Join Jill and Nick as they take you behind the scenes to see where your food actually comes from!

We were very happy to provide two FoodPath activities for Peppers Manor House as part of their Food Trail package on the Australia Day weekend. Daniel James, Head Chef at Katers Restaurant at Peppers Manor House is a strong supporter of local produce, sourcing it as much as he can and identifying it on the menu. We provided a tour of the Bowral Market for a group of 24 in the morning and in the afternoon put on a Gelato Workshop with Luigi De Luca and his daughter Virginia from Cremeria de Luca in Five Dock. It was a fun day and we enjoyed it very much.

We joined the group for a three course long table Lunch at Katers Restaurant which was delicious.

We have a few spaces available this month for Celebration Sunday at Biota Dining due to a cancellation.
This is a popular day - with some people coming back again and again.
A nice way to spend the last Sunday of the month meeting our wonderful local food producers at the market in the restaurant garden in the morning, followed by a delicious 3 course lunch of shared platters at our FoodPath communal table.
If you would like to join us contact us - www.foodpath.com.au, info@foodpath.com.au or m: 0419 617 021

Or - make a weekend of it and come on our Truffle Tour on Sat 27 July as well!

We recently had a couple along on our table at Celebration Sunday at Biota who had received it as a gift from a friend. They were "farm sitting" sitting while she went overseas.
Apparently they loved it because I received the nicest message today from the friend -

"Jill, I've just gotten back from my trip and can't thank you enough for looking after my friends so well. It was the highlight of their stay, they said it was so well run and everyone was very friendly. It was their "best dining experience ever".  They enjoyed it so much that Ann is planning to come back and do the same Tour with her mother, I am hoping to tag along with them too! Thanks again - wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone else".

It is feedback like this that makes it all worthwhile - thanks Dru.

Wow, what a big day at Biota Dining in Bowral today for Celebration Sunday.
There were five new stalls at the Produce Market in the restaurant garden which is growing each month. These included truffles from Marulan, beef from Sutton Forest, horseradish and chilli products from Goulburn, fine food from Moss Vale and jams from Harrington Park - all fabulous.

This is probably the last market this season that we will see the Highland Gourmet Potatoes from Wildes Meadow and delicious Filbert Farm hazelnuts from Werai. We will have to wait patiently for them to come again next season. It makes you appreciate them all the more when they are not available all the time. Don't you agree?

We had a huge group on the FoodPath long table for lunch today - twenty two, our largest to date! All went well and everyone enjoyed themselves; and the food was delicious again.
However, we think we will limit numbers in future so the group is more manageable and everyone can meet and greet as they would like to. We are not really about large groups - more about friendly intimate experiences :)
So - we already have bookings coming in for next month Sun 26 Aug, so if you want to join us please don't delay in case you miss out. Contact us from the website to book www.foodpath.com.au.
Price: $55 Time: 10.30 Market Tour, 12.30 lunch.

Well we had a great day today at Biota Dining - thanks guys for looking after us so well!
The market in the garden was bigger and better than ever and had some new producers -

• Top 40 Orchard from Wollondilly
• Maytree Wines from Canyonleigh
• Highland Organics cheese from Moss Vale
• BD Bakery with their huge range of breads and 
• Wollondilly Farmgate with a range of products

All good stuff and so fresh!
The regulars who were there included:

• Apple Thief Cider with Granny Smith and Pink Lady Cider and their Pear Cider
• Reg and Lauren from Filbert Farm with raw and roasted hazelnuts from Werai
• Norman and Robyn with a huge range of potatoes from Wildes Meadow
• Michael McNamara from Pecora Dairy on Jamberoo Pass with sheep's milk cheese
• Bruce Hindmarsh from Canyonleigh with olive products 
• Joe from the Hospital Shoppe in Bowral with a range of home made jams and cakes
• Veronica from Flour Water Salt with their great bread
• Katrina from Redleaf Farm with free range lamb from Fitzroy Falls. Katrina also supplies the free range suckling pigs for the spit that are served with lunch
• Fresh lemonade from Lola and her Mum, and more!

This month Biota were selling a delicious parfait of chicken livers in a glass jar and pork rolls that looked yummy. We bought some parfait to take home.

 After the market we headed inside to join our group of ten at the FoodPath table.
The lunch was delicious again! Several platters of different dishes that were shared. I will let the photos speak for themselves.
If you are interested in joining us at Biota next month just let us know and we will send you a booking form.
Date: Sun 29 July
Time: 10.30 for a tour of the market and 12.30 for lunch
Price: $55
To book: Contact us from www.foodpath.com.au or email info@foodpath.com.au

Today we had another Market to Table Tour. We normally have these on the 2nd Sat of the month. We start with a tour of the market in Bowral where Jill talks about each local producer and takes you to meet them. Patricia buys the ingredients for the lunch. Then we moved on to the Fitzroy Inn for a cooking class and lunch.
Today there was a new stallholder with smoked meats from Camden way. Very good.
Pecora Dairy - a very new ewe's milk cheese maker was represented by The Cheese Store who have a shop but also take a stall at the market because it is so popular!

What a great bunch of people in our tour group today - 4 members of one family - a Italian mother with a daughter and 2 daughters-in-law! Two friends who came together. One solo male whose wife joined us for lunch. He had been given the tour by his children, what a nice gesture! A happy and enthusiastic bunch.
Patricia chose Moroccan as the theme for lunch today and the menu was:

• Lamb Kefta with Yoghurt sauce
• Chicken Lemon and Fennel Tagine
• Apple, Fig and Walnut Pastries

What a busy week!
First we have had a group of 17 women come on a customised tour with us while their partners played golf. That was a new itinerary which was a great success and we will definitely be repeating!
We ran TWO Farmers Market Tours yesterday at Bowral Public School! One was as part of a Market to Table Tour and was followed by a cooking class with Patricia from the Blue Bowl Cooking School and a long table lunch.

Thirlmere Poultry has been going for over 40 years and John and Jeanie represent them at the Bowral market

Patricia bought the ingredients at the market and these included free range duck, minced free range pork, organic shallots and other vegies, blood oranges, rhubarb and prawns (up from Wollongong).
The meal had an Asian theme and the group made -

•  Steamed Prawn Dumplings with the pork and prawn, with black vinegar dressing
• Mushroom Fried Rice using the shiitake, oyster and swiss brown mushrooms from the Mittagong mushroom tunnel (we have a tour to the tunnel scheduled for Tues 25 Oct)
• Szechuan Duck which was so tender and delicious
• Blood Orange Sorbet served with rhubarb which had been cooked in the juice of the oranges.

Enjoying the fruits of their labour the group lingered over lunch at Fitzroy Inn. Great to see the men cooking!

We were all given a book with the recipes and some useful information about the produce - AND we got to take the apron home!
Thanks Patricia!
I am looking forward to the next one which is on Sat 8 Oct. Contact us from the website for bookings or more info www.foodpath.com.au.
The website for Patricia at the Blue Bowl Cooking School is www.bluebowl.com.au

This Saturday we have our first Market to Table Tour with the Blue Bowl Cooking School. We have checked out who will be at the Bowral Public School produce market and Patricia has decided on the recipes - so all that remains now is for us to find the ingredients and take them back to the Fitzroy Inn for our cooking class and lunch.
I am looking forward to this.
We will be having these once a month so let us know if you are interested?

On request we have developed an extra FoodPath Tour on Sat 2 October - the Sat of the long weekend.
We are offering this in 4 options, in case you don't have all day.