Thredbo's winter wonderland

Australia's favourite food blogger, Not Quite Nigella, aka Lorraine Elliott, finds skiing is the perfect excuse to indulge in chocolate treats.

"Look at all the snow up there!” Mr NQN points out to me.

"Mmm yes and see the hot donut stand just underneath it?” I say the falling snow reminding me of icing sugar on the aromatic donuts that have assaulted my olfactory senses.

It was Mr NQN's birthday weekend and one of his dearest wishes for any birthday is to go snowboarding. Yes he's one of those sporty types. As for me, I'm still using the excuse that I have one leg shorter than the other and hence apres ski is more my thing (and yes I'm conveniently ignoring the fact that most people have one leg shorter than the other). But as long as there is such a thing as apres ski then I am happy to cater for his wishes because I get to explore the food at the snow. And I am determined to make him love birthdays. The poor thing has received such things as toilet cleaner, rocks from the river or recently a Dr Phil self-help book from his family so I wanted him to look forward to his birthday every year.

We had just driven six hours from Sydney in our Toyota Prado Kakadu. We are travelling with Toyota who are a major sponsor of Thredbo who have also kindly loaned us the Prado so that we would have a nice comfortable ride (Mr NQN was driving and I managed to nod off several times) and wouldn't have to worry about snow chains. Thredbo is a ski area six hours south of Sydney and about three hours south of Canberra where you can stay right on the snow without having to drive a lengthy distance to get there.

On the way we stopped at 3 seeds in Fyshwick, which is a gourmet canteen and cooking school about three hours out of Sydney and about half way along the drive to Thredbo. The owners Catherine and Andrew are the former owners of Pod Food where I enjoyed a meal a while back. They're about to move a few minutes away to the Fyshwick markets where they'll conduct their very popular school and serve freshly made pre-packaged goods for people who want good home style food without having to go out to a restaurant.

We're here for breakfast and we're starving considering the early hour of departure. The mushrooms came as a recommendation from Catherine as they are a popular item and when you sink your teeth into the first bite you are hooked. Despite the fact that I bake so many sweet things, I'm more of a savoury person and this is a crunchy, soft, spongey, savoury umami mix of flavours. The Persian feta gives the seared mushrooms a richness while the spongey toast soaks up all of the flavours while still remaining slightly crunchy on the outside.

"This French toast isn't any good” Mr NQN says before looking up at me mischievously. ”OK hand it over” I tell him and he reluctantly does so. It's lip smackingly good, the same bread used in the mushroom dish above absorbs the eggs while still retaining texture and it is paired with a generous serve of berries and fresh medjool dates. The quenelle in the centre isn't the vanilla yogurt, it tastes mostly of butter but I think there was enough tanginess from the berries. Our tummies happily full we get back on the road to drive the remaining three hours or so to Thredbo.

On the way we stop by Bird's Nest boutique which is one of my favourite online boutiques. I recently bought a cape from them and tweeted about how happy I was with their next day delivery service just because I really think online stores in Australia should have next day delivery. It annoys me that I often get overseas packages faster than packages from Australian stores and they wonder why we shop overseas! Oops, I did go on for a bit. Rant over. Anyway lo and behold a month later I was there getting outfitted for some apres ski clothes.

Bird's Nest have 30 full time and part time staff and 80 per cent of their business is done online. The reason for their success is that they have 150 brands and 3,000 items rather than a small selection of clothes that a lot of online stores have along with a next day postage guarantee and a no questions asked returns policy.

We check into our accommodation at The Peak which sits on a road parallel to and above the main village street. The view is stunning and looks out straight onto the ski slopes. Our penthouse apartment is enormous, with two bedrooms and a loft with two queen sized beds and two single beds. And a sign tells us that it is for sale at a reduced price ($1.4 million if you're curious).

A large balcony sits outside waiting for guests and there are two spacious marble bathrooms each with baths and heated floors – oh joy! I do love heated floors in cold climates. Design-wise it is just how we'd love to have an apartment even down to the furnishings. Soap, shampoo and conditioner is provided although tea, coffee, sugar and milk and any food or drinks are not. A warm fireplace roars in the living room and we are enveloped with a welcome hug of warmth. A good thing as the thermometer reads 11 degrees!

Most things around Thredbo Village are within walking distance of each other (and when I say walking distance, I mean it – I'm not one to walk for more than a few minutes). We walk down the hill to The Denman hotel where we are going to try a Veuve Clicquot degustation which hopefully includes chef Hayden Ellerton's famous pork dish! Crossing fingers at this point we walk through the warm bar with photogenic patrons enjoying the warmth.

We've arrived just in time for the Clicquot in the Snow event. This is where there is free flowing Veuve (did you know that "veuve” actually means widow?) is available to anyone that goes to the Thredbo Alpine Hotel between 3-6:30pm. Yes, free flowing French champagne! For anyone!

... OK, for all of you non skiiers out there (myself included, before today), how can I convince you that skiing is fun? By way of food, of course! Because skiing is the sport that gets so cold that you actually need to take chocolate with you when you go skiing just in case you get lost and need energy. So not only do you need to eat chocolate, it works up such an appetite that you can eat more. And I hate to admit that that was how it was sold to me and I practically bought shares in the idea. Thankfully Birds Nest set me up with my own freckle chocolates in the letters NQN! I haven't eaten freckles in the longest time and whilst this is milk chocolate it is better milk chocolate than freckles chocolates and the hundreds and thousands are. And I know this sounds bizarre but they are crunchier and lighter!

So where was I? Oh yes, well, we woke up bright and early – it was Mr NQN's actual birthday and he was delighted to go snowboarding. We put on our thermals and then our ski gear and headed down on the free shuttle bus (which happened to be waiting outside thankfully as we were running late). The carrot at the end of my hook was the fresh donut just at the base of the hill at Friday Flats. We've got the first serve of the day and they are fresh, light and fluffy and I couldn't imagine a better breakfast at the time.

Now a tip if you're going to ski and hire gear. Get there before 8:45am because around 9am all the buses from the other areas arrive and converge and you could spend precious skiing time standing in a queue. We were lucky because we had our gear yesterday so we all stand outside near the alphabetical markers to find our private ski instructors. I have one of my own as does Chris and Mr NQN whilst Charles is off on the black runs being a ski expert.

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