Sydney Food Bloggers Picnic, Centennial Park (14 Jan 2012)

Corner of Parkes and Hamilton Ave, Centennial Park NSW 2021 http://www.centennialparklands.com.au

#sydfbpicnic

For the love of food, let's eat!

Mother nature was thankfully very kind for the Sydney Food Bloggers Picnic organised by Chocolatesuze and Grab Your Fork providing a miraculous break from the wet weather. Having minimum cooking skills I resorted to bringing the one thing I knew I could do — making cocktails. With the kind donation by Steve Stammers (Weber Shandwick) and Cida Wen (William Grant & Sons) for 3 bottles of Hendrick's Gin and Charlotte Ferrand (Burson-Marsteller) for 3 bottles of Maker's Mark I was set to make two of my favourite drinks I discovered in 2011. The Simon Food Favourites Pop Up Bar was created with two small tables and served the Hendrick's Gin & Tonic with fresh cucumber and the Maker's Mark punch known as Samuels Sugar and Spice and All Things Nice (recipe below) which even the non-whisky fans admittedly enjoyed once they tried. I think the most inventive eat of the day goes to the Candy Bug (pictured above) made by Sara and Joshua from Belly Rumbles. Banana lollies, mint chews and jaffas have never looked so cool. It was a fun day to catchup with lots of bloggers and put faces to new ones I haven't met before. I hope everyone had a good time and I look forward to meeting you at the next meetup.

Other events enjoyed with Hendrick's Gin:

• Pop-Up Drop-In Surgery for Refined Courtship Clinic

• Adventurists Afternoon Tea with Jon Muir

Other events enjoyed with Maker's Mark:

• Rochefort Christmas Party

• Zoolander NYE 2011 Party

Simon Food Favourites Pop Up Bar

Hendrick's Gin & Tonic with fresh cucumber

Maker's Mark Samuels Sugar and Spice and All Things Nice punch

Samuels Sugar and Spice and All Things Nice recipe

1.75L Maker's Mark

300mls Lemon Juice

3L Ginger Beer

300mls Spicer Port Syrup*

3 Oranges - Sliced in thin wheel for garnish

5kg bag of ice

*Spiced Port Syrup

Peel of 6 lemons and 6 oranges

1 kg Castor Sugar

6 cracked cardamon pods, 1 cracked whole nutmeg, 6 colves, 6 star anise, 4 cinnamon quills

700mls Port (Your preferred choice)

Combine citrus peel, sugar & spices in an airtight container for 24 hours, shaking a few times throughout. Add the Port and leave for a further 12 hours, stirring well.

Strain the finished compounded syrup through cheese cloth, bottle and refrigerate.

Service – combine all the ingredients in a large punch bowl, stir well and serve.

Schiacciata was really nice — first thing I tried made by Mel (Crunchy Tiger)

This yummy quiche was my lunch — thanks Shez (One More Bite)

This cupcake was so good — loved it! Christmas Gingerbread Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing by Swah (Love Swah)

A yummy pandan cupcake from Lay's Kitchen Explorations

OMG, how cool! Candy bugs by Sara and Joshua from Belly Rumbles

Bacon makes an appearance

These were popular

Fresh is best — such a great idea, if I had a blender I could have made a cocktail out of these

So many cakes, so little time

I wanted to try this but missed out

Great childhood memories with fairy bread — so who got the one with the fly on it?

Paella was very popular

I think it's a savoury roll?

I'm suspecting a tiramisu? — Great decoration on top

Most awesome painted fingernails by April (Polkadots & Chopsticks)

Chocolatesuze's multicoloured nails goes well with a Maker's Mark

Gianna's sparkling fingernails offset nicely with a Hendrick's Gin

Two drinks Suze and Dee (Food In Hand) with an old school film camera

Dedication to the blog

Lola (Figs & Brie) and me

Paul and Joseph (Up For A Feed) with me

Laura (StarLoz) and me

Richard (Richard Elliot's Blog) and me

Anyone for a cocktail?

