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You are here: Home / Workshops & conferences / Plate to Page / Plate to Page Somerset: 14 women, 1 man and a dog, Part II

Plate to Page Somerset: 14 women, 1 man and a dog, Part II

by Jeanne Horak on July 16, 2012 13 Comments in Plate to Page

Plate 2 Page Somerset © Ilva Beretta 2012

Photo courtesy and © of Ilva Beretta

 

The story so far:  for the third Plate to Page workshop, 11 participants and 4 instructors had travelled from far and wide to congregate at Meare Court Farm in Somerset for a weekend of learning, teaching, photographing, writing, laughter and friendship. The first day and a half are described in my Plate to Page Somerset, Part I – now read on. 


After bidding a fond farewell to Brown & Forrest smokery, we moved on to our next outing:  an English pub lunch.  The Canal Inn certainly fits the bill in appearance, with its gleaming draught beer taps, dark wooden beamed interior and low ceilings.  Staff and regular patrons were a little taken aback when 15 out-of-towners descended on them and spent the first 10 minutes snapping pictures of everything from the decorative horse brasses to the vinegar bottles – but then how were they to know that these were 15 people on a mission who had to write up the visit as part of an assignment!  The menu, however, is more modern gastropub than toad-in-the-hole and Scotch eggs and we were treated to a starter of asparagus with a poached duck egg and hollandaise; a main of seabass; and dessert (which I shared with Meeta) of a bread & butter syrup pudding and a berry tart with clotted cream. Maybe not traditional English pub food, but lovely nonetheless.

 

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And from there it was back to the house for a large pot of coffee, some fortifying luxury almond nougat from South African company Sally Williams, and a writing workshop before participants were turned loose in pairs to write a blog post on the morning’s visit to the smokery, while instructors had the opportunity of spending time with each team, providing individual support, advice and guidance.  Once all the groups had finished and presented their pieces, it was back to the house for a little light log-throwing for Tess; and a glass of Jeio Rosé prosecco from Bisol.  Our neighbours (a weekend hen party) were clearly off on a far more boisterous night as we watched them totter off for a night out, all dressed as Virgin air hostesses! Dinner was catered by the Canal Inn once againwho brought large serving dishes to the house: carrot & coriander soup, salad and mackerel pate starters; poached salmon, roasted chicken with pears, and butternut risotto for mains; plus a mixed berry Eton mess, a lemon cheesecake and a fresh fruit salad for dessert. The Bisol Jeio Rosé prosecco was a beautiful match with the poached salmon as well as the roasted chicken, and nobody went to bed hungry or thirsty!

IlvasNougat
Photo courtesy and © of Ilva Beretta

 

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By Sunday morning, everybody was still surprisingly enthusiastic and keen for more, so after breakfast, Jamie and I led the group back to the training room for another writing workshop.  This time, we were focusing on killer openings to hook your reader’s attention; and how to say a lot in as few words as possible.  Although there was much head scratching, inspiration did finally strike everybody and participants produced some great work.  After we had warmed up the crowd, Meeta and Ilva took over with their post-processing presentation while Jamie and I went to meet the lovely Hayley, a Plate to Page alumna from Plate to Page Class of Tuscany who had offered to come and help us cook on Sunday. She also brought with her the participants’ mid-morning snack: astonishing hand-made raw chocolate truffles from our sponsor Raw Love Life: Himalayan salted fudge caramel, mint truffle and lemon cheesecake. Raw chocolate is made without heating anything over 42C – but tasting it you would never know – and you’d certainly never guess that they are also vegan and gluten-free.

 

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Chocolates safely delivered, Hayley and her adorable other half Seb were like whirling dervishes in the kitchen, whipping up a fantastic kedgeree for lunch, using the nutty and delicious Gallo 3-grain that we had received from our sponsors.  For dessert Hayley made us a beautiful Victoria sponge cake, using with the incredible (and gorgeously packaged) jams supplied by our sponsor Sunchowder – think flavours like peach-lavender, raspberry-pepper, strawberry-balsamic, or pineapple-tangerine. To drink, we indulged in Orchard Pig‘s fresh and delicious range of fruit coolers: it was hard to choose between the Flower Power and the Totally Minted – but I think my new favourite non-alcoholic drink must be their zingy Deeply Rooted (apple, ginger, chilli and lime).  For those who were after something alcoholic, there was Bisol Cartizze – the brand’s premier prosecco, with a fine mousse and good depth of flavour, and an affinity for food:  a surprisingly good match with the kedgeree. And with dessert, the Bisol Jeio Rosé was the perfect match, both in colour and flavour. Lunch finished with an informal presentation by me and Jamie at the table, all about getting noticed online, getting published, and other ways to reap benefits from your blog. Meeta and Jo even found the time to fit in an impromptu modelling shoot for me in the garden, showing off their stylish and practical Kelly Moore camera bags – the bags for people who don’t like to carry a camera bag.

