Saturday 21 May 2011

Food for thought

This week has been National Coeliac Awareness Week. This is something I feel is very misunderstood and sometimes seen as a fad. I am not going to go into what happens to someone who suffers when they ingest it but rather talk about how hard it is to avoid.

When you think gluten-free what springs to mind? Bread? Pasta? Pastry? Of course these all contain gluten normally but what you might have missed are sausages, soy sauce, stock cubes or cakes! Flour is put into so many things to stabilise, add thickness or simple bulk it up. The challenge set by National Coeliac Awareness Week has been to try for a day to go gluten-free and see how difficult it is. You will have to start with reading the labels on everything of course so watch out for your cereals and of course your toast is out of the question.  To help you though I will offer you a couple of recipes. They aren't mine but are well worth trying - lemon drizzle cake  and sundried tomato bread courtesy of BBC Good Food. Good luck!


Remember I do make gluten free cake just ask!

Friday 20 May 2011

Film Premier!


Actual film poster

Last week I did something that was an entire first for me... I attended a film premier! What made this even more unique was that it was combined with a chance to network. And what fun we had. I have to say if you get the chance to go then you really must. We had an absolute ball! 

The film was called Shelf Stackers. A well done comedy both in script and filming. You can read all about it on Light Film's own website so I won't go on. Suffice to say this was not a piece of rubbish tagged on the evening. What I will explain more is about the whole event.

I have been to other networking events and found them sometimes a bit stuffy and filled with similar things (if you have ever been you know what I am trying to say!) but this had everything from schools and universities to marketing to utilities to cakes!  Oh yes you thought I might have sneaked something in there I know. This was my version of the film poster.

Shelf Stackers Cake

There was lots of mingling and chatting but nothing pretentious and there was a raffle for charity. I really don't think I've ever laughed so much. Between them, Jordan and Ed had their work cut out as they were close to being out witted by the school children who picked the winning tickets. Myself and my partner in crime for the night (my sister Sally, pictured below) found it hilarious. Every raffle should be done that way! Well done!

Our Stall
The best part about the whole thing is the people I truly networked with. I have had a few orders myself but more importantly I have a few meetings lined up that could launch all sorts of new things for The Cake Nest. Our cake balls seem to go down a storm (oh yes well really do give out freebies at events like these!), our cake cards were given a great response and our tea maybe off on it's own adventure! So watch this space.. like any great film there is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes!