2015....

It's been quite a year. Cooking and writing wise, a lot of exciting things have happened this year, and even more are planned for next year (which I cannot wait to tell you about!!). Personally, it's been a bit of a tough year, so I'm looking forward to a fresh new year in 2016! I just wanted to take a moment though to thank a few people. A Little Lusciousness may appear to be a one man band, but it's far from that. There are so many people who've helped me out this year, who I couldn't do any of this without, so I want to say thank you to as many of them as I can remember!

Firstly, I want to thank Hana. Hana came to volunteer with me at a pop up in 2014 and she was so good that she's helped out at every possible event since. Not only does she give up many Saturday nights to come all the way West from Walthamstow to work for me at hot and hectic pop ups, she also volunteered at the pop up I did for Action Aid in Syria. Hana runs her own pop ups called Pickled Plates, and you can find out more about them here.

Thank you to Grub Club for supporting me all the way with my pop ups. For encouraging me, recommending me, even lending me their house for a pop up when I suddenly found myself venue-less. Thank you to my ex-boyfriend for letting me do pop ups in his house for the first half of this year (and all of last year too). Thank you to Storeys for giving us their venue for the Action Aid pop up, and to Urban Villa for letting me hold a pop up there on the hottest day this year! Thank you to Lorraine at Hummingbird Deli, and Angie at Angie's Little Food Shop for letting me use their venues more recently.

Thank you to my pop up helpers this year - Ian, Bronwen, Dru, Libby, Amina, Donna, Tracey, Stephanie, Emily, Michelle, Leanne, Tobi, Chitra (SO sorry if I've forgotten anyone....). And thank you to Hardeep Singh Kohli, who decided that our crazy idea to feed 60+ people on a rooftop within weeks of making that plan wasn't in fact that crazy, and without whom I could never have put on the event that we did to raise money for Action Aid in Syria.

A massive thank you to the wonderful photographers who worked with me this year. It's so hard for me to take anything resembling a proper photo at my pop ups, but Chelone, Rad, Phil and Karin have captured pictures of my food that make me a proud chef! 

 Photo by Chelone

Photo by Chelone

 Photo by Rad

 Photo by Rad

 Photo by Phil

 Photo by Phil

Photo by Karin

Photo by Karin

Thank you to all my pop up guests - without guests there'd be no pop ups at all. And an extra big thank you as I've managed to raise over £7,000 for charity this year from various events/donations I've done. Thank you to River Island head office, where I work, as half that amount has come from them, as they very generously double every penny I raise for charity.

Thank you to all the PR companies and wonderful brands and restaurants I worked with this year. Thanks to Time Out for inviting me to write for their London blog, and to Hello Fresh for dedicating two pages of their December newsletter to me. Thank you to my pop up sponsors TeaPigs, Diplomatico Rum, Farmdrop, Wyndham House Butchers, The Duppy Share and Inverarity Morton. And thank you to the lovelies at Filippo Berio for taking me to Italy and for wanting to work with me on my pop ups next year.

The biggest thank you though goes to my wonderful family and friends, who love and support me and make me believe in myself, and a huge thank you to all of you, my lovely readers. Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and peaceful 2016.

Love and light, Rosie xx