Gifts For Christmas Fair   
Trinity Park,
Suffolk Showground,
Ipswich,
Suffolk
IP3 8UH
31st October - 1st/ 2nd November
10am - 5pm Friday, Saturday & Sunday    

About The Show  

Live Crafts & Gifts for Christmas fairs have established themselves as one of the UK's very best regional seasonal gift events. The themed White Christmas show will feature handmade crafts and a cornucopia of the stylish, elegant, unusual & luxurious gifts. Held in heated, floored & fully carpeted temporary exhibition pavilions, you will be able to browse & buy in comfort regardless of weather.  

Cookery Theatre  

If it is food that you fancy, our resident celebrity chef Nigel Brown will be running a number of cookery demonstrations each day. He will also be available after each demonstration for a question & answer session. 

  

Nigel Brown demonstrates at major food festivals all around the country alongside other top chefs such as Jean-Christophe Novelli, Ainsley Harriott, Antony Worrell-Thomson plus many more. Nigel also runs his own exclusive cookery academy in North Lincolnshire where he inspires beginners through to professionals with his culinary expertise and cheeky sense of humour. www.nigelbrownchef.co.uk     

Fashion Shows  

Each fashion show lasts for approximately 20 minutes and gives all fashion exhibitors the chance to have a variety of their products modelled in front of the visiting public, be it clothing, handbags, jewellery or accessories.  

ENTERTAINMENT 

Make and Take Area 
Here hildren of all ages are able to let their imagination's run riot in paint or in clay. We never cease to be amazed at the seemingly unlimitless talent the children always demonstrate. Quite often parents are even more amazed by their Children's hidden talents.    

Dogs are allowed as long as they are kept on a lead at all times.

Admission Prices:On the Day ~Adults £6.50, Children (5 - 15 years) £2.00. Advance Tickets ~Advance tickets include privileged parking & fast track entry. Adults £5.50, Children (5 - 15 years) £1.00.     
Click here to purchase advanced tickets
Please note: Online bookings are subject to a 50p transaction charge.    

Ingredients:

1lb cod skinned
150g noodles
10g Thai spice
1/4pt whipping cream
20g lemon juice
Small bunch of chives
Olive oil
1tbsp light soy sauce
½ Spanish onion
200g chopped tomatoes
10g sugar
1tbsp vinegar

Method:

Place the noodles in boiling salted water for approximately 3 minutes.

In a separate pan heat the olive oil and add the finely chopped Spanish onion along with the Thai spice and soy sauce.

Place the lid back on the pan and allow to cook until the onions are soft.

Add the sugar, vinegar and chopped tomatoes.

When the sauce has reduced by a third add the cod and allow to cook for 2/3 minutes with the lid on.

Before serving, season to taste.

For the sour cream dressing mix the lemon juice into the cream and add the chives and seasoning.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serving suggestion:

Serve noodles in a blanched savoy cabbage leaf with the thai spiced tomato cod on top. Serve with chive flavoured soured cream dressing

Storage
Live Lobsters are reasonably hardy creatures. They store well in the bottom of the fridge, covered with a damp cloth and can survive for up to a week, they should be checked regularly, if in any doubt of their freshness cook them straight away. Once cooked treat as any cooked food and store for up to three days in the coldest part of your fridge.

Killing Lobsters
There are many different ways to kill a Lobster from drowning it in fresh water to dropping it into boiling water or even using a large chef’s knife through the centre of its head between the eyes.  Don’t remove the bands on it’s claws, they were put there to prevent them eating each other as they are carnivorous and also for your fingers safety too!  They can snap at you very fast at room temperature so be careful not to get on the wrong side of it!

Cooking:
1. Using the largest saucepan you have, half fill with fresh water and add plenty of salt, and bring to a vigorous boil.
2.  Drop the Lobster in and bring back to the boil.
3. When the water comes back to the boil wait about 15 mins for up to 1 1/2lb and add  5 mins per pound over that.
4. When cooked, strain the water into your sink and wash off the lobster in cold water
5. Refrigerate if not required immediately

6. Pull off the claws and crack them, and remove the white meat.
7. Either pull off the tail and peel like a prawn, then cut the body lengthwise in half.  Remove the grey gills.

