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I always knew that our humble Sydney Food Blogger community were an awesome bunch of people. This fair city of ours is no stranger to mass blogger social events and I’m proud to say that we’re probably the most tight-knit bunch in the world (not that it’s a contest but I’m just saying hehe). Thinking of you lot gets me all cheery and happy (nawww).
Top: Gorgeous cake and macarons by Ayana
Thanks to a brilliant idea from A Table For Two, we thought it was time for another gluttonous gathering of bloggers with the inaugural Sydney Food Blogger Mad Hatter Spring Picnic. We also thought it would be fun to rope in our Melbournian compatriots to organise one for their city for a bit of simultaneous picnicking action.
The weather was grey and gloomy and hat hair was imminent, but still we gathered with our fabulous head pieces. My aim was to meet bloggers, not scare the bejesus out of them so out went the black gothic tophat with the awesome face veil and in came a generic summer trilby. But beneath it all, our sole mission (admit it), was to eat and eat lots. With some frigging awesome prizes on offer (including a brand new Kitchenaid, thanks to Nuffnang), Sydney food bloggers took this picnic to epic proportions with an awesome array of crazy hats and some truly amazing dishes.
Top: Lemon Shortbread Tartlets by Fat Belly Club (and winner of 2nd best dessert)
Seriously I was impressed. And astounded. We even had a special cake made for the occasion by Anna of Diary of a Ladybird (the first photo with the awesome fondant blogger decorations!). Needless to say she took out first prize. But special mention also has to go to “Mr Shanks” of Ya Yas Yum Yums for their equally adorable cupcakes adorned with hats. I was exploding from cuteness overload.
Ok, I’m not a squealer, but I’m going to squeal at this *wheee!*
And then there were fish cakes. Magical fish cakes. As soon as I tasted it, I knew it was a winner and I just wanted more and more. Even after my subsequent dessert orgy and being on the brink of death from a food coma, I still wanted them. I was absolutely thrilled to announce the winner and the ecstatic reaction from the awesome Anita from No Red Meat at winning the top prize absolutely made my day. A totally deserving (and gracious) winner!
Top: *Those* Fish cakes by No Red Meat
We had adorable cookie monster cupcakes, cheesecakes, brownies galore, s’more tarts, blue sangria, pastry pies, cake pops, Malaysian kuihs, pad thai, tea-mirasu in chocolate cups, “blue-schetta”, more cakes, smoked bacon dulce de leche slice, two varieties of Momofuku pork buns, mini burgers, salmon blinis… holy cow… I love eating with food bloggers!
As for our hats, we partied with Gaga, Carmen Miranda, bunnies, ninjas, China men, gangstas in baseball caps, hipsters in trilbys and fedoras, racing fillies, a gingerbread man and witches. Cheers for getting into the theme!
Top: Cookie Monster cupcakes by Jacq of Penguin Says Feed Me
Jebus, judging all the food was definitely not the worst job in the world and it was absolutely worth the pain of well, eating everything in site. I’m kicking myself that I didn’t take more photos of our culinary spread because it definitely deserves another ogling.
Momofuku heaven!
A thousand thank yous to all you crazy Sydney food bloggers for making this picnic awesome. You all rock in your own unique way. And to our Melbourne colleagues, hope you all had a blast in your picnic too! Cheers to our Melbourne organisers, Penny, Michele and Thanh for jumping on board with us. And of course to my partner-in-crime for being the mastermind behind this whole event.
Finally, a huge thank you to our prize sponsors:
- Nuffnang
- Alio
- Aperitivo
- Balzac Restaurant
- Bel Mondo
- Chef’s Armoury
- Chophouse
- Kingsleys Steak and Crabhouse
- MUMU
- Wasamedia
{ 30 comments… read them below or add one }
You guys are so Phuoc'n AMAZING!!! Thank you so much for organising such an awesome event, you guys definitely had a hard job being the judges.
Thanks once again for my prize, you don't know how much of a buzz I got from that. Lots of blogging love. Heres to many more fantastico eating adventures to come!
My favourite from all the photos I've seen of the Sydney picnic so far is most certainly the food bloggers cake. Fondant skills of godly levels!
happy birthday! And great round up. :)
twas a great picnic dudes! awesome work!
thanks for including my squashed cake!
Ooh I was waiting for your write-up! If you're squealing, you can be the rest of us non-food-bloggers peering in are squealing with gastronomic envy. Congrats to you & Billy for pulling off such an amazing event =]
Hi Karen, It was lovely meeting you on Saturday! Thanks again for being part of organising such a fun and successful event!
Sydney food bloggers rock :D
Gorgeous pics Karen! I'm impressed that you guys tried everything! I was so impressed with everything there, I have to start whipping up something for next years ;)
Can't thank you enough for organising karen :). The day awesome coz of the organisers ;)
Thank you again for organising the picnic! Aaaah, that was another painful reminder of all the food I ate ;)
Awesome fun, kudos to you too Karen for the effort! Gorgeous pics even while juggling sampling all the food!
Lots of fun! You know I'll get my ears and tail out for you any day =D (Same goes for Ninja with his skirt =p)
Thanks for organising the event, Karen! As I am scrolling down the page, I would stuff myself silly with all the good food in a heartbeat! :-)
Thanks for organising the picnic! was heaps of fun and so great to meet new faces :)
Many thanks for organising this awesome event. Appreciate your commitment to Sydney foodbloggers. Cheers for the shout-out too for my cupcake attempt :)
Karen and Billy, well done guys on an awesome meet up that sadly I missed.
The spread looks so creative and impressive! I'm getting hungry just looking at this post.. I wish I went!
Thanks for getting everyone together! And good job on trying everything!!
Thanks for organising this! It was a fantastic picnic, I'm so impressed that all the judges managed to try everything! Despite not eating breakfast, I still could't fit in everything!
Awesome event the two of you organised and what a way to start your b'day celebrations.
Kudos for all the effort organising thing.
So, same time next year? :)
what a delicious round up of the event… so hungry now!
Oh wow! A foodies galore and the amazing creativity.
wonderful cakes.. they all look stunning and delicious! well done everyone.
Thanks to you and Billy for organising such an awesome AWESOME event! It was such a success woohoohoo!
Thank you so much for organising such an awesome afternoon and of course for voting for my fish cakes. I absolutely love my new kitchen aid!!!!! It was really nice seeing you again too.
ooohhh I forgot to mention that is an awesome photo of my fish cakes!!!! Way better than my photos. I soooo need a new camera!
Argh– love love love. SO much effort goes into something like this. Everything looks amazing- esp little ladybird's cake. I'm going to pop on over to her blog to tell her so! ooo and those momofuku pork buns look fab! Would it be wrong to eat them for breakfast this morning?
Fantastic round up!! .. DAmn missed the momofuku buns!!
Good work guys!! and boooo missed out on quite a few dishes :(
hi there, i've added this post to our festival round-up http://tiny.cc/siff-wk2