A Quick Stop In Adelaide - A Wedding, Pizza & Maggie Beer

Hi everyone! I know I'm meant to be on my first proper holiday in nearly two years (I haven't been on holiday since I started this blog!), but I was getting so sad looking at my poor, neglected little blog. So I thought I'd share a few pictures from the 3 quick days I spent in Adelaide for the Australian leg of my brother's wedding. I really loved the small amount of time we spent there, all the gorgeous old buildings and so many flowers. It was a welcome change from Sydney, whose crowded streets and overrated restaurants with useless conceited front-of-house staff I had become slightly weary of lately. My brother had his ceremony at Carrick Hill, a heritage estate with the most amazing grounds. It was so unbelievably picturesque, I can understand why the bride always wanted her wedding to be held here. I can't wait to see how the wedding photos turned out, but for now I'll have to do with the ones I took on my old crappy point and shoot.

Carrick Hill, Springfield

We had been worried about the weather because the entire week before the wedding was cold and threatening to rain, but the morning of the wedding had peeks of sunshine and only a slightly chilly breeze. And the sun was so bright by the end of afternoon the bride was sun burnt after going around Adelaide taking wedding photos!

The signing table

The bride's bouquet and bling

There was even a cute family of duckies! But what you don't see is the other big duck outside of the frame which was giving us the stink eye and then proceeded to charge forward at A as soon as his back was turned.

The pretty marquee where canapés and drinks were served - none of which I can remember or took any photos of because my heels were killing me. But they were very tasty and disappeared fast!

GoodLife Pizza, North Adelaide

The night before we stopped by GoodLife in North Adelade, which is this great organic pizza place. It was very relaxed, somewhere you could meet up with friends and spend ages chatting and eating. And the service was fantastic!

“Taste SA” -- A Starter Plate from SA's Wine Regions ($8.40 per person)

From the Barossa- “Ballycroft Soft Curd Style Cheese”

From McLaren Vale- “Spicy Eggplant Relish”

From the Foothills- “Warm Haloumi Slices”

From the Adelaide Hills- “Olive Tapenade”

From the Barossa- “Smoked Duck Breast and Balsamic Glaze”

From Willunga- “Warm Spicy Chorizo on GoodLife Dukkah”

Please excuse the super shitty photos. It was frustrating getting used to my old small camera again! I insisted on getting the starter plate as soon as I saw the menu, I have a huge obsession with haloumi and olive tapenade. Everyone was pleased with me once we starting tucking into it, everything was absolutely delicious. I especially liked the idea of each of the different dips being sourced from a different region of Adelaide. The warm fresh bread was so great when slathered with the tangy spicy eggplant relish, or the salty, rich olive tapenade. The soft curd cheese was creamy and light while the thin slices of fried haloumi had that beautiful bounce as you bit into it. The smoked duck breast was fragrant and really matched the balsamic glaze, but I swear there was an Asian flavour to the glaze like they had added a bit of hoisin to it. It was fantastic whatever it was. I couldn't eat the dukkah but the chorizo was fried until it was crunchy and so moreish.

Swiss Brown Mushrooms Pizza (12-inch, $22.90) - Marinated in organic balsamic vinegar with an organic lemon aioli garnish

As a mushroom lover, this pizza was heavenly. The thick slices of mushroom were meaty and juicy, and I loved the huge dollops of creamy lemon aioli. LOVE! We also had a great chicken pizza with roasted potato and a ton of shaved parmesan. The chicken was cooked to perfection but I didn't think it really needed the chunks of potato.

Maggie Beer's Farm Shop

The day after the wedding, we hopped in the car for a quick drive to the Barossa Valley. I had to visit Maggie Beer's farm while we were there, and I wasn't disappointed. The only thing that would have made it better is if Maggie had been there! But it was still great fun. There are so many free samples available of all her products in the farm shop, I had to try everything. My favourites included all her pâtés, as they have a much wider rage of pâté compared to the ones they sell in regular stores in Sydney, and the kalamata olive biscuits were fantastic too; like a savoury shortbread. The blood orange marmalade was so good that I was super sad that I didn't have any space in my luggage to buy some.

Wheeeee! I ♥ freebies!

Chicken and Rosemary Pate Picnic Basket ($15.00) - Chicken and Rosemary Pate with cornichons, freekah salad and wood oven bread + Porcini Mushroom & Verjuice Pate Picnic Basket ($15.00) - Porcini Mushroom and Verjuice Pate with gruth cheese, freekah salad and wood oven bread

We stayed here for an early lunch; it was pretty quiet since we went on a Friday, but apparently it gets really crowded on the weekends and it's not a very large space. All her pâtés are available as part of these adorable picnic baskets that they pack for you, which includes fresh fluffy bread rolls, cheese and salad. The bread was so good with the pâté that we had to buy extra rolls.

Seasonal Cheese Picnic Basket ($15.00)-Maggie's seasonal cheese choice with quince paste, fresh fruit and walnut bread roll

A demanded that we get a cheese picnic basket to try, which turned out to be a great choice. The cheese wasn't anything special, just a nice cheddar, but it went to well with my favourite quince paste and the little tub of tomato chutney that we got in our basket.

Homemade Pheasant Terrine ($18.00) - Pheasant and porcini mushroom terrine wrapped in sour cream pastry with salad greens, Vino Cotto vinaigrette and Maggie's Cabernet Sauce

The only warm savoury food available was her famous Pheasant Terrine pastries. OMFG. That was pretty much all I was saying as I was stuffing my face with this. They were freshly out of the oven and the pastry was golden, butter and super crisp. The pheasant terrine was rich with flavour and the cabernet sauce cut through the richness so well. Most of the stuff they sell on the menu is available to buy in bottles from the store, including that lovely cabernet sauce, which is very smart of them. After all that food I was a bit bummed that I was too full to have some of her awesome ice cream flavours, but instead we had a stroll around her land which had all sorts of birds, including peacocks and chickens which were running around loose. I loved the relaxed, rustic feel of the entire area.

It's not everyday that you see a peacock patrolling a carpark

A pheasant with particularly impressive plumage

This guy was roaming around freely

After this we stopped by a few wineries for some tastings (of course), and spent a good amount of time admiring the scenery, but the farm was still my favourite part of the whole day. I wish I had a couple more days to spend in Adelaide as we didn't get to eat out at many places and I had only the shortest visit to the Central Markets, which seemed AWESOME and made me wish we had that kind of produce available in Sydney. Now I'm all the way in Malaysia, which is pretty much the exact opposite of Adelaide. Stay tuned for updates on my KL trip!