A real good time at the Real Food Festival

If you like visiting farmers’ markets then you will just love the Real Food Festival at Earls’ Court. It a giant farmers’ market, jam-packed with small food and drink producers where you can meet the people who really know and care about their produce, who’ve grown it, tended it and now are here to sell it. You get to sample their produce, discuss the provenance and uses and in some cases you can even meet the produce. As soon as I entered I was intrigued by the sawdust strewn floor, this isn’t Earls’ Court as I’m familiar with and then the second thing you spot is a pen. A pig pen! And the two rather sleepy and porky inhabitants are Pinky – the Middlewhite and Perky – the large black pig (though he was quite small really).

I think they were the only livestock, I spotted a chicken but as it didn’t move from the spot where it was perch proud atop a pyramid of eggs, I am assuming it wasn’t live. After stopping to greet the porkers, I didn’t really know where to turn, I was literally like a child in a sweetshop, and it was truly a cornucopia of foodie delights. There were Pooh-hypnotising jars of honey and a petition to save the bees, stands chock full of chocolate, gardens of herbs, mountains of goats’ cheese (ughh), pots of tea, links upon links of sausages and cupboards full of every condiment imaginable.

To ensure I wasn’t absolutely laden within moments of arriving I vowed to flit from stand to stand like a butterfly and make a considered opinion after exploring the entire hall. Halfway round I found one of the cooking demos and thought I would watch for a while and then continue my grand tour. However they wanted more participants for the next session which is how I ended up making some dough and then a slightly wonky fougasse under the tutorage of Richard Bertinet.

It was a lovely idea, you got to shape (or butcher) the dough as Richard the French boulanger wandered around and wielded his scraper. He doesn’t believe in kneading and pummelling in the traditional way, he works the dough in a very distinctive fashion. And when your dough was “like a baby’s bottom” you dusted it with the merest amount of flour and returned it to the bowl to rest. As his audience might tire of expectantly lurking around the stand for an hour, he instead produced large bowls of previously proven dough which he portioned and handed out so we could each make our own fougasse loaf. These could be customised with black olives, tomatoes, rosemary and/or salt. Naturally I chose just the latter and after about half and hour returned to collect my warm, fragrant and surprisingly good-looking albeit rather arrow-headish loaf. And unsurprisingly I also furnished myself with Richard’s latest book Dough, luckily complete with CD so I can examine his unique dough working technique at leisure.

Whilst my bread is happily baking, I continue my culinary expedition, I wandered onto the white and airily modern Daylesford Organics stand to try and get another deliciously smelling ginger candle but they only seem to have grapefruit and horror of horrors, vine tomatoes!

I find a fabulous array of Richard Bramble gorgeously decorated plates, bowls, boards and linen. It is definitely a collection I would give house-room to if I had any room in my house or flat even.

I’ve hankered after the stunning mussel-festooned porcelain bowls for just so long but I always did wonder if I would feel obliged to only heap them up with creamy, garlicky, finely diced leek-flecked mussels. Such a quandary!

And the same theory applies to the limited edition Jersey Royals bowl, produced to commemorate 125 years of Jersey Royals. They are also on the Jersey stand itself, filled to the brim with the first-of-the-year flaky skinned tubers.

For once to be sensible I have to concede that I have neither the space nor the arm power to transport these highly covetable delights home I console myself with some of their cards itself. I think they will adorn my kitchen cupboards beautifully until I acquire additional enough cupboards to start housing my collection.

On my travels I bought some tasty free-range chicken liver pâté from Brookland White Artisan Poulterers and some of my favourite Stark Naked pesto (come on Waitrose, when will you finally stock this?), they have a bunch of varieties but I went for the usual basil and for a change, some chives.

Harvey Nichols were there promoting their wonderful Grana Padano cheese which I discovered at their cheese and wine evening back in October and have enjoyed ever since. I learnt two intriguing facts, the leftover denuded Grana Padano wheel is often use to house a risotto for a party (what a wonderful idea) and apparently it is also suitable for lactose intolerant diners. Though I've been unable to confirm either statement.