 

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After lunch, participants were once again set a task to perform in groups of two and left to work on their own while the presenters spent some time in the kitchen with Hayley and Seb. Donald Russell had sponsored us some legs of lamb which Hayley had stabbed with the ultra-sharp ceramic knives kindly provided by Edge of Belgravia, stuffed with garlic and rosemary, and then rubbed all over with olive oil before popping them in the oven.  The smell in the kitchen by mid-afternoon was wonderful beyond words. As we sat around the table outside the kitchen door, listening to the lowing of the cows (and the clunk on the flagstones as Tess dropped larger and larger logs at our feet for throwing!), Hayley got to work snapping the ends off the giant pile of crisp, fresh asparagus that had been sent to us by The Garlic Farm on the Isle of White. I’ve seldon seen fresher – and they made fantastic photographic subjects.  As the afternoon drew to a close, we gathered in the training room for a final time to hear participants present their final project. But of course, mankind cannot live by writing and photography alone:  to fortify everyone for the presentations, we broke out the boxes of Bluebasil Brownies.  Despite everyone’s assertions just an hour or two earlier that they never needed to eat again, the temptation of these delectable, gooey brownies in flavours like Caramel Crunch, Cardamom and Chocwork Orange proved too much and they were polished off in minutes. And just because we had not had enough chocolate yet, we were also served some Two helpings of chocolate and 60 mins later, we were done with the last of the participants’ presentations, and off to the main house for dinner.

 

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We started with the wonderful asparagus from The Garlic Farm (barely cooked and covered in Parmesan), followed by the utterly delicious slow-roast legs of lamb from Donald Russell – succulent, lamby and everything you ever dreamed roast lamb could be. No wonder these guys supply meat to the Queen of England herself – they are good. A fantastic accompaniment was provided  by the extraordinary mint sauce with garlic, also provided by The Garlic Farm – the perfect antidote for yor childhood memories of sickly-sweet mint jelly.  Mint sauce with balls, if you will. The other big surprise of the evening was the wine.  When our sponsor Laithwaite’s agreed to send me a case of fairly obscure French red called Domaine of the Bee, I agreed, not expecting fireworks.  How wrong I was. Wrong, wrong wrong.  This 100% grenache wine is made in tiny quantities at the estate in Maury, down south near Perpignan. The extremely low field means that they produce wines of tremendous depth and concentration – a mouthful of well-rounded cassis and vanilla with wonderfully integrated tannin – and a superb match for our lamb. And just because we are greedy, we finished off with a rhubarb crumble which paired well with the excellent Needless to say, we slept like the dead!

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The next morning, those who did not have to leave at the crack of dawn formed a subdued party at the breakfast table, saying sad and heartfelt goodbyes as people slipped away from the table to undertake the journey home to Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Egypt – or just the north of England. I was sad to see everybody go, but glowing inside with the knowledge that this thing we do is a really good thing.  People have been asking me why I do it.  “Surely you are training people to compete with you?” they exclaim.  But every time we do this and I’m overwhelmed at participants’ enthusiasm and willingness to share, grow and learn, I know that the old Latin saying is true:  docendo discimus – by teaching we learn.  And what I have learnt is that there is no finer thing than to see the grin of comprehension steal across somebody’s face, or to witness a tiny and deeply buried seed of confidence grow and blossom in a creative environment. That’s why we do it.

Roll on, Plate to Page 2013.

 

FourInstructorsNitinPhoto courtesy and © of Nitin Kapoor

Thank you to our awesome participants for making the weekend as special as it was:

Spandana | Jo | Wendy | Alexandra | Djanira | Juliane | Nitin | Barbara | Ruth | Francoise | Rim

 

And thank you to our stellar cast of sponsors – we could not have done this without you:

Bisol Prosecco  |  Donald Russel (legs of lamb, curries and fish pies) | Sally Williams (nougat) | Halen Môn (smoked sea salt) | Orchard Pig (Somerset ciders and fruit coolers) |  Laithwaites Domaine of the Bee wine |  Capricorn Somerset Goats Cheese  |  F & W Media (Brette Sember’s Muffin Tin Cookbook) | Riso Gallo (3-grain rice & easy risotto) | Edge of Belgravia (limited edition numbered ceramic knives) | Sunchowder’s Emporia (gourmet jams) |  Blue Basil Gourmet Brownies  |  Taste of Home (cookbooks and aprons) |  Gourmelli (selected gourmet foods) | Nielsen-Massey flavoured extracts |  The Garlic Farm (smoked garlic, fresh asparagus, relishes) | Raw Love Life raw chocolates | Kelly Moore (camera bag vouchers)

 

Here are some other perspectives on the weekend:

Meeta – From Plate to Page snapshots 

Ilva – Plate to Page Somerset 2012 – the story so far 

Juliane – Plate to Page – a workshop to remember! 

Juliane – Stages of a photo setup – more pics from the Plate to Page workshop!

