Mother’s Day

Woohoo!

I had arrived! I was finally going to join the millions of magnificent women around Australia being celebrated by their families on the second Sunday in May. This will become one of the great days on my annual festive calendar. I love festive holidays and I take them very seriously.

Obviously Christmas and Australia Day are in the mix. And being quite the two-upper and Dawn Service enthusiast, Anzac Day has a firm posi in my Top Ten. It’s an important tradition that Boy Wonder will be exposed to as soon as he stops staging his own daily dawn service and can also be relied upon to not squark through the Last Post.

I also have a few of my own “bespoke” annual holidays such as International Buy Shoes Guilt-Free Day. Sometimes I assign more than one of these days to my calendar. I like to mix it up.

There’s also my Annual Take a Chill Pill Behind the Wheel Day. I admit it – I’m the first on the horn when there are more than 4 cars backed up at a roundabout. I spent many years living in regional Aus. Driving in Sydney was always fraught. Mainly for my passengers. And anyone with a QLD number plate.

Clearly the major challenge in embracing this new status is deciding which of my current Top Ten annual holidays will get bumped to fit in Mother’s Day…Hmmmm. Tricky.

Currently my tenth favourite annual holiday is the Wallabadah Race Day. You just can’t beat dragging yourself out of bed on New Years Day, tumbling in to a reasonable frock that handles machine washing, and staggering out to a dusty paddock in the middle of the Summer sun to watch a “thoroughbred” jog around the fence line. True, back in the day there really was no better cure for last year.  But I think I’ve found my candidate to make way for Mothers Day.

Firstly, we no longer live in NSW. Clearly I’m all about getting behind my new state (although you will never see me in Maroon – some things are sacred, Greg Inglis).

Secondly, we don’t have a ute – which is part and parcel with a country race meet. It seemed an impractical choice for the baby capsule. But it’s just not as fun sipping warm Breezers while sitting in the back seat of a sedan.

Thirdly, a new ritual will take place on New Year’s morning. It’s called baby’s breakfast. In fact, this ritual is part of the daily world order since Boy Wonder took to solids with a vengeance.

The world of solids is by far the funniest “milestone” to date. Watching your infant embrace the mushy becomings of root vegetables and steamed fruits makes home life a little more joyous. Imagine the new sensations being experienced by that little mouth, by those little tastebuds, with that little swallowing mechanism! We wanted to be part of it!

Being Mother’s Day seemed the perfect occasion to eat out together. We looked around the city to find a lunch venue that would serve up something smooth, creamy, soft on the palate – to match his container of pea and zucchini….what did we find….?

Meet you at Milany’s??

GELATO! Ohhhhh, yeahhhhhh….. And not just any gelato. Gelato. Milany.

Have you tried their stuff!? Holy (ear-muffs) **** that is good ice-cream. You don’t get many chances in life to meet a bone fide artisan in these days of packaged produce and supermarket brand “gourmet”.

I’m always a sceptic when someone bandies about the term: Best In Australia. But I’d be hard-pressed to find gelato better anywhere. Perhaps Italy. Perhaps.

Service!

Proprietor Plamen Milanov stays true to his craft offering up classics like Vanilla Bean and Dark (sinfully so) Chocolate, Panna Cotta and Pistachio. He mixes it up with originals like Bounty, Toblerone and this Pomegranate masterpiece that almost made me wet my pants. Plamen is heavy on customer sampling, ensuring we each get exactly what our individual tastebuds are chasing. I’d already purchased my “solids” lunch and then followed up with a Tour de Taste across the huge range on offer at the bar. His warm and generous customer service boosted what was always going to be an incredible taste experience.

Colourful and sweet. Folds of deliciousness – right there!

Bounty and Chocolate and Strawberry – OH MY!

I’m a purist – Dark Chocolate all the way for me, and Gelato Milany’s Dark Chocolate is a 2011 award-winner. Don’t you know…! It brought a tear to my eye. (hello, Melodrama!)

The greatest Dark Chocolate gelato ev. er.

There we were, Little Family Brisvegas, all spooning away at our Mother’s Day lunch, all three of us in our own kind of smooth and creamy mouth-heaven. Boy Wonder diggs pea and zucchini that much!

Hooray for real food!

We didn’t have the heart to tell him just what was in store for his little swallowing mechanism when he grew up a bit.

Cannot wait until he can really order from the menu!

It was one of the great family moments.

And so my annual festive calendar is changing along with the rest of me. I’d be happy to anoint the second Sunday in May “International Gelato Day”. I won’t mind if it’s Milany year after year either! And I can’t wait until little man joins us at the bar.

“Hmmm…choices, choices…”

Bon app to each and every mother in the world! It was an honour to join the ranks.

mummaV xo