The night arrived and with a spot of leave from the day job to attend a mid-week quick getaway to Sydney, where much to my amazement a quirky little story I’d written about Kenny The Coconut had earned me a spot as Finalist for the 2016 Blogger Award for Best Green Grocer Story at the Sydney Markets Fresh Awards.
During the lead up to this night of nights, I’d come to appreciate how all those hero’s who get up way before the sparrows everyday who grow, deliver, transport, handle and sell the gorgeously fresh food and flowers for us – this was The Fresh Food Logies and Oscars rolled into one for them.
On Wednesday evening Queen Suebah and I donned our glad rags for the Sydney Markets Fresh Awards held at the Contemporary Museum of Art at the Rocks in Sydney. My thirsty event manager creative mind most appreciated the finer details taken to deck the venue out, gorgeous harbor views, backdrops, chandeliers and a photo wall all made from fresh flowers, fruit and vegetables – what an awesome idea!
We mingled with some of the industries finest and met some pretty awesome folk, including MC Chris Bath and Australian food legend Lyndey Milan OAM, who happens to now be following me across all my social media platforms #humblebrag and boogied the night away as David Campbell had us up on the dance floor shaking our tail feathers.
Just over 2 years ago now, I started shenANNAgans; it was a blog I created to document my journey, my wins, my losses and (occasionally) my rants too, a creative corner of the interwebs and a space I get to call all mine! Being a hospitality blue blood through and through, I get to create and attend so many incredible events at some pretty outstanding venues, design gorgeous weddings and meet a bunch of crazy famous folk too, that my blog has been a home for me to share all this good fortune, not forgetting I get to eat some of the finest food prepared by amazing Chefs every week, it’s a wonder I’m not a huge oompa loompa.
It has quietly been on my list of personal goals for a good decade now to learn, get better at and become a writer one day; truthfully, I thought it’d take a lifetime, so I was pretty chuffed to be a finalist in these awards. Imagine my stunned mullet amazement when they called out my name and the screen above the stage lit up saying I was the winner…. F%$K YEAH, you beauty, BOOM digity, so proud, high fives! #notsohumblebrag … I nailed it!!!
I can now successfully pop a giant tick next to that goal and start to take my little dream to become a real writer seriously.
Post giant win, I got a little taste of stardom with people appearing from nowhere congratulating me, photographers taking photos and the champagne was flowing. Cheffie from Canberra appeared out of the blue and Momma (Queen Suebah) hugged me with tears in her eyes telling me she hadn’t been that proud of me since I won a big award in Kumon…. a story for another time!
So much happy deserves a little splash out does it not? I decided to work on my drinking skills post win and celebrate of course. You see the older I get, the more reluctant I am towards alcohol. Whenever I drink my face flushes, my temperature spikes and I am left with a hangover that lasts for days, but at the time I was invincible with so many awesome people around me and so much good cheer.
Now most suggest a greasy feed of protein as the cure for a hangover, but I reckon this Vegan Banana Blueberry Ice Cream might actually be the key. This 2-ingredient (no churn) ice cream is smooth, healthy, absolutely delicious and ready for eating in just 10 minutes which suited all the criteria the next day. Made with frozen banana and blueberries, it is one of the most refreshing snacks or sweet treats you can have, not to mention all the hangover fighting fabulousness (replace potassium and other lost electrolytes with the banana and load up on vitamins C, E, riboflavin, niacin and folate from the blueberries) too.
And the best bit, you don’t need any mad cooking skills to make this beauty, simply blitz, scoop and eat!
Vegan Banana Blueberry Ice Cream
Serves 2
Preparation time: 10
Cooking time: 0 minutes
This 2 ingredient (no churn) ice cream is creamy, healthy, absolutely delicious and ready for eating in just 10 minutes!
4 large frozen bananas 2 cups frozen blueberries
Garnish (optional), peanut or honeycomb crumb
