So, the very kind people at the Safefood campaign offered me two complimentary tickets to the Northern Ireland Food and Drink Show, which recently came to the King’s Hall Pavillion, in Belfast.
Free tickets?
Free food samples?
The chance to see the Masterchef himself (and my celeb chef crush) John Torode in person?
How could I refuse?
The challenge was, who did I take? The G Man is an excellent cook and real ‘foodie’, so of course I thought about taking him, but to be fair, I couldn’t in all conscience take him and expect my Mum to stay at home with a toddler and a newborn while we flaunted off for an afternoon of foodie fun. So he got the job of looking after the kids while Mum and I gallivanted off to drool over the free food samples and mouthwatering culinary stalls. There were a few grunts and low, muttered comments about whether or not I should go, since I don’t do much cooking, but I reminded said ‘grunter’ that I do an exceptional amount of eating, and I felt that qualified me to attend…
When we got there, I genuinely thought that ‘complimentary’ meant ‘VIP’ so when we went into the Chef Theatre, we managed to get seated in the second row VIP section – oops! But thankfully no-one shouted at us, and we watched John Torode cook a beautiful beef dish as well as clams with pasta. Yum.
And if that weren’t yummy enough, we circulated the stalls, sampling many delights and purchasing a few delectable treats, there was fresh seafood, every type of meat from goat to chicken, and lots of fresh, healthy produce as well as a few indulgent type of items, my favourite being Nearynogs Chocolates. Heavenly, and made locally, too.
Well, you’ve got to spoil yourself sometimes, haven’t you?