This is something I have been meaning to post for a few weeks now. Last month Disneyboi and I went down to Edinburgh for the Foodies Festival at Inverleith Park. Unfortunately the Scottish weather was against us the day that we chose to attend, and we didn’t stay as long as we would have liked to.
We got there at about 11am and the weather was dull, but dry. We had a wander around the stalls. I met Morag from Mo’s Cookie Dough whom I see at the BBC Good Food Show every year. I’ll hopefully catch up with her properly next month.
lovely macaron at the Foodies Festival
We went to the booking tent to grab a couple of demonstrations. We chose firstly to see Glenn Cosby from the Great British Bake Off. We then planned to see a demonstration about making absinthe cupcakes by a woman called Emilly Ladybird.We got to the tent, where Glenn would be demonstrating how to make some delicious looking Chocolate and Peanut Butter Cupcakes, just in time. Glenn is larger than life, cracking lots of jokes and telling anecdotes. He was in Edinburgh as he had a baking and comedy show at the Festival called Food Junkie, which unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to see.
Glenn baked his cupcakes and chatted away, all whilst the heavens opened and didn’t stop! The tent we were in started leaking onto Glenn, but he carried on, the true pro that he is!
During his demo, Jac from Tinned Tomatoes popped in and then afterwards, I met Lea Harris who was a contestant on series one of GBBO and has her own blog 'Off The Eaten Track'.
We then went to our demo on making absinthe cupcakes with ‘Emilly Ladybird’ who describes herself as a steampunk jewelry maker, and not a baker. To be honest I found the demo quite confusing. It seemed almost like a children’s show, but as it was baking with alcohol, this was NOT the case. Not for me I’m afraid.
During this show however, we met the face behind the fantastic blog ‘Keep Calm and Fanny On’. If you have never visited the blog - please, please visit. ‘Fanny’, as I call the enigmatic blogger, is (humorously) baking Fanny Cradock recipes (1970-71!), vegetarian styli. And ‘Fanny’ presented Jac and I with Fanny gifts. I received Fanny Cradock’s Christmas Cookery Book which accompanied the TV series (that is repeated ad infinitum on TV every year). A lovely gift I shall treasure.
We watched another demo in the tent (most folk were huddled in that tent by now, trying to stay dry), by Three Sisters Bake – although only two could be present. They whipped up a couple of cakes. One had a lovely ganache topping, and the other, on-trend ombre icing. Meanwhile, the rain got worse.
After that demo, we decided there looked like no let up on the rain and we made our way (to Ikea). It was such a shame as, had it been a good day, we would have stayed much longer, sampled lots of Scottish fare and chatted with our friends.
I’m hoping to attend next year’s Festival and keeping everything crossed for a dry day!
