Monday 11 October 2010

Sydney Food Bloggers Spring Picnic 2010

For a long time I had hoped to meet some of my fellow food bloggers. It's great to read one another's posts and leave comments, but I have often wondered who it was sitting behind the other computer, and what would it be like meeting them face to face?!

On Saturday myself and around 40 other Sydney food bloggers converged on a small pocket of Centennial Park for a 'mad hatter' themed Spring picnic. Many of the bloggers knew each other already, and many such as myself did not. But everyone was so friendly and happy to meet fellow bloggers that it didn't matter one bit.


I was grateful that the event was themed because it made the group so much easier to find - I simply had to look out for some mad hatters with awesome food!


Tammi wore a fantastic handmade, Gaga inspired hat (which I can't believe I don't have a photo of!).. needless to say it won hat of the day :)


The picnic was organised by Billy and Karen (thank you!, and was sponsored by a range of generous sponsors including Nuffnang Australia (thank you!). There were some fantastic prizes to be won, including a prize for the best blue dish (yes blue!) and a Kitchen Aid for the best dish overall.

With an unmistakable passion for food in common, it's fair to say that there was a lot of food at the event. There were scrumptious savouries and a very big spread of seductive sweets. I opted for a sweet option for my dish to bring along on the day, and I created this food bloggers picnic cake for the occasion.


 
It was a chocolate mud cake with three layers of chocolate ganache and salted caramel, decorated with fondant. It seemed only appropriate that the top of the cake be a picnic seen fit for food bloggers, complete with a laptop, digital SLR camera (I <3 my Canon :P) and an array of treats including... cake, macarons, grapes, sandwiches, watermelon and a hamburger. The cake was very well received by my new food blogging friends, and I was also awarded Best Sweet Dish of the day for my cake, winning me a beautiful dinner for two at Alio Restaurant! Hurray! :)


We ate, we talked about food and blogging, we ate, we laughed... and then we ate some more! Rather than boring you all to death with a written round up, let me simply tell the story with pictures... Believe it or not - this is only a small selection of the food on the day!

There's plenty more to come from the picnic, so keep reading :)












Impressed?! I certainly was... What can I say? Sydney food bloggers rock!!!

And after all that food, you do need to work it off. So a few of us had a go and killing the poor pinata, and succeeded.



Last but not least... the overall winning dish of the day - Anita's popular fish cakes. Her prize, a brand new Kitchen Aid. She was over the moon to win :)



Thank you to the organisers and the wonderful food bloggers in attendance on Saturday. It was such a nice day, and it was fantastic putting a face to all of your blogs. I feel so fortunate and proud to be part of such a friendly, creative and supportive online community. Keep in touch, and I hope it won't be long till I see you all again soon :)


Love,

Ladybird x

34 comments:

  1. Ah, there's that cake :) :) :)

    Seriously amazing job on the decorating. Can't get over the little decorations on top. And now that I know what the layers are inside, it's even more spectacular. Seriously, I think cake decorating is on the cards :)

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  2. How fantastic! Who had to vote or choose the winner? That would be soo hard! I love your cake it's so beautiful! Yumm...

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  3. Billy (Table for Two), Karen (Citrus and Candy) and Sarah from Nuffnang were the judges - and they tasted EVERYTHING!

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  4. What an amazing looking cake!! I couldn't believe it when i first saw it!! well done!

    Looks like you had a great time!
    x

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  5. Congratulations on winning the prize, I heard from Tracey at Alio that you already booked the table! Have an awesome birthday dinner! You deserved it. :)

    p/s: I love that photo of gianna yawning and Rhonda biting the apple! LOL

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  6. your cake was so freaking beautiful it seemed such a shame to eat! was great to finally meet you in real life dude!

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  7. Your cake is absolutely gorgeous as usual! I wish I could've gone, it looked like you all had a great time :)

    Congratulations on winning Best Sweet Dish :D well deserved!

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  8. I met some of my current best friends on the internet due to our mutual love for a singer. It sounds like this is the beginning of some really nice friendships developing.

    Loved the hats, your cake and everyone else's creations which oozes plenty of love and care.

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  9. Your cake looks fantastic!!!

    I just wish I had able to go - unfortunately I was at home making 148 cupcakes for a friend's wedding! It is so great to meet the faces behind all these blogs

    Perhaps next year!!!

    Congrats again on the cake!!

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  10. Wow, I'm so impressed!! Your cake looks incredible! The tea-ramisu and the lemon blueberry cheesecake too. Yum! How fun :)
    Heidi xo

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  11. Awesome to meet you and congrats on scoring the prize. It was well deserved :)

    Til the next gathering...

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  12. Your cake was mad (in a good way!). When I first saw it, I thought it was bought from somewhere by Nuffnang! I had an instant sugar high after eating a slice of it lol so moist and rich :D

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  13. What a great idea food bloggers picnic in the park - love it.

    Your cake was amazing what a well deserved win.

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  14. Your cake is so gorgeous! The inside sounds divine too! Salted caramel....drool!
    Sounds like it was a fun day. Unfortunately I had to work :(

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  15. The hats look great, but your cake is absolutely amazing!

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  16. What a great fun post!

    Fantastic. Great cake and all the other little details - perfection!

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  17. It's so enjoyable reading everyone's take on the Sydney Food Blogger picnic and just on sight alone, I have to say your beautiful cake was a definite winner. No question =) Thanks for sharing!

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  18. You! You are the Miss Amazing who was behind the amazing cake. I've been seeing that cake across so many blogs now and everytime I see it, I have to sigh happily. Just staring at it gives me so much joy, imagine what eating it would do to me!

    So so beautiful. I've said it before and I'll say it again. your fondant skills are to die for, lady!

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  19. Your cake is unbelievably good! The detail is just amazing, you've done such a great job on it and I'm glad you won that prize for it! I'd like to see you at work :)

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  20. Your cake is stunning!! Too bad I wasn't able to attend and didn't have a chance to meet you. Love love love the details of your cake.

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  21. So much love for your cake! I can't get over the adorable fondant decorations! Thank you so much for coming along :D

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  22. Ah congrats again on winning! That cake was super amazing and has inspired me to drop out of uni and become a cake decorator. Well, maybe.

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  23. Congratulations!!!! If there was a people's choice award you would have had my vote. I absolutely LOVED your cake. So delicious!!! and it looked super awesome too. Soooooo...... where is the recipe???

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  24. Argh- Ladybird- your cake is BRILL! I'm totally jealous of your baking skills. You should start taking classes.

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  25. I absolutely LOVED your cake Anna!!! It was sooo good!! .. your fondant skills are amazing!! Love all the pics and it was sooo good to meet you that day too!! xx

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  26. Hey Anna, so fun to have met you at the picnic and thanks for being my "picnic partner" and helping me decide which dishes to try!

    This cake was absolutely amazing!
    hope to see you around again soon

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  27. Wow your photos are incredible! So tasty! it's times like these that I wish computers were like that special tv in Willy Wonka where you can lift things out of the screen and eat them!

    Great meeting you at the picnic and congratulations on such an extraordinary cake!

    Here's hoping to more eating adventures with Sydney food bloggers

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