All things are go!

Just a short post this time with an update on a couple of things that have happened at Piccalilly in the last few of weeks.

It is obviously the lead-up to Christmas at the moment, and we are very busy, working all the hours in the week, but there has been a breakthrough to lift our (mainly Iain's) spirits: We tasted our first Piccalilly-grown tomato on Friday last week!

It was a cherry-sized yellow one, that on further investigation, contained very few, tiny yellow seeds and sweet yellow flesh. The skin was a little tough but we decided that was fair enough due to it being very slow to ripen. Once the weather warms up we hope there are many more to follow, and hope that some of you are lucky enough to taste them on the plate at Piccalilly!

Iain (too exhausted to get outwardly excited) holding the solitary tomato, it had to be cut into very tiny pieces so everyone could have a taste.

We spent last weekend working hard at rejuvenating our iconic front door. The 1860's cedar door has been slowly deteriorating since long before we moved into our beautiful corner building in Battery Point two years ago. The time finally came for us to give it a face-lift.

The corner of the building getting all the attention, is north facing and consequently has the full force of the Tasmanian sun on it for most of the day. The sun and other types of weather have been causing the paint and the antique timber underneath to suffer badly. There were several cracks that allowed daylight to be seen through the closed door. Someone in the distant past had tried to fix the the door with putty and good faith but without lasting good results.

We didn't realise just how bad it was until we saw it all fixed up!

Step one with the help of Iain's very willing parents, was to remove the burgundy-coloured paint and filler with a flexy scraper and a heat gun so as to not damage the old timber. The bottom third of the door was very delicate and spongy due to a little bit of rot. The paint around the hand carved moulding had cracked allowing water to damage the timber.

Once the paint had been removed the door was then primed and given a light sand to show the full extent of the cracks, dents and rot. We briefly entertained the thought of leaving the timber naked but it was in such a bad state that it just wasn't possible.

Naked!

We then applied an epoxy and very hard-wearing filler to the cracks and soft areas on the lower half of the door, and spent several hours sanding it back to create a smooth finish for the Hobart icon. It was then primed again, before it was time to start applying some colour.

After filling and sanding.

Four coats later and with the brass fittings freshly polished it was ready to dazzle our Tuesday diners!

Finished and beautiful!

We also have a photograph of last week's Wessex pork shoulder, you can see the thick fat layer and rich dark meat! Yumm yumm!

We wish you all a very merry Christmas and a safe new year, with plenty of good food, wine and travel. We hope to see you soon for pork and tomatoes...