Aren’t parties such a great excuse to get together and enjoy the pleasure of each others company over food & beverages?

One such party organised by chocolatesuze started off as a simple gathering over cheeses she’d obtained from a prior trip to the Hunter Valley. By the end, the guests of the party had sampled what I would regard to be some of the best prosciutto, jamon & other equivalent products available in Sydney, with one unanimously clear favourite.

The evening began at Sahara, as previously posted. This was to ensure that we had something substantial to eat, so that we wouldn’t gorge on cheese and prosciutto in a fit of hunger-fueled frenzy. That we would take our time to savour the nuances of aromas, flavours and textures.

Well, at least have the option to do so at any rate.

A generous platter of cheeses was laid out before us by our vivacious host. Unfortunately, no notes were taken as to the types of cheeses on offer. If you know your Hunter Valley cheeses, feel free to leave a comment as to what’s what.

Edit: Looks like I have the names now, thanks to chocolatesuze. They are (from top left to bottom right) Southern Blue, Harrigan’s Irish cheddar, Ash Brie, Windsor Red, Mersey Valley cheddar & Smoked Applebox.

By request of the host, each of us were asked to bring along some prosciutto to be shared amongst the dinner guests.

Well, there was a little more prosciutto than that…

If food bloggers are known for one thing, it’s that when it comes to food, we don’t do things by halves. Not by a long shot, if previous experience is anything to go by (this is just the stuff that I’ve blogged). However, even by the standards of my esteemed colleagues, I think I’d gone somewhat off the deep end.

It started off innocently enough. I went to my usual go-to vendor for prosciutto, AC Butchery in Leichhardt. Having sampled a number of prosciutto products there and realising how much of a difference in taste and price there was, before I’d realised what I’d done, I’d travelled around Sydney to places such as Hudson Meats in Surry Hills, Terry Wright in Randwick, a couple of Portuguese butcheries in Petersham, as well as Pino’s Dolce Vita in Kogarah. Though the trek around Sydney to find “the best” was ultimately a self-serving one, I don’t believe the host or the party guests were complaining.

In total we ended up with something along the lines of eleven cured pork products, including the aforementioned Italian prosciutto, Portuguese presunto, Spanish jamon & even a prosciutto salami. Though I can’t speak for the other contributions, of the ones that I’d purchased, the prices spanned a broad range, from as low as $2.60 for six slices of presunto all the way up to around $26 for an equivalent six slices of jamon Iberico which is priced at a whopping $395/Kg.

By far and away, the one most highly regarded was also the most expensive, namely the $395/Kg  jamon Iberico sourced from Terry Wright. None of the other products, including a jamon Iberico purchased from another vendor, even came close to being this good. The heavenly sweet and nutty flavour of the meat, likely due to the acorns that the jamon Iberico pigs are fed on. The depth of flavour was phenomenal! The texture of meat and richness of the fat that melts away almost in an instant, made for a very luxurious mouth feel. Sexy has never tasted so good!

For reasons that elude me now, we decided to fry the presunto that was sourced from Talho Portuguese butchery (the one priced at $2.60). Prior to the fry treatment, it was somewhat dry, a little chewy like beef jerky, and quite salty. After the judicious application of heat, this turned into an uber bacon – ultra crispy and insanely salty. More so than in its uncooked state.

I’d love to see how well this would work in a club sandwich.

Some ciabatta from Haberfield Bakery was also brought along. It served more as a symbolic gesture of balance and moderance than a practical one. A visual reminder that we should buffer our over-indulgence in copious amounts of rich, creamy cheeses and salty prosciutto with something neutral.

Not that it did any good.

What started off as a simple gathering over a sample of cheeses ended up becoming a study of some the best prosciutto, jamon and other similar products that Sydney has to offer. It was something that none of the dining guests would have anticipated beforehand, myself included.

I’d felt for the longest time that prosciutto was the king of cured meats, at least of this nature. Now, it’s dead to me. Every single jamon product, whether it was Serrano or Iberico, regardless of how much it cost or where it was purchased, was categorically better than any of the prosciutto that was purchased, which including Pino’s Bangalow Sweet pork prosciutto from Dolce Vita.

I’ll close this post with some questions that I pose to you.

Would you or would you not agree that jamon is superior than prosciutto on the whole? Can one fairly compare the two? Would it be like comparing apples with oranges? Where do you feel is the best place in Sydney to source prosciutto or jamon?

