M & L

Last night, we went for a wedding reception. It has been the date that I've been looking forward to in the last couple of months, since it's been such a long time Gary and I went out without the kids. I must say I enjoyed myself tremendously, it was such a classy and elegant affair. I felt so GROWN-UP!

The dinner was held at Butleigh Woottons Receptions in Kew. The building has such an amazing architectural design and a classy ambience. I would love to have taken some photos outside but it was raining quite heavily, so we hurried inside. We were greeted by so many familiar faces, some of which I have not seen for over 5 years. I was truly overwhelmed, I'm sure I chattered all night like a teenager!

This photo is just one of the photos from the website. My little point and shoot canon is just not for taking photos at night, and I didn't like the flash, as you will see later.

M and I attended university together. He is now a cardiology registrar. L is a piano teacher. They're such lovely people and make a handsome pair. They look so happy last night. I congratulate them again and wish them the very best in married life.

The dining room was once again very elegant and romantic. There were roses on every table, candles and chandeliers. As you can see from the photo above, the room was dimly lit. There was a 2 piece band playing soft jazzy music and familiar songs from the 70's, 80's and 90's. Overall, there was so much class.

The food was superb. In fact, Butleigh and Wootton has been a finalist for the best caterer in RACV Awards for excellence in 2005, 2006 and 2007. The service was wonderful.

For starters, I had prawn and smoked trout cocktail. It was a salad of cucumber, avocado and iceberg with Marie Rose sauce and lemon oil. It was lovely and refreshing. Gary had a warm salad of duck confit, with baked roma's, charred witlof and salsa verde. It wasn't me not to whip out my little camera and take pictures of every single item on the table, but we were sitting with some very important guests. I was busy minding my table manners and also I didn't want to look too paparazzi-esque! More on that later.

Anyways, these are our mains. I had the atlantic salmon fillet, served on mash of parsley, asparagus, prosciutto shard with lemon and caper dressing. The fish was moist and soft, and very well complimented by the tangy sauce. The crispy bacon shard almost cost me a trip to the dentist though! Gary's eye fillet was definitely screaming to be eaten. It was served on a thyme potato roesti, with caramelised shollots, beetroot and horseradish relish, spinach and red wine jus. Again, the photos didn't do justice. I had to use the flash because of the lack of light, and I'm not a flashy sort of person. :) To end, we had a lemon tart with passionfruit coulis and passionfruit sorbet.

We were a very well behaved couple that night, for reasons I shall explain a little later.

Dress: Diana Ferrari
Clutch: Kate Hill

Jewelery: Swarovski

Shirt & Tie: G2000, Hong Kong

Perhaps the highlight of the evening was sitting right next to Lord Mayor Cr John So and his lovely wife, Wendy. We felt deeply honoured and privileged to have such opportunities and to be regarded with such importance to be sitting in a table with so many distinguished guests. It was a lovely surprise as well. A few weeks ago, we had dinner with the bride and groom, and Gary lightly joked about Cr. So being his bro (John So, he's my bro!), and he was definitely excited about meeting him at the wedding. We didn't think Mr. Groom would actually put us right next to them! What an honour, so thank you M.

He is a perfect gentleman. His lady, Wendy, is warm and friendly. We chatted about all sorts of things, mainly just our lives in general, parenthood, chinese restaurants and history of the chinese migrants in Melbourne, something Gary and John had in common, as Gary came from a family of restauranteurs and John being one himself. Wendy spoke so tenderly of his son, John So Jr. With one more week in the office, John is looking forward to having some time off and spending quality time with his family. He told me he just wanted to do some gardening and go fishing! He will get his very well deserved rest after 17 years as a councillor and 8 years as the lord mayor of Melbourne.

More photos of the night:

And oh, a special thank you to my sister-in-law, my nephew and niece for looking after the kids!