My Experience at the Devon Life Semi-Finals Cookery Competition at Ashburton Cookery School

I was lucky enough to be selected to take part in the semi finals of the Devon Life Home Cook of the Year 2014 cookery competition last weekend at Ashburton Cookery School.  They had good facilities and excellent helpers.

I had an hour to make one course - I chose to make a dessert and made the Devon Apple Cake, one of my staples, served with Devon clotted cream and handpicked blackberries.

I didn't go through to the next round, but I was up against some stiff competition in the form of a Goats Cheese and Asparagus Tart, Smoked Mackerel with a Poached Egg, Spinach and Sourdough and a Roast Meat + Veggie Roast.

It was an enjoyable whirlwind.  Cooking in a new, unfamiliar kitchen is tricky to say the least, despite there being nothing wrong with the Ashburton Cookery School kitchen, it wasn't my own kitchen so I had no idea where simple things were like a spoon, or a whisk.  The oven was stronger than my one at home.  Also cooking under time pressure (we had an hour) made the time whizz by and made me work very hard.

The finalists get to cook in the Ashbury Kitchen in Exeter and the overall winner will be announced on October at the Devon Life Food Awards.  The winner will receive a Kitchen Aid and other John Lewis goodies.

One of the highlights for me was having a very helpful lad to hand who did all my washing up - luxury!

My dish can just be seen at the bottom right of this photo:

Ode True Food wins a Catey Award - I love Ode Cafe, Shaldon

I happened to be at Cafe Ode yesterday morning when Tim Bouget showed me the bronze Catey

2014 award that Ode True Food has won for Sustainability.

An amazing achievement...and a heavy piece of real bronze.

The coffee in the cafe was as good as ever, the sun was shining and the company was great!

Birthday Hedgehog Cake - Handmade by My Daughter

I asked my son what kind of cake he wanted to mark him becoming a teenager....and yet again, it was a hedgehog cake.  Luckily my daughter stepped in to make it (aged 14) and the results were impressive:

My own for comparison is here.  There is also a great Jane Asher Cabbage cake on that page - still makes me laugh.

Basically you bake 2 chocolate cakes and then loads of chocolate butter cream and sandwich them together, and use stuff to decorate it and turn it into a 'hedgehog'.

My daughter used Mint Imperials with black edible ink for the eyes, a lot of Cadbury flakes and a Chupa Chups lollipop for the nose!  I think her cake is better than mine.  Oh dear.  

I am a Devon Life Home Cook Semi-Finalist!

I have just been told that I am a Devon Life Home Cook Semi-Finalist.  Uh-oh, I watch Masterchef and can see the pressure the cooks are under.  I hope I can remain calm and collected when I have to perform.

The link to the competition is here and I might win one of these

plus £500 John Lewis vouchers.

Now I'm excited.....

Devon Life is a great publication by the way.  Of course, I'm not biased!

Cafe Review: Deli Shack Cafe, Bickleigh,

We visited the Deli Shack mid-week for lunch.  We made a reservation - I think that's wise, although not essential midweek, but it's one of those weather dependent venues.  I also think it gets busy at weekends.  We received a warm welcome from the owner (thanks, Lisa!) and two workers.

There was plenty of parking and it was located down a country lane, a little bit outside of Bickleigh, and has a more independent feel than Bickleigh Mill.  Diners can sit inside (I noticed the wood burner in the corner) or outside for fantastic views.  My top tip is to walk through the cafe and sit outside on one of the 5 tables out the back with that view of the Exe Valley.  There is a gazebo covering some of the tables to prevent rain, wind or sun damage!  In a car, you need to follow the signs to Yearlstone Vineyard.  I think it's probably the sort of place that a Sat Nav might be confused by.

The choices were on a blackboard.  I like blackboards - it generally means the food is fresh and homemade.  I am guessing that some are semi-permanent and others are more like specials.  Each day there are some meat, vegetarian and vegan options - what a great idea and it all seemed appealing. I shared the Deli Shack platter.

This was huge and consisted of olives, cheeses, meat, breads, pickles, crackers and was great for a lunch dish.  There were some yummy choices - a mixture of Devon and Continental produce (I really liked the duck, and the Cheddar was good too) on the plate and it felt like the right amount of food (large though it was!).

