October 27th, Thursday, it was a gorgeous day in Melbourne, the sun's out and shining and the weather was nice and warm; perfect day for a foodie adventure!
Today, Natalie, Rebecca and I, are off to see last year's Junior MasterChef twins, Isabella and Sofia Bliss for their book event at Readings, Hawthorn.
We arrived at exactly 4.30 and while we looked around to make sure that we were in the right place, the door of a taxi that was parked in front of us, opened, and out came Sofia in her gorgeous, colourful dress. We all gave her a big wave and she hesitantly waved back, probably thinking, "Who are these randoms waving at me?" But she was a darling and she was all-smiles when we came out.
Her mum, Sylvana, came out on the other side and I gave her a big wave as well. I've been in contact with her for the past few months and still is, and it was just exciting to be able to finally meet her...and of course, the girls! Isabella came out after and once the introduction and the hugs were over, we headed inside Readings, with their luggages in hand.
A nice introduction of the girls were made and soon, they were both settled and were happily talking about their journey so far. They shared some behind the scenes stories during their Junior MasterChef days; the great time they had with the other contestants and all the chefs they've met, who taught them so much and how the whole journey increased their culinary knowledge, their favourite judges; Isabella's being Anna Gare, saying she was the only girl there and she was "so lovely" and Sofia's being good ol' George since he was funny and played soccer with them. They shared lovely stories of their favourite dishes and even some of their kitchen disasters!
Isabella's disaster was her over-whipping of her nonna's sponge cake and it turned out flat and not quite as right and Sofia's was using plain flour instead of self-raising flour for her pancakes and they were for Mother's Day too! The girls were charmers and made everyone laugh with their comment that their mum still ate their disasters.
Isabella said that she loves making dessert dishes since she said that the best part is eating them while Sofia loves to make pasta dishes as well as dessert. Before continuing, they stopped to thank the many people who made their dreams come true; their parents, their fans, their photographer, Nikole, who was there as well, their publisher, Penguin, their family (and they're a huge clan!) and of course, each other. One of Sofia's highlights included seeing her sister take down the Junior MasterChef title which earned many "awww's" from the crowd. One of Isabella's highlights was cooking at Peter Kuravita's restaurant during the Flying Fish Challenge since it gave her an opportunity to work in a real restaurant which complemented her and Sofia's dreams of one day owning their own restaurant called, "IsSofia."
They then took out these gorgeous photos of the two of them back when they were still small, I think they were 1 year old, where they were mixing up a batter in their adorable little costumes and hats and even putting some toppings on pizzas on their little stools since they couldn't reach the bench top just yet. So cute!
Afterwards, people started asking them some questions. From the adults to the children, the girls answered them all and even added a little story behind their answers. Once the questions were done, the book signing and photo sesh began!
While waiting in line, we bumped into two other Junior MasterChef contestants; Cassidy and Siena! We got a photo with the two and while we waited in line to get our books signed, we started a conversation with Cassidy. She was such a lovely girl with a bright personality. We talked about her calisthenics competition, her beloved football club, Geelong, winning the Grand Final and even a little recipe book she's got going which she's hoping to have published, which would be amazing! Siena joined in as well and she talked about her sports and school, which she's enjoying.
I got a conversation going with Isabella after she signed my copy but she was soon whisked off for some more photos and my friends and I started talking to Cassidy's lovely mum who shared a funny international trip which involved JMC runner-up, Jack and his family! They were all such lovely people!
Before we left, we wanted to get a photo with the twins, but before we could say 'Cheese,' a huge pile of their cookbooks were placed in front of them which they had to sign. While waiting, we continued our conversation with Isabella while she was signing the books. We talked a little about school and her recent shopping trip to Typo. Whoo! Love Typo! Then we talked about her Cello-playing, and even Justin Bieber came to the conversation and Taylor Swift. They're both going to her concert next year, like me! She then outlined their trip to America next year, which she's really excited about. And who wouldn't?
After the awesome conversation, we finally got a photo with her and Sofia as well. While the girls took photos with the other people there, Rebecca and I started talking with their mum, Sylvana and lots of stories shared and lots of laughs as well. Such an amazing mum she is! None of this would've been possible without her amazing support and dedication to her children. Gorgeous super mum, she is!
Even though we didn't want to we all knew that we had to leave soon and so to end, I got a photo with the girls and their mum. Love love love them all. They're amazing people!
Sadly, the goodbyes had to be said. Lots of hugs were shared and even a failed handshake between Izzy and me. But even though we didn't get to talk as much to Sofia and the times with Isabella and Sylvana, wasn't enough, we knew that this wasn't the end. We'll definitely be seeing each other soon and going on our shopping spree, as promised.
Thanks for the lovely memories girls and mum!
Oh and don't forget to grab your own copy of their amazing cookbook, "A little bit of this, A little bit of that" in your local shops now! It's such a fantastic book, filled with so much love and heart-warming stories... you'll never regret getting one!
Cass
