Eveleigh Christmas Farmers' Market

Oh yes, did your heart just skip a beat too?

It's moments like these that I realise that food really does rule my world. Heart racing, smile playing on my lips, there's almost an urge to pinch myself. Surely this must be a dream!

I'd forgotten that suckling pigs were advertised on the flyer for the Eveleigh Christmas Market. Just the idea of a Christmas Market in Sydney was novel enough to hook me in. The Eveleigh Markets, housed beneath a huge shelter in the old Carriageworks, are set to become the newest addition to the Sydney markets calendar in 2009. The promise of shelter and its handy location halfway between Redfern and Newtown, makes it an ideal location and a welcome arrival for food loving Sydneysiders.


Christmas trees

I made the short eight-minute stroll from Redfern Station, rows of fragrant pine trees greeting me at the entrance.


9.45am crowds

From the street, a short walk down steps (or take the ramp) to the first ever Eveleigh Markets, already heaving with happy Sydneysiders shopping to their stomach's content.


Bacon and eggs on the barbie


Eumundi Smokehouse


Poinsettias


Decorating the Christmas tree


Honey Christmas cakes from Blue Mountains Honey


Popes free range eggs


Giant chocolate dipped strawberries from Lush Berries


Cakes by Manna From Heaven


Christmas fruitmince tarts by Manna From Heaven


Chocolate coated puddings by Gumnut Chocolates


Chicken coops by Rent-a-chook


Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer cupcakes
by Sugar, Spice and All Things Nice


Ham Jam by Spoonfed Foods


Panforte by Bird Cow Fish restaurant

Two stalls which surprised me were Bird Cow Fish and Danks Street Depot. There was Bird Cow Fish owner and head chef, Alex Herbert, abandoning a Saturday lie-in to selling panforte and other Christmas goodies. There was no sign of Jared Ingersoll at the Danks Street Depot stall but you could buy his latest cookbook and a whole range of preserves that included onion marmalade, berry jams and bottled cherries. Is this a new means of marketing and raising brand awareness or have restaurants been so badly hit by the "global credit crunch" they're being forced to raise revenue by diversifying?


Batlow apples and juice


Biscuits by Healthy Food


Pigs on spits - Taralga Heritage Pork

But yes, it's the pigs on spits that stop me in my tracks. The smell of charcoal, the glisten of pork skin and the hypnotic rotation of those piggies round and round, makes me want to pull up a chair.


This piggy has a perky tail

Everyone else is similarly fascinated and surprisingly I don't see anyone freaking out at the sight of a whole pig impaled on a metal pole.



In fact everyone just looks hungry, and there's a constant queue of shoppers ready for an early lunch.




Carving the pig


Taralga Heritage pork spit-roasted $10.00
with homemade apple sauce and Iggy's bread

The pork is fantastic. Tender and soft, it's deliciously sweet and juicy. Alas there's not much crackling to be found - my two pieces of pig skin are disappointingly chewy with a disconcerting a abundance of hair, shaved to a prickly stubble but even I'm worried they might scratch my throat on the way down.

A huge spoonful of homemade apple sauce is surprisingly acidic with vinegar, perhaps overwhelming the flavour of the pork a bit too much, but the slice of Iggy's sourdough bread is perfect - crisp and chewy on the outside and dense but fluffy in the middle.


Banquet table decorated with festive pine needles and oranges

Another great idea is the communal banquet table close to the spit roast. The table decorations of pine needles and oranges are festive, natural and edible. Almost everyone concludes their lunch with an orange, and there's a lovely sense of community and sharing good food with others, even though everyone's sitting next to complete strangers.


Cherries and loquats from Windy Hill Orchards


Gingerbread houses from Cristina Flaksbard


Shortbread from The Biscuit Tree - the best shortbread in Sydney :)


Nectarines from Zavaglia Orchards


The very patient dairy cow


Hands-on milking demonstrations


Watching the milking


Freshly churned butter

I had a taste of the freshly churned butter, made from the milking done that morning. Light and fluffy, you could really taste the cream. There was no oily aftertaste or heaviness. In the warmth of a somewhat humid morning, the butter reported took 20 minutes to churn by hand, whereas on a cold winter's day it can take up to 90 minutes.


French garlic (front)


The biggest button squash I've ever seen
(with nearby lettuce for handy size comparison)




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The Eveleigh Christmas Farmers' Market was held on Saturday 13 December 2008, 8am-1pm.

From February 28, 2009, the undercover Eveleigh Farmers' Market will be held every Saturday.

Eveleigh Farmers' Market
Carriageworks
245 Wilson Street, Eveleigh, Sydney
Every Saturday from 28 February 2009

Menu for Hope V

Menu for Hope is back again.

This annual fundraising event was created by Chez Pim in 2004, and since then has been hosted and supported by foodbloggers all over the world. This year, its fifth year of running, we will be supporting the UN World Food Programme, the world's largest food aid agency, working with over 1,000 organisations in more than 75 countries.

If you are a foodblogger or a business, you can donate a raffle prize by contacting your local regional host as listed below. This year, Ed from Tomato will be taking over the reins for the Asia Pacific area. Pim has a few guidelines and suggestions:

"Participate in Menu for Hope V by hosting a raffle prize or by promoting Menu for Hope on your blog. The prize you offer need not be of high monetary value, but it should appeal to your readership. A small rule of thumb we'd like to suggest is that each prize offered should have the potential to raise at least $200. That means, don't offer a prize unless you are pretty sure you could get at least twenty of your readers to donate $10 for a raffle ticket toward that prize.

Please do not solicit prizes from restaurants or producers whom you do not know. A big part of our success in prior years came from the personal connections between bloggers, food producers/restaurateurs/authors, and the readers who donate to the campaign. Basically, if they know your name, it's ok. If you pick up the phone and introduce yourself and the person at the other end of the line goes "huh?", you shouldn't be asking them.

Each blogger is also responsible for shipping their prize to the winning donor. Make sure you have enough in your budget to cover shipping. It's important that you specify where your shipping area will cover when you offer the prize. Frankly, we prefer that you don't restrict shipping area, but if you must, then please be very clear in your blog post so as not to confuse our donors."

The local hosts for this year's Menu for Hope are:

Asia Pacific, Australia, New Zealand
Ed Charles of Tomato (edcharles@mac.com)

Europe and the UK
Sara of Ms.Adventures in Italy (sara.rosso@gmail.com)

US: West Coast
Matt Armendariz of Matt Bites (matt.armendariz@gmail.com)

US: East Coast
Jaden Hair of Steamy Kitchen (jaden@steamykitchen.com)

Canada
Meena Agarwal of Hooked on Heat (meena@hookedonheat.com)

Wine Blog Host
Alder of Vinography (alder@vinography.com)

If you'd like to donate a prize, please send your prize information (plus two images 75x75 thumbnail and 200x200px) to your local host so that they can give you a prize code (important!) and more instructions on what to do for Monday.

Head over to Chez Pim on Monday 15 December for a list of all the prizes available.

Doyles on the Wharf, Watsons Bay

Too often I think we Sydneysiders tend to take our beloved Harbour for granted.

Overseas tourists travel thousands of kilometres to see our sunny shores and yet too few of us take the time to really stop, stare and smile at our picture perfect city.

The best way to appreciate Sydney's spectacular waterfront is by hopping on a ferry. We made a day trip to Watsons Bay on what turned out to be a glorious summer's day, basking our happy faces in the warmth of the sun and relishing the wind in our hair as we ploughed through the rollicking waves.


A Sydney ferry and the Sydney Harbour Bridge

It's only a brief journey to Watson's Bay--about 17 minutes including a stop at the naval base, Garden Island. On that way it's mandatory to wave at the Opera House as you fly on past, try to spot a giraffe as you go past Taronga Zoo, and then indulge in some window shopping for your next property purchase. On the waterfront or high on the hill? Decisions, decisions!


Watsons Bay ferry wharf

And to work up our appetites, we got off the ferry and walked straight up the hill to the notorious Gap. The cliff face is steep and awe-inspiring.


The Gap, Watsons Bay

Continue along the scenic pathway past the South Head signal station, close toward Macquarie Lighthouse (Australia's first lighthouse, established 1818) and then make a slow meader down through suburban streets and past Heritage-listed churches and schoolhouses on Old South Head Road.


Watsons Bay lookout

By the time you arrive back at Watsons Bay wharf, you've more than earnt your reward of fish and chips from Doyles.