Please feel free to leave a comment below and let me know what you think. Would love to read your thoughts on the matter.

the heart of food is now a little over a year old, having first started on February of 2009. The birth of this blog is in some part thanks to Helen, from the prolific Sydney food blog Grab Your Fork. She was the one that inspired me to start this whole blogging thing, as she has with a number of other Sydney food bloggers.

Over this past year, there have been quite a number of amazing food experiences. One of the things that stands out in my mind are the birthday celebrations of various food bloggers.

Please join me for a review of the food experiences regarding birthdays and birthday-related posts over the past year, including some new material and images.

Before I continue, apologies in advance if I’ve overlooked anyone’s birthday that I was a part of over the past year.

The first series of posts on the heart of food were about presents and a birthday, or rather a birthday I had to miss due to a last minute work related matter.

The birthday boy, whom I’ll refer to as “That Guy”, is of Filipino origin. The food to be showcased on his birthday was authentic, homemade food from the Philippines made with loving care by his mother. It saddened me to no end that I not only had to cancel, after previously agreeing to go, due to work (on a Saturday no less!), but also had to miss out on such a good food opportunity, especially considering Filipino restaurant food just doesn’t rate from what I’ve been told.

Despite these circumstances, he was kind enough to offer me some of the party left overs the following day. I returned his generosity by getting him a hamper of various gourmet goods from a few of my favourite vendors.

Not long afterwards, Richard from Here Comes the Food had kindly invited me out to a birthday dinner to have all you can eat mussels at Bungalow 8. It was an intimate affair with only four of us in total.

The experience was somewhat surreal. I guess it’s kind of like that moment when you first make friends at preschool or in kindergarten. There’s a sense of child-like joy when you meet with someone that likes what you’re interested in, and just “gets you”, for lack of a better term. In some ways it’s also a sense of belonging. That you’re among like minded individuals, and not just some weird, misunderstood outcast. From a food blogging perspective, that was my moment.

To this day I don’t know why Richard invited me. However, I am thankful that he did, as a lot of interesting experiences have been had since that time.

For instance, a masquerade themed birthday party of around 30 food bloggers, crammed into a private dining room at Wagaya that is supposed to only cater for 25. Who else other than the ever popular Suze of chocolatesuze, whom I like to jokingly refer to as the poster child of Sydney food bloggers (though not entirely untrue), could organise a gathering of this size? It was a gathering of her food blogging friends, acquaintances and other food bloggers that she has yet to meet in person.

At the time it was rather surreal to see a roomful of food bloggers pause from their current activity or conversation in order to take photos of food that had just arrived. A storm of people gather around plates of food. The rolling thunder of conversation goes quiet as photographers focus; the beeps, clicks and whirrs of digital cameras taking over the growing din of silence. On occasion a flash fires; a blinding bolt of lightning that briefly illuminates the room. The eye of the storm soon approaches, as one by one food bloggers sit back and wait patiently for others to finish with their photos. A calm settles in as the beeps, clicks, whirrs and flashes become fewer, less frequent. As the last of the photos are taken, the rest of the storm front rolls in as hungry food bloggers rain down upon a plain of food.

The dinner is a large gathering of friends and strangers alike, all with the common purpose to not only celebrate a birthday or share a meal, but also partake in the appreciation of food beyond that of mere sustenance. It is one that has only since been eclipsed by the Sydney food blogger’s Christmas picnic in Hyde park. Another successful gathering organised, in part, by the poster child of Sydney food bloggers.

Karen of Citrus and Candy gathers a small, intimate  group of some of her closest food blogging friends to celebrate her birthday at the Belgian Bier Cafe. The hearty fare of Belgian beers, meatballs and mussels, finished with some wonderful sweet desserts of chocolate and waffles, makes for a fantastic meal.

It ceases to amaze me how quickly friendships can be born and forged over the common appreciation of food. People, that under different circumstances would likely amount to little more than casual acquaintances, become close friends, mentors, advisors and confidants.

It isn’t just with food bloggers that birthday celebrations have been shared. Adriano Zumbo’s Macaron Day was not only a celebration of 60 different flavours of macarons, but also an opportunity for the food blogging community as well as the general public to celebrate his birthday.

