Counted as One Thing – No Pictures this week.

I am counting the Ekka as one thing.

This week is mostly dedicated to that one thing.

We shall now commence.

I don’t count it as a trip to the ekka unless you have at least a dagwood dog and a strawberry ice cream. I had both of these, and more. This is also going to be a memory lane week, as it was the first Ekka after my Aunty passed away, and I got a little teary in the cake section. People who knew her would know why.

My favourite part of the Ekka is usually the food. Whether it comes from a show bag or the food stalls, I love the variety. I also love how it is not usually great. Or even good. Sometimes it makes cardboard look appetising. Sometimes I like flavoured cardboard.

Enough about that though.

My favourite thing about the Ekka, and the thing I think I get asked every time I have ever been. Dagwood dogs.

Did I get a dagwood dog?

Yes I got a dagwood dog. Of course I got a dagwood dog. Though this time I got it without sauce so I didn’t have to clean my self up as much afterwards.

It felt wrong, I am aware. If there is a next time there will be sauce.

I like dagwood dogs when they are fresh, and the batter is a tiny bit crispy on the outside and soft and warm in the middle. I am pretty sure they use frankfurters for these. I’m going to look it up…Ok, according to the recipe I found, yes. Normally I also have these dipped in a thick layer of tomato sauce. Having recently had one without the sauce, it is better with the sauce.

You know, I think dagwood dogs fall under the same category as coffee for me. I don’t remember my first one. There must have been one, but they are so much of an Ekka tradition that I am going to assume my first one was at the Ekka.

After this I wandered around a bit and looked at other food related stands. There was one spot where almost every stall had dagwood dogs, and they all looked sold out. There were places for pies, and places for steak. Places for cheese, and places for cake.

I could not see a Hans Smallgoods stall. If it was there I didn’t see it. This used to be another tradition, getting a sausage from Hans. I didn’t mind how long I had to line up, or the fact that it was probably cheaper to by this myself and fry it up at home. I just wanted the chance to be served a sausage by the man or TV who was the face of Hans. Not this year.

There was a German Sausage place, but it is not the same. Has to be Hans.

I wandered around for a while. Looking for something to eat. There were a lot of choices, aside from dagwood dogs. There was a lot of food from different countries (mainly in the form of eat and wander food), and a lot of locally produced stuff too, mostly cheese and wines. There was a chili stand, the same one that is always there I think, and I had there 10++/10 chili. It had a bit of kick. Wasn’t bad, not eye wateringly hot for me, but the bite was there. About 45 minutes later, and a coffee and some crab net spring rolls later (more on these in a minute), I had the 10+/10 chili called dragons blood (or something similar) and it tasted like sweet chili sauce to me, with a tiny bit of a kick. I am guessing there was some decent heat to it (for non-chili enthusiasts, or the enthusiasts just starting down the chili path) as I saw some people try it and start to sweat.

At the back of the Woolworths pavillion was a vietnamese street food stall. All of it looked pretty good, but I settled on the crab net spring rolls. I have no idea what the crab net part is made from, it looked like some sort of webby noodles when wet, but basically replace the spring roll pastry with that. I should have let them cool a bit more, but they were still pretty nice. No clue, what was in them. Way too hot for me to taste properly, as in straight out of the fryer type hot. I wandered around eating them and saw the things I wound up purchasing.

I wound up buying a washed rind camembert and two girders of nougat.

The washed rind camembert was from the Bruny Island cheese co. I think. I loved it, it was very strong and had a really nice after taste (if you like strong cheese). I was also informed it was a bit whiffy and was encouraged to eat it as quick as I could. Unadorned by anything, the cheese alone disappeared pretty quickly. I have no idea what I would put with it normally, probably some strong cured meat or capers on a mild cracker. Go nuts, I’m just going to eat the cheese whole, we all know this.

The nougats I bought came from the Blue Cow Cheese Company, again not 100% certain I shall go check…It’s Nougat Limar, which according to the website I found is at least through the Blue Cow Cheese Company. One was Wild Berry and Macadamia, which was pretty good. The berry part is definitely the dominant flavour when it hits your tongue. The violet almond one is my favourite though. I am pretty sure the almond is in it just to give your tongue a break from the violet flavoured nougat. Both were pretty good, and both were pretty big, so I am still eating my way through them.

Ok, I am off to get more nougat from the fridge. Night all.