My November so far

November so far has been wonderful (yes, it's only been 3 days). 

The weather is turning cooler, which means mashed potatoes and hot tea and blankets and movies and cuddling. Plus, with all the leaves changing colours, its one of the prettiest seasons in Toronto!

I've fallen in love with this wine (and the dog is awesome too... but not with wine...): 

It needs to breathe before it gets awesomely awesome, so let it sit for a bit. It's delicious (I'm no wine connoisseur so "delicious" is all I can say to describe things) just on it's own while watching Vampire Diaries. Yes, yes it is.

Last night, Steven and I saw a much-anticipated movie:

I read the book a couple of years ago and LOVED it.

I was very happy with the interpretation of the themes in the book. And the actor that portrayed Ender, Asa Butterfield, was excellent. And Harrison Ford. And Ben Kinglsey. And the effects. And basically everything in the movie. WOW.

We waited until the end to see if there would be one of those Marvel movie extra scenes, but there wasn't.

Walking out of the theatre, we kept saying how good the movie was. Then, Steven said, "So much better than stupid Gravity," and the guy behind us snickers in aggreement.

In conclusion, people that stay to the very end of movies like Ender's Game also have a disdain for slow, boring movies like Gravity.

I want to be Maggie Beer

Being Canadian, Steven and I had never heard of Maggie Beer until we landed in Perth a few weeks ago. Our host there was raving about this local Martha-Stewart-like figure (but without the prison sentence thing) who was to visit his work in the coming days. If he was nervous to meet her, imagine us!

We didn't even realize we were going to her famous farmstead until we actually got there and put two and two together. Maggie Beer's Farm Shop is a stop on nearly every wine, food, or tourism tour coming out of Adelaide and into the Barossa Valley. There are some good reviews of her shop, and some not so good, so Steven and I figured we'd just check it out.

The Farm Shop is at the end of Pheasant Farm Road, pheasants being the food that made Maggie Beer famous. She has since moved on to peacocks, which is why her front door is guarded by one. Just kidding. The lands still operate as a pheasant farm. This peacock just liked the attention he got at the front door of the famous Maggie Beer's Farm Shop.

The Farm Shop is part cafe part shop. Shelves of jam, preserves and pates cut the room in half, while tables and chairs line the windows that overlook the quiet lake.

There is another room (through the door of the above picture) which leads to the tasting and food demonstration area.

Nearly each jam, preserve or vinegar is accompanied with a sample, so you know exactly what you're getting yourself into.

Steven and I decided to have a coffee and picnic basket and enjoy the afternoon in this cool location. Maggie Beer's doesn't really serve food, per se. Their food is centered around the gourmet pates, so each meal is literally a picnic basket: cheese, pate, bread, and pre-made salad. This means they can churn out these meals quickly with little to no prep. Business GENIUS!

We had the Porcini mushroom pate (meh, I'm not a fan of pate), with a multrigrain roll, a soft cheese, and a delicious grainy salad.

In all, the Maggie Beer experience was AMAZING. The woman herself was even there giving the wine tasting behind us. She was friendly and absolutely lovely.

Like I say in the title of this post, I walked out of the Farm Shop wanting to be this amazingly successful woman. I want a farm! I want to cook and preserve things and eat things and drink wines! I want to make picnic baskets! Ok, I'd probably be pretty bad at all of these things, but a girl can dream.

Maggie Beer's Farm Shop is highly rated on Urbanspoon (which I've recently really gotten into HELLO TECHNOLOGY!), and I have to agree! If you're ever in Adelaide, make the trip out to just sit and have a coffee in the shop. It is a beautiful, positive atmosphere, so go soak it all in and get some inspiration into ya!