good food & wine show 2011

The one event which I do my utmost best to get to each year is the Good Food & Wine Show. I love anything to do with food, I love celebrity chefs, I love food freebies and the showbags of food that I'm more than likely will walk out with. I hear people say how it's the same every year and to a degree yes you'll have most of the same exhibitors at the show but in the end it's what you spend your time looking at. If it's the same as last year, I just move on and focus on something new - makes sense doesn't it?

New to this year's show was The Restaurant sponsored by Oxford Landing. The two lovely ladies from Masterchef - Poh & Marion were the featured chefs (no males in sight this year - well I suppose they were busy in the Celebrity Theatre). I love both these girls heaps so ended up trying a dish of each. Here's Poh's Dong Do Pork with Fried Rice. The skin of the Pork was quite chewy so I didn't end up eating it but the pork absolutely melts in your mouth!

Marion's Eight Hour Lamb Roast. 

I discovered this year that the boy had no idea what Sippah straws were so I made sure he tried one - we were taste testing the Cookies & Cream flavoured straws which were really quite nice.

And who could miss the pallets of goods which formed the Costco display! It was actually the pallet of Kitchenaid mixers which caught my attention but here's me with the pallet of supersized mayonnaise jars.

This year I got tickets to see Matt Moran who always delivers an entertaining and informative show. The boy will think otherwise but I left the show with just a small handful of bags to end the day - a resubscription to Delicious magazine, a selection of Dilmah teas, some cheap goodies from Chalet, a selection of jams and a cooler bag of dessert goodies from the brand Gu.

In amongst all the food tastings, I entered competitions for cars, dinners and kitchen renovations - unfortunately I get a whole lot spam each year and never actually win anything but all in good fun. There's some stupid photos of me posing in photos which have made their way to facebook and well, that's it for this year! As usual, will eagerly await next year's show!

sweet expressions @ SWEETNESS - the patisserie

This post comes a little late but I guess late better than never! Sweet Expressions @ SWEETNESS was one of the events I attended as part of this year's Crave Sydney International Food Festival. I didn't make it to any of the Sugar Hits (which is what I usually scout out) but I think I more than well made up for it by going to Sweet Expressions which was one of the two events Gena (owner of Sweetness) hosted this year for the first time.

Unlike 'Tea on Tuesdays' which I also attended, Sweet Expressions was an art cross marshmallow evening spent in the Sweetness Kitchen - sounds a little cryptic so maybe a few photos might give you a better idea. To be quite honest, up until the day, I was actually unsure of what we were doing or what to expect but in the true nature of Gena and her patisserie, it was a most pleasant surprise and I had a really lovely evening!

The view from outside - the window display was created for the night by Yumi Takahashi who was co-hosting the evening with Gena.

Meeting Yumi - artist/water colour painter. Her work is stunning and part of the goodie bag we took home that night was one of her limited edition prints. I framed mine straight away and have it sitting on my table and it's ever so pretty!

In a nutshell, the evening was about marshmallows and art. We didn't actually get to make our own marshmallows but used Gena's marshmallows as a canvas for artwork. Here's an assortment of nibbles which we helped ourselves to over the 2 hour session.

It would've been good to have a hands-on session making marshmallows but nonetheless we did get to ask questions about making them and Gena was more than happy to explain the technicalities of making her best-selling product (and little do I need to explain why; try her marshmallows and you won't be eating any other marshmallow for good!) Here's artwork that the boy and I created that night, inspired by the lovely Yumi who I think is extremely talented and I would love to have more of her work to hang up at home! The colours we used were non-toxic pastels mixed with a little grappa - in case you're worried about non-toxic pastels, these are used for cake decorating also and are actually safe to eat.

The two hour session quickly drew to an end and the class of six of us had managed to create some very different and unique pieces of artwork. We also had tour through the kitchen and I just remember asking Gena a lot of questions and me falling in love with her and her patisserie! Here's the goodie bag we got to take home, the boy gave me his print so now I have two!

