Sunday morning I awake to a cold rainy gray day in Brisbane and what else is there to do but head off to an outdoor market and get wet. The farmers market is held at a school at Kate St in Indooroopilly every second Sunday. The difference between a market in Rocklea vs one in Indooroopilly is obvious even before you walk through the gates. Instead of the 120ys and bluebirds you have Jags and Bmws in the carpark.
Inside you have the usual pancakes, coffee and german sausage food stalls but because it’s Indooroopilly they charge you $5 a plate for about 10 poffertjies. I can get bacon, eggs, tomatoes and toast for dollar more in Fortitude Valley and be fuller than what they offer!
You can then pay $14 for two containers of soup because they are “organic” field mushrooms and butternut pumpkin from D’lish. After that you can empty $8 from your pockets for some pita chips and dip. Admittedly it’s an incredibly yummy fetta, oregano and garlic dip but $3 for some bread that was toasted in an oven and called chips and $5 for something the size of 10 cds is a bit rich.
I also bought some greek yoghurt company yoghurt (recommended by Susan). It is the best yoghurt I have ever tasted because it’s so creamy and supposedly 97% fat free. I don’t think the chocolate cookie crunch flavour I got is though. 🙂 The chocolate sauce inside tastes like the kind Nanna used to put on my ice cream. They also have cappucino, apple sultana crumble and mango flavours as well as just plain. Even the plain tastes great!
Ok, so I’ve been grumbling about the prices they charge here and it’s mainly because the stalls have spent a fair bit of money on their marketing. They all have their own logos and brochures that weren’t made on their version of word at home. The farmers market here is very much a boutique market for the rich yuppies around the town. Most of the stuff here can be bought elsewhere cheaper in regards to things like dips and soup. The desserts are a completely different story though.
Forget your local church group cupcakes slapped with coloured icing sugar and wrapped in plastic. When cupcakes go upmarket they go upmarket. There is a stall at Indooroopilly that applies wedding cake techniques to cupcakes. These people make little works of art on top of sweet goodness for us all to enjoy. There were even ones made to look like cappucinos. I didn’t purchase any this time, but swear to god I will the next time I visit.
Instead I spent my money on an apple pie that existed in a time before mass commercialisation and quality before quantity. It’s got real puff pastry with cut out shapes on it. There are apples painted red on it for f**ks sake! It looks like something out of a Warner Brothers cartoon where blackbirds fly out of it. I’m hoping it tastes as good as it looks because it looks so good I don’t want to ruin it by cutting it open.
Even though it was rainy and expensive I still really enjoyed the morning out and recommend it if you feel like indulging yourself. Next time I’m going to bring home some burnt caramel lick ice cream and those cupcakes. mmm, yum.
The Greek Yoghurt Company yoghurt is the nicest yoghurt in existence! My favourite is without a doubt Mixed Berry although the Mango and Passionfruit ones are pretty nice as well. I’ve never been to the Indooroopilly markets (sad considering that’s where I live) but I will have to make the trip.
I totally agree with the yoghurt – it indulges your sweet tooth yet you don’t have the guilt associated with it.
The soup wasn’t worth the $8, it was nice but not OMG nice. The pie’s pastry was incredible, I could have munched on that forever but the apple filling needed a little bit more work. Maybe it wasn’t sweet or cinammon enough for me. I would still recommend it regardless because it has a wow factor if you took it to a family lunch or something. 🙂
God, don’t we have any work to do but catch up on your blog, Ames?! I am glad everyone is enjoying the yoghurt though. Presently, I am forcing myself not to take a new container out of the freezer as I am going through it far too quickly!