Dragons and Fairies on the loose

Is it just me or do the words 'Book Week Parade' fill mother's hearts with dread? They certainly do for me and I wait with bated breath until the desired costumes are announced...

Crystal, a Rainbow Magic Fairy (pretty easy I thought) and Toothless from the series of books and the movie How to Train Your Dragon (arrrrgh!!!!!)

Thank goodness for Pinterest, imagination, hot glue guns and my ability to thread a needle.

Book week done and dusted for 2014 and the Costume Director (a.k.a Mum) relatively unscathed!


Linking with Wordless Wednesday over at My Little Drummer Boys

Markets, Mud, Merlot and all that Jazz ~ Part 3

I have been sharing my family's weekend adventure to the Barossa to take in the 2014 Gourmet Weekend last weekend which you can read about here and here.

We started our Sunday with a small family scuffle about the location of breakfast so to keep the peace ,we shared the love and had a movable breakfast over two locations! Our first stop was Café P.O.D in the main street of Tanunda.

The Little Gourmets breakfasted while we enjoyed the first coffee and took in the eclectic mix of furniture and crockery while talking about what we could squeeze in before we had to start heading home. Next on the list was breakfast for the Big Gourmets and we headed to Jacob's Creek in search of the kitchen garden and their toasted muesli with poached pears and honey and cinnamon yoghurt.

We found ourselves in a beautiful spot, sitting in the kitchen garden in the sunshine while the children had the opportunity to take part in a hands-on gardening experience with one of the Jacob's Creek staff members and a couple of other children. They planted in the garden as well as learning about and tasting a few of the other things growing there. They also planted their own seedling to bring home. After retiring their gardening gloves, they tried their hand at some bocce and kicked the ball around with some new found friends while we took in the view and tried some of the liquid produce!

Our last stop for the weekend was Kellermeister where we rolled out the picnic blanket, took in the view, the sunshine, the sounds of Blue Lagoon and some magnificent lunch! The mood was relaxed and just how Sunday should be.

It was here that some of the travelling party ignored calls to prepare themselves to leave and made not so subtle enquiries about schools in the Barossa area and hints about the kind of house they would like to live in!!!!!

So we had the most fantastic weekend, which we are still talking about and we will most certainly be going back for more. The 2015 Gourmet Weekend in already on the calendar as well as the possibility of visits for other pursuits.

This weekend has not been nearly as much fun as we catch up on the jobs we were not doing while 'gourmetting' around last weekend! Such is life....it does make the adventures more special when they happen though.

Kate xx

Linking with One Mother Hen's Open Slather

Markets, Mud, Merlot and all that Jazz ~ Part 2

We had a fabulous family weekend in the Barossa last weekend and you can read about how it started here.

After our close encounter with Maggie Beer the children had one thing on their mind so we made our way to Maggie's Farm Shop. We have been here before and it was quite a hit. We have since reminisced about the lake with turtles in it, the peacocks that wander around the farm, jam tasting and Maggie's non-alcoholic wine that we tasted in a very grown up wine tasting experience so there was an air of expectation in the car and we were not disappointed.


Maggie's Farm Shop



A couple of coffees and some purchases later we were ready to get down to some serious gourmet behaviour seeing as it was the Barossa Gourmet Weekend. Our first stop on our Barossa...Be Consumed adventure was Whistler Wines, just up the road.

After nibbling from a tasting plate by Saskia Beer (can you see a theme here?) and being entertained with some swinging blues from the Valley Cats we went in search of our lunch...



Whistler Wines

We didn't really have a plan about where we wanted to go. We picked locations according to what food they had, what the fussier members of the party would eat and which wineries were part of the 'family friendly loop', providing entertainment for the little gourmets.

Our next stop was Pindarie as we were lured by the promise of a giant haystack to play on, live jazz and lunch. Imagine our surprise when, on our arrival we found the food was by Elli Beer and we saw the Beer family celebrating the gourmet weekend! It wasn't intentional...this stalking behaviour, I promise!!!

Pindarie...it is a beautiful location!!!

 

 The last stop on the day's schedule all hinged on dessert and the Baileys and Belgium chocolate pots being served at Seppeltsfield won! The weather was rather soggy and the little gourmets were wearing out by this stage so we ate, took in some petanque then headed off for a post gourmet nap...

More on how some of us tried to convince the rest of the family to stay put and how we finished our weekend soon...!

Kate xx

Markets, Mud, Merlot and all that Jazz

Last weekend we headed to the Barossa Valley for a 'vine change'.

The 2014 Barossa Gourmet Weekend was on which gave us the perfect excuse to make the drive and apart from some family time and some good eating, we arrived with no plans and a whole weekend to enjoy.

Our very first stop was the Barossa Farmer's Market which is based in Angaston and held every Saturday morning. There is nothing I like better than a farmer's market and I was not disappointed! I could have wandered around all morning touching beautiful, orange carrots, taking photos of earthy potatoes and smelling the coffee.

My family were also pleased as they breakfasted on local fruit toast, egg and bacon rolls, offered fudge to taste test, encouraged to take sour dough and dip it in dukkah and they took part in a verjuice tasting. We all marvelled at beautiful cinnamon scrolls, admired loaves of bread and tasted local beers. We listened to stall holders playing music to entertain the shoppers, bought  muesli, brownies and cheesecake.

 

Just before leaving the markets my children had a little brush with fame as they stood a couple of feet away from one of their television and kitchen idols, Maggie Beer. The Barossa is her local stomping ground and like any good local she was out doing her carrot shopping, much to my children's delight!

 

This close encounter led us to our next destination for our Barossa Gourmet Odyssey. Stay tuned in for  the next instalment of "Markets, Mud, Merlot and all that Jazz" to see what else we got up to....

 

Kate x

 

Connecting with Alicia at One Mother Hen's Open Slather
  

Lost...

I seem to have mislaid my blogging mojo!

I am still here and I am hoping that inspiration is just lying around the corner but there have been some BIG things going on in my little patch and my little family has been sticking close and holding on tight.

Watch this space. Soon....

Kate xxx