My chef hero -Antonio Carluccio

Antonio Carluccio has long been a favourite of mine. I think the Italians are probably the best chefs in the world. Pater Caselli I considered to be the best butcher in the world. A dear family friend from Monti Flori who will never be forgotten. Both great mushroom hunters. My dream can true the other evening as I met Antonio in person. It was a gala dinner which was held on the Saturday evening of the Malton Food Lovers Festival. Tom Naylor Leyland was in charge to see the event ran smoothly and he did a brilliant job despite the late arrival of the red carpet.The atmosphere was up beat and no one cared whether there was a red carpet or not and that the smoke alarm went off numerous times . How exciting when we sat on the next table to Antonio. Canapes were followed by Sand Hutton Asparagus, A Tuscan fish stew followed but Antonio told Jack that he thought it was a bit smokey. And he was so right -very kippery Jack was more interested in the Great Man's walking stick and they had a deep conversation about that. Lamb from Kirks the butcher followed. Maybe it was some of ours as Richard often buys animals from us .It was over cooked and so I will say it wasn't our lamb. Finally we had as one would expect from a Tuscan menu a lemon tart. All washed down with copious amounts of Montes Wine.part way through the evening the person to my right had left his chair and I was honoured as Antonio spied the empty seat and can and sat down again with us. I would have loved to have invited him to come for bed and breakfast as he looked very tired and I guess a couple of nights with us would have put him right. there would have been plenty of sticks in the wood for him to make another walking stick. Jack was all for training a cocker spaniel up for him to scent out the truffles and no doubt he could do that- all we need is a truffle. Apparently Antonio has a sausage dog.

Really chuffed with these stickers

I tweet a bit here and there. I found a tweet that wanted people to try out these stickers. I couldn't believe it when they arrived so well packed in a box and delivered to the right address Thank you Royal Mail for getting your part right. But a big thank you to Michael Smith for organising it too. Michael is the Digital Marketing Manager for a company based here in North Yorkshire at Harrogate www.9xb.com. www.selfadhesivelabels.com (0)1423 814 572. The address is 9xb Ltd., 38 Freeman's Way, Harrogate Business Park, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, HG3 1DH. I am really pleased with the labels and love how they have turned out and cant wait to use them on my marmalade,jam and other pickle that I make jars. I would certainly contact them again when I have used these up and it is so easy to put in your order and get sorted. But then we are talking about a company in Yorkshire and we all know how good Yorkshire products are. The labels have plenty of "sticky" on them so at least I know what I will be putting on my toast.

Go to work on an Egg

You could have egg too on your holiday,preferably 2.A cooked breakfast or a continental one is on offer too.I left off the black pudding as it never looks as good as it taste on a photo.These were set up the other week when I had ClassLane Media come to film .So if the egg and bacon look a bit sad,it had been sat there waiting to be filmed for quite a few hours. ClassLane had the previous week being filming in Marrakesh. This week they were filming here in North Yorkshire . This is for a film for the North York Moors National Park.We have been lucky to be featured on it. The weather was too bad to film outside but they are coming back shortly to get shots of Jack and his dogs.Needless to say it was the dogs that enjoyed the breakfasts we used for filming.

Such very good lemon tart

As much as I like chocolate I would like to come back in a future life as a lemon tart taster. Citron tarte,torte di limone or Limonen tarte I don't care what the name is given to it. The delight is a very tangy lemon filling held in a buttery pastry case.I was on a mission and so while I was in Malton headed to The Patisserie. This is an extract from Andrew's blog - SPECIALITY OF THE MONTH As it’s our birthday, we thought we’d have more than one Speciality of the Month. The first is our signature lemon tart, as it is such a huge favourite at the food markets and festivals. The lemon tarts simply fly off the stall every time! Alongside these, we’d like to introduce you to a recent big hit with our regular customers in the shop: our black cherry and hazelnut choux buns. The large, light choux buns are filled with a generous dollop of fresh cream, on top of a layer of delicious black cherry filling. Rich, dark Belgian chocolate and chopped hazelnuts provide the perfect topping for this luxury treat. We bet that your first one won’t be your last! It certainly wont be my last time .After just coming out of Kate Hardcastles workshop you would have already Andrew and his staff had been to it. Friendly and helpful and even though he was really busy getting ready for the Malton Food Lovers festival he popped out of this kitchen to have a chat. He is very passionate about what he produces there is no doubt on that. Talk about looking in to the sweet shop window and not knowing which to choose the same could be said when you find The Patisserie

