The Good Food and Wine Show 2014

Being food obsessed has some perks. For one, people always love to chat to you about food (which I could do all day long), and blogging is a great creative outlet. But there's also some really lovely celebrations of foods that I get to attend and soak up all . One of those, is the Good Food and Wine Show.

Last year I was overseas in Malaysia during the show, so it had been a couple years since I'd last been. Receiving an invitation to attend this year resulted in me quickly marking down a save the date in my diary - the countdown was on!

Barilla stand

To top off my invitation to the show, I was also invited to attend the Barilla breakfast cooking class which featured My Kitchen Rules winners and sisters, Sammy and Bella teaching a Sicilian brekky pastry called Seadas. Knowing my boy was at work on Saturday 12 July, and that my mum is the biggest food lover I know, I invited her to accompany me on a day of gorging and indulging.

The Barilla kitchen stand at the show is all decked out in strong branding, with stations laid out in a perfect arrangement for hands on learning. With just one breakfast class, the rest of the day is dedicated to learning to cook the perfect winter pasta dish.

Breakfast class

Breakfast class

I hadn't heard of seadas until attending this tutorial, but I can see why they're so popular over in Sicily and the broader Italy. With buttery short pastry on the outside, the filling is made of parmesan, ricotta and lemon and orange zest.

Breakfast class

Breakfast class

The method for making the seadas is quite easy. We're lucky that Sammy and Bella provide us with pre-made chilled dough, which takes out the hard part of the day.

I mix together the cheeses and grate the zest, combining them together in a bowl. Mum dives into rolling out the pastry, cutting out the little circles that we'll fill and then crimp. It takes me a bit of practice but I think I get the crimping action (kind of)!

Raw seadas

Frying the pastries is quick and easy - you have to be careful not to let them burn otherwise they'll be bitter and unenjoyable. Ours come out golden brown! Drizzling them with a nice layer of honey is all you need to do before diving in to eat. I can't wait!

Seadas

Seadas

They're quite delicious, which pleases me greatly. The ricotta makes the filling light and fluffy, while the lemon and orange zest gives it vibrancy. It's crunchy, creamy and a really different breakfast than I usually would enjoy.

Avocado oil

Mum and I get four servings out of our ingredients, so we eat one each and then happily give them away to passers by. When I run off to the bathroom I come back to find out mum had given her second pastry to a vendor selling avocado oil. She was so grateful she gave her a bottle of chilli infused avocado oil in return! What a great start to the day.

Take home kit

Big thank you to the Barilla team for having us attend, and also providing us with a great take-home kit of parmesan tortellini, ricotta sauce and a cute pasta tin. And we got to keep our aprons! On a side note - we made the pasta for dinner and it was yummy. Great to see that a jarred sauce can have so much flavour.

Honeycake samples

Finishing up our class just as the show opened was the best time possible. I love the Good Food and Wine Show but the later in the day you come, the busier it is (and the more drunk everyone gets!). First thing in the morning is optimal I've decided.

Mum and I took the quieter time as an opportunity to explore the offerings of the day, and take note of the cooking demonstration times that we want to attend. First place that we stop off at for a purchase (after loading up on samples at varying stands along the way) is the Honeycake Stand.

Honeycake

Have you tried a honeycake? Because if you haven't, it will change your life. I first came across the honeycake in a complimentary pack sent to me from Whitford City promoting their Saturday markets. And it was so, so, soooooo yummy! Moist, only slightly sweet, and light as a feather. I fell in love instantly.

Since I didn't share with my family last time (how could I, it was the perfect single serve I swear!), I had decided that the next time I came across their goods I would buy a cake to take home. With single slices at $5.50, a small cake at $20 and a large for $29 I went for the biggest size I could. The perfect thing to take away and enjoy over the next few days - this time sharing of course.

Nudie time

Stopping off for some nudie samples, mum and I take the opportunity to wet our whistles with an apple juice each ($5 for the two). I love nudie juices - so naturally I couldn't miss stopping here.

George Calombaris

If you haven't been to the Good Food and Wine Show, it's held at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre. It's an expanse of stalls, with wine down one end, a dedicated cheese alley and varying food (and other) vendors lined up in rows. You need to have system in looking at what's on offer otherwise you end up missing something!