After tasting several balsamic vinegars I went for some unusual varieties from Apulia Blend, firstly a couple of gold meal winners balsamic vinegar syrup with white truffle, a balsamic vinegar with orange and a very intriguing white balsamic vinegar.

I was initiated into the world of granola with some tasty snack pots of jumbo oats, dates and apples from LoveDean. I’ve never liked adding milk to cereal and the fact that these granolas are promoted as milk free nibbles is all terribly interesting.

To enhance my green credentials I purchased some Onya Bags incredibly light nylon bags to use when weighing fruit and vegetables at the supermarket, instead of the usual plastic ones.

I pondered getting some oysters from Fishworks for a future ‘project’ but decided to get them nearer to home so in the interim grabbed a few photos of the magnificent looking crabs and lobsters – a veritable shoal of Pinchies!

Amongst the food and drink producers were also a smattering of the regular suspects at food shows, Proven Products selling my beloved silver Swissline Bamix, Woll Pans and a new one for me some rather fabulous Titan turbo peeler from the ebullient peeler man (who's not going to love a silver versatile peeler with turbo written down the side?) As astonishing as it may seem, I managed to find a shiny contraption that I didn’t possess so I just had to nab this new gadget.

Action against Hunger have been able to procure all sorts of treats for a “Love Food, Fight Hunger” campaign goodie bag. They kindly swapped the Hardens’ guide (which I get anyway) for the Tana Ramsay book (yes, another cookbook that I don’t possess, astonishingly!) and as well of the edible delights pictured there was also a big bag of porridge and another of crisps. It is of course an awfully good cause, and despite the alarming weight of the resultant bag, I hope they will be snapped up by everyone.

I don’t even think I managed to get round the entire show, by the final bell I was flagging considerably looking like a flour dusted packhorse toting all my exciting purchases as well as lashings of pamphlets and frankly couldn’t carry much more even if I did find more things I wanted. I am pleased that sanity prevailed and I didn’t squirrel away some Richard Bramble porcelain in my copious bags, well almost pleased now I’m home!

There are two more days left of possibly my number one ever food show. I noticed that their tagline is ‘fall in love with food all over again’ - I don’t think I needed to fall in love with food again but I’ve certainly fallen in love with food shows again!

Hurry, hurry, hurry to Earls’ Court tomorrow or Sunday, you will have a real good time!

More cheese, Gromit?

Harvey Nichols have been a little lax with their planned monthly food events, unfortunately they changed their minds about running them every month as they turned out to not be so economically viable so we haven’t had one for a while. But fortunately there was a cheese and wine event tonight as I was able to check it out. The main star attraction was a couple of huge wheels of aged Grana Padano. The salty tangy cheese is chipped off in crumbly chunks and is very enjoyable with with crisp white wine choice. There's some great menu ideas in the little booklet that came with the goodie bag, we got a tomato and chilli relish (which has already found a new home), a cheese grater, and some oaty biscuits.
As well as this fine Italian cheese we have the opportunity to taste some great English cheeses, Spanish Manchego which is served with a slightly thinner slice of quince on the top (I believe the prefect ratio is 2/3 Manchego and 1/3 quince) and also some interesting choices from Portugal. There is also a raclette on the go which is smeared onto some waiting bread which reminded me again that I had intended to get one of these contraptions.
I also picked up some other Harvey Nix treats - rustic looking Italian vacuum packed gnocchi for the store cupboard and this new risotto rice I read about that comes in a can I think this might be a winner with my hunk of Grana Padano.
The next Harvey Nichols food event is the Festive Fete on the 19th December where we'll get to indulge in a plethora of festive fayre. It sounds like a good evening!

