Pampered Chef Conference 2009

Team Heaphy

Now I could tell you how inspiring this conference was or how much it motivated me or indeed how the networking and workshops will help my business in the coming months! If I really wanted to go into detail I could tell you how I earned half price conference then used my pampered chef pounds I received as an incentive payment to pay off the rest of my conference fees, but I won't bore you with all that, this after all is a food blog so I'll tell you about the FOOD!!!

OH WOW it was pretty good!

First exposure to edibles was at coffee time. The speaker on Friday afternoon was Sahar Hashemi. Sahar together with her brother Bobby founded Coffee Republic, and built it into one of the UK’s most recognised high street brands. What can I say, she is such an inspirational speaker, I just wished my girls were there to hear her speak of her 'anyone can do it' philosophy! So at coffee time we were served these amazingly cute cupcake, decorated like they do in a New york coffee house. Well, when I say 'we' I didn't actually have any due to my wheat intolerance but everyone raved about them and they looked much better than a packet of rich tea!
The Gala dinner menu

• Warm forest mushroom tartlet with lemon and chive sauce
• Rump of lamb with minted red wine sauce potato and parsnip rosti with seasonal veg
• Lemon bavarois with meringue topping
• Coffee and mints and a selection of fudge

For a meal which was served to over 700 delegates this was pretty good! It seemed that out of the two pieces of lamb that were on our plate, one was cooked rare the other well done. Had we all known in advance we would have swap until we were all happy as the conversation around the table was oooh the first piece was nice but the second piece was too rare / too well done [delete where appropriate!] The rosti had a great flavour but could have done with being cooked a little more, I like my rosti's brown and crispy. Unfortunately the dessert was a let down, if I had to describe it I'd say shaving foam with lemon bits on top! I didn't eat it but there was plenty round the table who had two so maybe it was just my taste buds. Coffee mints [dark chocolate -yum] and fudge all went down very well!

Lunch on Saturday

This year was organised a little better than last year, no running buffets for us, it was table service and oh so better than the free for all of 2008.

• Sliced melon with seasonal fruits and mango coulis
• Plated poached salmon, vegetarian quiche and mixed leaves, new potatoes, Italian bean salad, cherry tomatoes, cucumber salad & coleslaw
• Cinnamon and spiced apple cheesecake

This was a great lunch, right up my street, the dressings were a french mustard dressing or thick creamy mayonnaise. I loved it all, even the cheesecake which on paper sounded like it would be better served at Christmas time, but it was light, creamy with great mild flavours. Again this lunch was served to over 600 people and it went like a dream. Boy do the Hilton staff work hard! Thank you!