Tulips, Parades and the Elephant Boy.

Just got home from a wonderful day out with the family. We decided to go for a bit of a drive down to Bowral for lunch, and it just so happens that the locals were in the midst of celebrating their annual Tulip Time Festival.

For lunch we stopped in at the Elephant Boy Cafe. The cafe has a quirky decor, filled with all sorts of odds and ends, and shelves lined with old books.

The food is (for the most part) really good. I opted for the Vegetable Lasagna was supremely tasty with it's fusion of Indian and Italian flavours - while it had a traditional bechemel sauce it was spiced with a lovely pancha masala.

My dad and sister tried the Fish Cakes (made from Salmon and Potato), which is a dish Elephant Boy is quite popular for. I, of course, could not resist and stole a bite from their plates and decided that they were indeed absolutely delicious.

Because I had trouble deciding what to order my mum decided to get the Sweet Potato Tart so that we could share and I could have both the lasagna and tart. It too was spiced with some uniquely Indian flavour and with the accompanying Mango Chutney was incredibly tasty.

After lunch we decided to go for a bit of a wander around the main street and check out all the stores we like to visit whenever we head to Bowral. Despite the fact that I'm in the middle of a mission to save money for a holiday I couldn't help myself and had to buy something. I opted for a little bar of Herbal Clothing Protector. I figured it was practical, protecting my clothes from potential moth infestations, and so it justified the spend.

Then my sister and I went into one of the many antique stores. There is simply so much character and history behind each piece, I love it!

While we were out on our little wander we noticed the street was beginning to fill up with locals, and it was then that we discovered that today was in fact the main day of the Tulip Festival, and because they were celebrating it's 50th year there was going to be a parade through town. The parade itself was pretty standard, showcasing the organisations and things that make the Southern Highlands unique.

Following the parade there was going to be wheelbarrow races and lantern parades but we decided it was time for a break from festival-watching and decided to grab some coffee and cake instead. We usually head to the Bowral Cafe and Patisserie, but having enjoyed our earlier meal at Elephant Boy we decided to head back there. Sadly, this second visit was a bit of a let down. We ordered our coffees, as well as a slice of Carrot Cake and a slice of Pear and Almond cake to share. When they arrived we were shocked to discover that there was in fact mould on the Pear and Almond cake. This put a major dampener on our afternoon.

Despite the mould debacle the coffees were in fact really good, living up to the claim on the door that they have "the best coffee in town". Predictably I ordered a Chai Latte, and not only was it perfectly made it came in a little bowl, which I thought was pretty neat - even if it did present a slight challenge when it came to drinking it.

All in all it was pretty great day :)