Royal Adelaide Show 2012

Hi guys! Hope you have all been to the show this year. I was ridiculously sick for two weeks and just got better for the last day of the show.  Anyway, on the afternoon of the very last day of the show, my wife and I went there and had a bit look around. The show this year, however, was not as good as last year. It still showcased the agricultural part of SA though. This year I didn’t go to all the traditional competitions, ie. wood cutting, pig racing etc, but instead I went on some wine and food match courses. It is sometime good to see what I works on everyday impact ordinary people and that’s what I always agreed – Science should go out of the labs and go to the general audiences.

Entry point – very busy for the afternoon~_~

 

 

 

The pigs – the 2 black little pigs are the junior champions! 😀

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A beautiful horse

 

 

A cute alpaca – this one was especially cute. When ppl touches his back, he turned around dramatically slow to look around. 😀 In the previous years, there used to be heaps of alpacas around. However, I didn’t find much this year. Maybe that’s how it is on the last day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The little train – $3 each way or $5 both ways

 

 

 

Showbags – some of them are half price for the last day. Recommended – the gourmet goodie bag

 

 

General views of the show

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cellar Door Experience

 

The cellar door experience is what I always go from year to year. Why? The reason is simple. I am a wine chemist and deals with wines everyday. It is interesting to know how general audience out there reacts with different wine and food pairing.

 

 

 

 

I attended 2 sessions. One is wine and cheese pairing where the other one is combining wine with smallgoods.

 

 

The wines provided here were not so great and were not fully matured. However, for the aim to check with ability to combine with cheeses, they were good enough. The downside of the story were the cheeses. I didn’t (seriously didn’t) like any of the cheeses, especially the soft ones in the plate. They seemed to have some hard pieces in the outer shell whereas premium cheeses are generally of better quality.

 

The wine and smallgoods combination was quick good actually. The wines, again, were not good, but the smallgoods from Barossa Fine Foods were very nice.

    — The smoked wagyu (on the left in the above picture) was my old favorite and can be used for many purposes. I normally just use them for salads.

   — The duck terrine was cooked using traditional method and gave a good creamy texture and mouthfeel. However, according to the business, there was no cream added to the product. Instead, they blended a tiny amount of duck liver.

   — The Louis XIV tastes very very nice with a soft and tangy texture as well as a sweet hint due to the fermentation and artificially added molds. I normally just buy them and add to any platters.

   — The black forest ham (on the right in the above picture) was a not commercially available product yet but it tasted the best among the four on offer. The ham was molded naturally and then smokes and hence the sweetness of the molds and the smokiness are the two major tastes. Other than that, a hint of herb and mint can be found and the meat went on very well with Aussie Shiraz to balance the bitterness and astringency of  the wine. Black forest hams will be available in Barossa Fine Foods in February.

The food @ the show

1. In the Taste SA, at the Grill, several varieties were offered including satay beef and chicken skewers, pork chops, lamb shank, etc. I ordered two skewers and they were both juicy and nice. However, the lamb shank was a bit too dry and I can taste some bitterness somehow.

 

2. Outside at the food court

 

Most of the food looked not so interesting, so we ordered a chicken paella and a tapa tasting plate. The paella was overly oily and the tapas were super cold, including the pan fried chorizos. No, I didn’t like them.

 

 

 

 

In general, the show this year is not as exciting as last year. Maybe this is because it’s the last day. Anyway, I do hope there will be more exciting food adventures next yr.