You can of course eat a la carte at nearby Doyles on the Beach, but if you don't want to pay $36.40 for a fancy version of Doyles Fish and Chips, then simply order at the takeaway counter of Doyles on the Wharf and pay less than half price ($11.80 for two pieces of fish with chips).


Grilled sea perch with chips and salad $15.90

Geet has the grilled sea perch, moist and buttery, served with chips and salad.


Battered flathead and chips with salad $16.90

I eschew any thoughts of health and go straight for the battered flathead and chips. Four golden fried fillets stand majestically on a mountain of crispy chips. The salad is a generous mix of tomatoes, capsicum, carrot, cucumber and mixed leaves but I'm not a big fan of the salad dressings, one of which tastes as though it came straight from a bottle, the other with an odd sweet Chinese flavour which I discover later is actually "Doyles own chilli plum sauce".

Our meals don't take long to cook -- even with the significant lunchtime queue. Onceyou collect your meals from the counter, head down the back to the tables set up inside or on the covered verandah. Grab a glass of wine from the bar and then sit back, relax and enjoy the view.






View Larger Map
Doyles on the Wharf
Fisherman's Wharf (Watsons Bay ferry wharf)
Marine Parade, Watsons Bay, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9337 6214

This has been included as an Intrepid Eat on Grab Your Fork's Top 10 Sydney Eats for Tourists. Read the entire list here.

Opening hours:
Lunch 7 days 11am - 5pm (closes later in the summer months)
Wharf bistro/takeaway menu

Fully licensed (alcohol only available for dine-in customers)
No reservations
Closed on Christmas Day

6 Random Things Meme

The dog ate my homework.

Billy tagged me for the 6 random things meme, and it's taken me over three weeks to finally respond. It's reasonably similar to the 10 Random Things Meme I first answered in January 2006, but I won't let Billy down. And yeah, this blog and I do feel old.

So here are 6 more random things about me. They're all food-related. Surely you're not surprised!

1. My ideal breakfast would be fluffy hotcakes with lashings of maple syrup, thick slices of banana and two rashers of bacon fried til crisp. Oh yes, I hear your disbelief, but you too, will see the light once you try it (trust me!).
   
   
2. Which colour Allens' Snakes do I choose? I go straight for the yellow ones. I've moved on from red. How can you beat that pineappley goodness?
   
   
3. My favourite snack right now is blue cheese on ginger biscuits. It works with mild Castello, creamy gorgonzola, crumbly Stilton or tangy roquefort. Best biscuits are Anna's Swedish Thins.


4. When I'm sick, I crave homemade congee. There's something so very comforting and nourishing about a simple bowl of rice porridge with a slosh of soy and a simple garnish of chopped shallots (green onions) and sprigs of coriander. And when you start craving the fried bread sticks, you know you're back to your old self again!
   


5. The last chocolate bar I bought was a Picnic. I love that combo of wafer, nuts and caramel.
   
   
6. I have a confession. I still have a strange obsession with eating my foods one layer at a time. This includes wafers, liquorice allsorts, jersey caramels and those layered Vietnamese rice flour desserts in stripes of pink, white and green. I can't help it. It feels wrong not to!

This meme has already gone around much of the Sydney food blogosphere already, so I'm tagging 5 Sydney bloggers whom I don't think have been tagged so far. I tag:

1. Karen from Beansprout's Cafe
2. Karen from Citrus and Candy
3. TFP from The Food Pornographer
   
4. Jen from Jenius
5. Y from lemonpi
6. Annie from Yes, I want to see the dessert menu!

If you've been tagged and you’re a newbie, here are the rules:

- Link to the person who tagged you
- Post the rules on the blog
- Write six random things about yourself
- Tag six people at the end of your post
- Let them know they’ve been tagged by commenting on their blog
- Let the tagger know when your entry is posted.


And I've love to hear from others, especially from those who read this blog but don't have the time to maintain their own. Either tell me 6 random things about yourself, or if you're uninspired, use the 6 themes I've highlighted above. Leave your answers in the comment box. You don't need to log in to make a comment. Go on.... you know you want to....

Related GrabYourFork posts:
Meme - 5 Things to Eat Before You Die (Aug06)
Meme - Ten Things About Me (Jan06)
Meme - Top 5 Childhood Food Memories (Sep05)
Meme - 5 Favourite Cookbooks (Jun05)