I really have a big girl-crush on Gena - her story of how she came to open up a Patisserie is both amazing and inspiring. She is so friendly and personable, stepping into her kitchen is like being welcomed home and there's so many things in her kitchen to look at, I could very well entertain myself for a day in her kitchen. Anyway Gena, please run more sessions next year; I thoroughly enjoyed both Tea on Tuesday and Sweet Expressions!

tea on tuesday @ SWEETNESS - the patisserie

It was actually by chance that whilst searching for details on how to get to the Pyrmont Markets that I stumbled across the two events that SWEETNESS - the patisserie were offering as part of SIFF 2010. It worked out well that I then bumped into head chef/owner, Gena who was manning her stall at the markets and I asked her a bit more about the two different events and what they were about (as the SIFF website only gives a brief description of what they are). It didn't take long for Gena to convince me that I needed to book myself into one of these sessions and last night, the boy and I went along to one of her 'Tea on Tuesday' events.

I actually don't have any photos from the night (the boy actually did ask me at some point why I wasn't taking photos) but I think I was too busy enjoying the session and taking in all the info and asking questions that I didn't have time for the camera (plus I was busy gobbling away at Gena's creations). In a nutshell, 'Tea on Tuesday' is a small group session (our session had 8) where you learn about tea and also how you pair tea with dessert. Jen who owns Oscar & Howard Tea took us through 4 different kinds of tea and these were all paired with unique dessert combinations by Gena (all created uniquely for these sessions). Each dessert was exquisite and in my opinion, well matched with the four teas. To be honest, I actually learnt so much about tea in that 2 hour session that I feel slightly sheepish about how little I knew prior. I'd actually thought that 'Orange Pekoe' was an orange flavoured tea but alas no, it's the term for whole leaf tea and nothing to do with oranges at all!

At the end of the session, you get to take home your own blend of tea as well as a goodie bag full of Gena's sweets. Sweets aside, I actually think that the highlight of the evening was getting to meet both Jen from Oscar & Howard Tea and Gena (owner of SWEETNESS) and getting to ask them questions about their business and hear their inspirational stories, then to top it off, take a tour of SWEETNESS' kitchen and see what happens back of house. I'm rather jealous of Gena's collection of Kitchen Aids and still giggle when I think of Gena calling marshmallows 'sexy food'!

The boy ended up being the only boy there that night but I think he had fun. He did get a little hungry as the session runs from 7-9pm but as soon as he stepped inside the SWEETNESS kitchen, his eyes were roving around the room spotting where all the sweets were and I had him ask me whether I thought anyone would notice if he took a piece of marshmallow from one of the bowls sitting under the bench. I just shook my head.

And it whilst we were touring the shop that I noticed that Gena was selling dried cherries in her 'Larder'. FYI: In addition to all the baked goodies on offer, Gena now has a 'Larder' where she sells a selection of the ingredients she uses in her baking. I've been searching far and wide for a pack of dried cherries and pleaded with Gena to sell me her last bag which she kindly did.

So after  a sensational two and half hours (as the boy and I were early) and somehow ended up being the last to leave (probably because I couldn't stop asking questions to both ladies - sorry to keep you both back at the shop!), I've booked the boy and I in for Sweet Expressions which is the other event hat Gena is offering this month. She's explained it a couple of times now what the session is about and I'm mighty looking forward to it so hopefully will have something to share at the end of the month! I believe there's still spots available for both events so get in there quick if you can!

pyrmont growers' market - october 2010

To kickstart the Crave Sydney International Food Festival (which I much prefer to call Good Food Month because it's much less wordy and what it used to be called), I thought I'd head to the Pyrmont Growers' Market to check it out (it's one of those places which I've been meaning to get to for a long time but never got round to). For those interested, the markets actually happen every first Saturday of the month, 7am - 11am across from Star City but being the SIFF this month, the markets were extended till 12 noon. We were there shortly after 7am as the advice from most people we talked to was to get there early otherwise you'll be stuck in queues all day - I'm glad we listened to the advice!

Arriving at the markets nice and early, both the boy and I were in much need for a coffee. We lined up for our flat whites at the Mayan Coffee store. The coffees were $3 each (for a small size), it's a bit of wait as only the one small coffee machine was working but the coffees are gorgeously rich and smooth, it's worth the wait. And as part of the SIFF, you were given a voucher for any purchases over $3 for you to go collect your free copy of the SMH. 

