Second stop Aldi - Today is ski gear sale - one word would describe the first day of the ski gear sale @ Aldi "madness". Stores open at around 8 am and by the time I arrived around 10 am the Aldi store at Chatswood in the Westfield Shopping Centre was chaos. All the ski gear in every crate had already been turned upside and inside out making it so difficult to find a pair of ski pants from amongst the ski jackets. I couldn't be bothered nor had the time to scrumage through each and every crate of ski gear just to find a pair of ladies black softshell size 8 or small ski pants so managed to find a pair of medium or size 10 black ladies softshell ski pants and went straight to the registers with it in hand to queue up with everyone else. I can always come back later and take my time and scrumage to my hearts content to try and find the pair I really want and exchange it. Getting to the Royal Botanic Gardens on time for the Aboriginal Bush Food Experience by 1 pm (a paid event) was my priority today.
(Tempted to take a photo of the Aldi ski gear sale on but didn't )
Since it was wet and I had no idea how long it will take me to walk down to the Learning Centre inside the Royal Botanic Gardens, I thought I would leave myself at least 1 hour in order to arrive on time. I think I will only have time for a toliet break when I arrive.
To be continued.
I arrived about 30 minutes early but the Learning Centre door was locked so I walked around first to find a toliet as there were none near by and then had a look at the Margaret Flockton Prize exhibition which "celebrates the extraordinary field of contemporary scientific botanical illustration" from around the world .
Wow - I could never draw like that - so much detail. I returned after the Aboriginal Bush Food Experience to have another look at the exhibition. Rating : 8/10. One of the many interesting free things to see and do @ the Royal Botanic Gardens .
On my way back from the toliets @ Palm Grove a 3 minute walk away from the learning centre building and Margaret Flockton Award exhibition (on 6th May - 28th May 2017) , I spotted a sizable lizard of some type amongst the gardens who was more then happy to pose for some selfies whilst sunbaking - the sun had come out and the rain had disappeared making it the perfect day to be out and about amongst the Royal Botanic Gardens. Was it a water dragon ? It was wondering near a water source.
Photos attached.
Unfortunately the above experience went overtime and I did not have an opportunity to view the All About Flowers (Winter floral display) from the inside of The Calyx as it was already closed therefore I could only take photos from the viewing window from outside. ( refer to my previous blog in Nov 2016 under Open Sydney and their first exhibition "Sweet Addiction" which was all about the origins of chocolate that was on at The Calyx. 😊🍫🍬)
Photos attached below - Yep It is indeed "All About (the) Flowers"!
Number Of People That Booked To Attend This Event : a group of 7 people booked to attend this event today including myself however there were 2 no shows.
Cost & Value For Money : As a non member it cost $80 and compared to all other food and wine events I have attended this event which was a 2 hour event running between 1 pm and 3 pm was a little overpriced for its inclusions. A cost of between $30 - $40 would have been more reasonable. The event is on again twice in June. Would I do it again? No because I am unable to attend on either of the 2 dates in June due to a heavy June schedule of other events to attend and places of interest I will be visiting and not if it cost another $80 as a non member. I may consider doing it again if offered a reasonable discount , refund or complimentary ticket. (Readers of my blogs may also be aware that if I have a really bad experience at an event, activity, tour or place visited I am not shy to lodge a formal written complaint to the company involved and yes I was given a refund on at least one occasion for the worst day tour I had ever been on).
Suitability of Location and Venue where event was held : on the website the meeting point was at The Learning Centre (which is called The Education Centre on the map) . For me being a first timer attending this event and to the Learning Centre, it wasn't easy to find within the Royal Botanical Gardens. When I arrived the door to Learning Centre was locked and there wasn't anyone around to ask and answer any questions I had, however one staff member working next door at the Margaret Flockton Prize exhibition was finishing at 1 pm and was more then happy to assist me. There were also several programs and events happening at the same time from the Learning Centre which created a little more confusion. Once each guide or host was present there was less confusion. I was beginning to wonder if I was the only person booked on the Aboriginal Bush Food Experience as everyone else waiting outside the Learning Centre was either doing a Botanical Art Class or Kids Art class. To be honest I didn't really think the Learning Centre was the best venue for this event as there was no proper kitchen set up. The sink was shared out the back with other programs. An electric skillet, benchtop oven and hot plates were used along the back bench with all sorts of paraphernalia on it for all the other programs and events and trestle tables were set up for the event. Our host for the event had trouble with the power plug . We were advised that there had been a change from the original venue of Rathborne Lodge for this event due to its closure. This may have affected the quality of the event delivered eg less "making do with what was available" and scrumaging around for utensils required.
