Soup Kitchen

I have a nice, cruisy life going for me in Margaret River. I get up around 7 am, go to the gym, get to work by 9:30 am, have a mellow day at work...usually, leave no later than 5 pm and have the whole evening to do what I want...like I said cruisy. And my favorite part about a cruisy life is I have time to volunteer...finally! With working, saving and traveling it's been difficult but I now have time to volunteer at Soup Kitchen :)

Every person, place and thing has a nickname in Australia and Soup Kitchen is no different. It is endearingly called Soupie!

Soupie just celebrated its 17th birthday -- 17 years of meals twice a week, 52 weeks a year. Relationships have been formed through Soupie and countless people fed with the help of volunteers and generous donations. 

Meet the crew

Doing work and making tasty food

Meet Dave Seegar, the creator of Soupie. He claims he is just a cook and by no means a chef.  He's a school bus driver during the day and enjoys playing his guitar at gigs on the weekends. He's one of the coolest people I've met in Margaret River...a very rad dude :)

Dave is still running the kitchen at the Margaret River Community Centre after setting it up with the aim of helping the homeless and hungry. We now feed 70 to more than 150 people at each sitting. A large variety of people with different backgrounds attend every Monday and Wednesday, from children in after school programs to entire families; from winemakers to backpackers, and everyone is welcome. Soupie is even mentioned in Lonely Planet's Guide of Margaret River. Job well done Dave!

Each night a fresh salad with a housemade dressing and spicy chili salsa is served as well as nine different 'stews' in rotation ranging from satay to Thai curry to dahl. In order to appeal to the masses, nothing is too spicy and every dish is vegan.

A $5 donation is requested but not mandatory in order to help buy the food each night. If the kitchen makes a profit it is used to donate to charities like Free the Bears Foundation, or for locals in need. 

The food is extremely tasty and healthy. I eat at Soupie every night I volunteer. Dave has done such a great job building an amazing service for the community and I thoroughly enjoy being a part of it. I look forward to it every Monday and Wednesday. I've met some really amazing people and of course some 'interesting characters' with wonderful stories about life, love, adventure and everything in between. I highly recommend checking it out if you make your way to Margaret River aka Margs ;)

Truffle Kerfuffle

Everyone has heard of the infamous Black Truffle but have you ever smelled or tasted one? How many different ways can truffles be used? Luckily, I got to find out this weekend at the Annual Truffle Kerfuffle in Manjimup. It's the Southern Forrest Food Festival and there was heaps to eat, drink and see!

The Black Truffle :)

Beautiful venue...

on a beautiful day!

Plenty of local wine and beer tasting. The standout of the day...Lillian. Made by John Brocksopp, one of the founding viticulturist of Leeuwin Estate, now makes Rhone varietals in Pemberton.

Free tasting of local organic cheese

The food was mouthwatering good! They had everything from free tastings of organic chocolate to flavored fudge to smoked meats to a 'cafeteria' like you've never seen before! The gourmet cafeteria had multiple stands where you could buy different truffle dishes. I wish I could have tried them all but I just didn't have enough room after the free tastings so I asked other people while they were eating to rate their dish and I picked the top 3. I may have embarrassed my friend but I'm serious about food...I probably should have worn stretch pants :)

Grilled marron with truffle aioli. I've never tried marron before so I went for it but this dish lacked flavor of any kind let alone that of truffle but the texture of the marron was good. I'll definitely try marron again just with a different preparation. 

Homemade truffle sausage

Soooo good...lots of flavor so the truffle was a bit difficult to distinguish. Definitely tasted earthy but I wonder if using mushroom would of had the same effect? Plus, there was a tomato jam on it that I could have eaten by the spoonful!

Truffle paella...the best dish and there was a long line to prove it.

And my favorite part of the day was a Masterclass with an Australian top chef! He demonstrated how to make a truffle infused dessert. Apparently, using truffle in a dessert is uncommon and difficult to do successfully.

Chef Shawn Sheather during the demonstration. He advised truffles can have a strong garlic smell and taste so be careful when picking your truffles for a dessert. Truffles are unique and all smell and taste different from one another.

Shawn's plating of the Truffle Infused Fig & Baby Pear on Toasted Brioche with Honey Mascarpone. Check out the Australian Good Food & Travel Guide for the recipe. The website also offers a 5 Course Truffle Dinner Menu with recipes.

Our baby bite size version to taste. Yes please and thank you! Tasted so good. I really enjoyed the honey mascarpone. I would have liked more on my bite size...I know, spoken like a true fat kid ;)

It was a perfect day!!!