Taste of Tasmania, 2011/2012

As I've mentioned before, I really enjoy the Taste of Tasmania. I can understand why some people don't like it but I love having a whole bunch of food and wine to choose from in the one place, as well as the music and social side of it. This year it changed a lot with the changes to the PW1 shed - the logistics of it are great - there's heaps more places to sit. I was a bit disappointed to find that there was a reduced choice of food this year due to the smaller amount of space available for stalls, however there were still lots of treats to be found!

J and I (and others!) shared a meaty platter from Tas Game & Gourmet. It was about $35 but great value for money, with plenty of scallops, abalone, venison, buffalo, goat, wallaby, cheese kransky squeezed onto the plate with salad, wedges and chutney.



Mum and I shared a few dishes on another night. First up was a premium platter from Meadowbank ($16). This was excellent, with a chicken and pistachio sausage, pork rillette, duck liver pate, air-dried beef, duck terrine, brie, bread, gherkins and pickled onions.



We also had a plate of Nepalese lamb curry from the Vanidols stall, along with one of each of their spring rolls and curry puffs. All delicious!



I enjoyed discovering the new Small Players cider range, which is made by Holm Oak Vineyards. They have ciders in sweet, dry and perry varieties; sweet was my favourite.



I introduced mum to the Tasmanian Chilli Beer Co's excellent raspberry sparkling drink.



On the last day I enjoyed some of the old favourite Taste dishes on the second-last day, when the crowds had died down. Waji's calamari:



And tempura mushrooms.



Nom!

Moonah Taste of the World Festival 2011

Another day, another food festival! This is a new one that was held in Moonah at the end of March.

I had Ethiopian food, which was fantastic. I love injera bread



I was really impressed with the layout and set up, and the general size of the festival. It was much better than I was expecting! This is part of the food section, and there was also a craft section, a large stage and heaps of seating.



For my mum: the Moonah Primary kitchen garden stall




Website

Estia Street Festival 2011

The food they offer is pretty similar every year, but it's fantastic. I think they had a greater variety of sweets this year though.

Delicious pastitsio:



We shared the two-person plate, and I was a bit sad to find that the saganaki serving wasn't as generous as last year's!



Loukoumathes: so unhealthy, so delicious



Phil Vakos of Masterchef fame, who did a cooking demo with his grandmother.



We took home some lovely spanikopita and a container of tasty honeyed biscuits.... and another serving of the loukoumathes!

Taste of the Huon, 2011

I love the Taste of the Huon - it's a lovely day out when the weather's nice - which it definitely was this year! As a result, thousands of people flocked down to Ranelagh and the lunchtime queues were huge. As a result, I mostly went to stalls that had shorter queues; this had a bit of a hit-and-miss outcome.

I tried a smoked salmon rosti from the Rosti Chalet - despite these guys appearing at pretty much every festival, I haven't tried a rosti from them for years. It was tasty.



I also tried a Bes Mudi seafood salad, which I didn't really enjoy. I was hoping for a lively, fresh salad but it didn't happen.



The Tasmanian Chilli Beer Co.'s raspberry with chilli sparking was fantastic - I went back for more later but they were all sold out.



Dessert was a berry crepe from Strawberry Avenue. After a long wait to get to the front of the line it hit the spot nicely.



A friend had their pavlova. It looked pretty great but the meringue was kind of overcooked.

Taste of Tasmania 2010/2011

Happy new year! I managed to get to the Taste festival a couple of times this year, and was impressed with the revamped shed.

Huon Aquaculture taste plate:



Waji's Cajun calamari:



Tempura mushrooms with chilli plum sauce and wasabi mayo:



Summer berry pudding from Island Berries: (my all time favourite Taste of Tas dish)



And their raspberry pannacotta:



Plus their blueberry cheesecake tart:



Inn cider: (potent!)



Taste Cafe and Catering's paella:



Blue Nile's Ethiopian taste plate:



Crayfish pizza:



Chocolate fondue:




Last year's post is here. A bit of overlap... I guess I do have my favourites!

Sustainable Living Expo, November 6-7

I spotted a flyer for this in the Smith Street Store Cafe on the weekend - it was the first I had heard of it. It sounds fantastic, I'll definitely be checking it out.

Links to the program for each day can be found on their website. I'm especially keen to check out:

• Sourdough breadmaking (Sunday 10:15am)
• The 'Preserving your garden harvest' session by Sally Wise (Sunday 12pm)
• The 'Inspired cooking with sustainable produce' session by Phillip Vakos (of Masterchef fame) (Sunday 1pm)
• Thermomix demonstration - will be nice to see one in action!

