Gordon Ramsay - The Good Food and Wine show

I enjoyed last years Good Food and Wine show so much, I bought tickets the day it was released to see Gordon Ramsay. Although I had front row seats last year, they increased the size of the theatre half way through selling the tickets. Meaning what had originally been first row centre seats became seats on the side of the theatre. Luckily, this year our seats were right infront of the stage, and on the main side of the kitchen that Ramsay was cooking in (There was 2 benches).

Alistair Munroe - Picked on by Ramsay...surprise suprise.

The man himself

Someone said he botoxed his chin? Is it true?

Lucky winner!

This girl had gotten up onto stage before Ramsay came out to participate in a dancing contest. After walking away with a gift, she was also sitting in the lucky chair that contained a $1000 Breville voucher!!!

Ramsay interviews his guests

4 lucky people were invited onto the stage to enjoy the food he cooked. This kid was some national cooking champion. Talk about luck!

Tracey was safe...Kevin wasn't.

Ramsay giving everything away again

This years Good Food and Wine show was noticeably different from last year. Numbers were down. Last year the theatre was completely packed out. Maybe it was the Sunday morning session, but less than half of the theatre was full. The prize Ramsay gave away was also much more cost efficient than last year. Last year was food processors, blenders, pots, pans etc. This year was toasters, kettles, wine and books. I did score a nice wine cooler bag off him (the black bag in the photo next to the wine).

I didn't take any photos of the show this year. I was kind of on a mission to taste test everything and buy everything. So armed with bags filled with groceries made it really hard to handle my camera. I still had a fantastic time and walked away with heaps of goodies! Plus I also FINALLY got to meet the lovely ChocolateSuze after stalking her last year from the shadows ;)

Tropfest 2009

The Sydney weather is really confusing me lately. I don't know if its summer or winter, wet or dry. I had already booked Will in for Tropfest about 6 months ago, but with the way the weather was, we were just going to have to play it by ear. If it rained, we would just go out for coffee regardless. By about midday on Sunday, the weather looked stable enough to brave a trip to tropfest.

It gets packed very quickly

I then spent an hour running around trying to pack things to bring to Tropfest and quickly whipped up some tuna puff pastries and chocolate crossiants. The plan was to park at my work and pop into Coles to grab the rest of the food. I say we did pretty well considering the lack of preparation.


Besides the tuna puff pastries and chocolate crossiants I made, we grabbed:

- Brie
- Fetta
- Olives
- Sundried Tomato and French Onion dip
- Pitta bread/doritos/water crackers/grissini
- BBQ Chicken
- Lindt hot chocolate

And because we're having a Will and Grace day out, 4 bottles of wine!

Oh yeahhhhh!!

Brown brothers + Tropfest = Win!

Somewhere along the line, Matt showed up with spring rolls?


I really enjoyed the movies this year. Some were fun and light hearted, some were deep and meaningful (without being too arty farty so that no one understands what was going on). During the intermission, we got a little extra.....entertainment.

Some crowds celebrating...

Closer look.....

Oh god.....this is what happens when we cancel a trip to the Gold Coast. The last time we went to the Gold Coast, someone pulled out his errrrrr.........doodle and sack and waved it around my face. So instead of one person waving their doodle and sack infront of me, I've got 2 people this year to make up for the fact that we cancelled GC. Understanding why this was happening, we decided to go up close and personal to get a photo with them.



I won't show the photos of me with them, as I'm trying to keep this blog R-rated instead of X-rated. Which is exactly why the cops showed up and spoiled the fun. We did a quick runner with our camera!


Looks like the nudity pushed Matt over the edge who decided to drain the last of our wine.....



I had to physically shove him off my mat so I could pack up to go home!

Lets just say, most interesting Tropfest EVER.

Norton St Festival and Killer Joe

Will and I have a thing about markets. We love them! So when we found out that the Norton St festival was on last Sunday, we definitely made time to go together. Will had to do some promo work, so I left him to it as I did a lap of the festival and look for food:

Barilla pasta table

Seafood stall

Mixed seafood plate - Lovely tender octopus, calamari and prawns

Some of the best olives on sale - Will bought 1.5kg

We did another lap of the festival before heading off to Surry Hills as we had tickets to Killer Joe. The minute I read the synopsis I knew it was PERFECT for the 2 of us. And it was! The production was fantastic, dark, yet funny (for the sick minded 2 of us). The show was so intense there were scenes where I felt so uncomfortable watching it, but I couldn't turn away! The full frontal nudity scenes might have something to do with it! And I love the fact that is in small intimate theatres, you really feel a part of the action. I'm so glad we went, as we now have something else to obsess about!

Good Food & Wine Show starring Gordon Ramsay!

The last few years I've missed out on the Good Food and Wine show because I'm either overseas, or I've got something else on. This year, I was determined to go! And what better time to go than to see Gordon Ramsay!

I arrived at the show around midday, ready to taste test my way through the show. The moment we walked in, we were in the Wine area of the show. I picked up the free wine glasses that came with our tickets (Only $25!) and started hitting the wine and beer. After 20mins of wine tasting, we moved towards the food area and started hitting every stall, especially those that are steaming!

