Last week John and I were invited up to dinner in Noosa (30 minutes north) by Charlie Louie of HotlySpiced.com.  She and her family were enjoying a holiday up there after Christmas. Her husband Carl’s parents live up here and one of his brothers.

If you follow Charlie’s blog, you’ll know what a treat it was that I not only got to eat her food but I met Carl, Archie, Arabella and Alfie.  Don’t believe a word she says about them on her blog — they are all delightful.  I didn’t get to meet Rosie the dog but one day I hope I can give her a belly scratch.

An additional treat was having drinks with Claire from ClaireKCreations.com.  Claire lives in Brisbane (an hour south of me) but she was visiting her folks who live just outside Noosa.  Claire is young, beautiful, talented and clever — you know, one of those people you’d love to hate but can’t because she’s got the best personality?  Yes, that’s Claire.  She and her husband had another commitment and couldn’t stay for dinner but I’m so glad we got to catch up.

Noosa is a world famous holiday destination and home of the Noosa International Food and Wine Show (May 16th-19th).  Noosa is wonderfully situated between the beach, the river, the hinterland and national parks and offers an amazing range of activities for young and old with unspoiled beaches, great fishing, unique shopping and adventure activities.

Dinner was amazing.  Imagine going on holidays with your family and staying in a beautiful apartment overlooking the beach and ocean and spending your time inside cooking for family and friends?  I thought it was nuts but I said yes in an instant.

Charlie and Carl made a roasted beef fillet and served it in a Massaman curry with roasted potatoes, snow peas and red chillies.  The aroma called everyone to the table, especially me.

The meat was perfectly cooked and red from edge to edge — remember they did this in a holiday apartment that supplies only the very basic cooking tools.  The curry was fragrant, spicy and the perfect complement to the lip-smackingly delicious beef.  The sauce was so good we all used bread to get every last drop.

I apologise that there are no photos of the event but this was a friendly dinner and we spent the time getting to know each other better.  Archie’s voice was gone – injured by too much practice (probably trying to attract the girls below) but we were treated to some of his recorded songs and he’s incredibly talented and definitely going places.

Arabella is tall, slender and beautiful with a lovely voice that I could listen to by the hour.  She’s recently finished high school and is on the cusp of living her life as an adult.  It’s great to see someone with that much promise deciding whether law is a good career or maybe psychology or maybe both.

Alfie helped me carry the pie I’d brought for dessert and he’s as cute as he can be.  I asked how it was to play Santa in the school Christmas program and he played down being the big hero.  He said he didn’t get to sing and I think that would have made his Santa experience much better.

Carl is tall, handsome and a gracious host.  He’s well traveled and has the best stories.  Together, the family offers all the raw materials Charlie needs for her daily blog posts about life in her Sydney kitchen and I couldn’t be happier that we’re friends.