So, Thurs 26 May, I was lucky enough to score a complimentary ticket to the Good Food & Wine Show from my good friend Indigo Girl (Follow her food blog here ... http://www.indigogirl.co.za ) who has a passion for food and a joy for tasting and cooking possibly only matched my moi. After a morning spent getting the humdrum of daily living out the way, I braved the suicidal CT drivers and headed into Town.
First off let me say that the CTICC needs to jack itself up with regards to the parking issue, or, soon, it may find itself getting the short end of its visitors sticks. I for one refuse to spend over R15 an hour on parking, and parked outside in the parking area diagonally across from Entrance 5. R14 for the parking in its entirety and a happy me. A bit of a walk (3 mins) in but worth it.
Getting into the show was fine too. As usual everyone looked SUPER enthusiastic (not) but still were efficient enough.... well except for the lass I practically chased down to get my goodie bag (a vital part of the show) This years goodies were somewhat ....humdrum. Wet/dry Calton towel, Antibacterial wipes, a small pack of rice, and a teeny tube of face cream....... um....wait I hear you say, FACE CREAM???? Yup, I have NO idea why. But, thanks :)
Once in, I was happy to find that unlike last year, with its ticket giveaway, this years Thursday was busy but not super packed. Upon finding Indigo Girl and her Knight for the day, Mike, we headed into the massive gastronomical enchanted forest......
All the usual suspects were on show. The wines, the food, the baked goods, the sausage, the.... well you get the idea. I was a bit disappointed at the lack of creativity tho. Yes yes the cupcakes looked great, and the fudge was creamy but you can only look at so many loaves of onion bread, so to speak, before you are full, flatulent and bored! While everything that was on show was delicious and beautifully displayed, I had seen most of it last year. Where are the really interesting day to day add in's to Mom's cooking that will entice her to buy that MUST have spice or whatever other odd item. Yes there are rubs galore but realistically, most housewives today can't toddle off to Woolies on a weekly basis and buy a R40 jar of oven roasted bumble bees for their daily cooking. For the restaurant owners, and Constantia mommies the show is a great way to spend money and time, for the rest of us plebs, well we spend it watching other people pay R350 plus to cook with chefs that we can only dream of meeting (Sulk, i really wanted to find out about that snail porridge, Mr. Blumenthal) Also, why can't I taste EVERYTHING. In my opinion, if its on your stand, I want to be able to taste it. Don't stick stuff out to buy that I can't taste first. That's mean, and not really fair. If you want me to spend R40 on a pizza, I want to taste it first.
All that said, I really did have a lovely time. I tasted wines, I tasted preserves, I tasted chocolate without sugar (super tasty) at the Caring Candies Stand, and the most amazing Toffee in the most amazing range of flavours, wrapped in stripy wrapping....who's name totally eludes me! I had delicious beef with caramalised onion on a pasty base snack from Orinoco (and they were super friendly too) But, my favorite (its my blog so I am allowed to be a little biased!) was when I was treated to a personal showing of Obeds Kitchen, where Indigo Girl is partly employed to pay for her love for shoes and debilitating fetish for food! She had swanned on for days about the quality and taste of Obeds preserves..... and boy was she right. Lewis welcomed us with an amazing chillie mush on a spoon. DELICIOUS. I love roasts and am always looking for interesting preserves and goodies to smear, mix or add to things, and Obeds Kitchen is the place to find them. The friendliness behind the counter was a breath of fresh air. However, the icing on the proverbial cake, was, the Spinach Sponge roll. This can only be explained as spinach presented in a long soft spongy rolled up .... roll, filled with blue cheese, cream cheese and just mouth watering taste. One bite and I had to leave, lest I use all my pennies to purchase the rest of the slices and consume them, Butt fat be dammed!!!
Did I enjoy the show? Yes. Do I think it needs to be made more average person friendly with more cost effective treats and shows? Yes. Was it the (as I described to Indigo Girl) Gastronomical Smorgasbord of culinary delights..... yes, for the most part. At 7pm I dragged my sore feet away (PUMPS next year!!) and clutching my goodie bag of business cards, rice, towels...etc in my tired arms, and strolled out to my car knowing that I still didn't like mint on savory food but Creamed Aubergine on toast was great!
