Melbourne.

On Saturday I escaped from the shackles of my housewifely duties and went solo to Melbourne for the day......to go to a surprise 40th birthday lunch. I had a six hour day pass.  Talk about hedonistic decadence beyond my wildest imaginings....and of course I had the start of a nasty little flu to take with me. Here is a photo of my Jetstar plane sitting on the tarmac at Hobart airport.....and yes, of course it was delayed:

Saturday is the biggest day of the week in our house. Rest and relaxation never get a look in. There is too much tricky coordination involved in timing dancing drop offs and pick ups with soccer matches, play dates and anything else randomly thrown into the mix. I had to get my mum down from Launceston to help.

We flew in from Hobart, Sydney and Launceston and rendezvoused at Melbourne airport. When I celebrated my own landmark birthday late last year, I took it upon myself to organise my own party as I wasn't sure about how I'd cope with a surprise element.....with my luck I'd be caught with messy hair sporting bathrobe and ugg boots. We gave a bit of thought to the fact that this particular birthday girl might not relish a surprise, surprise. Luckily, she knew that she was going out to lunch so on Saturday morning she went from the gym, clad in lycra, to Scanlan and Theodore from where she emerged totally glammed up in a whole new outfit. Bring on the surprise!

We had lunch at Golden Fields in Fitzroy Street, St Kilda:

(Images from their website)

It is apparently the best new restaurant in the 2012 Age Good Food Guide and is kind of Chinesey. It was perfect for the twist on the banquet style lunch that we had....without a lazy susan or chopsticks in sight. Look how delicious the food was:

This was me getting a tad artistic with my camera and the present (a bronze sculpture) and the slow roasted lamb shoulder with salted lemon. I forgot to take photos of the chicken congee and the twice cooked duck which you shredded and then put inside a steamed roll with plum sauce. Oh, and the peanut butter and chocolate dessert. It was all good.

Eventually we were bounced from the table that we had occupied for six hours. As you can see it was getting dark....and a bit messy:

Time for me to head to the airport and catch my flight back to Hobart. Happy Birthday again, Mon! 

R