4 types of curry and rice

Ayam instant noodles

Peter Evans doing a demo

I saw the huge line of people waiting for the Gordon Ramsay book signing, and there was no way I would get anything signed. I decided to hit the food instead. After doing the rounds, we found front row seats at the Good Taste Theatre Kitchen. Initially we sat down because they were the only seats we could find in the whole exhibition centre, but we decided to stay for the next show. And what a great idea that was! Taste test!!

Hash browns with avocado mash and kumatoes

Italian garlic prawns with tomato and fettucine

Mocha brownie ice cream with hot latte sauce

The crowd

I was talking to one of the ladies who worked there, and apparently there were about 8,000 registrations for the show last year, this year there were 18,000! No wonder! Gordon Ramsay was here! ;)

I bought my bazooka of a DSLR with me to the show just so I could grab some good photos of him. Before he came out, they had a good 10mins of listing and promoting every sponsor of the show. They also had a game that got all the audience involved. I was actually left standing with a handful of people fighting for the prizes! Too bad they didn't managed to get to where I was seated! I got every question right!! GRRRRRRR!!

Finally, the star of the show arrived!

GORRRRRRRDON RAMSAY!!

In true Gordon Ramsay style, he came running out and then proceeded to take the mickey out of all the celebrity chefs. Including Jamie Oliver who was called a fat twat and how they sent him a treadmill for his birthday that was never used. He's also recommended that Australia, as the fattest nation in the world, should stop cooking out of the Jamie Oliver cookbooks!

Matt Moran also copped a few comments from Ramsay (They had to pull the curtains after the 4th row to make Matt's show looked full). Danni Minogue also didn't escape when Ramsay commented on how they had a cook off and half of her face melted off. ;)

Not only was he poking fun at all the celebrities, but he also had a go at the audience. Retelling his story of having a French girlfriend, he asked one of the audience members if her bush was as big as this:

Ramsay accompanied by his right hand man, Sarge (Mark Sargeant)

Apparently, hers was bigger.......

Telling us where to *beep**Beep*

There were quite a few fans there who had made masks of Gordon Ramsay. They ran on stage and managed to get a hug and kiss from him.

Fans running on stage

Ramsay demonstrated a 3 course meal in under 40mins. A Chorizo and bean soup, Balsamic Glazed lamb with bean salad, and a french toast like recipe.


Half way through the cooking demo, Matt Moran came running onto the stage brandishing a fire extinguisher. Next thing you know, he had proceeded to spray Ramsay, Sarge and the entire kitchen with it and done a runner!

The aftermath

Apparently Ramsay had attacked Matt Moran during his show, by hiding in the deep shadows of the back stage and hurling bits of food randomly at Matt throughout his whole demo! I guess that was Matt's revenge.

Ramsay was hilariously funny and everyone had a fantastic time there. Well, except for those who were dragged along by their other half! And probably the poor guy sitting next to me who had to endure my non-stop photo taking, the shutter going constantly off and the lens in his face!

At the end of the show, Ramsay gave out a whole heap of prizes, including anything that wasn't bolted down in the kitchen! All the electrical appliances, pots, pans etc. The organisers came running out by the time half of the kitchen was empty!

I had a fantastic time watching Gordon Ramsay, and it was well worth the $25 I paid! (Apparently they put the prices of the tickets up to expand the theatre to accommodate 2500 people). After the show, I did my last rounds of food and wine tasting, purchased all the show bags I needed before being kicked out of the place. Who knew the show ended so early?

Jazz in the Domain

Its finally the Sydney Festival. I've been waiting since Tropfest to have an excuse to pull out the picnic rug and enjoy some wine whilst relaxing in the great outdoors. After the success of last year, I decided to cook most of the food, just to make it a bit special. So I went grocery shopping after work to pick up a few things, and spotted the loveliest strawberries and suddenly became consumed with the thought of making strawberry jam. So when I should've been making things for the Jazz, I ended up making Jam.

Once I got that out of my system, I finally got onto making the dishes for the Jazz. This included:

I finally forked out for a microplane zester!!! BEST investment ever!

The next morning, I got up a bit earlier to finish the last of my baking before the guys rocked up to my place to pick me up. We parked at work to make it easier to move everything to the Domain. (Although we did have to stop at a cafe to beg for cups for our wine!). Here's the spread for the day:

Christine's antipasto platter

Homemade puffy pinwheel pizzas

Homemade parmesan crisps

Sweet chilli stuffed mushrooms

Blueberry and strawberry friands

I also bought along 2 bottles of imported Chianti red wine and Christine bought along 2 bottles of dessert. By the 2nd bottle I was about to pass out.

Gus helping with my alcoholism

God I'm weak after my detoxing. The good thing was, we were in the perfect setting to lie down and relax (whilst I sobered up).

Me having a perve at Gus running around

And to make up for me perving on Gus

GIO marketing people

The crowds building up

The posing Alan

The crowds building up

The smart ones who brought chairs

I didn't end up taking any photos when it got later in the night. And unfortunately, thats when everyone else rocked up. However, we had a blast of the time where we sat and chatted whilst the music played in the background. The highlight of the night would've been Christine's friend Priscille helping a lost lady and then grabbing a random stranger guy to dance the salsa with her! I can't wait for next week. I don't know how we're going to get the food to top this spread!