Avoca

Avoca is a pretty little town about an hour's drive north west of Ballarat.  It has a riverside market once a month. None of us has ever been to the market. I don't actually remember the last time I went to Avoca, although I certainly will have been at some stage.

Yesterday was a beautiful day and it was Market Day in Avoca, so Ian, Lindsey, Jim and I hopped in the car and drove out to have a look.

It is a beautiful drive, especially on a lovely day - although it was quite foggy when we got to Waubra. The tops of the wind farm towers were hidden by the fog.  It was quite science fictiony to see :-D

It was bright and sunny in Avoca. The market this month wasn't by the river but in the main street.  And I don't think it had as many stalls as the website suggests it has.  Mostly the stalls were bric a brac and trash and treasure. It probably isn't worth driving for an hour to get to - we could have got to the Brown Hill market inside 15 minutes on Saturday. It is bigger and there are more produce stalls.  It might be worth heading out to Avoca during the summer to see if it is back by the river, and if there are more stalls.  But I don't think it will figure on our regular market rotation.

Since we were there we thought we would have lunch in one of the pubs or cafes.  Alas, most of them seem to be closed for a winter holiday.  So we went into the Victoria Hotel, which was open.  And it was a bit of a find.  A typical country pub bar and a door into a very interesting dining area which, I'm told, used the be the Gold Exchange and was then a bank before becoming the dining area of the pub.

And the food wasn't bad.  Pub food, yes, but quite tasty.  Lindsey and I shared a Pyrenees chicken parmigiana, which had mushrooms, capsicum and other things that I don't remember added to the typical parmigiana.  We asked if we could share one - parmas tend to be enormous and we didn't want to order one each and then throw half each out.  For an extra $6 they gave us half a parma and a full serve of chips and veg each.  Bargain!  Jim had no trouble eating his schnitzel and chips. Ian also managed his fish, chips and salad

My half Pyrenees chicken parma with chips and veg

We also had some rather nice local wine

So. It was a lovely day out and I would do it again on a nice sunny day. I would probably even tie it with a market day.  I might even go and find the river, which we never did see!

Ian wanted to call into the Wilson's store in Alfredton on the way home. As I was wandering around I saw a box of something, labelled "Quick Sale" and costing $4.50.  I couldn't see much of what was in it.  Coriander, parsley and fennel.  I surmised the presence of carrots because I could see carrot leaves. I didn't really need any extra veg - we had been out to Spring Creek on Saturday and stocked up for the week.  But $4.50 for a Mystery Box of veg was too much of a bargain to pass up.

Time to lift the lid and see what is in my Mystery Box

Coriander, parsley, fennel and two lots of carrots

Ooooo.  Basil, green capsicum and large mushrooms

Jim was delighted to see the parsnips.  He LERVS parsnips.
And look - a tub of podded peas

So a real bargain box.  Some of the veg is a bit tired but it's all useable, apart perhaps, from the basil which is looking very tired this morning.

It is possible that we might have a tiny excess of vegetables now.  So this morning I chopped lots of veg up and put them in the oven and made a mighty tray of roasted veg which are now resting comfortably in the freezer.  I have a more manageable supply of fresh veg now

The kitchen bench covered in fresh veg on Sunday afternoon