I'm generally not a morning person so getting to the markets that early in the morning was bound to lead to something stupid - like me yelling out to the boy that there was a sheep across the boardwalk. Upon closer inspection, it wasn't a real sheep!

In the search for breakfast, we ended up deciding on a egg and bacon roll in what was probably the longest queue at the markets. I opted for the egg and bacon roll whilst the boy had the Mexican roll (as the steak and egg roll was unavailable). Both rolls hit the spot!

This is me with my squinty eyes on a Saturday morning sipping a Blood Orange juice purchased from the store next door to the Egg & Bacon rolls.

We left the markets shortly before 10am (just in time as it was starting to sprinkle a little). After a good perusing of the markets, I came home with a packet of macaroons from Sweetness The Patisserie (9pk for $10) and had a chat with the lovely chef Gena.

Purchased a pot of coriander and a pot of basil leaves (2 for $6) to add to my 'vegie plot'.

2 jars of Lynwood 'Nagami Gumquat' jam (one for me, one for the boy) and of course, we picked up our free copy of the SMH which comes in a rather adorable recycle shopping bag.

It was a really refreshing way to start the weekend as after going to the markets, I came back to head to the gym (when most weekends, I probably would've just slept in and woken up and slowly dawdled over to the gym). I actually did another silly thing that morning which I won't go into detail but I blame from the lack of sleep. Maybe in time I will become a morning person but for the moment, I'm not. Hoping to come back to the Pyrmont Markets next month as there were a number of things I wanted to get and try so maybe I will see you there if you end up going to!

good food & wine show 2010

I've been meaning to post about this year's Good Food & Wine show but it seems that time has once again got the better of me and almost 2 months on, I finally put together this post! Thankfully the show's website is still up and running so I can look up all the things I ate on the day and actually blog about it. I have the worse memory ever, don't even ask me what I ate for breakfast this morning, I probably can't even remember!

Anyway, back to the show; it seems like this year's show was busier than ever (yes, it must be Masterchef turning everyone's attention to food!) It was definitely bigger too with all the stalls much more spread out compared to last year. Reluctantly I have to say this and I'm sure most people would agree that getting in was a pain and pre-booking tickets didn't seem like such a good idea considering the queue to buy tickets at the door was empty and you had the pre-booked ticket collection line extending to the far, far beyond. I was in the queue trying to pick up tickets for my 10.30am Celebrity theatre show and ended up bolting to the theatre late once I got through the show's doors. But alas...Miguel Maestre and his very lovely accent put me pack into a much better mood!

After going to the show's restaurant last year, I thought I'd pay another visit...

Toby Puttock's 'Polenta Gnocchi with marjoram, tallegio and prosciutto served with Hardys Nottage Hill Pinot Noir' - this was my favourite of the 4 dishes we tried.

Gary Mehigan's 'Bastilla of lamb, olives & pine nuts served with Hardys Oomoo Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon'

George Calombaris' 'Chocolate and walnut tart with salty caramel sauce'.

Pete Evans' 'Goat's curd cheesecake with passionfruit sauce' - can't say I'm a big fan of goat's curd.

Chocolate & Prune Brownie from Cookie Couture.

And in the usual fashion of visiting the show, I left with a handful of goodies (but definitely not as crazy as I was last year). Oh, I'm glad to see that Donna Hay is back at the show! Thumbs up!

It's my fourth year running going to the Sydney Food & Wine Show and overall, it is getting bigger and better each year. The wine part of the show seems to be growing (for those interested in wine) and yes, there's a handful of stalls at the show which are there and have no relation to food but are great to be there nonetheless. And well, on top of the celebrity spotting, it was good to bump into fellow food bloggers (good to see you Bel & Maria!)

Back next year!

dinner @ jo's

Last Sunday, the lovely Jo invited a group of us over for dinner - the hostess was cooking a shoulder of lamb and for the rest of us, we were asked to bring along a main dish and a dessert. The theme for dessert was chocolate or cheese - chocolate ended up being everyone's ingredient of choice and we ended up with a tableful of chocolate desserts to munch on. Anyway, here's what everyone brought on the night:

A's Pumpkin Soup (it was a tad spicy and when I asked A, the secret ingredient in it was Curry Powder which I thought was a might good combination).

