I’ve changed cities for this weekend. I got up at 3:20am on Friday morning to get to the Brisbane airport for an early morning flight to Adelaide in South Australia. If you’re not sure where either place is and you’re American, it’s like flying from Maine to east Texas.
I’m in Adelaide for Eat Drink Blog food blogging conference. This is the third Eat Drink Blog conference and the first time I’ve attended. I’ve really looked forward to meeting and learning from bloggers I’ve been following for ages.
I was excited to meet the charming Charlie Louie from Hotly Spiced and Claire from Claire K Creations. I admire both of them so much. Claire is as cute as can be and anyone who hasn’t read Charlie’s blog is missing a real treat. These are just two of the 80 food bloggers attending the conference. Every one has a story and they’re all fascinating.
I’ve had time to find some food, go for a stroll and take a few photos for you. The conference is being held at the Adelaide Central Markets, the largest under cover market in the southern hemisphere.
I ate lunch at the Markets on Friday. I saw a baguette roll stuffed full of roasted pumpkin, pine nuts and aioli and just had to have it.
Equally exciting was seeing Lipton Iced Tea – virgin pina colada. Some of you might have seen this for a long time but it was new to me and I just had to have it. The only iced tea is found in bottles down here.
The sandwich was too big for me to eat for lunch so I broke the end bit off, pulled a bit of rocket out and took a big bite. The outside of the roll was crunchy but the inside was soft and tender and the caramelized pumpkin was soft and sweet.
Then… an elderly lady (more elderly than I am) walks up with her walking frame and sits opposite me. She took one look at me and my sandwich and in a very thick Russian accent said, “You eat too much.”
I must have looked shocked as I replied, “I’ve been up since 3am and this is the first food I’ve had all day.”
She nodded, looked me up and down and said, “You eat too much, you should have juice like me,” and then went on to tell me how evil was taking over the world. I don’t know about you but at this point my sandwich eating wasn’t so much fun and I left her to talk to someone else.
Today I sat in on a workshop with Dianne Jacob who wrote Will Work for Food where she did her best to help us to become better writers. Lots going on tomorrow and I’ll let you know how it goes.
BWA HAHAHAHA! I’d have told that old lady she talks to bloody much. What a miserable old crazy. I feel bad for juice…if I were juice I wouldn’t want to be associated with her 😉
Hope you have a FANTASTIC time, darling!
LOL it was the highlight of my day. One day all too soon, I’ll be a batty old lady. 🙂
Hahahahahohoho!!! You will never be old, batty or otherwise. I agree with Sage, she talked bloody too much!!!!
EEK what a lady! Looks like a beautiful sandwich anyways! I’m sitting here wondering what it tastes like…argh, it’ll drive me crazy until I have one =)
You should make this sandwich – it’s really simple and I’m having one today. Roasted/caramelized butternut squash, toasted pine nuts, rocket leaves and aioli. It was delicious.
Great photos! Thanks for sharing!
Well, I guess I’ll never be a batty old lady, but batty I am! 😉 This sounds like such a fun conference – I really do need to attend a blogging conference sometime. I’m really curious to hear about your experiences. Really, you should be one of the speakers – you’ve got loads more experience than many people, and although I’m sure you’re having a wonderful time meeting people, I’m wondering how much actual info you’re picking up. But then, meeting people really is priceless. Have a great time, and fill us in on the details!
Hahahaha…you go to Adelaide and you meet mad old women…AND Claire and Charlie! Doesn’t get better than that, does it, Maureen? 😀
I just bought Dianne’s book. Hope you have fun. Whoop it up a little.
Ok wow so that lady needs to stop being slightly nutty – I bet it’s because she doesn’t eat enough and sips prune juice all the time!!!
But on a better note, how I wish I could have made it to the conference it sounds absolutely incredible!!’ Darn school 😉
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
What a rude woman!! It sounds like a great conference and trip around such rudeness though – how lovely to meet people in person for a change 🙂
How lucky you are to be at the conference. It must be so inspiring. What a shame about the sandwich – silly old thing sticking her nose in where it wasn’t wanted. Tell us more about the conference, please.
How rude of that woman to say that. I’m sure you were left speechless.
I’ve had Diane’s book for a couple years. So informative and useful. She was in St. Louis where I live but unfortunately I was out of town when she was here. I heard great things about her.
What a miserable old biddy! I hope she didn’t put a damper on your day. How exciting to meet Charlie, I hope to meet you both one day. Also hoping your room is better than Charlie’s!
People never fail to amaze me… I suppose you should have asked her if she’d like a BITE!
Well that old lady was very much on the batty side…but I’m sure you chuckled all day. Have a great time…I know it will be very interesting.
Bet that “You eat too much” translates as “I’m bloody starving – juice doesn’t keep body and soul together. Giz a bite of yer sandwich luv”. I hope you are enjoying your trip, Maureen, despite being accosted on the street.
Except for the old lady, looks like a fun trip. The fruit stands are wonderful!!!
Aww Maureen you’re too sweet! It was such a pleasure to meet you and I so love that I can hear your voice as I read now. I agree, sounds like she was just jealous of your sandwich.
Look forward to seeing you soon!
Thanks Maureen for the very nice words. It was so good meeting you too. I hope you have a good flight back today. How are things at Fawlty Towers? Has the smell of curry wafted up to the 8th floor yet? Watch out for old women hobbling behind walking frames as you go out to eat today xx
Hi Maureen,
You’re already batty, but in such a good way and you’ll never get old because your spirit is strong. Glad to see you having ab great and well deserved time.
With the exception of that old lady, it sounds like you had a fun trip! Thanks for sharing, Maureen!