My companions had the duck and Coppa salad and the smoked salmon creamy pasta.  They both looked good.  Three desserts came to the table - two types of pancakes (with strawberries and chocolate...with banana and caramel) plus a very good lemon tart served with clotted cream.  I noticed some visitors left when they noticed there were no sandwiches on the menu - that was part of the appeal for me.  I get fed up with the number of Devon cafes offering panini.

We did that annoying thing of sitting inside for a coffee, then moving outside for the view and sunshine, then moving back in for dessert and to avoid a sudden shower.  The waiting staff were very obliging and helped us move.

Yearlstone Vineyard is attached and I think there was a wine tasting for a bargain £3.  The cafe had bottles of their wine for sale.  On another occasion we would have happily quaffed the wine and visited the vines, but there was chatting over good food to be done.

Dogs were welcome at the outside tables - and the parking is very close to the cafe.  We had a dog and baby with us who were greeted and treated well.  There are plenty of high chairs and the place seems very child-friendly.  I would say that this is a good recommendation for some home cooked food in a relaxed and beautiful environment.  The prices are good too.

Devon County Show May 2014, Exeter

I threw caution to the wind and headed to Westpoint to visit the first day (of 3, it's on until Sun 24 May) of the Devon County Show.  The weather worried me a little.  The forecast had been for heavy showers.

The Show was enjoyable.  The weather was typically English.  Heavy downpours (luckily, there is plenty of cover: marquees, trade tents etc) followed by glorious sunshine.  I should imagine there were almost pitched battles between the welly and ice cream sellers.

The atmosphere was good.  There were plenty of TV cameras and farmers in tweeds.  There were some children (not ours), many animals, some amusing shows, and wonderful food and some crafts on display too.

Plenty to do for families: it looks like there are some serious rides at the fairground, some crafts and competitions, plus many many animals to look at.  The size of some of the animals is awesome, and

 I particularly enjoyed the competition in the Young Farmers' section.  The decorated cubicles and buckets amused and inspired me.  The TV presenter trying his hand at being a shepherd to use a sheepdog to round up some ducks was also entertaining.

The food marquee seemed more appealing than the Exeter Food Festival (which I wrote a previous post about).  I think there was more space, plus the grass underfoot made it more authentic somehow.  The producers were not just (although largely) Devon based.  There were some from Cornwall, Somerset and Gloucestershire.  Perhaps this extension to the South West was attractive to me.  I sampled and bought some of this Cornish olive and pork salami.  It's delicious.

UPDATE: the show was closed on the Saturday due to flash flooding making the parking fields very muddy.  First time in many years.  I feel a lot of sympathy for the exhibitors, organisers and the frustrated visitors.

Exeter Food Festival 2014 April 25th

This morning I visited the Exeter Food Festival.  It's on from today until Sun 27 April 2014.
As ever, the food theatre was packed - standing room only, and that was at the top of a flight of stairs - Michael Caines was appearing - so I had to leave and made the most of the 'quieter' marquees.

There were plenty of familiar faces and products, plus some new items that I haven't tried before.  It was a great opportunity to see all the local produce and try some free samples.   The marquees were huge and there were a lot of exhibitors and the great weather (not wet, not too hot) meant there were a lot of visitors, but not too many.

I enjoyed my chat about Cornish pasties with Chunk of Devon.  Are Devon or Cornish ones better?  I prefer chunks of meat (not mince)....and so do Chunk!

I also chatted to Jennie from Taste Buds magazine - a great source of local foodie info (and I write for it too) and I bumped into Anna Turns, a fellow food writer.

Look at the size of these Rolo cookies from Get Cupcaked....you have to look at the penny for comparison.  My children will love these this evening.  The Get Cupcaked cupcakes looked amazing and for me the 'Best in Show'.

The Frandie Macarons looked and tasted amazing:

 A great array of pies from a North Devon company...

 I was unable to chat to the Camper Coffee guys as the queue was always like this...
.

The festival programme:

I have never been to the evening do, but that should be fun.  I think there is entertainment on the Fri and Sat nights.  Parking was not a problem - there are road signs advising use of the Park and Ride - but we parked in the centre of Exeter.