As much as he may be the maestro of the macaron, he is a rather humble, approachable and softly spoken individual in person. One without the pretension or arrogance that quite often comes with those with a high degree of skill or, dare I say, genius. It was personally satisfying to be able to wish him a happy birthday, as well as to discuss a range of topics including his favourite macarons from the collection.

Then it came time to organise & celebrate my own birthday party. Well, birthday parties but I’ll get to that.

When it was time to organise my birthday dinner for a close circle of food blogging friends, I wanted to incorporate a little of the familiar with something that was new to all of us. The familiar ended up being Wagaya, a safe bet when it comes to the quality of the food (not bad), service (fast & attentive) and cost (reasonable, depending on what you order). Wagaya is the sort of dining experience that I prefer; fairly casual & laid back with food that can be easily shared amongst a group of people.

We then moved onto the something new for entertainment and dessert, in the form of Norita Cafe & Board Games. It’s a place where you can enjoy various contemporary & Asian flavoured drinks, desserts and the occasional savoury snack whilst playing a multitude of board games.

The board games are a core part of the experience rather than some tacked-on gimmick, as is demonstrated by the extensive menu of board games they have on offer, separate to that of the food & beverage menu. Though the food & drinks weren’t noteworthy, the fun that was had with the board games was well worth the experience. There were many fits of uncontrollable laughter, as well as a few things that are better left unmentioned. What happens in Norita, stays in Norita :)

Birthdays are a fantastic opportunity to meet with new people and be reacquainted with ones that you may not keep in as close contact with as you may have liked. My second birthday party, a BBQ picnic at Centennial Park, introduced a few new faces, namely Jacq from Penguin Says Feed Me, as well as The Shooter and The Ninja from The Ninja Review.

I could imagine that it would be somewhat intimidating for newcomers entering into an established group of friends or associates, especially when it’s a sizable group.  For instance, it took some time for the The Ninja Review crew to step down from a battle-ready state, take off their disguises and intimidating weaponry, and actually relax and enjoy the company and the food. Well, as much as one could in a blistering 40+ degree heat wave. Once the picnic was over, a subset of the attendees made their way to Sinma Laksa House to counteract the heat wave with Ais Kachang.

On the subject of food at the picnic, a huge thanks must go out to Mei from Brasserie Bread for catering a large portion of the picnic. So large in fact that everyone had a generous parting gift to take home with them, all of it great stuff. From a number of chewy rolls and sour dough loaves (the wholemeal mountain bread makes for excellent toasted sandwiches), wonderful sweet pastries such as various fruit tarts, tea cakes and brownies, as well as THE BEST garlic bread to date I’ve ever had the pleasure of eating. The caramelised garlic bread was so highly regarded by the picnic attendees that negotiations were held to determine the lucky few that would be taking a portion home.

The birthday party of Helen from Grab Your Fork was something of a special event for a number of reasons. Firstly, it was a dumpling making party, for lack of a better term. Everyone contributing ingredients and making a large number of handmade gyoza-style dumplings, a fair portion of which were devoured with gusto soon afterwards.

For dessert, Ais Kachang was made from scratch. This began with preparing the various ingredients to form the mise en place. Once this was done, two ice shaving machines buzzed constantly as mountains of ice shavings piled up, ready to be topped by the ingredients and syrups prepared earlier.

To close the evening, chocolatesuze had prepared a fork-shaped cake, a reference to Helen’s blog name. Whilst this was in itself impressive and well received, the true genius of the cake lay within, in the form of a stunning rainbow of colours. Though rainbow coloured cakes are not anything new for chocolatesuze, this implementation of her trademark cake was particularly impressive.

Lastly, we come to a recent birthday dinner, celebrating the birthday of Jacq from Penguin Says Feed Me. She had managed to gather an impressive 17 food bloggers at the Waterfront Grill for all you can eat ribs for $29. The ribs are served along with some tasty but stomach filling steak chips. There is also a web special that is meant to score you a free soft drink with your ribs. It had taken a fair amount of insistence, the attention of the restaurant manager and an iPhone before the free drinks were flowing.

Ellie from Almost Bourdain capped of the dinner with a homemade Momofuku Crack Pie, which she had generously offered as a birthday cake. I can see why it’s called Crack Pie. So addictive… :)

To end this post, I’d like to thank those of you that have followed my blog over the past year, especially the ones that have weathered through the dry spells, and those that take the time to leave comments. It’s very much appreciated!

