Date Night | The Good Food & Drink Festival

We’ve been in dire need of a date night and the Good Food & Drink Festival was the perfect excuse to sneak away from Baby Boy and Little Monkey. It had been a challenging week for us with many  tantrums and crying sessions so we were looking forward to a few baby free hours. I’m not sure if it’s our memory failing us or if boys really are worse than girls, but I can definitely tell you that Baby Boy is one cranky fella! He constantly wants to be entertained or held – most times only by me. Which is absolutely annoying! It’s maddening how he can be wailing as if someone’s poked his eyes out one minute and then as soon as I pick him up – it stops. Silence. He’s a trickster and I’m trying my best to not give into his demands but there’s only so much ear piercing wailing I can listen to. It’s quite difficult to step out solo because I feel bad for who ever is in charge of him because I know for a fact that he’s going to be crying for a good portion of my outing…but it has to be done! The kid needs to figure out his life.

Last year we took the Little Monkey with us to the Good Food & Drink Festival and it was a great time. Definitely a very family friendly event however this year they had introduced a VIP 19+ opening night and the hubs and I were invited to attend. You know I jumped on it because it was time for us to run away from the kids! I was very intrigued to see what the VIP night entailed  and was pleased to learn that no more than 1000 people would be in attendance (compared to 10,000 + visitors on an average day).

We got there early and it did feel a bit eerie having no line ups anywhere! I’m not a fan of pushing and shoving so this was pretty neat but at the same time – a bit odd. Luckily as the night progressed more and more people joined in on the fun but again, no line ups anywhere. It was a great opportunity to actually chat and learn about the brands on display. I was surprised that many booths were actually manned by the owners of the shops who are always so passionate and ready to teach you all about their products. I also really enjoyed the tunes we heard during the show – a good mix of live performances.

We started our evening with some wine and beer sampling (ofcourse) and then quickly moved on to the hot sauces. As expected we left the show with a stash of hot sauce – happens each time! Luckily this time there were less hot sauce vendors compared to last year, which meant that my stomach wasn’t burning at the end of all the sampling.  I also managed to stock up on British Chocolates which was a pleasant surprise. Perfect timing since I’m on the planning committee for a British themed baby shower!

The hubs and I enjoyed visiting the Air Transat booth and goofing around…definitely a fun way to fuel our travel passions! I chose Istanbul and he chose Prague – honestly I’d like to visit either. Air Transat whisk us away please!

I definitely like Live on-stage demos and I know many were eager to chat with Chef Vikram Vij. During the VIP night the fabulous Cocktail Diva was shakin’ up some fine cocktails and I got a chance to see her in action for a few minutes before dashing off in search of food. Then I got distracted by Wine truck! 

There was quite a variety in terms of food products, from teas to baby food you had many deals that could be found.  Last year we had to purchase extra tickets numerous times and so we started our evening with plenty of tickets to get us through a night of food and drink exploration. However this year the food trucks and food vendors wouldn’t accept the tickets – which was very confusing! They wanted cash and well…we’d spent all the cash we brought with us on tickets! Go figure.  On top of that I was also a bit disappointed that there weren’t more food vendors in attendance. 

At the end of the night the hubs and I had a great time because we were in dire need of a night without the terrors whiners kids. We also discovered a new beer that’s going to be part of our repertoire ( The Witty Traveller). Oh yes.. and if you’re wondering… Yes Baby Boy cried for a good portion of the evening and my brother had to deal with it all !