Administration and Information Available to Attendees Online/Offline :
I found the Aboriginal Bush Food Experience a little difficult to find online as there were so many other free and paid events, tours and activities going on at the Royal Botanic Gardens simultaneously during the months of May and June. Once I found it though it was easy to book online as it was through one of the more commonly used online event booking and ticketing systems which sends you a confirmation email within a few minutes. However I found the following information online a little frustrating and it could be partially due to the design of the Royal Botanic Gardens website being incompatible across all platforms used or just administrative oversight in general.
Firstly the maps of the Royal Botanical Gardens I found very difficult to view especially zooming in and out as well as moving it up or down using a touch screen on my smart phone.
Secondly I found the description of what the Aboriginal Bush Food Experience was about a little vague. What I expected and what I actually experienced during the 2 hour event were quite different. There were no foraging identification notes or recipes distributed prior, during or after the event although attendees were advised that after completing the "Monkey Survey" (that is not actually what it is called but that is what I have named it) to be sent to us via email, these would be available online.
Below is an extract from the Royal Botanic Gardens website
"Aboriginal Bush Food Experience
Join our passionate Aboriginal guides to discover how to incorporate native Australian bush foods with everyday ingredients. Use a traditional coolamon to gather seasonal fruits, seeds, berries, native vegetables and plants from around the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney before learning about traditional food preparation methods and tasting your very own bush food infused recipes.
Gain a greater understanding of Aboriginal heritage and culture as well as connection to country on this unique Aboriginal Bush Food Experience in the heart of Sydney.
This experience will run on Saturday 3rd or Saturday 17th June 2017 from 1:00 - 3:00pm.
- Location:
- The Learning Centre, Royal Botanic Garden Sydney
- Age:
- Recommended for adults
- Transport info:
- Public transport recommended. Limited parking available.
- Price:
- Members $72 per person | Non-members $80 per person
- Contact:
- aboriginal.programs@rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au
- More info:
- Bookings essential online "
Finally, we didn't actually use a coolamon to go foraging for native fruits seeds and vegetables etc to bring back and incorporate into recipes due to a few issues with spraying and clearing around the Royal Botanic Gardens. Dubbed the "Warrigal GreensGATE" incident (read caption below "damper disaster". ) Apparently spraying in the gardens is to prevent tick infestations. Most of the Aboriginal Bush Food Experience was from commercially available frozen and dried products. I think attendees were getting a bit curious with breaking up and tasting dried whole bush tomatos straight from a plastic dispenser marked with a best before date of 2016 - I was the one who suggested we check the expiry date - It was still safe to eat BB not EXP date - most dried nuts seeds and spices last indefinitely according to "The Atomic Grastonomic - Food Ideas For The Post Apocalyptic Kitchen". I refrained from chewing on one to taste it though but used my sense of smell instead.
After a request we did go out for a walk around the Royal Botanic Gardens after main and before dessert while the dried Quandong slightly burnt (caramelised) syrup was cooling.
The walk was quite informative however it would have been more informative with some sort of foraging plant identification information sheet. Our host was really good at finding a rare finger lime amongst numerous finger lime trees which attendees were keen to taste - some would have eaten the whole finger lime if given the opportunity and not shared it - I have to admit it was quite tasty and the highlight of the walk.