Barbara – A hands-on, mouth full, brain-spinnning kind of experience 

Wendy – Plate to Page 2012 Somerset 

Spandana – Plate2Page Workshop: Somerset – A weekend to remember

Jamie – From Plate to Page workshop Somerset – from anticipation to inspiration

Meeta – From Plate to Page Comerset – the best of Britain

 

MonthlyMingleBanner July2012[9]Don’t forget – I am hosting Meeta’s Monthly Mingle this month and the theme isA Taste of Yellow to honour our friend and ellow-blogger Barbara Harris of Winos and Foodies who passed away last month after finally losing a long battle with cancer.  In honour of her annual Taste of Yellow event which raised cancer awareness, we have decided to paint the food blogs yellow with dishes in every shade of yellow, and we hope you can join us! Feel free also to share memories and pictures of Barbara in your post if you wish. You have until 6 August to get your entries in – click here for detalis of how to take part.

 

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  1. Francoise Murat says

    July 16, 2012 at 10:33 am

    Great post as always – it’s good to remember what a great weekend that was and how much we learnt and all the wonderful food we ate from the sponsors generous gifts. It’s also great that I got to meet so many people from all walks of life and from the four corners of the world – literally! And by the way am still off auto and shooting every day in manual!

    Reply
  2. Jamie says

    July 16, 2012 at 10:59 am

    Fantastic write up! Yes, yes your last paragraph of why we do this is spot on. Watching our participants gather confidence in their own skills, dig down and search hard to find the seeds of creativity and imagination and work so hard (I am always so surprised at how hard they work non stop!) and begin to find their “land legs”. I love inspiring, motivating and mentoring while everyone else, each participant, inspires and motivates and shares their own knowledge at the same time. I begin each workshop excited yet nervous in front of the unknown and leave each workshop excited and inspired myself.

    Reply
  3. Jamie says

    July 16, 2012 at 11:00 am

    Oh, and what amazing amazing generous sponsors we had! The food and snacks were incredible! Top! And the goodie bags are just fabulous each and every time. Thanks to our amazing sponsors!!!

    Reply
  4. Spandana says

    July 16, 2012 at 11:23 am

    Great write up. Recollecting all the memories and the food… wow truly amazing.
    And you forgot my name, at the end 🙁

    Reply
  5. bellini says

    July 16, 2012 at 12:42 pm

    Excellent recap . With so much going on it would take a while to contemplate and get my head around it all.

    Reply
  6. Robin O says

    July 16, 2012 at 2:58 pm

    The Plate to Page workshops are like nothing else. Each one an amazing unique journey for the participants and the team. Lovingly crafted in content and presentation and fortified with amazing sponsors. The weekend exemplifies the best of the location and it’s own bevy of delights. Oh to be at each and every one!

    Reply
  7. Barbara says

    July 17, 2012 at 8:11 am

    What a wonderful post, Jeanne, and not because we feature so prominently in it! Thank you! All the memories are snap back, I can taste the food (did we really eat that much? I am yet to taste the cardamom brownies …), feel the anticipation, excitement and tension, sigh about the assignments … and enjoy the lovely companionship.
    The Somerset workshop is omnipresent as I use the Edge of Belgravia paring knife each and every day, you should see my hands!
    And what a fine recap in your last paragraph, yes, the seeds are sown if only the European rain would stop!

    Reply
  8. Rosa says

    July 17, 2012 at 8:15 am

    What an exciting event with so many lovely people! It looks like you had a blast. I wish I could take part in PTP…
    Cheers,
    Rosa

    Reply
  9. Brian @ A Thought For Food says

    July 17, 2012 at 12:39 pm

    I love everything about this post… if I had the time and money to come out there for this, you know i totally would. So glad you had a fabulous time!

    Reply
  10. Adam Garratt says

    July 18, 2012 at 1:11 pm

    Wow you all looked like you had an amazing time! Just discovered this blog by accident, love it. The asparagus with poached egg and hollandaise looked scrumptious, and that leg of lamb! getting hungry now haha

    Reply
  11. Meeta says

    July 19, 2012 at 8:56 am

    Yes the last paragraph really nails it. It’s that awesome feeling of helping someone to move forward with something they have been puzzling about for so long – then seeing their faces light up – it#s an amazing feeling. Great post and loved re-living it with you again. thank you!

    Reply
  12. Andrew says

    July 22, 2012 at 11:39 am

    What an amazing set of photos – looks like you all had a supreme time; rather envious as it happens.

    Reply
  13. ToastNZ says

    July 24, 2012 at 4:37 am

    What an amazing weekend! I look forward to hearing where you are headed in 2013!!

    Reply
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Jeanne Horak is a freelance food and travel writer; recipe developer and photographer. South African by birth and Londoner by choice, Jeanne has been writing about food and travel on Cooksister since 2004. She is a popular speaker on food photography and writing has also contributed articles, recipes and photos to a number of online and print publications. Jeanne has also worked with a number of destination marketers to promote their city or region. Please get in touch to work with her Read More…

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