For the silent readers out there, I encourage you to step out of your shell and show your love, or share your opinion, by leaving a comment. I don’t just mean for my blog, but for any other one that you may be reading as well. We food bloggers, and I presume bloggers in general, thrive on comments.

Also, a special thanks to Helen for inspiring me to begin this food blog in the first place, as well as all the people to date that have made the past year of food, friends & fun a memorable experience.

Some succulent looking roast pork, huh? It’s been a while since I’ve had roasted pork this good! However, this dish was but a small portion of the food that was available at a post-Christmas gathering of food bloggers that was organised by Richard from Here Comes The Food.

Though, don’t be fooled into thinking that this was just some casual gathering of a few people.

No, no, no…

With up to 21 attendees in total, which includes a few +1′s i.e. partners, this turned out to be something of a special occasion. An occasion where the food ranged from the good, the crazy, and the crazy good.

I begin with the one that, depending on the person, would be classified into any or all of the three categories. This was the audacious, if not outrageous, contribution from Suze, commonly referred to as the Luther burger.

Though you may not know it by name, I’m sure you’re aware of the concept of a Luther burger – a standard burger, in this specific case a bacon cheese burger, with the burger buns being substituted for donut halves. It may not seem like much of a change on balance but the donut “bun” substitution turns something rather pedestrian into something of a legend, a horror, or at the very least a curiosity. Perhaps all three.

For me, this was one of those experiences that I was happy to have at the time but something that I’m unlikely to repeat. I’d learned that day that I do indeed have my limits :)

A variety of tasty sausages from the Ninja. I’d not thought to ask what was contained within but considering how secretive ninjas are, I doubt I’d be able to find out.

Billy’s roast pork was everything that Richard’s wasn’t and visa versa. I don’t mean that in a bad way for either party. Whilst Richard’s pork was rich, gelatenous, sticky and meaty, Billy’s roast pork was firm, sweet, clean tasting with a crunchy crackling that people came back for more often than the pork itself. To complement the subtle flavours of Chinese five spice, a hoisin sauce was served on the side to add another dimension of flavour to this dish.

My contribution, which was literally a last minute thing that I’d come up with that morning (and the reason why I was a couple of hours late) is something that I refer to as Chicken Surprise. The Chicken Surprise was thusly named as the intention of the dish was that you wouldn’t know what you’d be getting until you bit into the ubiquitous crumbed casing.

This dish comprised of a flattened thigh of chicken wrapped around a core of various fillings, which was then coated with panko bread crumbs and then deep fried. The fillings included asparagus, Belgian smoked cheese, a Chicken Kiev like filling with a herbed butter centre wrapped in ham, and one wrapped in prosciutto. There was also a single ball that was packed with as much wasabi as I could find around the house, akin to the legendary wasabi bomb from Wagaya’s sushi roulette. This one I affectionately refer to as the Chicken Nasty Surprised, which apparently wasn’t all that bad after all from what I was told.

Leona’s contribution was some Indian treats purchased from a store in Newtown. Rather tasty and somewhat spicy. Just the way I like my Indian :)

Potato salad by Jacq. Light and clean tasting, this was one of the best potato salads I’ve had during this festive season.

One thing I found odd about potato salads in general is that they seems to be synonymous with Christmas. There wasn’t a single lunch or dinner that I had gone to that didn’t have some version of this dish, often with two.

I’d initially thought that this ham, tomato & cheese foccacia-like bread was purchased from a bakery but I later found out that this was in fact made by the expert hands of Shez.

Some time into lunch, a red can was presented by Billy. This little can was something of legend within Sydney food blogging circles ever since the post on A Table For Two almost a year ago. Though this may look like cat food, this was in fact a tin of whale meat smuggled into the country more than a year ago.

I must confess, this was the second time that I’d had whale. The first time was an unexpected occasion at an izakaya i.e. Japanese pub, in around the Osaka area in Japan (Koshien to be precise). In that case, it was served raw in sashimi form, having a clean flavour similar to tuna but with the look & texture of a slightly chewy beef.

In the case of the tinned variety of whale meat, there was likewise a duality of contrasting textures/flavours. However, in this case it was more like the taste of tinned tuna with the texture of a stewed pork. If you’ve ever had stewed meat out of a can, it’s somewhat akin to that too.