Plus lots more!

Facebook link.

World Party Tasmania 2010

World Party Tasmania was held in the Hobart City Hall last Saturday.



It was a fantastic event with an amazingly friendly vibe and I hope to see it back again soon. Here's the food I tried...

Chicken satay sticks and salmon and rice balls. Both very tasty! The rice balls were quite soft.



Inari from Masaaki's sushi in Geeveston. Probably the nicest inari I've ever had, with lots of interesting tidbits incorporated into the rice.



A pandan pancake:



The coconut filling:



And to finish off with, a delicious lemon curd bombolone.

Estia Street Festival

The Estia Street Festival is a Greek celebration of food and entertainment that's been running for quite a few years.

This is the dish we always get, chargrilled octopus, $7. The photo doesn't do the dish justice - they were beautifully tender and smoky in flavour. I especially like the bits with suckers!



Pork on offer:



We tried one of the kebab sticks, $3. I'm not a huge fan of pork, but it was beautifully tender and juicy.



We shared a small dip plate, $10. It was a very generous serve and the saganaki cheese (top of the plate) was particularly delicious.



Plenty of sweets on offer. I wish that they sold mixed packs with one of each of the sweets, as I'd love to sample them all!



We decided to try some xerotigana, $5. It's really tasty - crunchy, nutty and sweet but not overly so.



We also tried some freshly cooked loukoumathes, $5. These were very sweet fried dough balls coated in honey, and nicely offset by the dusting of cinnamon/nutmeg.



Some sand sculpting:



The crowd watching children doing Greek dances.

Taste of Tasmania 2009/2010

I love the Taste of Tasmania festival, and go there as much as I can during the week or so that it's on. I love the opportunity to sample local produce and new foods, and it's a great opportunity to run into and catch up with friends after Christmas too.

Below are the dishes I sampled this year.


Thorpe Farm produce platter, $30
Starting with the cup, going clockwise: a salsify and oyster fricassee, with bread. Tofu and coriander/garlic pesto on bread. Lamb kofta and venison sausages (one has already been eaten!). Lamb on roast potatoes. Venison on mashed potatoes.
One of my favourite dishes this year!



Island Berries summer pudding, approx $7
I get this every year - I love their summer pudding so very much!



Huon Aquaculture taste plate, $10
Clockwise from top: Potato salad with cooked fish, salmon blini, smoked salmon around rice, a salmon dip on cos on bread, breadsticks,
The raw salmon on the blini was definitely the highlight of this plate. It had a beautiful, buttery fish flavour.
Unfortunately the rice in the salmon rolls was a bit dried out.




Two Metre Tall cider, $7 for a cup. After going off beer in the last couple of years, I've turned into a cider lover! This cider was lovely and dry. Cups were served from a keg - the bottles will be available from bottleshops in late January.




Bruny Island Cheese Co's ploughman's platter, $20.
I forgot to take a photo of this until after we started eating it. It was wonderful, of course. The platter included 3 cheeses - O.D.O., 1792 and Tom - I think, as well as spiced cherries, two slices of sourdough bread, pickled beetroot, boiled (and pickled?) egg and pork rilette (which I am guessing was from Matthew Evan's Rare Food produce company?).


Black forest cake cup from Strawberry Ave, $8
I didn't really enjoy this, I should have followed my instincts and looked for a plate of fresh berries! It had a square of unappealing chocolate cake in the bottom, covered with icecream, cream, cherries and chocolate flakes. I picked out the cherries and left most of everything else.



Taste catering paella, $15 for medium and Venison and wallaby pie with crème fraiche pastry, $5
The paella was enjoyable and filling (shared between my partner and I), but we weren't too enthusiastic about it. The spicy chorizo livened the dish up. I was a bit worried to see the staff splitting open with a knife the unopened, cooked mussels then serving them!
The pie, however, was fantastic with rich herb flavours, and the pastry was divine.



Cullen's Bakery & Deli mussel chowder and bread, $8
A lovely, creamy soup with salmon and potato as well as mussels. Not too rich as chowders can sometimes be, it was just right.



Waji's Cajun calamari
This was chewy with the focus seemingly being on the batter more than the calamari - but I loved it. Nicely spicy with a fresh dressing.




Finally, a shot of the herb and vegetable gardens they had in drums between the shed and the back marquee. I wish my herbs were growing this well - I wonder what their secret is!