i LOVE this packaging for fruit juice cartons! Naoto Fukasawa is a Japanese industrial designer that has created “a series of creative fruit juice packages that have the look and feel of the fruit they contain”


“I imagined that if the surface of the package imitated the colour and texture of the fruit skin, then the object would reproduce the feeling of the real skin.”


man so awesome. wonder how that would affect recycling…
[image and link via toxel]

i have never been on a diet. or eaten frozen pre-packaged food for 2 meals a day, 5 days in a row and so i was a tad unsure about attempting the lean cuisine challenge. on behalf of nestle, the lovely georgie from mark communications sent me, not quite nigella and jenius a week’s worth of lean cuisine’s new range of ‘real food, real taste’. 97% fat free and free from artificial colours, flavours and preservatives says the box. and it’s part of a campaign where three girls are LIVING in a glassed off shop on bathurst st in the cbd where they will be eating lean cuisine and doing workshops with nutritionists, fitness schedules and evaluating food diaries. heh it’s a healthy big brother lol


first lean cuisine meal for lunch was the rich & creamy mushroom tortellini. i must say i was quite curious on whether the food would look like the pretty picture on the box. looks ok hey? and damn i must have a really small stomach because i was full 3/4 of the way in! altho i did eat some corn earlier on…


and for dinner: sundried tomato tortellini. not bad not bad. i may have some issues with sun dried tomatos but it was still pretty tasty. it was also a bit of a relief not having to worry about planning ahead on what to make for dinner!

ahh the royal easter show. where oz’s best produce and livestock is on display. there are magnificent animals galore as well as some clowns. i hate clowns but that’s another story for another day. Helen has scored me a free ticket (thanks dude!) and has come prepared with a list of highlighted events printed out from the website.


but our first food-stop of the day is the glorious cheese on a stick stand! it is the highlight of every easter show for me and i managed to chomp thru 3 cheese on a sticks (plus 2 lemonades) a personal best!


and look at it in all its glorious deep fried glory! a rectangle of cheese skewered on a stick and then a quick dip in batter before being deep fried into perfection. way better than the dagwood dogs i tells ya!


i stumbled onto miss snowpea and miss broccoli heh heh


soon the woolworths dome calls to us and we drift towards the district exhibits where awesome fruit and veg displays await. i particularly loved the apple colour coordination on the fish from central district… it’s like pixels they are!


was also impressed with the amount of detail on the south east queensland district display my gosh can you imagine the amount of time and effort to sort the seeds and grains by colour and then gluing onto the pages??


after some random sampling and some small purchases (salmon jerky and some dried fruits) we headed over to the cake judging area. i was not surprised when my favourite cake is once again by the fabulous Annie Lo


the wall-e by lorinda loh is also awesome


and this ship cake by * colligan (sorry dunno the first name) looked like it had leprechauns running around and i loved the mermaid!


behold a wall of jams, chutneys and spreads


and cakes, biscuits and breads aplenty


yeah i needed sustenance in the form of a chocolate shot ($3)


earlier we had missed 2 shows and for the 2pm showing helen was so determined to not miss the racing and diving pigs that we arrived half an hour early only to find that there was already a queue! we shrugged and got in line and watched as an unidentified slab of meat kept turning around and around on the rotisserie stand next door


there were two pig races- 4 pigs in each race. the first four pigs were named Pork Bone, Ham Bone, Pork Chop and Porky Pig heh oh yes that did draw a chuckle from the crowd and the pigs in the second race were Homer, Marge, Bart and Lisa (poor maggie got left out) which drew happy squeals from the kids sitting in prime position at the front


but now for the moment you have all been waiting for: diving piggy!


sitting and standing in the sun for the past hour was taking its toll and when we were made to wait for a little detour for some animals crossing we took a quick drinks break (plug: i love mother)


the pluto pup compels you!


and then it was time to head back to the woolworths dome to the Country Women’s Association Tea Room for their famed scones. i had suggested in the morning that we have the scones when we were in the area but helen replied with ‘but scones are for the afternoon!’ heh heh and so sometime in the afternoon we rocked up and joined the queue for some tea and scones and golly look at the tally for scones sold! that’s alot of scones.