I question whether or not a Thai Green Fish Curry using lemon myrtle served with boiled rice infused with lemon myrtle or a lemon myrtle cordial made with sparkling water mixed with what looked like commerically available lemon squash or a vanilla ice cream with roasted macadamia nuts and a caramelised dried quandong syrup are considered " learning about traditional food preparation methods". Nor was the use of an electric skillet, benchtop oven and hot plates. The only menu item even close to " traditional food preparation methods" was the damper which was delicious although it didn't incorporate any Warrigal Greens - so very disappointed as I was looking forward to tasting and comparing it to spinach or rocket. Where was the outdoor open fire pit similar to the ones present at the Eel Festival I attended out at Elizabeth Farm Parramatta (refer to my previous blog for details) ?
Food Handling and Safety - I was a little concerned about this during the event in particular the following
Being allergic to shell fish and being lactose intolerant I had noted this when I made my original booking online however this was overlooked at the event which meant the host had to adapt the main meal of thai fish and prawn green curry with lemon myrtle to just fish. However for dessert the vanilla ice cream with roasted macadamias and dried Quandong caramelised syrup could not be adapted so I went without and just had a spoonful of the perfectly made sticky caramelised quandong syrup which tasted like toffeed dates. Yum!
The first thing I noticed when I sat down was my main meal plate had a sticky patch on it which I put my hand on and so did the attendee sitting next to me's plate however I was able to swap my dirty plate with one of the no show plates which were not much better. I made a decision which the attendee sitting next to me also followed to use the smaller plastic disposable plate for the main meal of Thai green fish curry instead.
The main meal of thai green fish curry with lemon myrtle was great considering the lemon myrtle also came from a commercially available product and not picked off the trees in the Royal Botanic Gardens because the trees were too tall to climb and pick leaves off. However there was a slight issue when a fellow attendee noticed and that I also dubbed "celeryGate" which was the chopped up pieces of celery used were brown and looked like they had been sitting at the bottom of the fridge for a while. I avoided these but I also questioned the expiry dates of the fish and prawns which should be both fine due to them being frozen and cooked straight away ( Unsure about this haven't read the refridgerator section of "The Atomic Grastonomic - Food Ideas For The Post Apocalyptic Kitchen" yet. )
I also hoped that the plastic cones used to hold the vanilla roasted macadamias and Quandong syrup were clean and had not been used for other purposes - where they came from I have no idea.
Level of Customer Service and Customer Satisfaction : Not really a problem - staff seemed friendly and confident. Our host adapted very well with the change in venue and having to make do with equipment available, attendee allergies and of course Warrigal GreensGate - you could see her frustration of lack of resources to work with. Her passion for education and Aboriginal culture was exceptional. Her damper making skills were pretty good which made me wonder when it came out on a serving board whether it was one prepared earlier and by someone else perhaps! She ran the Aboriginal Bush Food Experience on her own very well when normally she would have been the assistant - A promotion from Sous Chef to Head Chef at the last minute - we all forgive her for burning the Quangong Syrup for the dessert as it turned out better that way. Who's that celebrity chef that always says "It's not burnt it's caramelised!"?
This was my favourite the "disaster damper". It wasn't really but the "star ingredient" (as they would say on Masterchef) was the Warrigal Greens and it had to substituted today with olives because the gardeners had uprooted almost all of it from the gardens outside and sprayed the remaining patches rendering it poisonous to cook with. The damper looked and tasted fantastic in the end even with just olives and Bush Tomatos.
Main was a green thai fish and prawn curry using Lemon Myrtle leaves accompanied by rice infused with lemon myrtle leaves. Due to attendee allergies to prawns these were left out and more frozen fish was added into the sauce.
Drinks was a sparkling lemon myrtle infused cordial (non alcoholic)
I think dessert (which initially was served in sophisticated plastic cones using spoons) was our favourite part of the event - evident by this attendee on her 3rd or 4th serving licking the bowl clean of what was left of the vanilla and roasted macadamia ice cream served with a caramelized quandong syrup which was accidently burnt by our host distracted by conversation but in the process making it taste so much better when completely left to cool after a brief group bush food foraging expedition outside in the sunshine around the Royal Botanic Gardens.
After the Aboriginal Bush Tucker event, I went with 2 of the other attendees to photograph and look at some of the other sections of the Royal Botanic Gardens (including the exterior of The Calyx) as the gardens were open until 5.30 pm today before walking to Wynyard Station and catching the train home.
Photos attached.
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