Sydney Good Food & Wine Show

Mr Mel and I gave ourselves a long weekend, and headed to Sydney on Friday for the Good Food & Wine Show at the Exhibition Building on Darling Harbour (16-18 July, 2010).

We left home at about 6.45am and got there at around 9.30am, it had a 10.00am start, luckily I had booked our tickets online, so didn't have to line up with the hundreds wanting to buy at the door.

I booked us in to see Gary & George from Masterchef at 10.30am, and they were great. So much more personality than on the TV. Unfortunately they had a late start, and I think we got a bit of a condensed show, we saw Aaron from Masterchef in the wings before the show, however he didn't come on stage.

Last year we saw them and Matt plus Poh and a few other contestants came on stage, was a shame they didn't do the same this year, but still very enjoyable. And yes I have a slight crush on Georgie Porgie :-)

After the show we headed to the other end of the hall, to try and dodge the crowd of sheep filing out of the auditorium, up here for thinking :)

The highlights for us:

• going toe to toe with Hamish from Otway Estate Brewery, I'm from Warrnambool, close to where their brewery is, they say they're based at Barangarook, but it's really Colac, and everyone knows you only go through Colac to get to Warrnambool!  It was an amusing stoush, Mr Mel was shaking his head, in between laughing.  The beers were ok, Mr Mel thought they were a bit light, but I didn't mind them.
• some gorgeous & different sausages from Market Town Family Meats
• a surprisingly tasty chicken & bacon risotto made in a rice cooker with a McCormick mix
• Baileys coffee, 3 samples later tasted even better, yummo
• Petersons Champagne House, I'm a member but always have a tasting when out, great staff, great bubbles
• Birch & Waite mayo, bleeping beautiful stuff, and the girls were helpful, not pushy
• Honey from Beechworth Honey, I love honey, after tasting everything (about 10 versions) we went home with a fig & ginger creamed honey and a blackberry honey, delish
• Bondi Chai Latte, we loved it last year at the show, loved and bought some again

Things didn't really enjoy:

• people space cadetting it while dragging trolleys, people don't you realise you take up triple the room when you drag your trolley at arms length???
• weird English guy flogging brooms, he seriously looked like they'd got him off the street in London and shoved the broom in his hand
• Super Shammy - enough with the Americans flogging these, sooooo sick of them, even if they're Super Amazing Buy 1 get 12 free Shammys
• Playboy Energy Drink - what the?  lots of 8 - 15 year old boys lining up to get their photos taken with the bunnies, by their mums no less!

Last year we met Ben O'Donohue, and got to taste Manu's (drool) spelt risotto, we didn't see any celebs in the hall area this year.

Not sure if we'll go again next year, we'll maybe give it a year off, then do it again in 2012.

Till next time,

Flavourfest

Back over the June long weekend, the Hunter Valley Gardens held 
Of course with Mr Mel & I being a little bit foodie, we had to go.

We sat at the stage and watched a cooking demo by Chris Cranswick-Smith of Emmilou Tapas in Surry Hills, and Janelle Bloom of Ready Steady Cook, it was a good show, but for the life of me I can't remember what Chris cooked, he was miked up and all I remember his him dropping the 'C' bomb when he couldn't get one of the items on the plate. Everyone in the crowd sort of looked at each other, saying 'did he really say that', I don't think Chris even realised he had, but I'm sure he does now, as his wife was sitting in the front row!

Following that piece of stellar entertainment we :

• sat in on a Beer & BBQ matching class from James Squire, beer was a bit strong for me but Mr Mel loved it
• lined up for 1/2 an hour for a bratwurst that was magnificent.
• tucked into some beautifully savoury Peruvian sweet potato donuts.
• tasted lots of dips/sauces/jams/tapenades/dukkas/honeys/olive oils.
• fell in love with lemon myrtle cheesecake, sooooo delish, we bought some of the lemon myrtle powder
• sat on the grass with a Ethica coffee listening to Irish folk music.
• tasted about 12 different wines, most we'd tasted before, but never pass up free wine :)

the main stage, where Chris dropped the C bomb!

about 5 mins before he dropped it!

Delicious Peruvian Sweet Potato Donuts

James Squire Beer & Barbee demo

The chilli kransky was temporarily sold out, we went with the bratwurst, delish

After we'd eaten and drank our fill we walked around the Hunter Valley Gardens, the odd thing was it usually costs $25 to get into the Gardens, Flavourfest was $23.50, with full access to the Gardens!

Some pics below from around the gardens.

All in all a terrific day, and we'll go back next year.

Looking forward to the Chocolate Festival in early August!

Till next time,

Rockwiz - Newcastle show

Now before any fans of the terrific show Rockwiz get too excited, my camera was having issues and our seats were closer to the back than the front, so my one measly photo is quite pathetic, but it kind of gives you the vibe :)

Mr Mel & I are big fans of Rockwiz, yes Mr Mel has a crush on Julia, but hey I can't blame him, she rocks!

Back in early April we went along to the Rockwiz tour show at Newcastle.

Guests were Adalita from Magic Dirt, Angry Anderson, John Paul Young, Megan Washington.  Instead of the normal 2 celebs, there were 2 teams of 2 celebs, and they did half the show each, then all came back at the end for a song.

One of the audience who got on stage was a singing teacher, she was brilliant, stole the spotlight, another guy was a classic, tone deaf, but sang his heart out, albeit looking at the floor!

The spontaneity of the gags/humour/general flow was brilliant, we were laughing our heads off and singing along, was a terrific night. Everyone in the crowd were just so into the scene and music, the massive stadium had quite an intimate feel.

Julia, Brian and the Rockwiz crew sang one of my fave songs 'Come On Up To The House', was spine tingling, loved it.

All in all a huge thumbs up for the show, I hope they do it again soon!

Till next time,