The day we went a-truffling

Canberra has an annual truffle festival. How cool and quirky is that? Andrew and I have participated a couple of times in previous years, going to talks about truffles, hunting for native truffles at Mulligans Flat, and eating a truffle-packed dinner. This year we signed up for a Sunday morning truffle hunt and brunch at Turalla Truffles, near Bungendore. It was fun!

Of the nine people taking part in today's event we were the only two from Canberra, which surprised us. We didn't think people from other (warmer) parts of Australia would voluntarily come to the Canberra region in the middle of winter, so it was an impressive turnout. Everyone was well rugged up, luckily, as it was frosty (minus 2 degrees Celsius) overnight.

On arrival at Turalla Truffles we were greeted by several enthusiastic Jack Russell terriers, truffle farmers Damian and Lindsay, and chef Bec. We started with coffee, a shot of truffle-infused vodka (!) and some magnificent truffle-topped scrambled eggs:

then headed out, with truffle-seeking terrier Frisbee:

 in search of buried truffles:

Along the way, Lindsay and Damian talked about how they'd become truffle farmers and provided more information and culinary tips. After an hour or so of searching (during which the intrepid Frisbee led us to about one kilogram of ripe truffles) we headed back to the farm for brunch.

Crêpes with bananas, truffle-infused mascarpone and

cream! YUM. Oh, and a glass of bubbly ...

Today's haul, washed and drying in the sun

It was a most enjoyable and delicious morning. Thank you to Damian, Lindsay and Bec, plus their very smoochy dogs, for a fabulous outing. Oh, and I bought a 30 gram truffle to take home. We'll be eating more truffle-y delights very soon!