Glitter Of Fairy Dust At Firefly

Newcastle Herald

Wednesday July 9, 2008

JENNY TARRAN

LAST year Debra Atkinson organised a birthday party for her son, but faced with a tiny house and a smaller rear courtyard she ended up having the gathering on the front veranda, spilling onto the wide pavement.

The Carrington mother knew that there had to be a better way of holding a children's party that didn't involve taking the guests to a place that was full of other children and the Firefly Forest was born. In doing so she and her business partner Natasha Martin have provided parents with an alternative when looking for a private venue for parties, and she has also become a connoisseur of Cherry Ripe hot chocolates.

This hot chocolate is so good that people are travelling to Carrington from throughout the Hunter to sip on this sweet creation, tuck into a cake and enjoy the comfy cafe area, and you don't have to have children in tow to indulge.

"The Dragon boat rowers love coming over in the morning so we also have muesli and raisin toast on the menu," Ms Atkinson said, adding that a lot of the walkers who do the Wickham and Carrington foreshore trail divert over to Young Street for a snack during their walk.

As a lot of the visitors are women with preschool children, the duo started a Monday and Wednesday morning story time for the little ones, while on those afternoons the pair open up a special room for after school craft sessions.

"We also have groups of mums who want to catch up so they ring us and we organise to entertain their children while they sit in the cafe and have a coffee," Ms Atkinson said.

"We also have a group of kids we call the milkshake gang, they park their bikes outside, come in grab a milkshake and socialise.

"It has become a safe zone for the children, it is getting back to the old milk bar."

Firefly Forest is open all week and party packages for up to 15 children start at $17 a child. Craft sessions are $10 a child and are held on Wednesday and Friday and there is a full schedule for the school holidays. For further information or bookings telephone 4927 6308.

Allons, enfants

SILO on the Boardwalk at the Newcastle Foreshore will be holding a French degustation on Friday, July 18.

The dinner will features seven courses, each matched to a French wine, and the price is $120 a person.

The menu includes French onion soup with grana crisps matched with a 2005 Chateau Moncontour Vourey Methode Champagnoise, along with a shoulder of braised lamb, crisp breast, butternut puree and rosemary jus served with a 2001 Domaine de la Citadel Artemis Luseron GSM Grenach Shiraz Mourvedre.

Bookings for the dinner can be made on 4926 2828.

Lovedale en fete

THE second Taste of Lovedale will be held on Saturday, August 9, at the Wandin Valley Cricket Ground and Pavilion.

The all-day affair, from 10am to 4pm, will feature wineries, restaurants, producers, entertainers and artists from the Lovedale area all in the one place.

The wineries involved will include Allandale, Adina, Tatler, Gartelmann, Wandin Valley, Sandalyn, Majors Lane, Monahan, Emma's Cottage and Warraroong, while the restaurants will include Cafe Adina, Tatler, Bel Posto and Star Anise.

Keep watching the Nibbles column for more information and for your chance to win a Lovedale Cellar valued at $3000.

Pots au feu

THE Fire Station Hotel at Wallsend, on the corner of Devon and Nelson streets, Wallsend, has just released a new winter- warming menu.

While the menu has been changed, most of the favourites remain, including the traditional garlic prawns served with a cream and chive sauce and rice. This dish is still available as an entree, $15.90, and a main, $20.90.

The surf and turf, a prime Angus scotch steak with salt and pepper calamari, prawns and fish topped with a red wine and mustard sauce, $26.90, is also there on the menu, as are the various grill dishes where you choose the meat, the sauce, sides and toppings separately.

A new pasta dish is the provencale, with a rich tomato and basil sauce with chargrilled eggplant, olives and fetta cheese, $14.90, or add $2 to include chicken to the dish.

Other meals include lamb and mint rissoles, braised in an onion and tomato gravy, $15.90, and a chicken strudel, which is chicken with spinach, pinenuts, semi-dried tomatoes all wrapped up in pastry and served with a basil and tomato coulis, $19.90.

The Fire Station hotel is open for lunch and dinner all week and bookings can be made on 4950 1149.

jtarran@theherald.com.au