Summer? Fete

When we heard there was going to be a summer fête in the nearby field we didn’t immediately leap at the idea until we heard the phrase “hog roast”. The hit the bell to win a giant inflatable hammer didn’t really intrigue us, mainly if MC had won said hammer LLcT would have tormented us with it until either the hammer had been punctured or he’d been strangled. So we thought we better pass!
The summer’s day was an unfortunately typical summer day at the moment with torrential rain, but it did clear and we sallied forth in search of the elusive hog roast. The ground was rather sodden and squelchy underfoot but we made our way towards the aroma of pig. We were rather disappointed to not come across a fine bronzed beast rotating slowly over a fire as the phrase “hog roast” may imply but instead a man in a van. A van containing a few cooked pork joints which were deftly carved and thrust inside a soft roll, with the option of apple sauce and mustard if desired. It wasn’t too bad but not the juicy chunks of golden porcine pleasure we’d anticipated. Never mind, we’re here and we decide that after our pork sandwich that we must go off in search of a tombola. We felt that tombola is de riguer at such a fête, where else could we win something small and entirely useless whilst contributing to the local rotary club? The general idea is that you buy a handful of folded raffle tickets and on straightening them out if the last digit is a 5 or 0, the other part of the raffle ticket will be taped to your prize. We fared very badly as after four small handfuls we netted a can of Diet Coke! For the sad losers however you could choose from a pile of booby prizes and we all ended up with packets of salt and vinegar crisps. Ah well, the only time I’ve won anything on a tombola was a bottle of tomato ketchup and you imagine how overjoyed I was with that. MC was strangely fascinated in the antique tractors and vintage motorcycles. D and I tried to find something particularly interesting about them; I rather liked the shiny red badge on the BSA! But I have to admit it didn’t hold my interest for too long.

After our failure to win big on the tombola and the decision that the inflatable hammer would definitely have to be a bad idea the only final thing to do was enjoy a Mr. Whippy 99 ice cream, with a flake naturally, as we made our way to the hall to examine the photographs of how the village used to look. An ice cream such as this has to eaten in such a way, clearly forged when we were all children. First the flake has to be submerged in the soft ice cream into the cone as far as it will go as that will be a treat for later. Next the ice cream is licked evenly round and around the top as otherwise any protruding scoop of ultra soft creamy ice cream would melt and cascade off the side. As the ice cream is consumed the flake re-emerges and you can start to eat it with the rather bland cone. I always preferred the ice cream and chocolate flake to the cone so pushing the flake and the remaining ice cream into the point end of the cone to increase the pleasure of eating the cone. And another fête stable is finished.

Shame about the rain, but if we weren’t moaning about the weather would be really be English. Our friends in the North are suffering so much worse than us at the moment and I can’t imagine how their summer has been truly ruined by the phenomenal downpours and flooding they’ve suffered and are still suffering and the dreadful reminder to us all how water can be so incredibly destructive. It does seem churlish to complain about another soggy field or cancelled tennis match when compared to their suffering.

Tasting London

It’s a good job I booked my tickets for the Taste of London festival a while back because I’m so tired after a madly busy week and the weather looks iffy, but I have my ticket and my crowns burning a hole in my pocket so off to Regent’s park I jolly well go. And obviously I am glad that I did because it was a great opportunity to eat some delicious food, catch up with a couple of old friends and make some new ones.

I thought I’d start by doing a reccy around the whole event and then decide what dishes to try first but half way round the aroma of the fat scallops searing on the big black grill wafted over in my direction and I was suddenly very hungry. I found myself in front of One-O-One I handed over a fistful of crowns and bore my Confit of Norwegian salmon and scallop mi-cuit truffle potato mousseline, foie gras jus roti to the nearest fake grass covered box to enjoy. In previous years you've had to try and grab one of the rare seats and a table so this year the scarce tables are abandoned in favour of lurking round one of the tall grassy boxes. The salmon and scallop and the sublime mash were a real treat and a fabulous start. I think tonight's going to be a good one!

Barely a few steps away I espy a Braised veal, mushroom and potato pie at Kensington Place and think that would make a fine chaser, and I guess the second helping of mash wouldn't go amiss either. And a lovely little pie it was as well.