For a first hand account of the experience of whale sashimi and the izakaya in general, look no further than this post on what I guess you can call a precursor to the heart of food. I no longer maintain it so don’t bother leaving a comment there.

Moving on from some of the theatrics of the savoury portion of lunch, this wonderful slice of s’more-inspired marshmallow & chocolate cheesecake, with the toasting of the generous marshmallow topping a la minute via blowtorch, carries over the theatrics into dessert.

As always, Steph presents another wonderfully sweet cake (though not overly so), from its caramelised, slightly crunchy marshmallow cap through to its crumbly biscuit base.

Helen likewise has something of a reputation when it comes to cakes. Well, specifically cupcakes. In this case, she goes with the classic flavour combination of strawberries and balsamic vinegar icing. Strawberry flavoured pop rocks adds something of a theatric element to these fine cupcakes.

Panna cotta topped with fruit encased in fruit jelly (peach if I can recall) was the delightfully refreshing dessert by Jacq.

The aptly named tea-ramisu, is essentially a green tea flavoured tiramisu made by Lisa. Due to food allergies, pistachio nuts that would otherwise have been incorporated into the light & subtle dessert was served on the side.

Shez’s dense & crumbly chocolate fruit pudding, very much in line with Christmas puddings that you see around this time of the year was quite nice and not overly sweet. Unfortunately, there wasn’t the typical theatrical element of the booze-fueled flambé which I was hoping to see. However, the freshly whipped cream, courtesy of a Tupperware whipping flask (for lack of a better term) picked up during a Tupperware party, served as a nice accompaniment.

Another dessert that was serviced by the Tupperware-whipped cream, was this fragrant orange sponge, which was made by Shez’s +1, who like the host, is likewise named Richard.

These Momofuku cookies brought by Teresa, rather than being made from the recipe book from the man behind the well-known restaurant by the same name, was actually from the store in New York, flown over for our enjoyment.

These cookies were quite good and deceptively rich. The cookies were bound together by something that had the texture akin to copha, a vegetable shortening (i.e. fat) used as the binding agent for such treats as chocolate crackles. It makes me wonder how much solidified fats are contained within these cookies.

Towards the evening, Yas & Lex both arrive with their food items. Yas presents a couple of sushi platters, courtesy of the Japanese sushi restaurant Makoto. Lex on the other hand brings along some large prawns stuff with a fail-safe anchovy butter, which were grilled fresh and were a delight to eat. Unfortunately, no pictures to show for it. Sorry folks.

What a fantastic way to end a fun and food-filled year with a sizable portion of the Sydney food blogging community! A huge thanks to Richard for hosting this great party and for the attendees for bringing along such good, crazy & crazy good foods! :)

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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.

It takes a little something special to organise a food blogger gathering of fifty people. However, we are talking about Helen (Grab Your Fork) and Suze (chocolatesuze) after all. I doubt that anyone else from the Sydney food blogging community would have been able to pull those sorts of numbers.

When you have a gathering of food bloggers, invariably food will be involved.

Almost seems redundant to have to say it.

Anyhow, this poorly conceived segue brings us to my contributions to this picnic of all picnics. We were asked to bring an item of food along with us to the picnic. I chose to bring two. The first one is what I refer to as Korean fried chicken wings with a sweet & spicy chili sauce. I was expecting for this to disappear in moments. However, it seemed a general rule that day that if the food was likely to leave your hand sticky or otherwise soiled, it wasn’t as popular.

Either that or Billy’s savoury item of Korean roasted pork ssam set such a high bar that when other savouries were contemplated, it was like “Meh, not as good as Billy’s. I can do without”. I wouldn’t know, cause I totally missed out! :(

Anyhow, my second contribution were these mini cheese burgers. Initially, I’d not even intended to bring these along but I figured that there were some people who aren’t the best of friends with chili and may appreciate these as an alternative. These were more popular as only a single burger was left, which surprised me to no end.

For those of you who’d like to know how this was made, I’ll give a basic prep guide below. For those that don’t, please move on to the next image.

The mini cheese burgers are pretty straight forward. The prep guide is as follows:

• The burger patties starts off as 40% veal mince, 40% pork mince & 20% chunky paste of caramelised red onions (made the same way you would start making French onion soup, including brandy & seasoning). All ingredients should be at room temp.
• Incorporate together with a single egg and enough bread crumbs to bring together. Season to taste.
• Shape/fry burger patties as you see fit. In this case, it was done over a charcoal bbq to add a little extra smokiness.
• Once cooked on both sides, place a slice of cheese on top (Red Leicester in my case) and either place under the grill or, do as I did & use a blow torch to melt the cheese.
• Assemble mini burgers with a layer of tomato sauce on the bottom (Baxter’s tomato chutney in my case), burger patty, slice of dill pickle & finally more sauce.

