And so the Book Club weekend adventures continue.

Bit like a soap opera saga or The Block isn't it? 

"Watch tomorrow night for room reveal" or "Like sand through the hour glass, so are the days of our lives."

Well, regardless, let's continue the adventures together, shall we? 

Our Book Club has become a celebration of food as well as literature. Realistically, we probably focus a little more on the food than the book, and, so be it, it's our Book Club and we can be as random as we wish. 

One of our coven is a vegetarian so that always inspires me to dog-ear scrumptious sounding vegetarian dishes in the magazines I read. Tonight's vegetarian delight comes form the pages of Australian House and Garden (March 2014), one of my favourite magazines; chard, haloumi, ricotta and mint pie. Yummo! 

Firstly, I had to find out what chard was! But Mr Google assured me it was silver beet or so similar it didn't matter. 

Sigh. 

I know where to buy silver beet.

Add to this butterflied shoulder of lamb cooked on the BBQ, hot potato salad, steamed greens, gravy and we have a Book Club dinner. Oh, and, of course, champagne, wine, water.

But, to start, while the lamb is seared, G & T (served in cute little vintage style milk bottles) is sipped on the back patio, as the sun begins to set ... or begins its setting process.

Daylight saving makes sunset drinks before dinner either pre-sunset drinks or VERY late drinks, like I'm-ready-to-consume-my-left-arm late drinks.

That's our yummy vegetarian pie at the back left. Mmm, mmmm. And we feast.

Oh, and there's dessert, of course. Individual Grasshopper cheesecake pies from a dog-eared copy of Australian Home Beautiful (March 2014), another favourite magazine.

Nothing like an up-coming Book Club meeting to inspire the dog-earing of any magazine in sight!

But, then it's time for the real purpose of our gathering ... the Book. This time provided by the psychology graduate.

Beautifully wrapped and individually named.

Some of us are avid readers and are keen to pounce in.

Some of us will read the book, front to back.

Some of us will read a portion.

Some will not like the book at all and will read only a minuscule number of pages.

Some of us, only a few, have read EVERY book.

But, it doesn't matter. 

We're a happy coven. We celebrate the friendship. We break the rules of Book Club world. We're never very serious in our discussions. On the rare occasion, we surprise ourselves with the depth and breadth of our book talk ... not often.

But we have fun. Isn't that what life's about?

Next day, we go in convoy to conquer the mountains, the famous Blue Mountains. 

One of our group must leave on an early train, so we begin with lunch in the most magnificent Paragon Cafe in the heart of Katoomba. 

Our cat-loving-cook leads us there, having read of its splendour. And, oh, we thank her!

We are enveloped in an Art Deco embrace.

We have stepped into 1916 and are loving it.  The food, the ambience. Definitely a place to bring others.

Once sated, we are off to see the mountains before the first of our coven begins her journey home.

The Three Sisters.

And the rim of the Blue Mountains.

We take the ubiquitous tourist photo.

And have no fun.

After we farewell one French-canal-boater at the railway station ... well, in the middle of the street near the railway station (Don't mind the traffic. It's a Book Club farewell.)  ... we hit the shops. 

The Hattery's daily take is greatly increased by our visit.

The next day, our final day together, after breakfast at Cafe Relish, Richmond, we stroll the shops, admiring and buying.

White Balloon Boutique is extremely pleased by our visit!

But, then it's that time. Time to confirm flights and book seats and head to the airport.

So,

until, next year,

or the next time I'm on the Gold Coast,

it's time to say

goodbye.

How much fun can be had by seven women

on a Book Club weekend?

Lots. 

Thanks for visiting my lovely friends.

Come back again next year. 

Thanks for reading my blog post. I'd love it if you clicked on"comment" below and left a comment so that I know that you've visited.