2nd Annual Sydney Food Bloggers Christmas Picnic

        So today I attended my first food bloggers event. Third time lucky I say, as I missed the Nuffnang sydney food bloggers meet up which was Chocolatesuze's birthday in July and also the food bloggers Mad Hatter Spring Picnic in October. I've always been quite nervous about attending these events because I am generally quite a shy person and not all fond of meeting strangers, especially on mass. Luckily for me I had already met some other bloggers before this event which meant that it wasn't quite as daunting as it could have been attending the picnic. For some others though it was pretty much their very first time attending this type of event.

        This was the second annual food bloggers picnic organised by Grab Your Fork and Chocolatesuze - top stuff guys! There were about 60 odd bloggers who turned up out of the 80 or so who registered so it was quite a big gathering. I only follow a handful of blogs at the moment and meeting so many new faces means a whole heap more food blogs to add to my reader list. It was also great putting faces to blogs that I am already following, and also nice to see familiar faces aswell.

        The awesome thing about a picnic with food bloggers is the abundance of great food! There were no typical supermarket roast chooks and tubs of coleslaw or potato salad. The only downside was that there were more sweet dishes than savoury dishes which meant alot of leftovers to be taken home. And if you wern't quick, some of the popular savoury dishes all disappeared really fast.

        I tried to take a photo of all the dishes but after a while I just wanted to eat! Nah there really was too much there to photograph (and eat). I can say I did manage to sample most of what I photographed but after so many sweet items I had to stop or else I might have just gotten a little sick. Please feel free to let me know if I got anything wrong, there's only so much I can remember in this little brain of mine, especially after such a jam packed day of eating =p.

        My cupcakes of course - orange, pistachio and cardamom. I was really worried that the buttercream would turn into a puddle overnight so popped these into the fridge, not the smartest idea as the buttercream turned into a stiff frosting. Not that that's a bad thing but it changed the texture overall. Also definately brang too many along to the picnic, too many other sweets to compete with.

        Tomato and basil tartletts by Helen - Grab Your Fork. Me being the ever so punctual person I am rocked up to pick her up earlier than I said I would so she had to finish them off when we got there. Totally didn't get to try them out but the basil smelt so good while I was watching her finish them off.

        The cutest things ever! Strawberry Santas by Ayana - Oh Ayana. Totally missed these because everyone was after Santa!

        Little green meringue christmas trees by Jacq - Penguin Says Feed Me. Took one home with me, will get to it tomorrow =).

        Erm can't say I knew exactly what these were but they were quite scrumptious. By Sara and Josh - Belly Rumbles.

        Lemon, thyme and honey chicken drumettes - Sara and Josh - Belly Rumbles. I loved all the flavours here.

        These little cheesecakes were pretty good. There's a chocolate brownie base with a Peruvian fruit flavoured topping (Gaby you'll have to correct me here). It was quite light, almost mousse like. By Gaby - Lateral Eating. (Edit: Fruit is called lúcuma - I will probably never remember this but it was nice).

        Not sure what these were filled with and I don't know who made them either =( nor did I get a chance to try them. They are adorable though! (Edit: These were mini chocolate christmas puddings made by Vivian - vxdollface)

        A gorgeous little chocolate Christmas tree! Which everyone was too scared to break apart. By Lisa Perkovic.

        How cute are these? Little Elf and Santa cupcakes. Okay my memory is bad here... I remember speaking to the person, I know what she looks like however name and blogname I am at an utter lost =(. (Edit: Made my lovely Kimberly - Kayb's Cakes)

        Not sure what these are and who made them and didn't get to try one either =(.

        Dumplings by Obese Wendy - Obese Baby. Had one of these before they disappeared.

        No idea here but I will say a brie/camembert cheese with a jam of sorts, walnuts and served with lavosh. Was quite an enjoyable combo. Again, great with faces, bad with names I'm sorry =(. (Edit: Correction - Brie with Cranberry Sauce and walnuts served with lavosh by Georgia - Bakery Bookery).

        Cute little mint flavoured Christmas tree marshmallows. Took one home for later. By Steph - Raspberry Cupcakes.

        Saw these cute little mini quiches but never managed to snare one. Not sure about details here I'm sorry =(. (Edit, these were little mini salmon quiches by Clarissa - Eat My Shots).

        Same here, looked great though. (Edit: These were spring mango and pistachio fudge with fresh rose petals by Sneh - Cook Republic).

And again, such a fish memory.

        Okay, this turkish delight is totally awesome! I tried the pink rosewater one and it was just sooooo good. Though it was quite sweet and the piece was huge so I couldn't quite finished it, it was too good to throw away so Simon helped me cover it back up in icing sugar and wrap it up for later. (Edit: These were from Melanie and Dave - The adventures of Miss Piggy).

        We pretty much all went quiet when this lovely lady walked in with this masterpiece. And the cameras all came out.

        The piece de resistance - a home made macaron tower, in various flavours too! Adriano Zumbo eat your heart out! They looked the goods and tasted pretty good too. (Edit: made by Cleony - i eat sweet) 

        Apple, walnut, cinnamon and olive oil cupcakes. I was worried about not being to finish a whole large cupcake so passed on these. They did look delicious but not sure who made them.

        Yumyum! Fried white chocolate wontons (edit: these were filled with a pine nut and rosemary praline) by John - He Needs Food. Sooo good!

        Keftedes, Greek Beef Meatballs, yummo! By Giana and Demos - The Empty Fridge.

        Don't know who made these but they were a welcome item in amongst all the sweets. Chicken Rolls - pretty tasty, I had 2 halves!

        After all the eating is done, time to sit (roll) around and socialise for a bit.

        Let the food blogger olympics begin! Race to see who can use chopsticks to pick up all the soy beans and put them in the other bowl first.

        Blind fold taste test. They got it pretty easy, cucumber and sunflower seeds.

        Last challenge was the 'plating and food styling' challenge where the nominated person in the team would have to use whatever leftover food there was and creatively plate it all up and have a photo taken of it and then posted on to twitter.

        It's Kris Kringle time! It took us a while to get through everyone especially with all the stealing of presents backwards and forwards. Unfortunately for me I decided to pick a gift and picked an item which I happened to already have at home (Women's Weekly Cookie recipe book).

        The one and only photo that does not include any food. I did want to take non food photos but got too lazy or caught up just mingling with people. All in all a great day was had, plenty of good food eaten, and I went home and did it all over again by going out to dinner.

        As you all know it's the silly season of the year and crazy stuff happens. I've been eating out, trying new places, been busy in the kitchen, baking and building my own gingerbread house etc etc which explains the recent lack of blogging. I'll also by flying out of the country this Friday with family to New Zealand for a about a week so there's heaps keeping me busy before then. I most likely will not be blogging while on holiday though twitter and facebook may be my only form of sharing all things food related. I've been trying to keep my facebook fanpage active with things in between posts so 'like' my page to keep up to date in between blog posts and you can also follow me on twitter too.

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all!