Christmas with Friends

For me, Christmas is the time of year when the distance to loved ones seems the greatest.   Family overseas, departed loved ones, friends around the globe - we all seem to have those we are thinking about in an extra special way during this silly season.  
Now seems like a good time then, to count the blessing of family and special friends who we do spend time with in NZ - they are a part of the fabric of our lives, those we laugh with throughout the year and those who we want to spend time clinking glasses with during this time of festive cheer. One such group of friends were fortunate enough to congregate at Jo and Elle's for a spectacular annual Christmas dinner just recently. This is a day of pure indulgence: Elle and Jo's exceptionally good cooking, far too much good wine and increasingly entertaining company makes this quite the affair.

This year was exceptional, with a raft of delicious nibbles and then this 8 course menu:

• Rumaki (liver and water chestnuts wrapped in bacon and grilled on the bbq)
• Chilled Avocado soup with garlic bbq prawns
• Basil panacotta with tomato sorbet
• Elle's mom's Alabama crabcakes
• Bbq lamb with an amazing salsa verde
• Vietnamese shaking beef on a bed of greens
• Chocolate truffle cake
• and the grand finale of the most sensational raspberry mouse

And yes, this is restaurant quality food - Elle painstakingly plans the menu weeks in advance and generously puts an amazing combination together.  Eating around their large communal family sized table, this is a long, 8 hour affair.  Food is matched with wines that if you added up, would put this line up in the stratespheric price range if you actually managed to find them on a restaurant wine list, but which have been carefully nurtured in people's cellars just waiting for a special occasion like this to be taken out. It is a real treat to say the least!

In the spirit of Christmas cheer, I have asked a few friends to 'toast' their favourite wines from this past year.  Here's what they came up with:

John

2006 Seresin Reserve Chardonnay

2009 Matua Valley single vineyard grenache

Shelly

2010 Villa Maria Keltern chardonnay  (Shelly is the world's biggest Chardy fan, so trust her on this one!)

Gabor

2009 Trinity Hills The Gimblett, Gimblett Gravels bordeaux blend

Oloroso sherry lustau 1/58

Shaw & Smith Chardonnay verticle 2006, 07, and 08

Curt

1988 French Chateau Sudierault Sauternes, carefully cultivated in his cellar and absolutely perfect.

2007 Ramey Hyde Vinyard Napa Chardonnay

Elle

2006 Church Road Tom Chardonnay

2005 Schoffitt gewürztraminer

2002 Te Motu Cabernet

Jo

Apsley Gorge Chardonnay from Tasmania (and many other wines from their recent memorable trip to Tasmania!)

Stoneyridge Larose barrel pressings tasted at labnight at Pinot Plus 

Anne

Dunnolly Pinot Noir during a trip to Waipara - like nothing she's had beforehand

Mark

1988 John Riddoch Coonawara Cabernet (purchased from a cellar in Penola, Coonawara - this was definitely yummy and a perfect example of why you want to save something good for a number of years!)

1998 Leasingham Classic Clare Sparkling Shiraz

1998 Esk Valley Terraces

Cath

2004 Kerpen WS Auslese

1998 (?) Jim Barry The Armagh (another from Curt's cellar!)

2005 Felton Road Block 1 Riesling

Al

1988 John Riddoch Coonawara Cabernet (yes, a second mention) 

1988 French Chateau Sudierault Sauternes (I could add this to my list too)

1999 Grant Burge Meshach Barossa Shiraz

2004 Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier

Mine:

2008 Coriole The Lloyde Shiraz - tasted at my favourite vinyard in McLaren Vale

2010 Jasper Hill Grenache - from yet another special cellar door tasting

2002 Providence Merlot Cabernet Franc Malbec from Matakana - a treat from Sakiko at last Lab Nite

1988 Alsace Kientzler Gewurtz from Curt's cellar - the smile on Curt's face showed the pure joy a wine collector experiences when saving something for that long and it tasting absolutely perfect.  What a real treat.

Sophie:

And last, a special toast to Sophie, that special pooch we lost earlier this year - we opened our last bottle of 1997 Montrose Mudgee Black Shiraz to toast the wonderful time we had with her (1997 was the year she was born and Montrose Black Shiraz was the first case of wine I ever bought).

Merry Christmas to the many people we love.

MooChowChow

MooChowChow is one of my favourite Ponsonby Restaurants.  This is a recent (within the last year) addition to the local scene.  It's a very cool Thai Restaurant which I've been to 3 times in the space of a month. Just the name is enough to make it worth checking out, surely?!  It's perfectly Ponsonby as far as urban eateries goes so I decided it was probably a blogworthy location for all Auckland food lovers. We even took my parents here while they were over from Canada and it did not disappoint.

My favourite waiter

I had a look at Mehran's Dineout profile, but looks like he missed this one so I'll try to do it justice.  (Mehran for those who don't know is my crazy friend from Chicago who inspired me to get blogging - he's a food and wine lover from Chicago, who was here for only about 8 months and did 61 restaurant reviews!  Check out his rather colourful Auckland dining experiences on Dineout if you're feeling adventurous:  Mehran's Dine Out Reviews for Auckland)

As for MooChowChow, its Thai with a modern twist.  The chef did a stint at Longrains in Sydney, which makes sense, given the non traditional Thai style tapas coming out of the kitchen. There's no green curry chicken or pad thai here, just lots of interesting little dishes to share. And get this, the food menu is less than a page and the drink list is 7 pages! 



Caramalised Pork Hock and Chilli Vinegar



Unlike Mehran, I didn't ask the waiter his name, but he was really good all 3 times.  Funny, flirty, and good at making recommendations on the dishes - mostly he pulled faces at some of the more average dishes and pushed us toward the more interesting ones - good man.  My favourite dishes would have to be the 'Caramalised Pork Hock and Chilli Vinegar' and the 'Grilled Beef Short Rib in a rich red peanut curry'.  Yummy yummo - do I really need to share?! Both were melt in your mouth with a punchy asian salad on the side. All was matched with a nice Alsace Pinot Gris (or a Pingpong long for Jo!).



Beef Short Rib - Sensational!





Lots of empty plates



Everything was great and although the buzz and atmosphere could be mistaken for a Thai night market, it's pure Ponsonby.  Plenty of beautiful people, relaxed seating, stools around big shared tables and the back of the restaurant is basically a temporary structure that's painted in my favourite fushia colour.

Definitely give this place a go, especially if there's a group of you so you can try a lot more of the dishes!



happy patrons