Civic welcome home. Queenscliff. Vic. Australia

Here is a menu for you history buffs. This is a civic reception given for returned soldiers of the Queenscliff area just after World War 2. It was paid for by the council and local citizens. The photograph of the men eating is interesting; where were the women hiding?? The list of dances brings back memories, I remember about 1/2 of them. It looks like the program was also a dance card as there is room to put the dance partner's name beside each dance (what are the odds that more than one dance couple married in the ensuing years). The menu is interesting as I believe rationing was still operational at this time and the use of "savouries" after sweets is a very traditional English habit. The desserts are also using the classical meaning of desserts being fruit and nuts. The fort was built in 1860 on the bluff to protect the entrance to Port Phillip Bay and was only decommissioned as an army post recently.

Brennan's New Orleans

A culinary icon in New Orleans for over 60 years, started by Owen Edward Brennan in 1946. Breakfast at Brennan's became a catch cry, perhaps to differentiate itself from dinner at Antoine's (another famous Creole restaurant in New Orleans). Several reknown dishes have been invented at Brennan's, like Bananas Foster (bananas sauteed in sugar, butter, banana liqueur and flamed with rum), and eggs Hussarde. Who would have thought an Irish family would jhave made Creole food so famous and popular. The restaurant has 11 dining rooms and seats over 500 people.

Ahwahnee Hotel, Yosemite Park. U.S.A.

Built in 1927 of art-deco and native American design, this magnificent hotel is set in a beautiful woodland setting with views of Yosemite's iconic natural features. It was a massive trucking feat of its time to bring in 5,000 tons of stone, 1,000 tons of steel and 30,000 feet of timber on what must have been much more primative roads than exist now. Much of the wood-like exterior is in fact concrete pored into wooden moulds and then painted to reduce the ever present risk caused by forest fires.

The Great Lounge features a gigantic stone fireplace approximately 2 metre high and 4 metres wide, (4 of us stood comfortably in it!). The Dining room as you can see from the photos and menu cover has 34 feet high ceilling with floor to ceiling glass and stained glass. This Hotel must surely be one of America's architectural and historical wonders. The menu is from our visit in 1982.