It's a week of all things fine food and wine, celebrating the produce and food establishments of the local area, which is known as "The Food Basket" of NSW. There are lots of events organised by the local farms and wineries, restaurants and catering businesses. We missed it last year as we were still trying to settle in to our new home, but this year we were determined to go!
(Disclaimer: First and foremost, I am a foodie. This means that photography and subsequent scrapping of such foodie events is the last thing on my mind. So unfortunately, there won't be too many great photos or layouts resulting from this gastronomically delightful weekend away.
)On Friday night, the celebrations kicked off with the Night Market. About 30 wineries, restaurants and other food suppliers and producers set up stalls in a park in the middle of Orange selling wine and fine foods. The atmosphere was awesome as there were heaps of people around all enjoying good food and wine.
A band was playing some great jazz music and songs which added to the fantastic atmosphere.
Naturally due to being pregnant I couldn't sample any of the wonderful wines on offer, so had to stick to just the food. :D We tried sweet potato balls, pork and cyder sausages with apple chutney, marinated lamb kebab, chicken & ginger pastry and for dessert, pear & apple pudding with hazelnut & caramel sauce (the only dish we actually remembered to photograph! LOL):
Just to whet your appetite, here's some pork pie and salad that we passed on, but it did look delicious!
The queues in front of each stall were pretty long, so we did miss out on a lot of dishes that had already sold out by the time we made our way around. Note for next year - split up and take on two queues instead of lining up together!!
We finished off the night with a coffee and a much needed sit-down before staggering back to the hotel with very full stomaches!
The next morning we got up early and headed off to the monthly farmers market, which just so happened to coincide with the FOOD week. :D Apologies, but we were so caught up with admiring (and purchasing!) all the lovely produce and goodies for sale that we completely forgot about taking photos! You'll just have to imagine the stalls selling such wonderful things as pure olive oils, homemade jams and chutneys, fresh fruits and vegetables and breads and local cheeses, honeys and hazelnuts. Mmmm...
On our way home, we stopped in Bathurst to have a leisurely lunch by the river with some of the goodies we bought. We then decided to take a walk along the river to try and burn off even a smidgen of what we had eaten, but that ended up being one of our "not very good ideas" as I walked further than I should have and ended up completely exhausted for the rest of the trip home and most of today!
In light of the enjoyable time I had though, I think it was worth it. :D
(We're hoping to attend the final picnic/market on the 17th too, so stay tuned! Hopefully we'll remember to take some decent photos! LOL)
*hugs*
5 comments:
Looks like you've had a really good time :)
Sounds like a fabulous weekend Winnie - you are forgiven about the photos as I probably would have been more interested in everything going on too. The pics you did take are great so you do have something to scrap...
Toni :o)
It's good to hear that you are enjoying food Winnie - the sickness must be easing?
It sounds lovely and I feel very hungry now so it's probably a good job there were no photos :) x
The pork and cyder sausages sound like a Somerset (my husband's home county) type of dish! That pudding looks gorgeous:)
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