Lobster for our New Year's Eve dinner!

Every year Paladian and I go to Cappo's Factory Store to buy our fresh lobster for our traditional New Year's Eve Feast. Enjoyed with a glass of local Sav Blanc. With lobster so incredibly expensive in Australia, this is our annual treat. Most of the catch is frozen for export where it goes for high prices, primarily in Japan. Some also goes to top restaurants around the world and can even be found in USA.

We were waiting for the store to open early this morning, camera around my neck. I asked the guy serving us if I could take a photo or two inside the store. He very kindly offered to hold up the lobster for me to photograph it in-situ, before he wrapped it. Seen at the bottom of the blog.

I also took a few more photos in the store showing some of their other seafood items and I left in the prices per kilo out of interest to our friends overseas.

Spiny Lobster is a general name given to about four dozen species of clawless lobster found in the cold waters of the Southern Hemisphere. In this case, from the waters off Robe, South Australia.

In addition to the lack of claws, our local spiny lobster is distinguished from the American lobster by the sharp, short spines along the length of the tail and body. Spiny lobsters are beautifully marked with bright green, blue and yellow spots on an orange shell.

Cappo Seafood is a South Australian owned, family business committed to selling the finest seafood. They have a huge range with locally caught stock and some imported items not found in Australian waters. They have their own boats for much of their locally caught fish.

The Cappo family were early Italian migrants, starting out in in 1919 at Port Pirie, South Australia. They were pioneers of the Seafood Processing Industry in our state.

We have been regular Cappo customers since the mid-2000s when they opened Cappo's factory direct Gourmet Store on Glen Osmond Road, Parkside. You may have guessed - we love our seafood!

The Wayville Farmer’s Market

Today was our visit to the Sunday Wayville Farmer’s Market for our pre-Xmas fresh food shopping. This is the biggest and best farmers’ market in the Adelaide area and is held in the inner city suburb of Wayville, every Sunday morning from 9am to 1pm.

The stall holders are restricted to selling produce grown and/or manufactured in South Australia only - and this ranges from meat, fish, vegetables and fruit, as well as some manufactured items, like cheese, honey, bread, chocolate, organically produced wine, vegetarian patties and bush tucker flavoured ice-cream. We love the fact that the stallholders are the growers and producers, and most are passionate about their produce and love to chat if you ask a question.
 

It’s a wonderful place, especially at this time of year, with fresh fruit sampling and all the best soft fruit you can imagine. We are in the middle of the cherry season, not to mention strawberries, peaches, apricots, plums and nectarines. We eat a huge amount of fruit as - you may have gathered. There were so many wonderful, delicious looking photos from today, I decided to make a BLOG of the ones that missed out on being blip of the day.

Mitcham General Cemetery and my Great Grandmother's Grave

My great grandmother was buried in the old Mitcham General Cemetery, 90 years ago this year. What is interesting is that the cemetery is on the Old Belair Road, a road that we have travelled twice a day, almost every day, for the past 21 years. We last stopped off to go and photograph the headstone about 10 years ago, in the final days of film cameras and photographic prints.

Today I decided it was time to go back and get a digital record of her grave and this historic old cemetery. These are the extra photos that I felt gave a better over-view of this heritage place in the Mitcham area.

Xmas lunch at Lucky Lupitas

Today it was Xmas lunch at Lucky Lupitas - Latin American food in the Adelaide Suburbs!

Here are a few photos I grabbed while eating lunch. This is authentic Mexican/Latin American cuisine at its best – simple and delicious! Lucky Lupitas is a funky little converted shop with eclectic matching décor and atmosphere. It is rustic modern, think old wooden tables and chairs teamed with exposed industrial pipes running along the ceiling for the lighting. Ambience is cozy and included some loud Latin beats at lunch time today.

This is seriously good Mexican tucker – and you will not leave hungry! You must arrive early to secure a table, as we did today arriving at 11:45AM. If you wish, wash it all down with proper imported Dos Equis Amber ale or go the whole hog with margaritas and sangria. We drank lots of water.

Everything was awesome from the house made guacamole to grilled corn cobs with chipotle mayo, smoked chicken quesadillas to the chipotle ribs. My favourites are tostonas and empanadas to start, followed by a chicken quesadilla.
Definitely the best Mexican I have had anywhere in Australia.

National Motor Museum, Birdwood

This week the National Motor Museum at Birdwood put on display a replica of one of the most dominant F1 cars of all time, the Ferrari that carried Michael Schumacher to his seventh and final world title in 2004. 

The show car is a priceless replica - using genuine F1 vehicle parts - of the title-winning machine, and is being loaned by Bridgestone Australia. That was our main reason for going to the museum today. Bridgestone Australia managing director Andrew Moffatt said the display vehicle was bought from the Ferrari F1 team five years ago.

Since 1965 millions of people have enjoyed seeing their motoring heritage at the National Motor Museum, Birdwood, in South Australia. The museum is much more than a collection of vehicles. It is a social history of the way we were, and the way we are now.

The National Motor Museum houses Australia's most important collection of vintage, veteran and classic motorcars and motor cycles - more than 300 in fact. It is a top state tourist attraction being only 50 kilometres from Adelaide.

The main entrance, Sunday afternoon, December 16th, 2012.

The old Flour Mill building used for administration.

Closeup on the drivers seat and cockpit area of the Michael Schumacher F1 Ferrari replica, made from the same parts his original car was made from.

Closeup on the cockpit of the Michael Schumacher F1 Ferrari replica, with the amazing steering wheel, and all of its controls. From his F1 series winning car of 2004.



The full view - in all its glory!

The big black "Roller"!

One of the big rigs!

An old tramways bus.

A very old fire brigade.

The famous first South Australian built GM car, the FJ Holden.

Bikes owned by South Australia's motorbike star, Andy Caldicott, before he was killed on the Dakar Rally.

Father Xmas in his historic vintage car as he bids us farewell from the museum.

Belair Railways Station Signal Box

Today was a very special occasion as we were being shown the restored signal box that was destroyed in the arson attack of May, 2003. We are very proud of our 120 year old heritage listed railway station. The Belair Railway Station is in the Adelaide foothills, 20 minutes by train from Adelaide, and on the main interstate railway line from Adelaide to Melbourne.

 Here is a photo of a typical inter-state goods train that passes through this station every few hours. These trains are usually 1.5 kilometres long and have 3 engines. Today was a typical day and I though you may like to see the first engine of the train as it passed through this station on the way to Melbourne.
The steam engine I blipped on October 27th used to pass through this station on weekends till they removed the broad gauge line.

Finally it was on to the Belair National Park and this Raven would have been my blip of the day till he was pipped at the post by the Noisy Miner bird.