Dare to Dream at The Loose Box

As high as I reach can I grow, as far as I seek I can go, as deep as I look I can see, as much as I dream...

Finding a special person with whom you truly connect at the deepest parts of yourself is a gift. For me, these special connections have been few and far between but what I have learned is how important it is to cherish them. We are all searching for meaning in our lives and above all, to be seen, understood and loved for who we are. I believe that creating the meaning in our lives is not just about what happens to us, it is also about what we do with happens to us and having the right people to walk beside us on our life journey is essential to our happiness.

Viktor Frankl, famed psychotherapist and a holocaust survivor talks about the fact that meaning in life cannot be invented but must be discovered. Frankl said that among all living things, only we humans can envision our futures and play out mental scenarios of how we will make our visions a reality.

One restauranteur who has made his dreams a reality is Alain Fabrègues of the Loose Box Restaurant in Mundaring. I was taken there by a special man in my life to experience the culinary mastery of a visionary who really has revolutionised Perth dining. The restaurant is situated in the heart of Mundaring. As you drive in you can’t help feeling as if you are visiting a little cottage somewhere in the south of France. This is a place you want to linger and stay a while.

We settled in for the night and went for the whole enchilada that Loose Box is famous for – a seven course degustation dinner complete with fabulous wine, mood lighting and deep conversation. We are the same like that, all or nothing type people who like to live life on full throttle. We kind of felt connected to the restaurant’s owner Alain, who was so hell bent on getting a special oven for his kitchen that he hired a chopper to lower it in through the hole he had cut out of his roof.. you gotta love it!

You can’t kick off an evening like this without a glass of bubbly – in true French style we ordered some fabulous champagne with a splash of Kir. Our first course was a Coconut and Prawn Broth served with freshly shelled prawns, balmain bugs, kaffir lime leaf and rozelle spice. Subtle and delicious the flavour of the lime leaf and coriander tickled our senses. I got the low-down from my lovely companion who is a keen fish guy on the best way to prepare seafood and how he thought Alain had gotten the sweetness out of the bug flesh. And yes he cooks too! For our second course we had Tian de Crabes Bleus - blue swimmer crab set as a montage with tomato, Toodyay olives and iceberg lettuce served with a light green vegetable sauce. Fresh and light this dish provided cool relief from our starter broth.

For our next courses we had Le Saumon de Tasmanie d'eau Profonde et La Saint Jacques de Shark Bay aux Aromates-Tasmanian salmon and Shark Bay scallops, braised with aromatic herbs and served with a beurre blanc on wilted spinach and Escargots à La Bordelaise en Pâte de Brick sur Ratatouille Tomates aux Chilies - snail fritter served golden on a warm ratatouille stack with a tomato and chilli sauce.

Funnily enough I thought I would feel full at this point but actually I was perfectly satiated and welcomed the strawberry and cointreau sorbet they served us to cleanse our palates in between courses.

Dessert was beautiful - le Cygne Majestueux en Voyage sur son Lac de Framboises – a majestic swan, made from home made vanilla bean ice cream and fine tuille biscuit. Served on a "lake" of raspberry sauce. The perfect dish to complete an unforgettable dining experience.

We were put on this earth to love and celebrate all the wonderful things this life has to offer. Alain Fabrègues has shared with us his love for food and passion for all things French at his restaurant. My experience dining at The Loose Box was surreal and languorous, time felt like it stood still and the world around me became a distant blur. It is a place of dreams.

If you haven’t been yet... share The Loose Box experience with someone very special who enhances your life just by being part of yours.

Passion Rating ★★★★★
Food:★★★★★
Service:★★★☆☆
Ambiance:★★★★★
Overall:★★★★☆

“Love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire.” Frankl – Man’s Search for Meaning.

Sex, Stars and Soap in Sydney

I love Sydney. It’s the city most like New York in Australia. Spend a week-end here and you will understand why it is right up there with some of the world’s best city-break destinations. Throw in a splash of hunk and you have all the ingredients for the perfect week-end love fest.

I hit the Sydney streets with my sexy blonde friend from Victoria. We hadn’t seen each in a while and were excited to reconnect. What I like about my friend is that he blows away any stereotypes that I ever had of naval officers as mere meat and potatoes guys. He is the most gastronomically adventurous Australian I have ever met. He will eat just about anything. We hooked up for breakfast at a swanky little café at the Museum of Sydney (www.moscafe.com.au).

MoS Café is positioned in the heart of the financial district and captures Sydney’s historical past being located on the site of first Government House. MoS Café has a sandstone, marble and glass interior that spills out onto a wide, open forecourt, making it a perfect outdoor breakfast venue. We sat in the glorious, summer sunshine. I was ravenous and dove into a plate of poached free-range eggs with dark sour-dough and home-made Boston baked beans. Blondie tucked into an ample serving of the most scrumptious eggs Benedict with honey-glazed back bacon. Coffee at MoS was fabulous as was the signature freshly squeezed orange juice. This café has a lively vibe, is sleek, sassy and great for people watching.