We explore, having chats with the vendors and making the most of the quieter morning time slot. My mum is the biggest chilli head I know, so it doesn't surprise me that she tries the 15/10 rated Carolina Reaper chilli sauce - made from the hottest chilli in the world (the ghost chilli is now number 3!). It's too hot for me to even comprehend what's happening around us, but mum loves it! She's finally found a chilli that is hot so she quickly buys a jar of it for $20.

After lots of tasting, we take a seat in the food theatre to watch Masterchef's George Calombaris cook greek food. He makes it look so easy! I'll definitely be giving his rice pudding dessert recipe a go sometime soon.

Adriano Zumbo masterclass

After a stop in Cheese Alley to chat to the lovely team at Yarra Valley Dairy (who I'd met at the cheese and wine degustation I attended last week), we then decided to watch the Adriano Zumbo macaron masterclass for a few moments. This sold out so quickly which is such a shame - I would have loved doing this!

Zumbarons

Never mind though - because you could buy zumbarons (macarons by Zumbo) to take home! And there was no way I could say no to those. I pick up a 12 pack for $30, which came with these great flavours:

• Salted butter popcorn
• Caramel au beurre sale
• Toasted marshmallow
• Malted milkshake
• Francesco brownie
• Fingerbun
• Salted butter caramel on toast
• Passionfruit, honeycomb and cinnamon
• Grape chew
• Mandarin and kaffir
• Berry brûlée
• Caramelised white chocolate

Zumbarons

The zumbarons were so pretty that I unpacked them at home to take pictures of all the wonderful colours and aesthetics. Sharing them with my best friend Carly and her hubby later that night, and Jez when I got home after then, the best flavours were definitely the marshmallow, salted caramel and caramelised white chocolate. Mmm-mmm! Can't wait til I'm in Sydney in a couple weeks I will definitely be hitting up Adriano Zumbo's cafe!

Matt Moran

Taking another visit to the theatre, mum and I relaxed while Matt Moran took us on a four course journey recreating his Paddock to Plate series. His entire attitude to cooking is something I feel really passionate about, I love the respect he has for produce and the care he takes in showing all ingredients in their best form. I definitely would have loved to jump up on stage and dive into a dish or two!

Chicho gelato

Chicho gelato

Needing some sweetness I decide to make a pit stop at Chicho Gelato. I've been really wanting to try this Perth gelato product, and ask the guys working for a recommendation. They insist on the pavlova so I immediately order a scoop on a cone.

Their gelato is creamy and milky, with shards of smashed meringue and ribbons of raspberry. It's the perfect sweetness to bring my tastebuds back to life after so many bites of different flavours throughout the day.

Cheeseballs

Surprisingly I'm not actually hungry even though it's after 2pm by this stage. All that snacking and biting has left me pretty sated. So knowing we're on the way out now, I decide to grab one final food item to munch on - three cheeseballs for $3.

These cheeseballs are the same ones that are provided to you when you eat at Lapa, so I already know I'm going to love them. Baked little buns that are crunchy on the outside, and melty and cheesy on the inside. Mum's not that fussed about them but I adore every bite. Yummy!

Yarra Valley Dairy goods

When I get home, I unpack the large quantities of food items we acquired throughout the day. I have to say a HUGE thank you to the Yarra Valley Dairy team who gave me the sweetest complimentary bag of cheeses, even though I had tried to buy them myself. I'm so looking forward to eating the white savourine, my beloved persian fetta and the saffy. I'm feeling very spoilt but the cheese addict in me is extremely pleased!

Nougat

Something you may not know about me is I'm a big fan of soft nougat, as is my mum. Having two different stalls at the show we ended up buying from both! My favourite flavour is definitely the wild berry macadamia, it's sweet, nutty and oh so creamy. 

What a great day out! I always look forward to the Good Food and Wine Show each year, and having gone again this year has affirmed why I like it so much. If I'd gone later in the day I would have indulged more in some extra wine tastings but I feel that I did the day justice, I definitely skipped lunch that day!