Kate Hardcastle in the Palace Cinema

Must be 40 + years ago since I was in the Palace Cinema in Malton. I remembered as schoolgirls we went to see a film called Rhubarb,Rhubarb. This time Welcome to Yorkshire has joined forces with TV’s queen of customer service Kate Hardcastle from Insight with Passion to offer members the opportunity to attend one of exclusive half day workshops. Kate Hardcastle is a retail and commercial expert respected nationally and internationally. She is a regular contributor and industry commentator on BBC, ITV, Sky News and many more. Kate advises household names to help them reach more customers, transform the customer experience and become more successful. So here we have David Shields as an usher,Sarah Barrowby as the ice cream girl and the very vicious and interesting Kate Hardcastle delivering her speech. Kate was highly delighted with the cake I produced from Sophie Legard's deli- Malton Relish .Sited at the top of the market place this shop should not be missed. Sophie Legard is owner of Malton Relish, a deli recently crowned North East Food Hero on Market Kitchen. I grew up here as the daughter of a local farmer and have always loved food, said Sophie.I was a freelance chef for ten years before I started the shop. I was always struggling to find good, local ingredients, having to go to Leeds or Harrogate to buy them, the idea for Malton Relish came from that really. It all progressed from what the customers want, everything I sell in the shop is from Yorkshire with a lot of items from around this area. I have a food bartering system where people bring me their excess fruit, for example and Ill make it into jams, chutneys etc. I give them half back and sell the other half. Its great because come Christmas all my hampers are full of local produce. Sophie is a supporter of the We Love Malton campaign. Ive certainly become aware of how important it is for businesses in Malton to take some responsibility for keeping the town going, she said.

Premiere of The Dales series 3

Well it wasn't quite Cannes and the red carpets but it wasn't far behind. A trip to the Georgian Theatre in Richmond organised by Welcome to Yorkshire to see the Premiere of The Dales series 3 which will start on TV next Monday night.We were treated to Yorkshire Dales Icecream in the interval and it was very nice too.Here you see Carol Cheetham sampling an icecream.The ever expanding Owen family were there. Here is a photo I took of Amanda with her husband and her happy brood.They were so well behaved. Chris Wildmans son will also feature in this series.leaving school at 16 to go straight to work on the farm. Sounds a bit like our Nicholas, he did the same at 15 as the last year he seemed to find something to be ill off school with when he wanted to help with lambing,haytime and harvest.

Beach Hut Party

It started with a tweet when it was snowing. I was sick of hearing about the weather so popped a tweet in which said Should I have 30 or 60 to a Beach Hut Party. I had actually meant for Jack's birthday.But then we have Susie Brindley offering to bring Pimms and Beki from Robin Hood Caravan Park with nibbles.Katrina Gray with crab sandwiches and so it continued.Annie Stirk of Absolutely Food said what a great PR it was and it was Jane from Trail Trials who brought the Yorkshire flag We settled for 30 to be held on the 30th April so celebrate a 30th birthday. We would have liked 90 degree weather but settled for a 180 degree view of the sea and a 360 degree of success. The thank you list is too long to relay as all who came made fantastic contributions to the day. Jasmin Underwood, a young lady I had staying with me from Germany, made the bunting and had gone home before the party so would like to say a big thank you to her. I hope everyone found a "new friend or 2" and extended their business circles. I am so glad Rosemary of Just Puds was able to bring her mum,Val Anderson from Ainderby Myers. Our friendship spans over 30 years. My newest friend being Vicky Dixon who came with Tricia from Real Staithes. Vicky runs Whitby Sea Fish Co who between them astounded me with the seafood they brought. I am sure everyone was equally impressed who sampled it. An easy and delightful idea to have if you are wanting to organise a hassle free work free party -just get Vicky and Tricia to sort it for you.