Food
Tasmania – from farmhouses to lighthouses
Australia’s favourite food blogger, Not Quite Nigella, aka Lorraine Elliott, ventures to Tasmania to sample some delightful local delicacies.
I take eating quite seriously. What I mean by that is that should you ever try and skip a meal past me there will be howls of protestation and anxious pawing. There will be a severe loss of concentration and my mind will wander. I may even look at you like you might be a tasty morsel to eat.
Wine tasting is all very fine but for me, wine is infinitely more enjoyable when it is combined with food. And today when we’re in the climatically chilly area of Strahan in Tasmania, we settle down to partake in a little wine and cheese matching.
There are two cheeses from King Island cheese and the rest are the Ashmore cheeses which are produced in Tasmania. Some of the matches were absolutely sublime, particularly the King Island Cape Wickam double brie and the Tamar Ridge Chardonnay and the dessert wine and cheese combination of Frogmore Creek Iced Riesling with the King Island Roaring 40s blue, whilst some of them matched less so.
A little while later we help ourselves to the Strahan Village buffet. I’m not a huge buffet gal but a seafood buffet, well that’s an entirely different creature… There are fresh Tasmanian oysters, ocean trout, smoked salmon as well as a crumbed fish. There is even a scallop waldorf salad! Sadly every time I tried to get a shot of the display it looked a bit depleted despite the fact that they were refilling it in a timely manner. A half eaten buffet makes for some not so pretty pics.
But dinner is consumed quickly as we have other plans later tonight. I have a bit of a thing for lighthouses. I always think that they look so magnificent and, unlike a half eaten buffet display, are very photogenic. And tonight we are headed to Bonnet Island for some little penguin watching. We board the boat and head towards Hell’s Gate which conjures up all sorts of images.