Happy Birthday to KitchenTalk!

Happy Birthday to Kitchen Talk.  Two years old today! 

Who would have thought two years ago that I would have written so much about food, cook books, cooking equipment, attended events, cooked with my food heroes and much more.

When I published my first post I never thought anyone would be reading it, I was just writing because I felt I had something to say and wanted to record it and not forget.

But lo and behold, people read my meandering thoughts, my opinions on food that I have cooked, eaten out, shared with family and friends.

I have attended some fantastic PR events, met and cooked with some great chefs - some of them my heroes. I have had the pleasure to cook with Reza Mahammad, Eric Lanlard, Lisa Faulkner, Alex Mackay, Vanessa Kimbell, Paul Merrett and The Fabulous Baker Brothers to name but a few.

A Day spent making a video with Lisa Faulkner

Cooking with Chef Paul Merrett and Total Greek Yoghurt

 

The Fabulous Baker Brothers

Cake making with Eric Lanlard at Total Greek Yoghurt's 30th Birthday Party

I have learned to make sushi with Yuki Gomi and Mexican with Omar Abilhoy.

My first sushi making lesson with Yuki Gomi

I have met Heston Blumenthal, Claudia Fulvio, James Martin, Dan Leppard, Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry and loads of others!

Talking Christmas with Heston Blumenthal at Waitrose Christmas event.

I have been invited to some wine events, tasted wines I wouldn't have ever know about before, blended my own Campo Viejo Rioja and even met Olly Smith and Oz Clarke a few months ago.

Wine Blending with Campo Viejo

I met Olly Smith at a Canadian Wine Event at Canada House

I have eaten in some great restaurants, some that always wanted to try and some that I would never have thought I would attend. I have made some great friends in the past two years as well. And I have had the time of my life!!

My husband has become known as Mr R and has made several appearances on my blog and given the family something to giggle about when they see him referred to.

Hard Life of Mr R!

So what about the future you may ask?

I hope to keep up the momentum of meeting and cooking with my food heroes.  I would like to do some travelling and write about the food of my travels. I would like to make more videos of my cooking and would even like to make some television appearances. There I said that out loud!

I would like to run more competitions and have some guest bloggers appear. If you fancy guesting on my blog please let me know.

As for my blog, I plan to work on taking better photos, put into practice some of the tips I learned at Food Blogger Connect a couple of weekends ago. My feature called 'Today's coffee break is brought to you by ...' will be re-named 'Kitchen Talk'.

I plan to keep having fun and learning and having great experiences.

Please re-post, re-tweet or Facebook share this as a birthday present and leave a comment on the blog, I thank you in advance.

 I love getting loads of lovely comments so please keep on commenting. Thanks for reading this and all my other posts.

1000 Ways to Love Your Total Greek Yoghurt - Part 1

Total Greek Yoghurt has a new campaign designed to inform readers about the 1000 new recipes and ways to use and love their yoghurt.  Based on this campaign they invited a group of food bloggers up to London for a day cooking recipes using Total Greek Yoghurt under the guidance of Chef Paul Merrett. We arrived at La Cucina Caldesi off Marlebone Lane,

When I arrived Paul Merrett came over and said hello right away (unlike some celeb chefs who pretty much keep to themselves!) and he was very warm and welcoming and gave us a quick run down of the session and off we wsent to settle in at out workstation.

Chef Paul Merrett gave us a quick idea of the agenda for the session

Finishing touches on the panna cotta

As soon as we arrived we were given a quick snack of Panna Cotta made with Total Greek Yoghurt (TGY) which was absolutely devine.  I am not a breakfast eater as a general rule so this was a very welcome offering mid-morning.

Greek Yoghurt and Vanilla Panna Cotta with Raspberries

We were split into groups and told that we would be cooking the lunch of three courses.  First of all we prepared and made the Semolina Sponge Cake with Almonds, Hazelnuts, Greek Yoghurt and Honey. We prepared the cake first because it would take about 1 hour to bake and we could get on with other preparations in the meantime.

Ready to go in the oven

All four groups baked their cakes together

A few minutes to cool then pour over the syrup

Ready to serve

Just checking the middle is cooked

Served with a drizzle of honey and a dollop of yoghurt