Wellington Food Show

OK, so it’s been a while!  Life has been extremely busy and all the best intentions in the World have not found me the time, before now, to update this.  There has been lots going on and I’ve thought about writing lots of times, just never quite got to the keyboard.

I’m now back in Wellington full time.  It’s lovely to be home with my family, although it’s somewhat smaller than when I left – Jenna has moved out.  She’s gone flatting with two others.  She seems to be enjoying this.  She’s got a new man in her life who seems very nice.

So to what I’ve been up to, went to the Wellington Food Show a few weeks ago and had a fantastic time.  It’s always really the highlight of my year (really missed it while I was away as I didn’t find anything similar in Canada).  I went on the Sunday, which I haven’t done before, simply because all of the people I wanted to see were demonstrating on Sunday.  So Andy, Jesse and I arrived before 10am and waited for quite a while to buy our tickets.  Once in, the first thing on the agenda for Jesse and I was to watch Simon Gault (Masterchef fame).  Jesse really wanted to see him as he’d been really enjoying Masterchef.  He was a good presenter and we enjoyed it.  I think I have a budding chef in my midst.

Next was Simon and Alison Holst, a favourite from way back.  Jesse had left me by this time, the allure (and smell) of the food coming from outside was too great so he went off with his Dad to participate in the tasting.  The show was great, I love the way that Simon and Alison work together and Alison has been a big part of my life for as long as I remember as she was always my mother’s favourite.  I have memories of going to an Alison Holst demonstration with Mum when I was very young – perhaps that’s why I love food so much.

After lunch (not that I actually had any) I watched my personal favourite – Sophie Gray the Destitute Gourmet.  If you’ve never seen Sophie’s work I strongly recommend it.  You can check out her website at www.destitutegourmet.com.  Sophie’s philosophy is one I live by – eat good but cheap, buy a little bit of something good quality and make it go a long way.

Last, but certainly not least, was Annabel White.  While she never actually cooked anything (her lackeys did the cooking) she made us laugh so much that my cheeks hurt.  I particularly loved the part where she dabbed the vanilla essence on her neck and said that the smell drives men over 60 wild, then proceeded to chase a man around the audience.

Once I’d had my fill of demonstrations, I decided I should actually spend some time looking at what was on offer.  By this time, the show was winding down and it was much quieter so I could actually get to the stalls.  Very interesting.  I won 6 jars of aioli and had to lug them (as well as everything else that I had scored) around the show.  By the time Andy came back to collect me (he and Jesse had long since had enough and gone home), I was tired, hungry and carrying two extremely heavy bags of goodies.

Of course, I added two new cookbooks to my collection, one of which Andy has been using a great deal while I've been away - Tasty $10 Meals.

All in all, a wonderful day.  Watch out for it next year if you’re in Wellington around May and I believe they do have it in Christchurch and Auckland also (http://www.foodshow.co.nz).