Saturday 12th November








Arriving at 6pm lines flowed quickly, though there was a lot of hovering about the door, for those who didn't pre-fill the entry card. It was nice to see two lines, invites and general admission. But only the later line were given menu cards and wine glasses?







We headed straight for the workshop marquees to buy tickets, scoring the last two spots for the session we wanted, same at the other place. At the Good Food & Wine Show entry includes the workshops. Not here, $40 entry gets you nothing but entry, and a wine glass for sampling, and other than drinks there aren't any samples. Nothing to take home and no Maggie Beer.



Electrolux Chefs' Secret Workshop with Shaune Quade of Lume - On arrival we were offered cider (it burns!!), sorry I don't really drink, that's why jas was invited. :P When offered a drink we always accept, because it's the normal thing to do. It appears that Australia really likes to drink, anytime any day is ok with my housemates.



Some delicious beetroot based and sashimi on a cracker entree/snacks. The experience was pretty awesome for $12, two drinks (see above, also champagne after), some snacks and the actual workshop. There's time to sit down and eat it too.


Making the nest, and sponge cake base. The thinnest sponge cake I've ever seen. That was premade for us. For the nest there were a couple elements, to which we divided and conquered. With mr menulog (another jas, a very common name) we whipped the lavender cream. I'm not trusted with much in the kitchen. :P

Making the actual nest involved pipping chocolate into a bowl of icy water then plunging your hands into it and forming the shape. It was amazing and we've never done anything like it before!




Chef Shaun Quade is known for his whimsical and visually-stunning dishes at Lume on Coventry Street in South Melbourne and with him we created a 'Birds Nest', a dessert that was awesome to make! 

What is it? A chocolate nest on top of a thing chocolate sponge, inside: lavender cream (perfect scooping skills by the chef), nitro gas-ed frozen berries, orange peel, and some green stuff. 

With someone else to clean up the mess, this was why I loved cooking at school.













Mallie Mustard was onsite selling one hot dog, and one only. The $100 truffle one. Last time we encountered them they had $10 hot dogs too, but here when everyone is selling bites you can't sell a meal.










Chocolate roll full of rosemary chocolate mousse. It was awesome! Smooth silky goodness!

We were also the 'Granny Smith Panna Cotta' but it was sold out after our workshop.



Hello Summer Snow, my favourite apple juice! We shall have the pink lady apply juice at the wedding! An apply juice bar would be awesome, but he said no. :(









$8 a scoop, what has the world come to? The event life is quite expensive and makes you think that $12 desserts are the norm. But are they really? Or does marketing tell us that? 




























With Lurpak for $6 you could do a workshop to do a fish or steak dish. We made steak with beurre noisette hollandaise. It was awful as I used a small handful of salt. I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to savory food and need adult supervision.


For dessert we were provided with a cupcake with a hole in it, and frosting. Pipped it, made it neat then drizzled caramel sauce, and topped it off with popcorn. Chocolate base. How was it? Dry, the cake was dry. 



Instead of taking home a tub of butter we were instead offered spice blends! Which would required you to buy the butter as an ingredient. We're excited about using the rosemary blend with lamb!



We left when the show closed at 10pm. The night is young and so we went to the beach. I was there yesterday but with the bags and wearing a suit couldn't go out on the pier or sandbar. We went all the way out into the pier came across some guys fishing flatheads and something else, 6 in 2hrs, 3 in an hour, 1 every 20mins. At the end of the pier was a surprize, fairy penguins! In groups of 2-4 and some alone. Just chilling, hanging out with fellow penguins or walking around. They were on the rocky sides of a sandy path behind the restaurant. We definitely got our $2 worth of parking :P. $5-something an hour, we paid $2 for 20mins. 




How was the event compared to last year? It was about the same, though the butterfly house was replaced with a virtual reality experience. Expect to spend $60 on food, it's card only, but you need to buy tokens. 

We won tickets for entry, but would never go if we had to purchase entry tickets because they don't include anything but entry itself. They're around $30 we believe. You'll find plenty of competitions for free tickets about a month before the event.

It was odd how there were no coconut water stalls, as one year there was three!






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