The Dubbo Chronicles No.11: Cotehele Interiors, Wineries, and Kanga Chaos.

The other day, when my friend Fran and I went to Orange, we stopped into Cotehele Interiors, run by Margie Sampson. I had ordered 60 metres of a gold damask patterned fabric on a previous trip. It was  initially destined for the master bedroom, but am now thinking it may be more suited to  the Brideshead suite.

It had arrived, and having bought it based on a 4"x 6"sample, I was keen to see what it looked like on the roll. Margie has a lovely shop, and is able to source many European fabrics. It has worked out much more reasonable to buy fabrics in Australia and ship them back to NZ, rather than buy them in NZ. 

These are the fabrics I had ordered for the Master Bedroom - a damask/striped pattern fabric in gold, and a gold silk for accent pillows etc...

Whilst I still like the fabric, it is not exactly right for the master suite, and so I will keep looking. It will, however, look great in the Brideshead suite.

It was a busy day all in all, but there was enough time to stop somewhere nice for lunch; to discover a cooking shop called The Essential Ingredient, where I bought a few little things including this great book on baking sweets and pastries:

and a couple more homeware stores inc. The White Room...

We took a detour on the way back to Dubbo to visit Ross Hill Winery, which my friend Dan had recommended for their Shiraz and their Pinot.

We bought a couple of bottles of the Pinnacle Series Shiaz

It was a great day all in all except for what happened on the way home from the winery. High-tailing it home at dusk on the country roads, which for a good part cut through bush and scrub, I rounded a corner to find a Kangaroo in the middle of the road. I managed to slow down and miss him, but then a second dashed out from the bush on the side of the road and right into the front of the car! Quite the fender bender, but we were both unharmed. I wish I could say the same for the Roo!

The Dubbo Chronicles No.10: Riddle me this...

What is that which in the morning goeth upon four feet; upon two feet in the afternoon; and in the evening upon three?

Recently I went to a town called Orange with a friend from Dubbo. Orange is a country town one third of the way towards Sydney from Dubbo.

As some readers will know, I have been looking for a pair of giant sphinxes for quite a while, and I managed to find them in Orange. I found them at a shop called The Complete Garden.

Annie and Rob, the owners, were extraordinarily helpful. There was actually only one in the shop and the line had been discontinued. So, they did some calling around and found another one up in Queensland, and Rob drove up and collected it and united it with the one they had in their store, and then he drove both of them down to Sydney and dropped them off to the cargo company at the port. They should be on the water to WBP this week!

Above: One of the sphinxes. It is a French Mannerist-style Sphinx.

Below: The eventual position of the pair.

They were very excited about our project, and had sent a photo into the local newspaper along with an explanation that they were supplying the sphinxes to WBP in NZ!

Below: Another Mannerist-styled sphinx

and some more sphinxes...

The answer to the well known riddle of the Sphinx: Man.

Kitchen Appliances...

More fun: We have been researching which brands of kitchen appliances we are going to buy. Our  builder is importing a whole lot of appliances from Greece and Italy for himself and other clients at present, and there is room in the container for a few more items. We can choose from Ilve, Gaggenau, and Miele.

So far we are most impressed with the aesthetics and function of the Ilve range (a company I had not heard of before), but they do not do refrigerators, so we are going to mix and match -but we could do with your advice...

The Miele Fridges:

or the Gaggenau Fridges?

The Ilve range.

Let's start with a self cleaning oven...

Their pyrolytic oven locks and heats to furnace temp, and then One simply vacuums out the ash when the cycle is complete. I know, not a new idea, but never having had a self cleaning over before, it is almost exciting!

Their corresponding gas range is 120cm wide, so would accommodate 2 of these ovens side by side underneath.

Our friends in Cumboogle have a side by side combo oven identical to the one below, and their constant frustration is that the smaller of the two ovens is too small to be of much use. Thus, we will not bother with a smaller over, just 2 decent ones side by side (how often have I been cooking for a dinner party and trying to juggle baking things at different heats in and out of one oven!

Apart from the basic cooking and cooling there are a few more luxury items, such as wine chillers...

almost as exciting as a walk in fridge, but alas there is not enough room...

There is enough room for 2 wine chillers / humidors underneath the main kitchen island. The majority of the wine will be stored in the main cellar.

That's the reward at the end of the day sorted, but what about the kick start the next morning?

We have amassed several espresso machines over the years, but wouldn't it be nice to have a nice, flush, automated espresso machine? Esp. when doing B&B, when there is little time whilst getting the second 'B' ready to hover over a manual machine?

While One is at it, what about a flush mounted microwave...

And then there is the cleaning up. Who want to do dishes for 50 people?

So, what do you think of our choices? Are there any other brands out there that we should look into as well? Your opinions are most welcome!