One final note on the mini burgers, after making these, I’ve developed an appreciation for a pickle’s role within a burger. Not only does the flavour work well with the tomato chutney but the acidity of the pickle cuts through the fat of the burger patty and cheese.

Naturally, there was a little more food than just what I had to bring. Ok, a lot more food :)

Some of the ones worth noting for me were…

Suze (chocolatesuze) had contributed what I’d like to refer to as a platter of childhood memories. From top to bottom, fairy bread, honey joys & chocolate crackles.

Helen’s (Grab Your Fork) OMFG! Elvis cupcakes. Having had the pleasure to sample previous cupcakes of bacon & maple syrup & coca cola, there was much anticipation on how these would be. She didn’t disappoint. These cupcakes, containing bacon bits, a strawberry jam core, with salted peanut butter icing topped with more bacon, were her best yet.

Very few dishes were completely gone by the end of the picnic. Billy’s roast pork was one of them. Helen’s cupcakes, I believe, were the only other one.

Having missed out on Billy’s (A Table for Two) roast pork ssam, I at least had the pleasure of sampling his champagne jelly with longan fruit and flecks of gold foil. This was quite a nice dessert, though quite hard to eat under picnic conditions. Would love to try this again in more formal surrounds.

Had a slice of this cake which I believe was Rose’s (hmm… just click on the link, you’ll find out). This was a really nice cake. Would love to find out where it was purchased from.

Steph (raspberri cupcakes) brought these cute little festive biscuits with a candy cane fudge filling. If you’ve had any of Steph’s pastries, it’s pretty much same-same. In other words, fantastic! :)

Now, for a small collection of food I would have like to have tried but otherwise didn’t (damn you, socialising!)

Ellie (Almost Bourdain) brought along these duck in wanton cups. Being Ellie’s food, I bet these were delicious!

Rice noodle rolls from Chris and Tim (The Way it Crumbles). Would love to know where these were purchased as well :)

Gummi Baby, Lobo, Moya & Shanks (YaYa’s Yum Yums) contributed these lovely looking cupcakes, which were finished on site. Not the only group to bring cupcakes but I believe the only attendees to not go by their real names. Unless those are real names, which in that case, cool :)

Actually, there are a lot more than these that I missed out on, some of which I have photos for. For a larger set of food photos, check out the heart of food Facebook fan page. I’ll post the photos a little while after this post goes up so come back later if you don’t see them there. Otherwise, keep an eye out on my Twitter timeline, as a lame auto message pops up there when photos are uploaded to the fan page.

Food wasn’t the only thing on the agenda for this gathering of gastronomes (oddly enough). We were also requested to bring a gift of around $10 to contribute to a Kris Kringle game. Never understood the concept of Kris Kringle. Having seen it in action, though I get the appeal, it still seems somewhat alien to someone who generally puts as much effort as they can into finding a present the receiving party would appreciate, or not give at all. While some people had such bad luck with their present selection that it may have been better to have done without, others the sting of disappointment as the present they were sufficiently happy with was taken from them and replaced by one that was sub-par comparatively speaking, overall people seemed to enjoy themselves.

With the passing of Kris Kringle, people made their move and headed off into the sunset. A remaining few that stayed behind to clean up enjoyed a cup of Richard’s (Here Comes the Food) egg nog.

Cheers to a successful, and not to mention fun, food blogger gathering. Hope the Nuffnang Christmas party coming up this Thursday or the Australian food blogger’s conference planned for early next year will be just as big and just a fun! Otherwise, there’s always next year’s Christmas picnic :)

One final note. To the person who came up with this idea for the Kris Kringle that I received, you rock! Really appreciate this sort of humour. The chocolates are pretty good too :)

Edit: Ever experience a moment of irony (not the Alanis Morrisette kind; only thing ironic about that song was that it contained no irony) whereby you, say for example, take a group photo of fifty food bloggers at a Christmas picnic, process the images, have them distributed to all the attendees and then forget to include it into your own blog post?

