blocks and country quizzes.  I keep loads of trivia lists which I am trying to learn eg. Wimbledon champs, kings and queens, American presidents, highest mountains, largest lakes etc etc etc! Also a few poems and even the Welsh National anthem. I also keep track of the weather, go "travelling" with Google Earth and watch BBC iplayer. Then don't forget the internet: buying stuff on line, keeping up with my hotmail, running the Hounslow Manor site and writing blogs! The iPad has really become an important part of my life. Anyway, the highlight of the day was Di's birthday present to me: a five course dinner at Pearls on the Beach, showcasing Margan winery wines. At 6.30pm, we all squeezed into the Subaru, (Will had to sit in the boot), for the short ride down to Pearl Beach. Once there, the family went for a walk looking at the various lovely houses in the area, whilst Di and I went into the restaurant. Pearls on the Beach sits right on the shore literally, with sand outside the windows. The views are fantastic looking out across the bay to Lion Island which sits at the mouth of the Hawksbury River. We booked in and a waitress showed us to our table, which was laid  for seven people. She introduced us to Elizabeth and Mike who lived on The Hawksbury. Mike was a bit of a wine buff and told us he liked to travel in Europe sampling the local vintages. He had stayed several times of late, near Nimes. We were joined by three more people, a couple Ian and Carmel and their friend Mike. They were all originally British, Ian from Wales, Carmel from Ireland and Mike from Yorkshire, via South Africa. The starter was served: a simple plate of nuts with Za'ar herbs, some olives marinated in orange and fennel and grissini (bread sticks).  Za'atar is a mix of middle eastern herbs and spices. To be honest, any supposed taste enhancement was not really apparent to me.  These were accompanied by a 2011 Semillon. This was a dryish white; easy on the palate with plenty of flavour. The surprise to me was that the waitresses were ready to refill your glass whenever necessary.  This was a drink as much as you can for one price event; bad news for a guzzler like me! The next course was Thai style king crab, green mango, herb and sprout salad with a dollop of lychee, lime and chilli sorbet on top. Very tasty but not enough crab for my liking. The wine was a 2011 Verdelho. Never had this before. Liked it even more than the Semillon. Got a refill of this too! At this time, the winery owner (Aussies seem to call vineyards, "Wineries" - why not?), one Andrew Margan introduced himself and explained he had been making wine for 25 years since he took over an old Lindeman's winery in the Hunter Valley at a place called Broke. Di and I had been there around Easter time with Will's mum.  "Twenty vintages working under the late, great Murray Tyrrell and six vintages in France provided me with plenty of experience to allow me to leave Tyrrells and with my wife Lisa, start our own brand. We completed the construction of our winery here in the sub-region of Broke Fordwich in time for the 1997 vintage, with only 3,000 cases produced from our first vintage.Since 1997 we have grown our vineyard area to over 320 acres of vines. The majority of these vineyards were planted by Lindemans and Saxonvale in the late 60’s on the volcanic deposit known as the “Fordwich Sill”, here in Broke Fordwich. It is these unique old vines growing on this rare soil that provide Margan with its own distinctive style. We now have complete control over all of our viticulture and all of our Margan wines are single vineyard, estate grown wines." Next was the duck. To be more exact, slices of smoked duck breast on a bed of shredded beetroot, watercress and hazelnut salad with roast beetroot and goats curd puree. That was yummee indeed! The wine was a 2009 White Label Barbera.  The Barbera grape is a new one to us.  Originating in Italy where it is widely grown, this red variety  is uncommon in Australia but Margan has perfected its use.    So now we come to the "main course".  Will had told me to expect it to be special and I wasn't disappointed.  Slow cooked wagyu girello is simply a heavenly form of fillet beef.  It is famed for its extensive marbling which makes it very succulent.  It was cooked to perfection and I was served two small steaks each about 2 cm thick with a cross section grading from brown through to red in the centre.  This was, quite simply, the best beef I have ever tasted in my life!  It was served with spiced carrot puree and petit herb salad.  The red wine that was served with it was equally delicious, being a wrong dark red.  But maybe, on what was perhaps my seventh  glass of wine,  I was losing any sense of discernment by now!  It was a 2009 White Label Shiraz Mourvedre.    The conversation flowed easily and time passed effortlessly but eventually we came to the dessert.  Now usually, I don't eat dessert, but this being a special occasion.....It was pine nut, honey & thyme tart with burnt cumquat marmalade ice cream, served with a 2009 Botrytis Semillon. To be honest, I'm not a fan of dessert wines. The very name Botrytis fills me with suspicion. As a microbiologist I associate this with thoughts of rotting tomatoes and cucumbers or of grapes ruined by grey mould. But apparently, under certain conditions, the "Noble Rot" can produce incredible sweetness in late harvested grapes. However noble, though, I really don't like over sweet wine. I remember my indignation at seeing a Sauternes on a French restaurant menu priced at 520 francs! This when you could get a half decent meal in France for about 20 francs a head. We were told that for such a wine, the grapes are individually picked. Anyway, I did try a small glass. It was ...... very sweet! At around 10 pm, we phoned Natasha and she duly appeared to pick us up.  As is often the case when drinking to excess, you don't realise how far you've gone until you walk out into the fresh air. Di felt a bit crook and I...well let's just say that a portion of my obvious instability could not be blamed solely on my injured knee!