A Day at the Fair

The Frost in the Paddock

The last few mornings have been rather cool. We are lucky because the house is rather exposed to the sunlight so when we wake the sun has done it's work. However the roof has had ice on it which is pretty neat! This morning was slightly different - we had frost in the paddock! I haven't seen, or felt, frost since leaving New Zealand and love how the grass crunches under your feet. So the neighbours are not entirely incorrect that it gets cold up here - but it doesn't feel freezing.

After seeing the frost I started making lunch for a couple of people visiting - overnight I decided to make a potato and leek flan/tart. As usual it was all guess work and again I made the pastry from scratch. Just as I finished cooking we received a call cancelling the lunch - hmpf! So while I was rather disappointed it gave us the opportunity to visit the Orara Valley Fair just up the road.

Potato and Leek Flan

Caramelise a finely cut leek using butter and sugar. Deglaze with some white wine and then add finely sliced potato, fennel, and chicken stock. Cook until the potato is tender and the juices evaporated. Let cool and then add 3 eggs and 1 cup of grated cheese. Mix around pour into a pre-cooked pie base. Add some chopped parsley and bake in the oven for about 30mins or until the top is crispy.

The Fair

We had been told that in previous years people have been bogged in the Fair carpark so we took the ute down. Upon arriving we saw our neighbours Renae and Andrew getting their kids ready to visit the fair, so we joined them. Entry was $5 with proceeds going to the local RFS and we were greeting by Elvis (honky tonk style minus the hamburger gut) singing some tunes. It appeared that people from the whole area had come down to see the fair. Unfortunately there wasn't a lot to see or do, and as it happens, eat! I immediately came up with 3 ideas of low cost activities that could have been implemented and think I should get on the committee. Andrew got a pizza that took approx 15 minutes to arrive and Renae got an ice cream for the kids which took about 10 minutes - so not well organised by the owners! We were told there were kebabs around the corner so Myles and I waited.

I'm not sure if his parents have taught him how to get food in his mouth?

There was a demonstration of old farm machinery where it was difficult to stay awake for both the demonstrators and the spectators alike. Next door was a sign promoting 'Hay Rides' a rather large lady was sitting on a bale of hay next to the sign - I naturally thought that was the ride but was disappointed to see a tractor with a trailer on the back packed with hay. Needless to say I thought it was a pretty lame ride seeing I could get into the back of my little tractor for free - and yet there was a huge queue!

The little shops were crap and commercial. Where was the Country Women's Association's stands, where was the cake?! We all lined up at the kebab place and the cashier yelled out "Who wants to order?" The whole queue got rather annoyed that he had to ask because we all wanted to order, about 30 people! 15 minutes later Myles placed our order and waited at the serving area. About 20 minutes after that we worked out the staff were feeding their friends and weren't making our kebabs. Something was said, in not a nice way, and another 10 minutes later we had our kebabs. Not Happy Jan!

After the kebabs were finished we looked around the rest of the fair and then went home to clean the solar panels and cut down some more trees. A rather nice day.