Imagine, if you will, the following scenario.

It’s a wonderfully moderate Summer’s day with a nice, cool breeze. You make you way out to a park, perhaps to walk the dog. Before you, a large gathering of people (you estimate around fifty) are having what looks to be a picnic. Rugs laid out on the grass, as well as a generous spread various foods, both savory and sweet, which remains otherwise untouched. People sitting or standing around in small clusters socialising & seemingly enjoying each others company. The person whom you presume to be the host, gathers everyone’s attention in order to say a few words. A moment later, forty odd digital cameras, ranging from a basic camera phone, point & shoot compact cameras, through to pro level camera equipment worth thousands of dollars, suddenly appears from seemingly no where & proceeds to fire away. The focus of their photo frenzy is not aimed at the group as a whole. Not even an individual. The food is the epicenter of their attention, & continues to be that way for the next ten minutes or so.

I’d imagine it would be quite a surreal sight to bear for the person walking their dog in the park. Believe me, as one of the fifty odd attendees of the Sydney food blogger’s Christmas picnic in Hyde park, it was surreal even for me. Read more »

You take your place at a table with friends, situated on an elevated platform that overlooks lush vegetation & picturesque water views. A sea of green & blue, as far as the eye can see, slowly fades to black as the curtain of night is drawn slowly over a fabulous Spring day. A gentle breeze carries wonderful aromas of seafood, chorizo, saffron, paprika and other spices, drawing your attention to a professionally prepared pan of paella. The chef, and host for the evening, takes his place at the table and motions for the guests to begin eating.

You could easily mistake this for an alfresco dining experience at a chef’s table at some fabulously expensive restaurant overlooking water views. Oh no, it’s far better than that. This is just dinner at Lex’s place. Read more »

Ok, I’ll level with you. The little birds nest creation above looks nothing like what this month’s Daring Bakers challenge is meant to look like. This creation was born out of the need to improvise; part inspiration and desperation alike.

This is in fact meant to be a reasonably well known Italian pastry. Can you guess what this month’s challenge is meant to be? Read more »

Had enough of Zumbo yet? If not, here’s a little more.

Escape from a Colombian Rainforest, referred to at the store by one of the counter staff as “Escape from a Colombian Car Park”. I’m sure you’ve seen the cake a number of times. I even passed up the opportunity to try this out during the launch of the Winter collection, where it was first revealed.

The cake has come along way since that time, huh?

I’d finally gotten around to buying one when I went around that way to pick up the chocolate mousse cake as seen on my previous post. Oh, and Masterchef Australia as well. Read more »

I was fortunate enough to have won the opportunity to buy the chocolate mousse cake pictured above. Yes, won the opportunity to buy the cake. If you don’t already know, you’ll see what I mean when you read on.

There’s a lot of hype surrounding the chocolate mousse cake. It was initially introduced as a challenge on Masterchef Australia presented by the now infamous Adriano Zumbo. Then there was the charity auction, whereby you had the chance to bid for a slice of the action, costing up to $125 for a single slice (1/8 of the cake). Between the screening of the Masterchef episode and the auction, a lot of demand was generated for the chocolate mousse cake. This lead to the lottery, which would draw 100 lucky winners from a pool of over 4000 entrants, who would win the chance to purchase the cake at the value of $90, of which 5% would go to the Childrens Hospital, Westmead.

While all that was happening, you had bloggers attempting to replicate the mousse cake by recipe, with varying degrees of success (personal favourite was by Linda from eatshowandtell). Celebrities, such as Kate Ritchie, were also getting a slice of the action as well.

As I said, a lot of hype.

Having been fortunate enough to have been drawn as one of the winners one question I was sure to be asked, and I was asking of myself was whether the cake lived up to the hype, whether it was worth the $90 and how did it actually taste?

Read more »