It was Christmas in July on Monday the 25th for 31 Bearbrassians including five guests, at P.J.O’Briens’ Irish Pub Restaurant in Southbank.

 

We lunched on soup, ham, turkey and plum pudding, provided in generous quantities. On a grey day, arrivals were greeted with a hot mulled wine . Father Christmas aka Russ-somebody put in a surprise appearance distributing chocolate bars and bonhomie.

 

Conversation was uninhibited and increasingly raucous, with many attendees still declining to leave at 3pm. Members got all this for a mere $45 after $10 subsidy from Melbourne City Council.

 

Thanks especially to organisers Sue Hoile and Mel Gray.

June’s general meeting speaker, Ross Berner (above), is a member of the Astronomical Society of Victoria and the spouse of member Debra Berner.
Ross held his audience enthralled with his presentation “Pluto ........... Planet or Not?”, walking us through the basics of the formation our solar system, the background to the method of classifying planets and the research which lead to the questioning of Pluto’s classification as a planet. 
Those of you who could not attend might well ask, what was the conclusion? Is Pluto a planet or not?  Suffice to say the jury is still out. This writer concluded that getting your head around all the relevant aspects of the Pluto’s role in the planetary system can make your head spin faster than Jupiter, I for one need to hear more to make up my mind.
Thanks to Ross for a compelling presentation. We look forward to a club outing to the Astronomical Society’s Melbourne Observatory later in the year.

For those who missed Ross's talk, we've at least found a YouTube about Pluto you can enjoy below.

What a wonderful time we had at our Luv-a-Duck cooking class on Friday. The festive focus of the recipes meant that we had about 10 varied dishes to taste. Entrée offerings were confit duck and caramelised onion tartlets and quiche containing smoked duck, feta and spinach. Both were delicious!
Many of the recipes included flavourful accompaniments such as duck breast with cherry and port sauce or with a sauce containing plums and quince paste.

We were shown how to dissect the bird and recipes were used that complemented the tenderness of each part. Even the necks of the birds were used to encase a flavourful stuffing. Legs were braised in an interesting Mauritian spice mix. Another leg dish used Vietnamese spices including a chilli kick.

The cooking was coordinated by Wendy who explained processes perfectly. It really was a thoroughly impressive operation, well organised and included a dish washing person who worked quietly in the background. Three cheers for duck fat roast potatoes!

Many of the participants are keen to return for another lesson in duck glory. If you’d like to join us, keep the following date free - Friday November 11!

 

Our President Sure and First Gentleman Jim can't seem to keep out of the news. Here a page from the winter edition of the Moonee Valley City Council magazine. You can also read it by going to https://mvcc.vic.gov.au/play/my-experience/valley-view-magazine/  and clicking along to page 11.

 

Twenty-five Bearbrass people enjoyed our first “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” on April 8. All three hosts Mel and Pam, Susan and Jan abide in Clarendon Towers in Southbank so we didn’t need to park and unpark and travel, just take a lift up to our dinners.
Guests’ names were drawn from a hat during a convivial starter with champagne in a function room on the ground floor. We got massive value from our $60 fee – champers and Hor d'oeuvres to start, then upstairs to Beef Bourguignon (or mushroom ragout), mashed potatoes and two salads, followed by petit fours and cheeses. The mains caterer was Black Truffle Catering, based at Collingwood, whom we heartily recommend. Dinner drinks were BYO and quite a lot was consumed judging by the racket and merriment in each apartment. 
Mel says that it was a rare night where everything went well without a hitch. That includes the Consort of our President, i.e., our First Gentleman,  being pulled over to the booze truck en route home, where he passed with flying colors thanks to his drinks discipline during the whole night. 

Read More to delight in further art photos