I wandered around to check out some of the produce stalls including the extremely interesting Stark Naked Foods who make yummy fresh pesto, which I think is going to be available at some Sainsbury's but sadly not Waitrose as yet. There's plenty of competitions to fill in and fun things to try. Ocado had a human fruit machine and I managed to win a bottle of Champagne and a rather fruity cocktail.

It's time for more food so I check out what's on offer at Marcus Wareing at the Savoy, I am intrigued by their Beef and ale stew, mainly as it seems to be wearing a pastry hat, I guess one could call it a pie crust. They explain that the original plan was for a stew but as the day drew nearer they elaborated on the theme and turned it into a pie. It was too late to let the Taste of London organisers know though. They persuaded me to tuck into my second pie-ette of the evening. And it is delicious!

I was going to miss out Le Gavroche as it's so busy but I did want to meet Steven Wallis of Masterchef goes large fame and congratulate him on his win. He was very bashful about it all! I am looking forward to seeing more posts on his blog, as he doesn't seem to update it very often. And whilst I'm here I thought I'd partake of. some their fine food, well it would be rude not to. I would normally go for the Daube de boeuf a l'ancienne et gratin dauphinois -braised beef in red wine and creamed potatoes but I have had it before so instead I go for the Terrine de volaille fumee et foie gras aux lentilles, vinaigrette aux truffles - smoked chicken and foie gras terrine with lentils and truffle vinaigrette which was delicate and very flavoursome. .
Rather bizarrely Jeremy Lee of Blueprint Café and the other formerly Conran (now D&D) is not mentioned anywhere on the Taste of London website or in the guide, it seems they are under the name Gastrodome and have been put down as a supplier of something. Jeremy is holding forth over his chicken, asparagus, watercress and toasted nut salad, served more attractively than most in a miniature wooden boat.

... apologies for the break in transmission due to excessive seasonal workload

Jeremy is exercising his usual mad generosity and offering anybody two for the price of one, I refuse to demean his food by excepting his kind offer. Of course it's worth the ten crowns he's asking for! The freshness of the salad dressing and the crunchy asparagus is just perfect after the typical mini meat-fest I've been enjoying. I am really looking forward to experiencing Jeremy's Scottish heat winning menu from the Great British Menu next week, it should be a memorable evening.
After enjoying my chicken salad I decide to meander and see if I can get into Mark Sargeant's demonstration and on the way stop at the Scott's oyster emporium to see if there's anyone I know. And fortunately there is Mark Hix greeting his guests with his girlfriend, the lovely C who I met at the last Blueprint Café cookbook event. She very kindly offers me Champagne and not out of an awful plastic cup like every one has but a proper Scott's restaurant glass 'just like the one they served Babycham in'. I was vaguely disappointed not to spot a cartoon Bambi cavorting over my glass, though after a few glasses of the wonderful Champagne I could possible see anything! We caught up on the Great British Menu final in Paris and the gossip about the Taste show and then realised we'd both been distracted by Champagne and talking and missed Mark Sargeant entirely, whoops! The rains started and armed with an umbrella I went off to spend a few more crowns, on the way I finally found where Mark would have been performing and attended an extremely surreal hosted by Ollie Smith F Word's "Find me a Fanny" show. Hmmm, words fail me, but I got another glass of wine and a sit down!
Then still rain sodden I went off exploring again. My first stop was the lovely Welsh Serious Food Company which I've been seriously impressed (see want I did there?) with ever since I stumbled across their chocolate gorgeousness at Waitrose. They asked me if I'd ever heard of their dishes and somehow I got chatting about blogging with the wonderful Charlotte who'd designed their hot chocolate fondant dish I'd admired so much. She said that they'd found a enthusiastic blog piece about one of their chocolate desserts pictured perched on a heart shaped plate and has put the photograph in their staffroom for inspiration. And shock horror, this is my little old photo from back in February when I first fell under their serious spell. Wow isn't the internet a surprising and curious beast?
In honour of my appreciative comments they ply with with more Champagne and I get to try not just some yummy chocolate mousse (well I'm never going to say no am I?) but also the rather wonderful strawberry and rhubarb compote with creamy vanilla risotto. Now generally if there's chocolate on offer; I am going to find it hard to resist in favour of another non-chocolate dessert but I guess that is what's so good about the Taste of London festival, you have tiny portions so you can try it all! And no, I didn't eat all of these pictures, just one little taste of each. Charlotte told me they loved the heart shaped saucer (strictly a side plate) and have commissioned a lovely white ceramic artist palette style saucer for a limited time to sit under their cups. And I'm definitely interested! I'll be keeping an eye out for those.
I sway away from the Serious Food Company and their scrumminess and wander towards the Tom Aikens tent. I recall being pretty blown away by his offerings last year so scanned the menu menu for this year's stunner. And here it is the Braised beef shin in Guinness with pommes puree and roasted parsnips, and it is truly fabulous. I had the last one, phew that was lucky and even though it doesn't look the best I think it had to be the star of the show again! Well done Tom! And I dropped my business card off to win a meal for two; remember me Tom, I was ever so complimentary!The show is nearly over and I have set my heart on a little final flourish of the Gary Rhodes' lemon tart but I'm thwarted by the ravenous hoards who have beaten me to it. So I have the Pont de la Tour summer fruits in a jelly instead. It is supposed to come with an attractive swirl of fresh cream but I'd rather it didn't so my doesn't.
My feet are excessively weary and I seem to be the furthest from the tube station as I could possibly be, oh for some knight/chef on a white charger. Well in lieu of that a taxi would do but they're nowhere to be seen either! It's over for another year and it's been great. And this year I managed not to buy any heavy pans, but of course I have mentally planned a small extra palette shaped crockery acquisition. Well I have to, don't I?