Potential Ambassadors for Maker's Mark and Hendrick's Gin

Food bloggers enjoying the cocktails — Betty (Sugarpuffi), Annie (The Random Foodie), Swah (Love Swah), Felicity (Flick Your Food), Sophie (The Stick and Sweet)

Penny (Jeroxie) and me

Michelle (M(i)s Ch(i)ef™), Maryanne (Dressed and Eaten), JB (j.b.josé) and me

Tina (bitemeshowme), Shanshan (Food is our religion) and me

Food bloggers say grace by photographing before they eat

Simon (the heart of food) setting up for a group shot

Group side shot

Group front shot

Group back shot


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Zoolander NYE 2011 Party celebrated with Maker's Mark Cocktails, Hendrick's Gin & Jelly Shots, Sydney (31 Dec 2011)

Favourite cocktail of 2011

Armed with a bottle of Maker's Mark I was keen to try my hand at making the Samuels Sugar and Spice and All Things Nice punch I really enjoyed at the Rochefort Christmas Party. The ingredients are simple and with a little bit of preparation time to make the Spiced Port Syrup it turned out really well and was my favourite cocktail of 2011. I also tried my hand at making the White Summer Sangria which was equally as enjoyable and lethal plus the added bonus of being even easier to prepare. My brother had a Zoolander costume party so I came as the Zoolander coal miner character. I made a helmut out of a plastic colander keeping in mind I could then reuse it after in the kitchen. We had a specialist friend in the art of making 280 jelly shots which went down a treat and Hendrick's Gin was the preferred G&T of the night. After all the different drinks I tried including Duperrey Brut champagne at midnight and a nightcap of Golden Grape Estate Old Liqueur Muscat I was fearing a bad hangover. Walking a little side-to-side back home was not particularly reassuring as well but I'd kept a sample bottle of the IVY Anti-Hangover shot and took it as my last drink. When morning dawned I thankfully didn't have a hangover so I'm not sure if it was due to the IVY Anti-Hangover shot or that my metabolism saved me in the end — either way it was happy days. I hope everyone had a fun-filled NYE as well and all their foodies dreams will come true for the new year.

Samuels Sugar and Spice and All Things Nice

Samuels Sugar and Spice and All Things Nice

SIMON FAVOURITE :-)

Ingredients to make Samuels Sugar and Spice and All Things Nice

Samuels Sugar and Spice and All Things Nice

By Jared Plummer

1.75L Maker's Mark

300mls Lemon Juice

3L Ginger Beer

300mls Spicer Port Syrup*

3 Oranges - Sliced in thin wheel for garnish

5kg bag of ice

*Spiced Port Syrup

Peel of 6 lemons and 6 oranges

1 kg Castor Sugar

6 cracked cardamon pods, 1 cracked whole nutmeg, 6 colves, 6 star anise, 4 cinnamon quills

700mls Port (Your preferred choice)

Combine citrus peel, sugar & spices in an airtight container for 24 hours, shaking a few times throughout. Add the Port and leave for a further 12 hours, stirring well.

Strain the finished compounded syrup through cheese cloth, bottle and refrigerate.

Service – combine all the ingredients in a large punch bowl, stir well and serve.

Making of the Spiced Port Syrup

White Summer Sangria

White Summer Sangria

WORTH TRYING :-)

Ingredients to make White Summer Sangria

White Summer Sangria (1.5L)

By Jared Plummer

200mls Maker’s Mark
200mls White wine – Pinot Gris
400mls Cloudy apple juice
400mls Ginger beer
50mls Fresh lime juice
Method: In a 1.5L pitcher combine all of the ingredients with 2 cups of ice and stir well. Serve in long glasses filled with ice.
Garnish: Strawberries, lime wedges, apple slices.

Zoolander NYE Party

Me as the Zoolander coal miner character

Samuels Sugar and Spice and All Things Nice

White Summer Sangria

Hendrick's Gin and tonic with fresh cucumber

Jelly shots — 280 in total ready to consume

Sydney Rock Oyster Wallis Lake bought from Sydney Fish Market

SIMON FAVOURITE :-)

Zoolander decor

The Prime Minister of Malaysia in Zoolander

'R U Going' to what?

It's not a real party without party pies and sausage rolls

I love glow sticks

Lounge room dance floor

Glowing ice cubes — awesomeness in a glass.

Midnight champagne drinkies of Duperrey Brut

Midnight fireworks over Sydney

Nightcap of Golden Grape Estate Old Liqueur Muscat

My sample bottle of IVY Anti-Hangover. After drinking quite a few drinks I took it as my last drink and I didn't have a headache the next morning so I was happy about that.