Sugar hit!

Seeing as it was getting so close to the end of Good Food Month, and I still hadn't had a sugar hit, and as I hadn't yet taken mum for our annual sugar hit together, I decided I should take Mrs B for a nite on the town.

After consulting the GFM website and narrowing down our options to all the hotels with dessert sampling platters, we decided that to go to the Intercontinental.

The Intercon was serving a dessert plate by Karl Beil which had pistachio & praline pyramid with red currant Drambuie salad, Chestnut & sago cone with malibu couli, and Cherry cheesecake slice on Kirsch compote. The accompanying wine was Orange Muscat Aperitif.

My favourite was the sago cone; mum's was the pistachio and praline pyramid (which I found too rich and creamy). I'd actually never had sago before - its got quite a nice texture, with all the little beads of sago.

Let's Do Lunch...

As work has slowed down a bit over the last day or so, I decided I should make the most of Good Food Month's Let's Do Lunch and head off to one of the swanky restaurant's in the City for an equally swanky lunch.

I had really wanted to go to either Aria or Becasse, which are standard places we (that's the royal, "law firm" we) take our clients. Unfortunately though, Im not quite yet senior (ie important) enough to be joining clients for exy lunches on the firm...

Becasse was too far away from the office and therefore out of the question, and Aria, unfortunately has a system where they have two lunch intakes - in at 12.30 and out at 1.15 and in at 1.30 and out at 2.30. I thought this was kind of unimpressive - everyone knows that the poor folk who work in the city have standard 1-2pm lunches. Plus the 2 session thing reminded me too much of a cattle call (I am a notoriously slow eater, and the last thing I need is someone tapping me on the shoulder at 1.15 telling me I need to finish up my gourmet lunch because the next round of diners are on their way in).

So next on the list, due to proximity to work and swankiness-factor was Wildfire, which from what I've heard, is known for its seriously overpriced steak. Previous to lunch today, I'd only been to Wildfire once - for work, looking for a client (that I had never met before and so couldn't recognise), so they could execute some documents. Plenty of fun. Today's visit was far more enjoyable.

Wildfire was offering Tasmanian salmon fillet served with quandon berry, fennel casserole and almond sauce, served with Brown Brothers Sauvignon Blanc, 2002 or James Squire Pilsener and post dinner coffee. The almond sauce was pretty interesting - I've never thought about combining almonds (or any nut for that matter) with salmon...and it had slivered almonds sprinkled over the top which added a nice crunch to it...I would have taken a pic, but I felt that whipping out the camera at this place may have not looked that great.

Bye Bye Pierre

Well, pb has left Sydney and gone to Melbourne for his 2 year secondment with PWC. So bye bye pb.

There was initially a bit of confusion amongst some of my friends as a result of someone (who shall remain unnamed) who obviously wasn't listening properly when I told him about pb's impending departure - as a result of this word got around that I was going to Melbourne.

Anyway, as a result of pb moving, my mum, as well as my dad, are now computer literate, which is pretty impressive. I received my first email from mum this morning when I was at the office...asking me whether I was going to go out tonite : )

I wonder if she'll post a reply to this blog : )

Eat myself silly...

October is the foodie highlight of my entire year because its Good Food Month!! And the icing on the cake, so to speak, is the Sugar Hits (especially the sample platters - why have one dessert when you can have three?).

Seeing as we're not even a week into October, and Ive been working too late anyway, I haven't had a chance to make it any of the Hotels for dessert. However, I gave myself an early mark tonite and I made it to the Night Noodle Market. I particularly wanted to go this week, because, for some reason I was under the misapprehenson that it was only on this week -but it's actually on every week nite up to 20 October.

I was absolutely ravenous by the time I got there. I had been really keen to get something from Yai Thai - I've had Yai quite a few times before (always delivery to my office when I've been working late), so I have been really keen to try it in a non-work ambiance! But unfortunately they only had a couple of noodle soups, which just would have been too difficult messy to eat (not spill on myself) while sitting on the steps of Hyde Park, and a couple of spicy meals, which were not an option as I'm not very good with spicy food.

Seeing as I was ravenous, and as we managed to "slide" into the Phat Boys queue quite nicely, I ordered from Phat Boys' next door and got the Basil Chicken with rice. I was a a bit dubious about it - basil has always struck me as being a bit of a euro herb as I've always associated it with Italian food and my mum's cooking - definitely not Thai food. However, the meal was great! And they do really generous servings as well - I had thought about getting a dumpling (?) with it, but changed my mind when my meal was dished up.

Plus I had to leave time for dessert - those tiny pancake-y things with chocolate sauce and strawberries that seem to be all the rage at outdoor events (I can remember how to spell their name).

I think this is the second year that it's been at Hyde Park - it previously used to be down at the Botanic Gardens. The set up this year was a lot better than it was last year - there were definitely more tables - although we ended up eating on the steps. The one thing I prefer about having it at Hyde Park, is that Hyde Park is a bit more interesting - with the fountain, paved paths, the avenue of ancient figs trees (which are eventually going to disappear : ( ), the church in the background and the steps to sit on. They had also strung up rows of red lanterns and brought in a few of those large Japanese-style garden sculptures to get eveyone in the noodle mood.

One thing I've noticed about outdoor foodie events in Sydney - dogs! They're everywhere. People bring them along with them. Saw an absolutely HUGE black dog ... who had a collar with diamantes on it : P There were even a couple of dogs who decided to eat out sans owner tonite ...