One Hungry Hen: April 2012

Saturday 28 April 2012

Kettle and Seed/Snowy Mountains Coffee, Cooma

Banana bread fresh-baked at Kettle and Seed, Cooma

The Style:Kettle and Seed manages a unique combination of edgy and quaint. There are really cool touches like a string of coffee cups hovering gamely above the front window as well as some great art on the walls and charts explaining different coffee flavours. The sweetness of the place comes from touches like the type of coffee ordered being handwritten in flowing script on your saucer and sugar bowls and spoons just like something straight from nanna's kitchen replacing the less appealing glass stuffed with sugar sachets. There is a real focus on eco-friendliness refelcted not only in the sugar bowl idea but also the re-usable cups on sale and the 'green' takeaway cups. The back of the cafe is dominated by a huge roaster which serves as a reminder that the coffee at Kettle and Seed is brewed and roasted on-site. It is sold as SNowy Mountains Coffee so if you love it (which you most certainly will!) you can take a bag home with you.

The Taste:The local flavour continues not only with the coffee roasted on-site but also the muffins cakes and other sweet treats baked in the kitchen daily, the bread brought in from the nearby Berridale Bakery and the house-made lemonade and iced tea. Nothing here is short on freshness or flavour.

Oh-so-chocolatey muffin baked on-site, Kettle and Seed, Cooma

Snowy Mountains Coffee roasted right here, Kettle and Seed, Cooma

Sugar bowl and coffee beans, Kettle and Seed, Cooma

The Service: The staff here know and love their products and they take the time to chat without being overbearing and pushy. The service is slick and comes with a smile.

The Price: Considering the quality and care that goes into what you get at Kettle and Seed, the prices are great. It is right on par with other cafes in the area for pricing.

The Location: Kettle and Seed and Snowy Mountains Coffee is located on Vale Street in Cooma (just off the Highway).

Home made lemonade, Kettle and Seed, Cooma

To see more reviews of Kettle and Seed and other restaurants in the area, use the urbanspoon spoonback link.

Friday 27 April 2012

Seasons in the NSW Snowy Mountains

Snowgum blanketed in snow, Charlotte Pass, Kosciuszko National Park

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to be strolling through the mountains as a huge storm slowly crowded out the bright blue summer sky. There was the smell of electricity in the air and the sound of thunder rattling through the peaks rustling up the thick blanket of grass which carpeted the hills.

What a difference a few weeks in the mountains makes! Autumn has arrived with a shiver and as the leaves are blazing red, orange and yellow in town, the fashionable colour in higher altitudes this week is definitely white.

I had a facial that money can't buy courtesy of the mountain winds blowing sleet into my face (strangely invigorating!) and haven't felt so alive in a long time. The snow gums were doing their best to brighten the view and certainly didn't disappoint in their fluffy blankets of fresh snow.

What an amazing reminder of how beautiful this little corner of the world I call home is!

Snowy outlook from Charlotte Pass toward the Snowy River

Snow clinging to boulder, Kosciuszko National Park

Saturday 14 April 2012

Sydney Writers' Centre Best Australian Blogs 2012 Nominee!!

Just a little note to let you know One Hungry Hen is a nominee in the Sydney Writers' Centre Best Australian Blogs 2012 competition.

As an absolute beginner in the blogosphere, I see this is a great chance to look at what all of the other clever Aussie bloggers are up to and get some ideas on how to refine what I am up to. I am hoping to re-focus and rejuvenate my little project to keep it interesting and relevant.

If you want to vote for One Hungry Hen (PLEASE!), I have attached the link here.

Once you get there, hit next. There is an alphabetical list of blogs so to find me, you will have to skip through to the O page. Once done, keep hitting next until you get to the end where you need to verify that you are actually you, not just me voting for myself over and over. Don't forget to hit 'done' at the end so your vote counts! The whole thing takes about a minute so a pretty painless way to stay on my Christmas card list.

While you are there, there are another 1023 blogs listed so if any jump out, why not pay them a visit and if you like them, send a vote their way too!

Your votes make me this happy!

Sunday 1 April 2012

Cooma Show

Cooma Show champion ribbon

I'm a real sucker for shows. I think it stems back to my childhood when my mum and my aunty took me to the Sydney Royal Easter Show every year. I can remember spending hours trawling my way through mountains of sugary, fatty once a year treats (I still think deep fried cheese on a stick has to be one of the all time best bad foods!), looking at the animals all sleek, shiny and ready to be judged then, right at the end of the day, wandering around the gargantuan show bag hall. Through the eyes of a child, the bright plastic trinkets and lollies pinned to the display boards became immediate must-have items and luckily, mum usually gave in and obliged.

While the country shows I have stumbled across since moving west are on a much smaller scale, they still offer the chance to be a kid again even if it is just for a few hours.

Each country shows also offer a little window into the community which is hosting it - you get to see the beady eyed stalwarts guarding the exhibitions and casting a critical eye over the entries as well as some of the talented and creative local people proudly hovering around their animals, crafts or cakes in the hope that they might get a ribbon or two.

So in the spirit of the shows, here are a few pictures from the recent Cooma Show - it fell right in the middle of some absolutely terrible weather so a lot of the exhibits were cancelled but there was still plenty to see and do. Enjoy.