The Awards Dinner

Last year I was a finalist, but this year I left it to friends to have a go. It was far more relaxing to be an onlooker. Here you see Derek Gray from the Wold Cottage showing you how to wear a pair of specs. With Katrina who looked stunning in black and pink -shame I didn't get a photo of her shoes -very pink feathery and very Barbie. On my left was Mary Pearson who came along with husband John ,who looked very dapper in his red bow tie. It was lovely when the winners were announced and Mary won. I had bought a bar of chocolate earlier in the day from Sterchi's in Filey which said Congratulations. If neither of them had won I would have had to eat it myself. There are always winners but no one lost as they were all the best of the best in Yorkshire food producers.

2020 photography...

I had the pleasure of meeting this company at the Deliciouslyorkshire food awards on Wednesday evening at the National Railway Museum in York . A dynamic team specialising in food photography. They have a great website with catchy ideas. Kindly handing out herb grinders -I was one of the lucky people to be given on and look forward to using it shortly. I expect Annie Stirk will have met them as Annie is our local "Yorkshire foodie" living only 7 miles from here. The event was a black tie event and Annie looked stunning as usual.here is a photo I took of the pudding at the dinner -it was certainly delicious.

Yorkshire's Pub for 2013

Monday night saw a gathering of Welcome to Yorkshire members to celebrate that the Carpenters's Arms at Felixkirk had won the Best Pub of the Year award in Yorkshire. David Shields gave a short speech, along side Chris Blundell the owner who told us how it came about the the Archibishop of York had actually blessed and opened the pub. Debbie Whitwell is the manager of the Carpenter's .Always smiling and helpful, she is a star. I just managed to get her to stand still a moment to pose with the idyllic backdrop. Diners can sit out her and enjoy the view too. Sarah Humpleby was busy tempting us with delicious food. These networking events are always good to go to as there are always new faces to meet. On this occasion I met Heidi, a bubbly PR lady along with Ian Elske who is the general manager of the Cleveland Tontine. Ian has come from Le Manoir. Apparently Raymond Blanc has been keeping his eye on events.Needless to say I will in turn be keeping you up to date on what is happening there. About 30 minutes from here an idea place to go for a special meal and maybe fit in a visit to Ount Grace Priory which you could say is next door -stride a field or two. They have exciting plans for the place. I did try to tell him that to locals it will always be the Tontine. Once the Tontine always the Tontine. Even if we have to say McCoy's in a hushed tone. Great memories of a place that had its hey days 30-40 years ago . Lets hope that they will bring new life to the Tontine and make it the place we all love and talk about.

North York Moors - with 2 snippets of Jack and his dogs...

Butterfly cake...

We have all heard of butterfly buns. Those little sponge buns with a dollop of cream in and 2 wings. And a speck of jam inside if you are lucky. But you have to have a special cake if you are a special little girl hence the Butterfly cake. Filled with chocolate spread too was an added bonus for me even though her fussy Daddy isn't particularly fond of nuts -gave it a miss. Little Miss Rubi-Sue was 4 years old and came charging into the living room on her brand new PINK bike. With a PINK helmet ,she now has a PINK basket on the front and PINK knee pads and PINK elbow pads and a very loud bell -didn't notice if that was PINK too. Younger sister was more interested in tucking into the biscuits -they seem to like those PINK wafers. Baby was fast asleep-possibly dreaming of all things PINK . We are sorry to say we are now unable to post any photos of the children. Due to all the horrible things that do go on in the world, we need to safe guard them as much as possible.

Networking yet again...

This time it was at the Durham Ox,Crayke. There was a great turn out to listen to David Shields' talk of Le Tour 2014 and how all businesses can benefit. Apologises for arriving late as I picked up Hugo Platt www.hugoplatt.com on the way. Hugo had just arrived back hours before from holding an exhibition in New Zealand and was rather jet-lagged to say the least. He survived, although he said he wasn't the best net-worker -he is a photographer and artist.-enough said Hugo. A modest one and that and very shortly you will be hearing more about Hugo and you will have the chance to have a closer and clearer idea of how to hold your camera. Intrigued ? I hope so. The room was packed thanks to the effort that Jo Burgess takes in organising these events. It was nice to catch up with Annie and Ken Stirk along with Jenny and Gemma who work for Annie's Absolutely Food company. Annie was up and away networking while Ken and I enjoyed the coffee and chatted about their dog Sam.Hopefully we will be seeing Ken and Sam shortly when Jack carries on with a bit more training - man or dog or both!.

Lovely day for a white wedding....

On Saturday it was Biff and Colin's wedding. We were delighted to be invited and join in the celebrations. It is 18 years since the oldest of the sister got married that was Nichola who married a half cousin of Jacks. Nichola is in green Biff {Elizabeth] is the youngest and last daughter of John and Barbara Thompson to get married. She married my cousin Gillian's youngest son and as per usual of a "Thompson" wedding everything was first class.So now we are related on both sides. There were so many little bridesmaids and pageboys who had behaved so well in the church and in the evening the boys were propping up the bar. Average age 5 ! ordering their lemonade and fizzy drinks. It was a pleasure to see them.Wishing them all the best for a long and happy married life together. Gillian had bought them 2 mugs Mr Happy and Miss Giggles and that summed them up perfectly