You are indeed lucky to be at the conference, i can only imagine how inspiring it must be. I cant believe how someone can stick her nose into your sandwich eating saga.Outright Weird. So are some people.
She was probably a lonely old lady looking for someone to listen to her and validate her existence. She didn’t know what else to say, I suppose. I can only imagine what she’d say to a really fat person!
Wow, how quickly did you get this post up! Well done, you! Great to break bread with you again in Adelaide. Sleep well. If you are anything like me, you are tired and totally sick of eating, LOL.
It was absolutely wonderful to meet you in person on the weekend Maureen and I look forward to,following your blog with increased interest. I hope we get the chance to meet up again soon.
The batty old lady makes us realize what we do not want to be. The remainder of your trip can only be better.
WOW – some people just get really cranky and rude in their old age! You certainly handle here better than I would have. 🙂 Well, have a great time and stay away from old ladies!!!
What a funny story! Hope you had a good time.
Sounds like a wonderful time Maureen and what a fun place to be, everything looks amazing, thanks for sharing!
Maureen,
The story of your “friend” made me laugh. Senior women are the same worldwide, no doubt!
Love Diane Jacob. Enjoy the conference!
i love all the pictures and seeing the places you go! with two little ones I am living and traveling through your blog! LOL!
Hehe did you feel like saying to that lady “You talk too much!”? She sounds awful!
Oh how I laughed when you told me that story (particularly seeing as I’d eaten a huge amount of food that day). Was lovely to meet you! xx
What a crazy lady! I hope you still finished that amazing-looking sandwich though!
That’s a bit rude! hehe it’s weird when people say things like that out of the blue. Sounds like you had a lot of fun and met some awesome people 🙂
Wow, that’s a bit crazy of her. Looks like it was a nice trip and that sandwich looks good I would not have thought of pumpkin on a roll like that but why not. Thanks for stopping by my blog always nice to see a comment from you.
I’ve been looking forward to reading this. I read Charlie’s post today and I became even more curious how you two spent at the conference! Please do share more! Meanwhile thanks for the funny story about the sandwich and the old lady. I am sure you didn’t let her ruin your trip! 😉 Look forward to next post already.
Maureen, I did laugh at the Russian lady but then I wasn’t there. Poor you. Nope. You did the right thing. Beetroot juice or anything would not have had quite the same charm, would it? Sounded a wonderful trip!
Oh my goodness what an awesome trip! Love all of the great photos!
I wish I’d been able to go to this conference so much! How wonderful! I didn’t know that the Adelaide market was the biggest in the southern hemisphere! Wow! I can’t wait to read more of your adventures.
I didn’t either. I thought the Queen Vic in Melbourne was but that’s considered “open air” rather than all undercover. I wish you’d been there too!
Isn’t amazing what we encounter? Yes, all kind of crazy people…and the only way to deal with, is not to take it personally…
Anyway, thanks for sharing the pictures Maureen and have a great week 🙂
It WAS funny, Juliana. The incident entertained both tables beside me too. 🙂
Oooh…what a nasty old lady….was that my ex mother-in-law by chance? I just got chills down my arms!!
Well, I’m intrigued by that sandwich..I may have to try to recreate that, sounds so fitting for the season!! What a fun trip, I’d like some day to meet up with fellow bloggers!
Was she Russian? She might be. 🙂 If anyone’s looking for her, she’s in Adelaide. LOL
Hilarious!! I would have thought of a million retorts.. that night, long after it happened. I’d have been stunned that anyone could be so bold, but then, she sure sounded a bit crazy anyway.. so maybe we should feel sorry for her? Maybe not! I heard about this from Charlie!! How exciting for you girls!! xx
We had the best time. Meeting so many other passionate food writers and photographers was inspiring. Charlie went on a wine tour and I took Dianne Jacobs food writing workshop and then we compared notes.
What a great conference.
Perhaps she was a little off, perhaps she was just lonely, but she was certainly rude. 🙂 xo
Yes, I think she was a bitter old lady far from where she was raised. She didn’t need to take her frustrations out on me but I wasn’t upset. It was funny.
Suits our lifestyle perfectly, brilliant!!!!!
Your sandwich combo sounded delicious, Maureen! Can’t believe you got “lambasted” for it, though. People are funny. And yes, we’ll be batty old ladies one day (probably sooner than we think!), but your empathy in an earlier comment reply (“she must have been lonely… needed someone to talk to”) shows what kind of a lady you truly are. xo
oh my! haha I would have defended myself then stuffed my face in front of her 😛
Can’t wait to hear more about the conference!
Oh, what fun!! I wish I could join you! XO!
Glad you came and glad to meet you, Maureen – even if it was only fleetingly – this time!
It was such fun to meet you and find the bubbly person behind the blog. Sorry that you met the Russian crazy just when you had caramelised pumpkin..!
Brilliant post, Maureen! Don’t you just love the unsolicited advice from random people on the street? lol
I so wish we’d had a chance to talk properly at EDB3 – I think we would have got along very well 🙂 Oh well – it’ll have to be next year!
Me too, Christina. I can’t wait til we meet again. The elderly Russian lady didn’t bother me. She was probably right and was most probably very lonely.
Hi Maureen,
Great to meet you at my workshop. I’m glad you didn’t take the older woman’s comments too personally. I bet the events of Eat.Drink.Blog made up for it. Don’t know about you but I had a blast.
I treasure my signed copy of your book, Dianne and I’ve learned so much already but probably haven’t put any of it into practice yet. I’m still catching up from being away 3 weeks in a row.
I had a wonderful time and everyone I met was a treasure. I wasn’t sure Simon Bryant was going to get out alive but even he seemed to have a good time. 🙂