mah scones! helen slices 1 scone and slathers with cream and jam and then eats. i on the other hand, slice both scones and then slather with cream and jam and um the extra sachet of jam the nice cwa lady who was sitting next to us donated to my sugar tooth and then eats… they were so very good


um a pirate.


pork lane heh


why hello tasty piggy


angus cows


aw cute fluffy ducks


heh and plastic ducks!


it’s so pretty! we didnt go on any rides becos we kinda lost a whole lotta money on the poker game heh


helen still has the munchies so we share the twisted chips ($8) with cheese sauce ($1)


and while the showbag hall was nicely devoid of humans we didnt end up buying any showbags but instead quite randomly bought some fluro wigs… thanks again for the tix helen! twas much fun and next year we aim for making it to the woodchopping lol

WOOHOO! super late and last to post! can you feel the awesomeness? having no internet is win! yeah did ya notice the sarcasm? our modem has arrived but for some reason the phone line aint connected to internet booo anywhos i wrote this when i snuck back to the parents house to leech their internet


after our tour thru the canape kitchens we were led upstairs to Ucello to have a quick sticky beak at the set up for the $300/head Gala Dinner where money raised went to Camp Quality.


i love commercial kitchens


wheres wally simon?


trays of foccacia at the ready


heh quail ballotine all fat and plump!


the fireplace reminded me of hansel and gretel for some reason…


after snapping photos of everything in sight we foodbloggers were shown the famed ivy pool and after scoring a drink we were asked if we were able to stay for dinner. wide eyed we looked at each other in glee and then dismay as we realised we would be very late in meeting up with ffichiban for his mussel orgy. also there was bday cake waiting at shez’s office but we made a quick call and a promise to meet another time. sorry dudes. we thought of you guys the whole time tho!


Tartare of bluefin tuna with sweetcorn, wasabi, avocado and soy-truffle dressing. Chef: Daniel Hong, Lotus. the undisputed favourite of the night- the tuna was amazingly fresh and the combination of the bright orange orbs of salmon roe with the wasabi and the truffle dressing just out of this world


Raviolo of lobster with asparagus and mushrooms. Chef: Massimo Bianchi, Ucello. it may look like the mushrooms are sitting atop a single square of pasta but that pile of mushrooms was deceptively hiding a giant raviolo packed full of lobster goodness. oh yes it was good.


Steamed baby snapper fillet with sand crab, snow peas, oyster mushrooms and ginger shallot vinaigrette. Chef: Peter Doyle, est. i love steamed fish and this snapper was fantastic and went well with the ginger vinaigrette


Quail and porcini ballontine with Sicilian lentil salsa. Chef: Simun Dragicevich, bistro cbd. heh look kettle chips! i jest i jest eep dont hurt me! the meat was juicy and soft and the bed of lentils surprisingly tasty


Roasted eye fillet of beef with golden shallots, creamed spinach and tarragon jus. Chef: Christopher Whitehead, Mad Cow. im glad im no longer a vegetarian. for lack of a better word this eye fillet was PERFECT. while it looked a little raw than what im used to it was cooked through without any blood seepage and was incredibly tender


Chocolate marquis with caramelised hazelnuts and cinnamon cream. Chef: Lauren Murdoch, Ash St Cellar. but ah dessert. it was like a giant ferrero rocher BUT BETTER. cracking thru the shell of dark chocolate to reach the creamy chocolate mousse innards and alternate the spoonfuls with a bit of the cinnamon cream and the crunch of hazelnuts this dessert was just bliss.


Mignardises. Fresh cream truffles and cherry liquer chocolates. awesome waiter anthony came by our table with 3 of these plates. we managed to polish them all off heh


and a nice little pot of tea and a chat with the remaining food bloggers made a perfect night. thanks again for the invite melissa and thanks to all the chefs and our awesome waiter anthony who put up with us being in the way and blinding you with our flashes!