Eating France

As the Vive La France show at Olympia is not just about food and wine (unfortunately) but about how to get to France and where to live when you get there, the bits that really interest us don’t take up too much time to explore. That’s okay as D, MC and I seem to be quiet happy to meander through the various stands, MC checking out any wine samples and filling in any competitions to win trips to or holidays in France as we ambled. When we we got a little peckish there were several options: the restaurant, the various stalls selling sausage sandwiches etcetera, Pret à Manger for their usual sandwiches or the four restaurants preparing little sample meals in the Taste Terrace. This set up was very similar to the Taste of London show I’d been to in the summer and some of the dishes were even the same. The variety seemed to clinch it so off to the Taste Terrace we trotted. We decided to make our own French tasting menu after we’d bagged ourselves a table. But that was going to be a problem! There were many people desperately circling clutching little paper plates of food and wondering how they would balance them safely and eat if no tables were forthcoming. One advantage with visiting these events alone is that you can perch on someone’s table to consume your booty but we wanted to eat together so it was going to be much more of a challenge. Eventually with skill and stealth we pounced on a table that was becoming free though we had to share with another couple. If they thought it was remotely odd that all food was photographed before consumption, they never let on.

Now we had a table we could concentrate on food, the first port of call was Club Gascon where we purchased all three of their dishes: duck foie gras, Gascony pie (duck mousse, cream mushrooms and leaves) and cassoulet of tarbais beans, duck machon and Toulouse sausage.

The foie gras was incredibly light and the Gascony pie such a fabulous taste and texture. It is actually a duck mousse and even though doesn’t look the most attractive dish but tastes really good and a great contrast to the slightly bitter leaves. And even though I’m not particularly a bean girl, the cassoulet is actually very fine indeed! The Toulouse sausage is just as it should be firm, meaty and just the right amount of garlic and herbs.

