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 :)

Breakfast on the Bridge, Sydney

It's 4:30am on a Sunday morning and I'm awake. I may be bleary eyed and fighting my body's desire for sleep, but I am as excited as a 4 year old on Christmas morning as I jump out of bed and declare, "Let's do this!" 'This' refers to 'Mission B.o.B', what Mr Ladybird and I have code named the event Breakfast on the Bridge, and we have planned for this moment with military precision.

Today was the second annual Breakfast on the Bridge as part of Crave Sydney International Food Festival. Normally a very busy freeway connecting the northern and southern parts of Sydney, the Sydney Harbour Bridge is closed for this event and converted into one extraordinary picnic spot! Mr Ladybird and I were two of around 6000 very lucky people fortunate enough to get golden tickets to this event. Tickets were allotted by ballot, thousands entered for a chance to picnic on this great Australian icon.

By 5:20am, we're dressed and ready to go, and we make our way to the train station under the cover of darkness. We arrive at Milson's Point by 6am and are greeted by friendly volunteers. We join the queue awaiting the opening of the bridge at 6:30am. There's entertainment for everyone waiting  including comedic acts, characters on stilts and live music. The mood is upbeat, and in no time at all the queue starts moving forward.

We make our way around the corner of Alfred Street and there she is, the beautiful bridge is in sight!

There are also coffee carts lined up to the left of the freeway for picnic goers to grab a coffee before going through the gates. Never before have I been so glad to have a morning coffee - some call it an addictive substance, I call it the elixir of life!

At this point the weather is a bit overcast but seems to be holding up, and the sun is starting to peak through the clouds as if to greet us all as we make our way onto the bridge. Then suddenly we see green - I can't believe it - they've turfed the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the middle of the night! And yes, it's real grass! I later learn from speaking directly to the NSW Premier that the grass is to be recycled by the Wentworth Council after the event to turf a park - now that's what I call green event management :P

There's plenty more to come - so keep reading :)