Food Festival

WOW WOW WOW WOW What an amazing weekend I have had.  Something happened to me today that I shall remember for the rest of my life! I got to kiss Gino D'Acampo on the lips whilst eating spaghetti Lady & The Tramp style : ) : ) : )  He also signed my copy of his latest book and posed for a photo with me.

Yesterday I visited the Gloucester Quays Food Festival.  I got to see two marvelous cooking demonstrations, firstly by Rob Rees (The Cotswold Chef), and the other by Phil Vickery (the rugby player and Masterchef Winner 2011, not to be confused with Phil Vickery married to Ferne Britton).  I took my daughter along too and she thoroughly enjoyed herself.  She loved the cooking demonstrations and was quiet throughout, which is no mean feat for a 23 month old.  Herbs and spices were passed around for us to smell and she loved every second of it, even when she held a squid skeleton which looked rather like a hard see through feather.  Phil Vickery made a dish which he cooked whilst he was on Masterchef, a Lamb dish with coucous, which smelt divine.  He was more than happy to pose for a photo with me also.  One thing that did sadden me about yesterday, whilst waiting for the Phil Vickery show to start, a woman who was sat behind me, pulled my daughters pushchair out further into the aisle and towards her, in order to block a woman in a wheelchair sitting in front of her and obstructing her view.  

Wandering around the various stalls was wonderful.  The sights and smells were amazing.  My daughter and I tried some Churros, which are sort of like doughnuts but long like worms instead of round.  I also learnt that Churros were originally thought up by Mexican Sheep Farmers who could only carry so much on there treks and were named after the sheep they looked after Churras.

Well today, where do I start.  We (me, my mum & sister) were first in line for the Gino show which started at 10.30am.  We arrived at 9.00 lol.  There was a little bit of grumbling from us as there were a few people going round to a VIP entrance and we thought we would have to sit 3-4 rows back but no, when they let us in, we were able to grab a seat right at the very front.  Gino ran about 10 minutes late but I shall forgive him. The compere came on and got the crowd worked up and then the god that is Gino D'Acampo walked out.

He was wonderful, he interacted with the audience brilliantly.  He made it clear at the start that if we were there to see a serious cookery show then we were in the wrong place.  Let me tell you how the kiss came about ***blush***

Gino asked the audience "How do you know when pasta is cooked?".  My mum said fling it at a wall lol, Gino didn't hear so I repeated fling it at a wall and if it sticks its done.  He said no and told me to come up to him.  He pulled a piece of spaghetti from the pot where it had been cooking and held it up.  I thought that he was just going to feed it to me.  When he put the end in my mouth and I started to eat, he put the other end in his mouth and started to eat too, our lips meeting in the middle.  Well all I can say is my heart went into overdrive and my whole body began to shake (and I don't think it was from fear).  He asked me what I thought and all I could muster whilst looking into his beautiful eyes was a very timid "it's lovely".  He then asked what I thought about the pasta lol, once again a very timid "that was nice too".  That has made my entire life.

One audience member asked what his favourite recipe was in his new book, he told her to buy a copy lol.  I had a copy in my bag and held it up for him to see, he asked me to stand at the front and model his new book which I got to do also.  He is such an amazing man and just like he appears on the tv and the accent, oh it's to die for.

We all had a thoroughly good day made even better for me by my kiss :D

Signing off for now

Fran x