It's me, Eloise.

Spring Has Sprung! 

Spring Flowers
Sunglasses: Shakuhachi, Bali
Lipstick: Mac
Jacket: Adidas
Top: Minkpink
Shorts: Weathered
Watch: Swatch Watch, New York
Kicks: Royal Elastics

Fellow fashionista and blogger Yan Yan Chan and I at her 'Surry Hills Markets' stall. You can follow the effortlessly stylish and talented Yan at www.parfasseux.blogspot.com

My 'Adidas' windproof jacket was perfect for today's sunny but very windy weather. My new 'weathered' shorts, despite being awesome were probably not so appropriate. I was probably the only person not in pants today! However, when I buy something new I just want to wear it straight away, regardless of the weather! They are tailored, interlock cotton, sports shorts and are very comfortable. To balance out the colour I teamed my jacket and shorts with a black and white striped top and black kicks. 

Despite being my only day to sleep in for who knows how long I was up bright and early to be at 'Pyrmont Grocer's Market' at nine o'clock. CC and YS were already there when KJ and I arrived. They met at seven-thirty for breakfast. They munched on pastries from 'Patisse'. There was no way I was going to be up and about at seven-thirty on this cold, Saturday morning! 

'Pyrmont Grower's Market' is located in 'Pyrmont Bay Park' on the water opposite 'The Star' and next to 'Doltone House'. It is only on every first Saturday of the month from 7am - 11am. Being a massive produce market goer I am surprised and a little disappointed in myself that I had never been before. I have been missing out on so much! It is a huge market with easily over fifty stalls as well as a stage with live entertainment and cooking demonstrations. It sells organic produce from independent sources as well as some commercial brands such as 'Sonoma' bread. There is a wide range of dairy, meat, breads, olives, oils and jams but in comparison to other markets it was lacking a little on fresh fruit and vegetables and sweets. 

The first thing KJ and I did was do a huge lap of the markets to see what was around, take it all in and try all of the taste testers before purchasing anything. Trying the taste testers really is the best part! 

After our lap and pretty much second breakfast we met CC and YS for organic coffee in the middle of the park. Great atmosphere ... hundreds of people kicking back over coffee and a good bacon and egg roll! 

After our coffee it was time for our second lap. The dangerous lap where we were about to spend all of our money! The first thing we popped into our basket were blood oranges and easy to peel oranges from the central coast. We taste tested them on our previous lap and decided that they were the juiciest on offer! We then headed over to 'Ocello' from Surry Hills stall. I always pop into 'Ocello' in 'Surry Hills' if I am after cheeses for special occasions. They have the biggest cheese range in Australia. Today we purchased Italian style 'Beurre Blanc' unsalted butter which is imported from Italy. It is white, soft and very creamy. It could almost be mistaken for a brie. Note to self: do not leave it out on the counter as someone may think it is cheese and get a rude shock! 

We also purchased some savoury olive oil biscuits to smear the butter onto. I don't usually eat butter but this is an exception, a real treat! Still in savoury mode we headed over to the olives. We purchased a container of deliciously juicy and fat mixed, marinated olives which come from 'Darling Mills Farm'. I have been meaning to invest in a good quality olive oil for a long time now and decided to finally bite the bullet today after tasting 'The Little Generals' extra virgin olive oil. You really can taste the difference between a normal olive oil and a good quality one. I will definitely only be using it for special occasions. Great for dipping bread into and salad dressings. It is too precious to use in general cooking! 

Next stop, the mushroom man! We were back for our third taste test of his 'shitake' mushrooms! They were so fat and meaty! We purchased a mixed bag of 'shitake, oyster and wood ear' mushrooms. It was then time for something sweet. We couldn't resist macaroons from the 'Gooseberry Catering Company'. They had several unusual flavours but we stuck to honeycomb. Two meringues from 'Patisse' was really a no brainer. Meringues are my favourite and everything from 'Patisse' is amazing! Finally, we added two bunches of poppies to our basket. Perfect for the first day of Spring! 

Mixed Bag of Mushrooms $5.5 per 100g
Jam $6.5
Bicuits and Butter $5
Olive Oil: $20
Macaroons $2.5 each
Olives $5 for small container
Meringues $3.5 each
Poppies $5 a bunch
Oranges: $4 for a small bucket

I can hardly wait to go back to 'Pyrmont Grower's Market'. A whole month is too long! At least it gives me time to save up again. I went a bit crazy and maybe next time I will calm down on my spending and only buy the necessities because buying from independent providores does get expensive! Who am I kidding, I won't be able to help myself. Oh well, I like to support independent providers. I wish that there were more fresh fruit and vegetables. It is OK as I have every other weekend to purchase them from 'Eveleigh' or 'Marrickville'. 

Pyrmont Grower's Market
Pyrmont Bay Park
Pirrama Road 
Pyrmont NSW 2009

Overall: 8/10
Ambiance: 7.5/10
Food: 8.5/10