How to Become a Human Pack Horse in 3 Hours...or Less

Winter in Melbourne makes you want to sing,

"Tis The Season For A Foodie,
Falalalala, lalalala
Tasting wine and buying goodies,
Falalalala, lalalala
All my friends and I are happy,
Falalalala, lalalala
Tis the Season For a Foodie,
FALALALALA, LALALA"

As you can tell, I went to the Good Food and Wine Show 2009 with Juls for a key reason: TO SHOP. Hyukhyukhyukhyuk.

We got off work early to head to the Masterchef demonstration. As we queued up to go into the show, I noticed a familiar face in the Book Signing section. Could that be...Matt Moran?! From our vantage point in the queue (so no that is definitely not me next to Matt), Juls and I agreed that Matt is a better-looking man in person (and very fit too) than in the various media you see his picture in. He really should smile more - he does look good when he smiles. A pity that I do not have any books for him to sign, but then I was there to shop. The photo is a bit dark I must admit - tried to fix it up but I gave up because it would have made his bald head too shiny. You will just have to take my word for it - he is better looking than most chefs.

Catching a LG Celebrity Theatre show was incidental and perhaps necessary - after all, what is the point of inviting all these celebrity chefs if nobody is going to go watch them cook? I am very supportive of food show organisers in their efforts :) We failed at the Fruit and Vegetable audience game (long beans are a fruit?!) and so did not get a chance to win any of the fabulous gifts on offer.
We were sitting in the third row, which meant we got to smell George's egg and lemon soup (mmmm) and watch the hot doughnuts with lavender sugar teasingly pass us by (nooooo). It also turned out that we were sitting in front of the two biggest food show hecklers I have ever heard...no I do not recall their faces but do I really want to? Hecklers are hecklers - they think they are SO funny when really they are just being annoying. We were all surprised to learn that Masterchef Australia is still filming. The audience wanted Chris the Victorian beer merchant to win, but Juls and I rolled our eyes at that. We would not mind visiting his future beer establishment though :) We also learnt from George that an authentic Greek lamb souvlaki has mustard, not garlic sauce, and chips. Somehow it reminded me of late nights having an AB in North Adelaide - lamb kebab meat (we call them kebabs in SA), chips, garlic sauce and tomato sauce, all wrapped up to eat outside the Blue & White. Ah memories...

Anyway, we almost skipped out of the show the second it ended so we could get started on the shopping. I also took the opportunity to watch out for 'pretty' stalls - I applaud creativity in attracting showgoers.

I found out a few things, e.g. the Boscastle Factory Cafe is actually near my place (Barkly Street, Brunswick) and produces mini pies, and you can freeze fresh smoked salmon. Juls and I agreed that the Selectors showbag by Safeway was a great buy. At the Red Kelly booth I finally got the Tom Yum Spice Grinder I had first seen in Bicherno, Tasmania (a Tom Yum Spice Grinder? You exclaim. What outcome will that hold? You ask. I will let you know when I get to use it.)

Unfortunately the Swiss Diamond exhibit was not available this year, nor any real bargains to be had at the Phillips Crab exhibit. We got Jack Daniels Tennessee Style Barbecue Sauce (Four for 10 bucks!), Tassal salmon showbag (875gm smoked salmon, 2 tins of smoked salmon and a recipe book for 30 bucks!) and Sence Rose Nectar - I also got a bottle of Sence Rose Liquer just for the heck of it. Maybe I can use it in baking...

Soon Juls and I had a swag of goodies - I am pretty sure that Juls bought more things than I did because she had more difficulty negotiating her goodies toward the end of the night (which was before 8pm for us). I do recall stopping at the Dilmah tea booth for a rose tea - boy they make their teas strong there! I also found very tasty Palomba Antipasti Marinated Mushrooms (2 x 330 gm for 10 bucks!)

By the time we were done staring, smelling, tasting and appreciating (with suitable oohs and ahhs), we were exhausted. We looked at each other, and agreed that we were not even going to bother going into the wine section to try anything. Normally this constitutes a cop-out for us, but we had purchased a few bottles of wine from Yarra Valley during Juls' birthday celebrations. Recalling my drinks list on the fridge, I also worked out that I did not need any more alcohol. Besides, we would have been horses in a china shop. :P

It was a pity that the Veneto Region stall, so talked about in the Show advertisements, was much less than what I expected. Those who have been to the region e.g. Padua, Verona or Venice (ah, Venice) would have been severely challenged to argue that the stall represented anything that we knew about the region. As a result, I end this post by leaving you a picture of the Venice in my mind, the kind of stall I think should have turned up at the Show to justify the expense in reserving such a big exhibitor space in the show: