Henley Food Festival

Alison, Christine, Indra, Pauline and I have spent the past weekend running cooking workshops for children at Henley Food Festival Kids Kitchen Chaos and it’s been fantastic. We’ve had 6 x 30 minute sessions per day, are thoroughly exhausted and have met and cooked with some wonderful children.

One of the highlights was the Gazpacho. When we asked the children (aged 6-11) if they knew what Gazpacho was they all shook their heads, when I told them it was cold, tomato and vegetable soup they looked completely horrified. At the end just about all of the children tasted it and the majority said they liked it. One of their Fathers tried it too and said that they were making Gazpacho in the food hall using basil oil but it wasn’t as good as the one we’d all just made here – complement indeed.

Saturday evening Indra and I were on at the Cookery Theatre, following such great chefs as Raymond Blanc, Mary Berry and Anthony Worrall Thompson. We were the last demo of the festival, so on a Saturday evening what else can you possibly cook but a curry. So Thai Green Chicken Curry followed by Coconut Ice Cream with a Lime Syrup and Fresh Mango, Indra and I even got a glass of wine on stage – perfect finishing touch to an ideal Saturday evening. We had to compete with Eurovision but I think everyone who came to see us instead of Scooch had a good laugh and tasted some great food, we had a great time anyway.