Thanks to my editor-in-chief and online media advisor for picking up this rather stark omission :)

Ok, now that we have you attention…

Yes, that’s right. For those of you that didn’t pick up on it, Shez invited us to a tittyware party.

No, wait. Scratch that. I mean Tupperware party. You know…

… like this stuff.

I’m sure you’ve seen it around. Heck, you may even own some. You ever wonder how it got into your kitchen? Well, it mostly likely due to a party such as this.

The marketing guys at Tupperware were quite smart. Enlist in some bored housewives, or ladies looking for a little extra cash. Organise a party with a group of people that they generally know in the confort of someone’s home with the lure of a social gathering, food and the potential to invest into some handy household products. Sell said products in a fun and interactive manner, reinforcing the party aspect whilst leveraging the influential power of personal endorsement.

I remember seeing Tupperware in my household as a toddler. Some of the products on display brought on a sense of nostalgia, bringing back fond memories of years when life was simpler, without the stresses and resposibilities of the present. Maybe that’s a part of the sales tactic too. Whatever the case may be, it works, as these products have been around for as long as I can remember (trust me, it’s a long time).

Ok, for those of you who are just here for the food (assuming I haven’t lost you by now), it’s towards the bottom portion of this post. Hang in there; we’ll get to it soon :)

This is Michelle, our Tupperware party coordinator. I don’t know if that’s her official title, but it sounds better than “bored housewife” or “lady looking for a little extra cash”.

If you’re wondering why she’s looking a little nervous in the photo, it’s probably because she was not use to the attention and distraction of food bloggers taking flash photography of her during her product pitch and demonstration like she was some famous celebrity.

Each partygoer (sounds weird in the context of Tupperware) was given a booklet and some initial play money. Involvement with the demonstation was rewarded with more play money, which could later be used during an auction of prizes that could be won.

I also had my PDA phone at the ready in case things were a little slow and I needed to find a distraction to pass the time.

Not that I ever needed to, as the demonstration was quite interesting and engaging. We’d learned about the origins of Tupperware as well as the lifetime guarantee and what that entails.

I know, I know. It doesn’t sound all that exciting now. It’s one of those “you had to be there” moments. Trust me, plenty interesting :)

She even recounts stories of the one that got away. “I swear to you, the container was THIS BIG!”.

Ok, maybe not that story…

After the presentation, which pretty much amounts to the theory portion of the party, we get down and dirty with the practical exercise with something I like to refer to as “product reinforcement”.

• Step 1. Tell them how good the products are.
• Step 2. Reinforce that knowledge by showing them how good and effortless the product are to use.

It’s so easy even dad can…

Ok, probably not the best way to introduce him but say hello to Shez’s dad.

Please don’t tell me you actually said “hello” out loud…

Michelle runs through the recipe with Shez’s dad. Scones.

Place ingredients into Tupperware product A. Use Tupperware product B to stir in and incorporate the mixture.

Knead the mixture…

… until it looks something like this.

I don’t believe Shez’s dad have ever made scones before but they turned out quite nice. Shame my pictures didn’t so you’ll have to use your imagination. However some of the other food photos turned out ok.

Thanks for persevering. Here’s what you’re really after, right? :)

Ham, brie, seeded mustard on slices of baguette.

Smoked trout, cucumber, cream cheese and fish roe on baguette.

Tonkatsu sandwich, my contribution to the party food.

Lemon ricotta cupcakes. Pretty…

What I refer to as the “left over” raspberry custard tarts. These were fantastic! When I told Shez how good these were, she said something along the lines of “well I used left over this and left over that. oh! left over this as well”…

Mini profiteroles.

Suze of chocolatesuze brought in a peach slice. It would be the very same slice that you may have seen if you’d read the post about the Miracle Frootie party post.

Well, not the exact same one…

Finally, biscuits dipped in chocolate. If memory serves me well, crumbly and quite moreish.

Thanks to Shez, her dad and the rest of the family for hosting the Tupperware party, as well as Michelle for what (to me at least) was a surprisingly interesting time.

Maybe I should give that baby shower thing a go…

If you’d like to host your own Tupperware party (there are fringe benefits for hosting one) or you’re interested in getting some Tupperware, drop my a direct message on twitter or send an email to simon_at_theheartoffood_dot_com.

Thanks for dropping by to the heart of cakes food. Until next time…