C's Chicken Pie (made by C's sister).

M's Butter Chicken & Rice.

Jo's Shoulder of Lamb (uber tasty!) and the Pear, Walnut & Rocket Salad from my last post.

Dessert time! As full as I was from dinner, I managed to taste test everyone's desserts. Here you'll see M's Chocolate Tarts, C's Melting Moments, A's Chocolate Scones, Jo's sister's Blueberry & Lemon Scones and my Flourless Chocolate Muffins. 

I was definitely in need of a cup of tea to help me digest!

Dinner and dessert was a great idea and we all left Jo's place contentedly full. I had my goodie bag of desserts to take home (which my mum thought was rather cute and started questioning me on what everything was and who made it). It was great to also watch Sunday's episode of Masterchef over dinner with the girls and talk about food. Definitely a great way to finish up on a weekend!

good food & wine show 2009

The Sydney Good Food & Wine Show is an event that Mum & I look forward to each year and without fail, we made our way over there today for the second day of the show (end's tomorrow so get there whilst it's still on!). 

It was quite noticeable that there were a few less exhibitors at this year's show. No Lindt, No Lilydale Chicken, gone were a lot of the bigger brands but more of the smaller brands and locally produced vendors. Not necessarily a bad thing and yay to Cookie Couture (with their range of pretty decorated cookies - unfortunately they only had some sample cookies on sale), they yummylicious Yael's - Cakes of Distinction (shame that they weren't selling cakes at the show but just offering samples), Bretzels from Melbourne (I had the Cinnamon and Vanilla) and so the list goes on.

It was great that the show took up another hall this year and everything was a bit more spread out; still crowded but with the extra space, we all got a bit more breathing space. It also meant that Mum, M & I managed to get ourselves a seat at the Lindeman's Early Harvest Restaurant. The queue to get the 'dining currency' i.e. $8 vouchers was a little annoying but my theory is that it's a decoy to slow people down from getting into the restaurant too quickly, meaning that by the time you get your vouchers and get your meal, you should be able to get yourself a table because others have left. Anyway, between the three of us, we decided on 2 mains and 2 desserts and without us knowing, we ended choosing one item from each of the 4 celebrity chefs. 

Gordon Ramsay's Glazed Salmon with Spinach & Radish Salad. I didn't get the matching wine with this one but swapped it with a bottle of Perrier Mineral Water.

Toby Puttock's Veal Osso Bucco. Would've been better if this was served a bit warmer.

Alistair McLeod's Chocolate Cream Brulee, Irish Whiskey soaked strawberries, almond biscotti. Not a traditional creme brulee with the sugar topping to crack and tasted more like a pannacotta.

Matt Moran's Strawberry Tart with Champagne Sabyon. This one got us into a conversation with randoms that were sitting next to us. They thought our one had more raspberries than theirs - we had to explain to them that our one 'looked like ' it had more raspberries because we'd quartered the tart and all the raspberries and sauce started running all over the plate.

The loot!

Speaking of random, mum bought a broom at the show (the handle which you see in the above pic). Again, we somehow started a conversation with a random and bought the broom with them (it was $30 for 2) and well, mum thinks it's the best thing in the world because it sweeps all types of floors from tiles to carpet!

Let me say, tops to Weight Watchers - I think they were probably the best stalls at the show. They were generously handing out ice cream sundaes (which tasted great!), their showbag was value for money and the staff were so friendly and helpful. As you can see, the Weight Watchers showbag was one of the many bags Mum & I picked up! Although my favourite would have to be the 'Ritter Sport' Bag (see top right in the above pic - basically a bag made out of Ritter Sport wrappers).

Coming home, I'm all aches and pains. You see, all the items you see above were hand carried by Mum and myself (we couldn't be bothered with bringing the trolley we had at home because it takes so much space). So all up, we probably spent a good 5 hours at the show walking, minus the half hour we were in the Celebrity Theatre watching the Masterchef's; Gary Mehigan and George Calombaris. Buggered!

happy birthday chocolate suze!