Next it was a trip to Brasserie Roux for gratin de macaroni à la Lyonniase and Le Gavroche for their fabulous daube de boeuf braisée and gratin Dauphinois. The macaroni was interesting as I wondered why Lyonnaise and guessed that it meant with sliced onions but it seemed devoid of onions but had some little pieces of mushrooms. Well maybe, because they denied it! It tasted really flavoursome though and also went remarkably well with the daube de boeuf. The daube itself was small but really good but did look rather a sorry state with the gratin Dauphinois but looks aren’t everything! The gratin may looked curdles but it certainly didn't taste it.

And For the final act we send MC to Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons and asked him to choose some desserts for us all. We did suggest possible something chocolatey or lemony. He duly returned with raspberry and pistachio tart, a pear tart and some macaroons. D had spotted the macaroons earlier and expressed a desire to try some. And I must admit they looked very impressive in their pastel colours and pleasingly convex slightly shiny tops and all lined up neatly in their various colours. But in my head I suspected they would taste like those spaceships we used to occasionally get on the way home from school. Frankly they tasted of nothing, or maybe paper or even rice paper. But dull, anyway! And certainly not something I’d like to have when there may be more interesting lemon tart or some amazing chocolate confectionery on offer. But they were a revelation; I had the lemon one first and marvelled at the soft yet crisp coating which then pleasingly shattered as I bit into it. And then it just melted on my tongue! The two half shells are sandwiched with a tangy lemony paste and the whole effect is just so good. Why wasn’t I aware of the sheer fabulousness of macaroons before? We also enjoy the pear tart with the crispiest pastry and the raspberry with the surprise pistachio layer – all good, nothing bad!

Feeling sated after our exertions in the taste terrace we continue to explore the stalls and stands selling French goodies both edible and for the home. There’s also a few jewellery stalls and sparkly things are always interesting!

After a long day winding our way around the show we secure some front row seats in the food theatre for the final cooking demonstration at 4 pm. We have enjoyed Club Gascon’s food today so it seems very fitting we end watching their head chef Pascal Aussignac whip up a rabbit baked in clay treat. The presentation is accompanied by a deaf signer for the visitor who cannot hear Pascale’s dulcet French tones and what D and I are most intrigued about is the sign language for ‘rabbit’. It seems to be making bunny ears out of the index and middle finger of each hand almost like making those dreaded imaginary air quotations! Ughh! I’m not sure why D and I found this so enlightening but we did. The lovely Pascal (and he is rather lovely!) wrapped his rabbit in Swiss chard then a cabbage leaf and then the clay. The clay is shaped into a kind of large pasty before baking. The clay keeps the rabbit very moist. This is accompanied by sautéed mushrooms and polenta cooked with milk. I’ve been meaning to try polenta cooked in milk for ages; it looks creamier that normal polenta. I was keen to taste a little but they are terrified that you’ll try something, fall ill and then sue them so testing is strictly forbidden.

Pascal also waxed lyrical about his beloved ‘piment d’ Espelette’ which is a much prized AOC protected Basque pepper that he uses as a condiment instead of freshly ground black pepper. It tastes like paprika but maybe slightly softer in flavour. It is definitely something worth adding to the cupboard, possibly even one of the liquorice piglets!

We’ve had a great day, tasted a a whole host of things, made a few interesting purchases and entered a myriad of competitions. Now all I’ve got to do is decide to cook for everyone tonight. Something French perhaps?

What I would have eaten...

I had intended visiting the Good Food Show at Olympia today but with suffering with the beginning of a niggling cold and a sure knowledge of how heaving it would be if I dragged my weary bones over to Olympia (always an annoying trek – personally I prefer the shows at Earl’s Court, because of the better transport options), I decided against it this year. And I feel almost guilty for missing my first year, to assuage myself slightly I purchase a new gadget on the web which I hope will solve some of the 'how to cook a healthy, home-made meal with the limited resources at the office' problem. I won’t elaborate yet, I’ll wait until it arrives and then I can test it and report my findings.

