The Dirty Piscitelli

After a well earned rest and a sleep-in for some of us, we dragged ourselves into the day.  A bit of a re-jig of our stuff from the caravan into the car and we were off to Melbourne for a few days.  It was a bit sad to be leaving the van behind but with accommodation available in South Melbourne with my brother Darryl, we could do without it.

First stop was at the Lynn's on Wheels food van parked outside the local Bacchus Marsh quarries.  Lynn's van provides meals and snacks at very reasonable prices for all the truckie and office staff for the quarries .  Being a qualified chef Lynn knows how to make some tasty morsels and today was no exception.  Dim Sims, Hedgehog cake, Custard Tart and Apple Crumble were given an enthusiastic thumbs up by the boys, not to mention the great coffee!

We spent some time chatting with Lynn while the boys enthusiastically encouraged the passing trucks to sound their air horn!  I think by the time we left they had the air horn count up to 15!

After we waved goodbye to Lynn it was off to Melton to have the boys ears lowered.

 

Jarrah was up first and was specific that he ONLY wanted a trim, and DEFINITELY wanted to keep all his curls.  Hmmm...not sure the Vietnamese hairdresser understood much English.  :-(

Jack was up next and he chose the trendy haircut the barber was sporting. 

And Fletch just giggled the whole way through his haircut!

Next stop Sunbury.  Here we met up with some Piscitelli cousins that I last saw when I stayed with them on their Mildura vineyard, on my last trip around Australia 25 years ago.

And within a few minutes those 25 years just slipped away and we were all talking (at the same time), laughing and drinking wine together.  There was much reminiscing and catching up on what the Piscitelli mobs east and west have been up to.

Soon enough Maria's kids arrived home from school  and while the boys got to know Grace, Charlie and Jonah we enjoyed some great Italian sausage and marinated asparagus, courtesy of Rosa who still lives on the Mildura vineyard. 

Things progressed quickly and we were all having such a good time that we really didn't want to leave.

It was very tempting to settle in and get into a Dirty Piscitelli or two.  Yes, the Dirty Piscitelli is a real drink.  How could I have been a Piscitelli all my life and not known this?

According to the Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy the Dirty Piscitelli is any alcoholic drink that is made by the late-comers at wild parties.  Made from the drips, drops, and dregs of whatever liquids still remain after the preceeding crowd has descended on the alcohol supply.  It has a minimum of three ingredients, with at least one of those being alcoholic.

Originally, this was a drink made from Cinnamon Schnaaps, Jack Daniels, and 7-Up, seeing as these were the ingredients of the first Dirty Piscitelli.  The first person to try the drink responded with the phrase, "That's dirty, Piscitelli!" Piscitelli, the drink mixer, found that to be a suitable name after trying the drink himself.

VERY IMPORTANT! The drink mixer should NOT be the first drink tester!  It MUST be tried by another, preferably someone who has already put away a few drinks themselves.  They will most likely give you a more honest opinion of your concoction, unless they are so far gone as to have trouble remembering their own name.  If this is the case, multiple tasters is your answer.  There will be many willing volunteers if it truly is a wild party.

RECOMMENDED USAGE: If you are keen on telling jokes or stories, or performing magic tricks to drunk persons at wild parties, this is the perfect drink.  Due to the mixture of many different alcohols, it should be sipped.  It will loosen you up and repress a bit of stage fright.  If you get that sort of thing when telling stories and performing magic tricks.

RECOMMENDED DOSAGE:  One per party; drink slowly.  Unless you are the type who can really hold your liquor. 

So, as tempting as it was to progress the party to this stage, responsibility got the better of us and we somewhat belatedly made our exit and headed on down the road to South Melbourne to meet Darryl, with promises to meet up again on the weekend.

Timing is everything and when we got to Darryl's place the cleaners were about to start.  So we headed off down the street to the Palace Hotel for dinner.  The boys were ecstatic because it meant that they could eat pizza and chips for dinner AND dominate the pool table. Both of which they did with gusto.

It was great to see Darryl again and we had some good conversation over a few beers before calling it quits and heading home for bed. 

Fletcher was pleased to receive a belated birthday card that has been following us around Aus.  But best of all, he was thrilled to receive an enormous parcel from his soon to be kindy teacher, the delightful and ever thoughtful Mrs Drysdale.  His package included a felt dinosaur finger puppet, stickers, the reading book Maisy Goes on a Sleepover, a Drawing & Writing book, a set of textas, a tub of play dough, a fridge magnet, some information about starting school and TWO packets of Tiny Teddies!  He thought he was the luckiest boy in the world!  We love you Mrs Drysdale!!

All in all, a great day and we are looking forward to our week exploring everything Melbourne has to offer.