After an afternoon touring around the harbour Blondie surprised me by inviting me to a contemporary dance show called Soap at the Sydney Opera House. Before the show we wet our whistles at The Opera Bar (www.operabar.com.au), an über chic watering hole frequented by Sydney’s best looking bar stars including us. The location is stupendous, nestled under the Opera House with in-your-face views of the harbour and bridge. We opted for a quieter spot on a bench nearby and sipped on our cocktails while enjoying the million dollar view.

Soap could best be described as bath-time circus - a bit of everything from dance to acrobatics to opera - all inside the bathroom. Blondie really knows how to please me. This show got us feeling sexy with a splash-filled spectacle of svelte dancers, erotic dance moves and crazy tub-filled athleticism. Watching all those soap suds really worked up our appetites. I don’t know why but my mind kept drifting to visions of Blondie lathering up before taking a hot shower. He has that effect on me.

For dinner we walked along circular quay and were hard pressed to make a decision on where to eat amidst the multitude of spectacular-looking wharf-side eateries. We settled on The East (www.theeast.com.au), a traditional Cantonese style restaurant right on the edge of the water. Inspired by age old recipes and cooking techniques, we ordered a kangaroo with XO chilli sauce, braised lamb with shallots and magic prawns with ginger and mixed vegetables. Food at The East was fresh and delicious. The servings were huge to match the prices. Service at The East was very friendly and the location unparalleled which more than made up for the size of our bill.

Just when I thought my day could not get any better, Blondie cooked up the perfect finale - Opera in the Park. We met up with a couple of his friends at Francesca Zambello's celebrated production of Carmen. Described as a vivid evocation of dust, heat and danger under the wide Spanish skies, we enjoyed sitting on our blanket under a star-spangled sky watching the colours and costumes and listening to the gypsy songs being sung in the language of love.

A week-end in Sydney was a great way to kick back and enjoy so many of the pleasures that life has to offer..getting naked and letting the soap suds fly would make it even better. I’ll be back for sure...

Don’t Lose Heart at Harvest

My heart split into a million pieces when I first had my heart broken. The world felt as if it had crumbled into dust and I felt like I had fallen from God's grace. Time moved slowly as did the healing of my heart. I was relatively young at the time but even back then I struggled with the concept that somehow, someday I might just find a powerful love like that again.

These days I am no longer the train wreck that I was for several years after the split and I have had the light go on about one very important fact. I believe that having your heart broken is an essential factor in finding ‘the one’ or, in my case, ‘another one’. Recent research has proven the fact that people that have experienced long –term relationships have an advantage in the dating world. What I have learnt is to take a big picture view of my former relationship and learn from it. I have looked at the relationship in context, thought about what it was that was missing or, that I needed to have in a partner that I didn't even realise at the time. I truly believe that I am much smarter now at picking the right guy for me and, am a better partner now than I was before.

I went with my close friend and her partner for dinner at Harvest in North Fremantle. Still giddy from the excitement of being in their new relationship, I picked Harvest as a good spot for them to return on their own for a more romantic date minus the ‘spare wheel’. Harvest is a modern European restaurant that touts using only fresh produce and an edgy menu designed to push your taste-buds to the limit.

Housed in a little historic cottage, the fame of Harvest’s owners Miles Hull (ex Little Creatures) and Clint Nolan (The Regent Sydney) raised the stakes and we expected to be wowed at this unpretentious establishment that was guaranteed to dazzle. Decor at Harvest is boudoir chic, red velvet, crystal chandeliers and dark wood create a dramatic backdrop for your dining experience. Harvest even has an indulgent private dining room complete with a wine wall and antique forged candelabra.

Cocktails at Harvest are sensational. We started off the evening by ordering a pitcher of Pimms no 1 with lemonade, cucumber and orange, a glass of bloody bubbles ( blood orange juice and champagne), a mandarin & coriander caipirinha and I had a watermelon, passionfruit vodka, campari and basil cocktail.

For dinner we had a crispy skin gold band snapper, beetroot & quinoa salad with rhubarb sauce, wagu beef with veal tongue and bread salad, rolled chicken breast stuffed with popcorn and mushy peas and fennel and, fresh cut chips. All the dishes were a visual feast and tasted out-of-this world. It almost made up for the hour that we waited for our drinks to arrive and the forty minutes it took to chomp down on our meals.

Service at Harvest was appalling. There is a saying that all good things come to those who wait but after our hour and forty minutes even the spectacular sounding desserts couldn’t get us to stay. On the dessert menu were a couple of magical creations such as white chocolate and parsnip semifreddo, decadent doughnut, lime curd or how about thyme cheese cake tart with pistachio and honey ice cream?

I truly believe that having my heart broken has increased the probability of me finding the right love that lasts. So, I am going to give Harvest another chance and keep the faith that it will be better the second time around.

Passion Rating★★★★★
Food:★★★★☆
Service:★☆☆☆☆
Ambiance:★★★☆☆
Overall:★★1/2☆☆