If I’d gone to the show I would have definitely found some mad gadget (or two) to purchase and no doubt some fabulous little nibbles to bring home. I hadn’t stocked up on a fine Sunday lunch as I intended some festive show foraging and I didn’t realise how desperate the store cupboard situation was until after the Sunday early closing kicked in. Mother Hubbard would be shocked, so instead I thought I'd relive a recent feast I whipped up shortly after the last visit from the Ocado man.

A nice bit of rare beef fillet, topped with a little remaining pâté, served with a medley of sautéed field mushrooms, creamy leeks and mâche with balsamic. Extremely fine if I say so myself!

Tonight’s feast was not exactly so good or tasty, so definitely no photographs! Now when does Waitrose open?

Mmmm, shiny Bamix!

I bought my shiny new Bamix today! Now I already have a fine white Bamix but at one of the food shows I attended, I noticed they now have them in silver and I very much hankered after it. At the time I couldn’t justify such a wild expense just because I wanted a silver one instead of the white one but when I was last at D’s and she bemoaned that a small accident of dropping her Bamix from a height into the floor had broken a foot and somewhat incapacitated it, I hatched a cunning plan. I thought I could get myself a silver one and sell my old one to D. She gets one that works and doesn’t have to pay for a new one, albeit white and I get a shiny new SILVER one – hmmmm. Now Bamix are very good and probably would have repaired her old one, but that might have meant an extended time 'sans Bamix' whilst it vacationed in Switzerland, this seemed a better plan. A cunning plan indeed!

And doesn’t it look lovely?

For those who are unaware the legend that is Bamix, they produce super fast stick blenders that can operate in any receptacle, they make amazing soups and crush ice and turn all manner of unlikely liquids into thick, frothy desserts and very importantly – are incredibly easy to wash up. Very important! And I believe Gordon Ramsay is a huge fan also! I think they’ve been going for 50 plus years and my grandmother had one. I don’t know where my grandmother stumbled across one but nowadays you can get them from Lakeland (but to be honest, this is a lower powered, lesser model), from the Bamix UK distributor or from the same people at one of the trade shows – the advantage of that is that you see them in action and they are cheaper than on their website. I honestly can’t remember the last time I used my super large food processor or my blender, the Bamix just sits on my work surface and is ready for action at a moments notice. The huge advantage when Bamixing a soup over using a blender is that you need to cool the soup down slightly before adding to the blender (in batches normally) or you may find the steam inside the blender will force the top off and you’ll decorate your kitchen in butternut squash soup as I did! The Bamix you take to the pan you cooked the soup in so no bizarre soup decoration on you or the kitchen.

And no I’m not a salesperson, just a happy customer!

The show must go on

Despite being totally whacked by the extensive preparation and to a lesser extent all that lovely food yesterday we had pre-booked tickets for the Really Good Food and Drink (and Easy Living) show at the Haggis Farm Polo Club. Our thoughts were that we could probably get some lovely food there and avoid the kitchen all day - a cunning plan indeed! We stocked up on packets of Musk's Newmarket sausages, tasty fresh pesto, garlic and chive cheese, very gingery ginger biscuits and paper bags of ever so juicy dried baby figs and strawberries. D got pots of tapenade and quince jam, MC a pot of some tomatoey thing and I bought a stunning crystal candelabra which will grace my dining table in a fine style. We watched a chukka or two of polo and ate hog roast sandwiches and game pasties washed down with a huge jug of PIMM'S. We entered a few prize draws that we probably won't win and checked out the alpacas where MC pondered the possibility of rearing a trio of his own.

This is the first year for this event so it was pleasantly not too crowded. Though I'm sure the organisers wouldn't concur on that score! Many of the food shows although enjoyable have turned into some annual scrum especially around the free wine and spirit tasting sections where you have to dodge wine glass on a string guzzlers who can barely stand after one or two sips too many! I still attend but try and pick the slightly less overrun weekdays to attend if I can. Though I know Gordon and his 'boys' are doing the Sunday at the London show this year so I guess it will be Sunday after all.