Our Herb Garden is growing

Our herb garden has just had a little make over in readiness not only our upcoming classes Tania Hubbard (Gluten Free, Grain Free) and  Martin Boetz (from Longrain)  Once this heat has died down a little we’ll be planting vegetables and more herbs specially requested from our guest chefs!  That’s what’s so Uber Cool about Freestyle Escape – when you do a class with us  you also forage in our Orchard, vegetable and herb garden.

Check out our other chefs coming in 2012! I’m a tad excited.

February 18		Tania Hubbard 		Grain Free, Gluten Free
February 19		Martin Boetz 		Longrain – Sydney/Melb
March 17		Dominique Rizzo		Ready Steady Cook
April 28th		Jacques Reymond 	Jacques Reymond Melbourne
April 29th		Richard Cotton		Brewbakers Brisbane
May 13th		Tania Hubbard 		Grain Free, Gluten Free
June 16th 		Sally Lynch		Taste Trekkers
July 7th		Alex Herbert		Bird Cow Fish - Sydney
August 25th 		Katrina Katani 		Satiate - Bangalow
September 15th	        Warren Turnbull 	Assiette - Sydney
October 27		Ian Curley 		European - Melbourne
November 18th	        Christine Manfield 	Universal - Sydney

NOOSA FOOD AND WINE FESTIVAL – 17,18,19,20 May 2012

Another exciting event we’re involved with is the Noosa Food and Wine Festival.  The Hinterland Food Trail – Strings to Straw – will be held at Freestyle Escape with chefs John Barthelmess, Mark Jensen and Cameron Matthews.  Stephanie Alexander and myself will be giving tours of the herb garden and orchard.  For more details check out:  http://www.noosafoodandwine.com.au/download.html

On the Saturday at the Festival, Cameron Matthews from Spicers Clovelly and myself will also be doing a cooking demo.

On the Sunday of the event, my Freestyle Tout team and I will also be at the festival serving up our naughty Desserts 

Look at the great new steps we’ve built so that our garden can continue to grow yet still be just as easily accessed.

Sculpting with Kate French – November 2011

The beautiful Kate French always ensures that her classes are a wonderful experience for all and our recent Mask Making class was no exception.  It was a fabulously refreshing way to spend Sunday.

Lots of creative minds at work here…

At times there was laughter and fun, other times there was total tranquillity as our sculptors were busy creating…..but as you’ll see there was some great results…Here’s Lizzie preparing her clay…..

A basic shape is then created..     Character is then worked in and the face begins to unfold…

And the results looked fantastic!!  Here are some of them…..well done everyone!

Here is the Sculptress herself with one of her own pieces…

Matt Wilkinson’s Cooking Class – November 2011

Matt Wilkinson from Pope Joan in Melbourne entertained us all with his wit and cooking skills!  We thank him for this thoroughly enjoyable event! For Matt’s bit’n'bobs check out his blog

After foraging through the herb garden and planting ‘Beryl’ an Avocado Tree in the orchard, all were ready to cook up a treat!  Our heirloom tomatoes were perfect for Matt’s ‘Fresh Tomato Stew’ and the salad at lunch

With lots of chatting and laughter as you can see from these stuffed Bell Peppers and the group at work an amazing lunch was ahead… and yes they did taste as good as they look!

Then onto making Matt’s version of a Panzenella Salad, Crab Creamed Polenta, Tomato Stew, rare seared Tuna, Prawn and Corn Salad and Rice Pudding with Raspberry Sorbet and Strawberries….to finish off.

We’d like to share one of Matt’s Recipes with you…ENJOY!!!