First off let me say that the CTICC needs to jack itself up with regards to the parking issue, or, soon, it may find itself getting the short end of its visitors sticks. I for one refuse to spend over R15 an hour on parking, and parked outside in the parking area diagonally across from Entrance 5. R14 for the parking in its entirety and a happy me. A bit of a walk (3 mins) in but worth it.
Getting into the show was fine too. As usual everyone looked SUPER enthusiastic (not) but still were efficient enough.... well except for the lass I practically chased down to get my goodie bag (a vital part of the show) This years goodies were somewhat ....humdrum. Wet/dry Calton towel, Antibacterial wipes, a small pack of rice, and a teeny tube of face cream....... um....wait I hear you say, FACE CREAM???? Yup, I have NO idea why. But, thanks :)
Once in, I was happy to find that unlike last year, with its ticket giveaway, this years Thursday was busy but not super packed. Upon finding Indigo Girl and her Knight for the day, Mike, we headed into the massive gastronomical enchanted forest......
All the usual suspects were on show. The wines, the food, the baked goods, the sausage, the.... well you get the idea. I was a bit disappointed at the lack of creativity tho. Yes yes the cupcakes looked great, and the fudge was creamy but you can only look at so many loaves of onion bread, so to speak, before you are full, flatulent and bored! While everything that was on show was delicious and beautifully displayed, I had seen most of it last year. Where are the really interesting day to day add in's to Mom's cooking that will entice her to buy that MUST have spice or whatever other odd item. Yes there are rubs galore but realistically, most housewives today can't toddle off to Woolies on a weekly basis and buy a R40 jar of oven roasted bumble bees for their daily cooking. For the restaurant owners, and Constantia mommies the show is a great way to spend money and time, for the rest of us plebs, well we spend it watching other people pay R350 plus to cook with chefs that we can only dream of meeting (Sulk, i really wanted to find out about that snail porridge, Mr. Blumenthal) Also, why can't I taste EVERYTHING. In my opinion, if its on your stand, I want to be able to taste it. Don't stick stuff out to buy that I can't taste first. That's mean, and not really fair. If you want me to spend R40 on a pizza, I want to taste it first.
All that said, I really did have a lovely time. I tasted wines, I tasted preserves, I tasted chocolate without sugar (super tasty) at the Caring Candies Stand, and the most amazing Toffee in the most amazing range of flavours, wrapped in stripy wrapping....who's name totally eludes me! I had delicious beef with caramalised onion on a pasty base snack from Orinoco (and they were super friendly too) But, my favorite (its my blog so I am allowed to be a little biased!) was when I was treated to a personal showing of Obeds Kitchen, where Indigo Girl is partly employed to pay for her love for shoes and debilitating fetish for food! She had swanned on for days about the quality and taste of Obeds preserves..... and boy was she right. Lewis welcomed us with an amazing chillie mush on a spoon. DELICIOUS. I love roasts and am always looking for interesting preserves and goodies to smear, mix or add to things, and Obeds Kitchen is the place to find them. The friendliness behind the counter was a breath of fresh air. However, the icing on the proverbial cake, was, the Spinach Sponge roll. This can only be explained as spinach presented in a long soft spongy rolled up .... roll, filled with blue cheese, cream cheese and just mouth watering taste. One bite and I had to leave, lest I use all my pennies to purchase the rest of the slices and consume them, Butt fat be dammed!!!
Did I enjoy the show? Yes. Do I think it needs to be made more average person friendly with more cost effective treats and shows? Yes. Was it the (as I described to Indigo Girl) Gastronomical Smorgasbord of culinary delights..... yes, for the most part. At 7pm I dragged my sore feet away (PUMPS next year!!) and clutching my goodie bag of business cards, rice, towels...etc in my tired arms, and strolled out to my car knowing that I still didn't like mint on savory food but Creamed Aubergine on toast was great!
All in all, well Done CTICC. Good Show.
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