BBC Good Food Show: Summer LIVE

 

ERMAGHERD. For two long months- since I purchased the tickets- I have been excited about this day! I enjoyed the Winter Good Food Show so much my cousin Abbie and I, along with 2 of my friends, decided that  another trip to the NEC for a celebration of everything delicious, and TV chef like was necessary.

BUT GUESS WHAT?!!?!? We got to see my ultimate all time favourite Foody Celeb, The One, The Only, Mary Berry…. Not only did we get to see her and the winner of The Great British Bake Off 2012, John Waite in the Super theatre. Oh no! I got to actually MEET her at a book signing! I tell you, I have not been this excited in a LONG time!I felt like a kid at Christmas driving along the M6 this morning! And come 10am we were in our Super theatre seats waiting for Mary and John to come on stage.

She demonstrated her deliciously fruity sounding recipe of Whole Orange Cake with Orange Mascarpone Icing for the riveted audience, and trust me, from how moorish it looked on the big screen, this will be attempted by myself in the near future, so watch this space! Whereas John demonstrated a more savoury, cheesy, oniony flatbready creation.

Following this, Mary and John had a short interview with Lotte Duncan with questions derived from the audience. And then the excitement…A book signing, with Mary Berry herself! Oh yes! A semi conversation with the Queen of Cake! By conversation I generally mean I said “I think you are wonderful.” Smooth as always. Either way, I ended up with my newly signed M.B. Cookbook, and was full of the joys of Spring! And yes, yes that is John Whaite but for only £3.50 I could be my own M.B . Best £3.50 I have ever spent. Even if it was an incredibly surreal experience for everyone involved. Lol….I honestly did not spend the entire day being some kind of crazy stalker. For the most part, my chums and I investigated, explored and enjoyed all of the gastronomical delights that the show had to offer!

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The Brownie Bar VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

The Brownie Bar is a small company run by two Entrepraneurs Rachael and Sarah and is based in Northern England. They “bake a delicious selection of gorgeously gooey rich chocolate brownies and white chocolate blondies in a variety of flavours” which is taken from their <website>. And I tell you, those brownies are simply to DIE for! My choices from the vast selection this time consisted of, Raspberry and White Chocolate Blondie and a Nutella, a Malteser, and a Salted Caramel Brownie.

So when I got home, my parents and I cut each delectable into thirds, and we tasted and devoured each morsel. Some of the flavours were more detectable than others, and I admit that I was not a fan of the Salted Caramel Brownie, as it as too salty (stupid statement), but I genuinely do not think that I have eaten a nicer Brownie dessert in a long time. If they were closer to me I would DEFINATELY persist to eat my body weight in brownies on a regular basis! Cost: reasonable! £7.50 for 4! They also sell a very intriguing caramel sauce accompaniment, as well as a very clever “Make your own Brownie” in a Kilner Jar! Check out their website for yourself!!

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Fudge Kitchen VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

The Fudge Kitchen was born in 1983 and they now have 7 stores all across the UK. These dashing and charming gents worked their hardest to entertain and entice the punters to their fudge stall, and 2 members of my group both succumbed to their charm and bought some of their delicious fudge. I can honestly say, out of all the fudge stalls there, and trust me, there were a fair few! I found this stalls fudge the nicest texture, and the samples I tried all had delicious flavours. Just a snippet of the flavours on offer are; Eton Mess, Maple Walnut, Mississipppi Mud Pie, Lemon Meringue and Dairy Free to name but a few! Clickity click on this linkity link to find out more about this quirky and traditional company.

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Some more tasty treats… VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Here is our loot and bounty for the day. And what a wonderful day we had! For a full list of stalls and trades who have sold their wears this weekend, see the Good Food Show Website. I would recommend this show to any dedicated foody, or even those that just like to go for the free nibbles, alcohol and atmosphere!

All images are Copyright of Amy Fellowes 14/06/13 unless stated otherwise.

Where in the WORLD can you get the best pudding?!

 

I have been thinking about this a lot recently. After my somewhat disappointing trip to Majorca, I began to wonder, where in the WORLD can you get the best pudding??? I mean the ones which spring to mind to me are;

America- decadent deep baked cheesecakes, gooey soft rich chocolate brownies, millions of varieties of cookies, and of course the age old saying “As American as Apple Pie!”.

Italy- Gelato in a vast array of flavours, meringues (assuming the Italian meringue was originated in Italy), Panna Cotta and the infamous Tiramisù

The United Kingdom- OF COURSE we are in the running for best pudding! We have so many regional specialities I think it would be criminal for the UK to not get some kind of recognition! Bakewell Tarts, Cornish Cream Teas, Sticky Toffee Pudding, Lardy Cake, Eton Mess, Bara Brith, The Queen of Puddings.. the list is simply endless

France- I don’t know about you, but when I think of French cuisine, one of the first pictures I get in my mind is that off those spectacular, picture-perfect, stupendously detailed tarts, filled with fruit and crème patissiere (as seen on The Great British Bake Off), as well as Gateaux's, elegant pastries, light-as-air Soufflé's, Crepes oozing with fillings, but also delicate petit fours, which you may remember my experience of from a previous blog- Posh Puds. Yes French Puddings are show stopping in themselves, and add a real class and elegance I believe.

BUT THEN, you also have the elegant fruited Pavlova from Australia/New Zealand, sweet, sticky and nutty Baklava from Turkey, fried golden cinnamony Churros from Spain,  Gulub Jaman from India and of course how can I possibly leave out Belgian waffles from Belgium!?

This is of course a non extensive list, but this is where YOU my lovely reader comes in (whoever and wherever you may be) I want YOUR contribution! I want you to vote on the best Country that is the birth place in your opinion to the best pudding! Please vote in my poll to the right of this post, and if you are feeling particularly wonderful (which I am sure you are) Please go to my facebook page at Did Somebody Say Pudding? and write some comments as to why that country makes the best pudding, and what pudding that is, if you can be that specific.

I will make a pudding from the winning country and hopefully get to try some delicious dessertables that I haven't tried before. I am excited!

Images copyright of Wikipedia. I hold no ownership over these images and can be found via the Wikipedia website.

Where has the Great British Bake Off been hiding?!

 

Another non eating blog! I think my waistline is probably thanking me after the week so far! What with me working the past 4 nights as a babysitter, a very sedentary job when looking after a young baby at night, I have needed a distraction to stop me from sleeping or going insane, and if it involved eating I think would have gained about a stone by now!

I caught part of the last episode of The Great British Bake Off on Tuesday (8pm BBC2) and so I decided to catch up on the rest of the series, as it really intrigued me! I have never been a trendsetter, in fact I ALWAYS seem to trail behind in trends/obsessions. I bought 50 shades about 2 months after everybody else, I obsessed over F.R.I.E.N.D.S 4 years after is ended, and as ever I chose yet another programme to become excited over- this time a good 3 series in!

For those who do not know, The Great British Bake Off is a contest on its third television series with Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood as judges and who choose what the contestants make, and hosted by Mel and Sue. The series starts with 12 contestants, who have to make/bake/cook 3 different pudding/bakes per episode. The three categories are: Signature Dish-a set theme but with the contestant giving it their own twist, a Technical Challenge- a set recipe to see how technically correct they can be, and a Showstopper- as long as it follows a certain theme they make it as dramatic and amazing as they can to impress the judges. Each episode has somebody crowned Star Baker, and on the other hand somebody gets thrown out of the competition.

My Favourite Things about it:

• It is not over dramatic! A lot of TV contests are completely over dramatized, with the theme to Jaws playing in the background as contestants scream, shout and throw things, all in the name of attention to boost the ratings. Of course there is drama- if there wasn't then it would be a bit boring- but it is very British and not over done.
• It has Mary Berry! She is an absolute ledge! She is prim and proper, and is like an oracle of the pudding and baking world! I honestly think that if she doesn’t know a technique to make good pastry or sponge cake that it is worth knowing! The woman has written over 70 cookery books for crying out loud!
• The contestants are courteous! They are pleasant and friendly to their fellow contestants, but without fake sobbing and rounds of “She/He is such a hero” when they make a pudding better than them, or get voted off per week by Mary and Paul.
• IT IS AN ENTIRE SERIES PRACTICALLY JUST DEVOTED TO PUDDING!! I am shocked and appalled at myself for not noticing this series earlier if I am quite honest.
• Every contestant has the privilege of doing what I would love to do if my budget stretched to it- and that is bake pretty much constantly. And they do not just get to bake a Victoria sponge, or apple crumble with the scraps and leftovers they find in their store cupboard like I do. They get to experiment! I there is an aspect of envy here, but with this entire blog being dedicated to gluttony effectively, what is one extra sin among friends?!
• It is wholesome, aimed at everyone, and perfect for anyone with a passion for pudding and other baked goods!

Image Copyright of the BBC