A JUNE CATCH UP

How is it possible that we're nearly in July?! I've been so busy recently time has flown by, and there's a whole load of drinking, eating and cooking in June that I've yet to tell you about, so here's little catch up on the last month.
 
Despite not doing a pop up in June I still managed to busy my time with cooking. I did a tex-mex feast for 50 people at a friend's birthday party (sticky chicken wings, spicy sweet potato wedges, blue cheese dipping sauce....) and I also made a whole load of nibbles for the Eat Chiswick festival to be displayed on the lovely platters they sell in cookware shop Zecca, on Turnham Green. I whipped up pea and broad bean mousse crostini with pecorino, rare beef in Yorkshires with blue cheese sauce, prawn, avocado and bean lettuce cups, and mini strawberry puff pastry tarts.
 

 

The other bit of cooking I did in June was the Farmdrop BBQ. Farmdrop are a great company who source produce direct from farms, bring it all to their hub in London and then distribute it to the customers who've ordered it. You can get meat, fish, dairy, wheat products, fruit, vegetables - the list goes on so do check them out here. Farmdrop hosted an evening of food, music and stalls to showcase their producers at their hub in Bermondsey, and alongside Ben Spalding and Matt Burgess I was on BBQ duty. I was looking after the fruit and vegetable section and cooked up some charred aubergine goats cheese rolls, spring onions and leeks with yoghurt drizzle, asparagus and hollandaise, BBQ'd bruschetta with tomatoes and courgettes, rum soaked apricots and balsamic strawberries. It was hot work, but lots of fun.

 

 
People gathering - as soon as we cooked something it was all immediately gobbled up by the hungry crowds.
 

 
Drunk fruit:
 

 
Sooo close on the human fruit machine!
 

 



It was such a great evening, and really nice to meet some of the producers. Farmdrop were also brilliant, as I'd been at another event that afternoon so showed up just before the event started and they'd prepped all my veg and fruit for me, as well as making all my sauces!
 
The event that I'd been at before Farmdrop's was the London Produce Show. In its 2nd year, and just as big and interesting as the previous year, I had a lovely afternoon wandering round the show, chatting to growers and farmers, and learning lots of new techniques in the media masterclass with Jeremy Pang and the Nikkei Boys.
 

 

 
This beetroot juice is delicious. I've tried a few beetroot juice brands and to me they've mostly tasted of soil, so I was thrilled to discover this version which is sweet and earthy, and really good.
 

 
Chef Jeremy Pang, of the School of Wok, talking us through how to make "simple" Chinese food.... I'm actually going to a class with him in July so will report back on that afterwards.
 

 

 

 
After Jeremy it was the Nikkei boys' (of Chotto Matte) turn to take the stage and talk us through fish slicing techniques and Peruvian flavours before we got to sample some of their fresh, tasty food. I adore Nikkei and sashimi so this wasn't a hard sell!!
 

The last event to tell you about was another Epic House Party by MoneySuperMarket. I went to their Christmas party in a loft in Old Street and had such a good time, that I couldn't say no to their summer version. They'd taken over 93 Feet East on Brick Lane, where they plied us with all the booze we wanted and fed us excellent jerk chicken from Mama's Jerk. The whole place had been decorated in beach huts, toy boats, bunting and beach toys and was a great kick off to summer. I got to hang out with lots of lovely bloggers, some of whom I'd invited, and had told we were going to a party on a boat - which was not true!! I'd got my wires crossed in the lead up to the party and had it stuck in my head that the "secret location" was a boat?!?! So, sorry to anyone that came down expecting a night on the river.....!! Boat or no boat, it was such a good party, with music from Krafty Kuts, MC Dynamite and Aresha. Slight lack of photos is down to me having too much fun to remember to take any!
 

 

 

 
So that, plus lots of other lovely things, was June.

July is looking good so far - I'm doing 2 pop ups - the 4th July at Urban Villa has sold out, but I still have tickets available for Saturday 18th July at ours, with a lovely summer menu that will hopefully be enjoyed in our garden - find more info on that here. We've also got a weekend in Bray lined up, tickets to see Dave Chappelle, and a lovely holiday on the Isles of Scilly, which I'm so excited about.

Hope you're all having a great start to the summer too!!