Friday night; a hoarde of foodbloggers descended upon Wagaya to celebrate Suze's b'day. For those that don't know her, Suze is the author of chocolatesuze.com and also owner of 'The Biscuit Tree'. She has an absolutely infectious personality and the first time I ever met her, I was chugging down chunks of cake icing with her at the Lindt Cafe. We've been friends since then.

For me, Suze has been a huge inspiration to my blog and my previous musings on xanga. If you get a sec, check out her blog where she documents all things food - from her gummy jewellery, her gingerbread men, to the more recent blue chicken risotto - she's one helluva food fanatic!

So 30 foodbloggers, one private room...we somehow managed to squeeze ourselves in. I think Suze said something about the room fitting 20 so you can imagine what it was like. Oh well, all the better for getting to know each other a bit better and beat the winter chill!

I'm not sure who was looking after the food but whoever you were, thumbs up, you did a good job! There's a handful more photos but the following ones were probably my favourite. Here's the sushi roulette - so pretty yet one piece unassumingly holds a chunk of wasabi in it!

Daikon Chips - addictive like chips always are.

Deep fried salmon skin! Probably not all that healthy but oh well!

Just as I was biting my way through this one, Reemski (who was sitting to my left) asks the question of what the chewy thing in it was. The answer came from my right hand side; Leona tells us that it's actually mochi. It sounds bizarre but actually tastes quite nice.

Belle & I finally manage to get Suze over to our end of the table for a photo.

The theme of the night was for everyone to bring a mask. Without Suze needing to ask, each guest also came with a camera and these were whipped out even before the food got to the table. This is probably one of my favourite photos which capture the night.

If you were wondering, all the cameras in the above pic were aimed at these three.

We were seated around one big rectangular table. Unfortunately I didn't get to speak to everyone that was there but I did get to speak to these two quite a bit - thanks for a great time girls!

The b'day girl with her cake!

Thanks for the invite Suze. I had a great time and hope you did too! Great to also meet everyone else, if I haven't been following your blog, I probably will find my way to it within the next week! Great to finally put a face to a name!

red mint @ murray st. pyrmont

The day had creeped up on both of us with J a lot more prepared than I was (sorry!) but it was just a bit over two weeks ago that J&I celebrated our 6 years. The mention of it at work seems to have made a few jaws drop and comments about how it's such a long time. Well J, I'm glad that we've made it and glad to see that you still put up with me with a smile on your face. 

To celebrate the occasion, J booked a table at Red Mint (next to the Little Snail) in Pyrmont. When I asked J whether or not I should cab it from work, he said it would be fine for me to walk. And so walk I did and it ended up being a 2km trek which gave me a huge appetite for dinner. 

Red Mint is a classy Vietnamese restaurant seating offering a combination of modern and authentic Vietnamese cuisine. Here's the Iced Coffee with the coffee coming to the table in a percolator (I love these things, and since my couple of times eating at Pho Sam in Epping, I was proud to be able to tell the waitress that I knew how this worked.)

Red Mint Tasting Plate for two. There was a huge list of entrees to try and this was the perfect solution -  a combo of roast duck betel leaf, oysters, goi cuon, cha gio and bo tai chanh.

For mains, we had the Cari Ga (traditional Vietnamese curry with chicken, extra hot) and the Bo Luc Lac (scotch fillet cubes seared with black pepper) with a serving of rice.

We probably could've stopped after ordering the mains but then we saw the 'Goi Sen' and after checking with the waitress, it would make sense to have some vegies. The Goi Sen is a lotus stem salad with yamba prawns and pork. This dish was very unusual and I can only say, try and let me know what you think. The lotus stem is crunchy and well, the combination of ingredients works.

I debated awhile whether or not have dessert. Our friendly (occasionally shy) waiter tempted me with the one that had Dragon Beard Candy but after eating all of the above, I was quite bursting at the waist and feeling quite uncomfortable. J suggested we could probably take a walk and eat dessert elsewhere but even that did not happen. 

Thanks Red Mint for celebrating our 6 years and making it such a pleasant evening. You guys were so down-to-earth and friendly and I really did enjoy the food. Keep it up and I promise I'll be back for dessert next time.

Happy 6 years J!