Did I mention that I love food? I love eating it, cooking it, photographing it and talking and writing about it. Events like Taste of London are my idea of heaven.
This year's Festive Edition of the foodie event is on now (Thursday November 19-Sunday November 22 2015) at Tobacco Dock in London. I went along on the first night to admire the Asda Extra Special Festive lodge featuring a fabulous foodie grotto (nb: no food was wasted in the creation of the display!) and some very hard working chefs demonstrating some gorgeous recipes.
DH followed up with Pont St's blue cheesy balls with quince jelly. I'll leave it to you to make inappropriate jokes. He said they were gorgeous!
This year's Festive Edition of the foodie event is on now (Thursday November 19-Sunday November 22 2015) at Tobacco Dock in London. I went along on the first night to admire the Asda Extra Special Festive lodge featuring a fabulous foodie grotto (nb: no food was wasted in the creation of the display!) and some very hard working chefs demonstrating some gorgeous recipes.
Of course I also got to wander round the rest of this fabulous venue where large brands mingle with artisans to create an exciting market place.
There are also a whole host of chefs, including some big-name celebrity chefs, preparing dishes from some of London's best restaurants which you can buy to try using "crowns" which is the official currency of the event. There are also little free tasters on many of the stalls!
After perusing the programme and wandering round peering at people's plates both me and DH plumped for the same dish - a gorgeous pork belly dish with apple glaze, grain mustard and sage mash from Tom's Kitchen. So tasty it was all I could do to stop myself licking the plate.
DH followed up with Pont St's blue cheesy balls with quince jelly. I'll leave it to you to make inappropriate jokes. He said they were gorgeous!
Some (IMHO) highlights of Taste of London:
Newton's Appl Fizzics, a refreshing blend of apple juice and sparking water which makes it a lower sugar option than pure apple juice and a great alternative to other fizzy drinks. Nicely packaged with a nod to Sir Isaac Newton who "discovered" gravity after seeing an apple fall from a tree. Very tasty!
The festive specials from the coffee experts at Nespresso. I love my own very basic Nespresso machine so much I have to limit myself to the number of coffees I make each day. This might be even more difficult at the moment after I learned you can now buy special limited edition festive flavours.
I chose vanilla amaratti and DH went for the chocco ginger. The Nespresso barista worked his magic creating coffee cocktails which were a joy to the eye and tastebuds.
I lingered over the range of Nespresso machines -from the gloriously elegant KitchenAid version to the funky De Longhi Lattissima it made me yearn for a more spectacular version of my machine.
However my trusty Magimix Nespresso machine is elegant, simple and space saving so its spot on the worktop is safe-for now.
Moving from coffee to tea I loved the huge range on offer at T2 Tea. Seriously whether you love black, green white or tea free tea - they have it with lots of interesting flavour combinations. There was even tea with gin in it! Creme brûlée tea? a seriously luxurious treat whilst if matcha is your thing there are a variety of tasty blends to pick you up.
I popped in to see my old friends at the a2 milk kitchen and was just in time for a hands-on cookery demo where food writer senna Kakaya showed us how to make paneer using a2 milk (so simple!) and paneer and beetroot spring rolls.
I rolled my first ever spring roll and came away ridiculously pleased with myself!
For sheer beauty I loved Sari Cakes. Exquisite! Each one is decorated by hand with Henna inspired designs - the picture does not do them justice. Shimmery and elegant and very tasty too!
I lingered for quite a while discussing garlic types with the nice chap from The Garlic Farm (on the Isle of Wight) while my husband bought a bottle of garlic beer. You can go on holiday at the farm apparently - I love garlic and love that there are so many ways you can prepare and serve it.
I did lots of tasting of delicious Rufus Teague BBQ sauces before buying a bottle (gorgeously kinda hip-flask shaped) at the Authentic American Food Company stand - turns out they have a connection to Tring which is my nearest town. Small world....
Finally I was wowed by the hypnotic swirling of the Wine of Fire from Mr Spain which is a sparkling (white or rose) wine with added fruit juice which transforms it into something, well, spectacular!
I chose the goldie-coloured "orange vulcano" version to buy for a friend - although I did sort of love the blue! Which one would you go for? Apparently you can buy it on Amazon - I reckon it would make a perfect gift for pretty much any occasion.
Disclaimer:Apart from receiving free tickets to attend #TasteOfLondon from Asda I did not receive any incentives to mention the companies in this round-up.