WIAW: London Food and Wine Show.

January 16, 2013 by betterwithsprinklesblog 47 Comments

Good morning!

Being that it’s Wednesday, we all know what that means.

Yup – WIAW time. Thanks to Jenn for hosting!

So, today’s WIAW is from last Saturday. When I was at home in London over the weekend, I went to the London Food and Wine Show with my mom and my aunt. I’ve been going to the event every year since I was 19, and it’s one of my absolutely favourites. My favourite wines and my favourite local restaurants all in one place? Definitely can’t go wrong with that. Prepare for a picture-heavy post!

Breakfast

One of the awesome things about being at home: My mom makes me breakfast.

Toast, an over-easy egg, bacon, and a clementine (yes, she even peeled it for me. Love it). Accompanied with orange juice and chai tea.

A few hours later, it was off to the show.

We arrived early, around 1 pm. We wanted to get a chance to wander before the crowds got to heavy.

First munch:

Chicken liver pate on a cracker from Sticky Pudding Catering Co. My mom loves pate, but I’d never really tried it before – not bad, but not really my thing.

The first wine tasting of the day. Voga Moscato – a dessert wine, so on the sweeter side with a little hint of bubbliness to it. Delicious!

Other wines I tried:

• Girls Night Out Riesling: I had tried GNO fruit wines before, but I hadn’t tried their regular line. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t particularly special to me.
• Coyote’s Run 5-Mile: A combination Riesling, Pinot Blanc, and Gewurtztraminer. Probably my favourite of the day – I love a good Riesling. It was the only Niagara region winery at the show, which is a tad disappointing. Apparently, there was an Icewine festival in Niagara that same weekend, so most wineries weren’t able to come.
• Wooden Bear L Winery Apple/Cherry – the description stated that it was like a Zinfendel, but all I could taste was cherry. Not bad, but a little weird.

And I should note, All one-two ounce pours. Making sure I’m still on my toes.

In addition to wine, I also tried the new Forty Creek cream liquor.

It reminded me of Baileys – you can never go wrong with that!

The Food

And..more food.

From the Windjammer Inn:

Sheep’s Milk Gouda with crackers, a Sangria jelly, and bacon and onion chutney. Oh my goodness, that chutney was amazing. And I’m finding that I actually prefer goat and sheep’s milk cheeses to cows – I like the extra tanginess it has.

Chelsea had been to the event the night before, and made sure to inform me of the awesome meatball from Gusto. Of course, my mom and I made a point to track it down.

She was not kidding – this was amazing! Stuffed with cheese and topped with more cheese – definitely my style.  I hadn’t heard of the restaurant before, and talking to the chef, I found out that it’s only been in London a few months. I’m definitely going to have to seek it out next time I’m in town. I’ve been looking at the rest of the menu online and oh goodness – I need to go there.

When I spot Mexican food, I pretty much have to have it.

Cheese quesadilla and guacamole. Unfortunately, I can’t remember the name of the company – they’re a catering company that don’t currently have a storefront. However, they should get one, so I can buy buckets of that guacamole. It was almost pureed, which was interesting, but it was heavy on the lime, the cilantro and the heat – exactly the way I liked it. My mom was a big fan too (she had her own quesadilla)…so this happened.

Yup, we got a coffee cup and paid a few tickets to have it filled it with guacamole. Desperate times? I got to walk around the rest of the day with a coffee cup full of guac. Awesome.

Next!

 

A bacon wrapped scallop from The Braywick Bistro that my mom and I shared. I have been meaning to go this place for so long and I haven’t gotten around to it yet! I always try their food at these sorts of events and they always impress me.

And then…it was cheese tasting time.

While it was a cool experience, the woman leading the seminar reaaaally sped through it. As in, it was 15 minutes long. I would just be figuring out what cheese we were on and she’d be moving onto the next one. The two that particularly stood out to me were the Le Lobtiniere (top right) and the Raclette Tranchee Oignons Rotis & Poivre (bottom left). Apparently, I am a big fan of Quebec cheese.

After the seminar, I ran into my old boss. He had a stand at the show, so it was nice to catch up with him. And eat more cheese.

Taken post-nibbling: An old cheddar and a goat’s gouda flavoured with garlic. Both old favourites of mine!

I’d had my fill of cheese and wine by this point, but clearly, I needed to search out dessert.

A rum pop:

(amazing, by the way)

And a Belgian s’more – A marshmallow fluff-like filling with pecans, dipped in chocolate.

S’mores might be one of my favourite desserts in the world. Sweet tooth satisfied.

We were at the show for almost 4 hours, and it definitely did not disappoint. Already looking forward to next year!

Dinner

By the time dinner rolled around, I wasn’t really hungry, but I knew I had to eat something or else I would be randomly snacking all night.

I threw together a small salad with leftover roast beef and a tzatziki yogurt dressing. It worked for me!

If you follow me on Instagram, you would have seen that Saturday night was all about a girls’ night with my best friend. It was a night of champagne, Fragoli, girl talk and Bridesmaids.

And 11:30 pm popcorn accompanied by The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants.

Clearly, a great day of food! And now I’m thinking about that s’more again…

<— Out of all my Food and Wine show eats/drinks, what looks most appealing to you?

<— How awesome is it when someone else makes you breakfast? Seriously, lovely.