8. Or using a large pointed chef’s knife, locate the centre of the cross conveniently located on the top of the shell, and push the point vertically through the shell and down through between the eyes. Turn the fish around and with the knife reversed in the same hole cut down through the tail. Separate the meat as above.

Recipe:

Lobster Thermidor 

Ingredients
1×750g/1½lb lobster, cooked
20g/¾oz fresh parmesan, grated
For the sauce
30g/1oz butter
1 shallot, finely chopped
1×284ml/10fl oz tub fresh fish stock
55ml/2fl oz white wine
100ml/3½ fl oz double cream
½ tsp English mustard
2 tbsp chopped parsley
½ lemon, juice only
salt
freshly ground black pepper 

Method
1. Cut the lobster in half and remove the meat from the claws and tail. Leave to one side. Remove any meat from the head and set aside. Cut the meat up into pieces and place back into the shell.
2. For the sauce, put the butter in a pan, add the shallots and cook until softened. Add the stock, wine and double cream and bring to the boil. Reduce by half. Add the mustard, herbs, lemon juice and seasoning.
3. Pre-heat the grill and spoon the sauce over the lobster meat. Sprinkle with the grated Parmesan cheese. Place the lobster halves under a pre-heated grill for 3-4 minutes until golden brown. 

For more recipes, cookery courses and events that Nigel will be appearing at visit www.nigelbrownchef.co.uk

York Food Festival

19th to 28th September 2008

Parliament Street and St Sampson?s Square

9am - 5pm

Come and meet BBC Radio Humberside?s Resident Celebrity Chef as he demonstrates his brand new seafood recipes created especially for the Yorkshire and Humber Seafood Group.

Nigel will be attending this fantastic festival on 19^th to 21^st September where you are welcome to taste these new recipes and pick up a free recipe card to recreate the dishes at home.

You?ll find Nigel at the Yorkshire and Humber Seafood Group stand within the market in Parliament Street and St Sampson?s Square.

For information about other events that Nigel will be attending visit www.nigelbrownchef.co.uk/Events.html

Nigel's Superchef secret is mirrors. If you pop into your local supermarket and buy a box of fancy cakes for tea, once you've opened the packet and plonked them on a plate they never quite resemble the pretty picture on the front of the box. However, if you dig out that old mirror you put in the back of the garage because it didn't match your new colour scheme, give it a good clean with some antibacterial spray and then arrange your cakes and pastries on the top, suddenly you've promoted your French fancies and mini éclairs into top chef style petit fours.

The same principle applies to all kinds of other dishes too. Cold meats look fantastic fanned out over the mirror with some cherry tomato and parsley garnishing, samosas look like they've doubled in quantity and a large creamy gateau wouldn't look out of place during afternoon tea at The Ritz.

For a truly spectacular dish, why not try using a fairly large mirror with a whole poached salmon, skinned and garnished with lemon and cucumber laid on a bed of blue-tinted aspic jelly. This makes a fantastic centre piece to your table and will have your guests gasping in admiration at your skill and talent.

To learn more secrets why not try a cookery school class with Nigel at his home in North Lincolnshire? Check out his website at www.nigelbrownchef.co.uk for lots of course information, recipes and events where you can meet Nigel in person.

BEVERLEY FOOD FESTIVAL

SUNDAY 5TH OCTOBER 2008

Market Place, Beverley

9.00am to 4.30pm

Beverley Town Council is pleased to announce that the third annual Food Festival will take place on Sunday 5th October 2008 in the Market Place, Beverley, 9.00 am  4.30pm. Come and enjoy a family day of food, festivities and fun.  There will be a variety of stalls selling local produce, cookery theatre marquee, street entertainment, charity BBQ (on behalf of NURSE and Guide Dogs for the Blind), competitions and much more.  To be officially opened at 10.00am by Hannah Moffat of BBC Look North.

Nigel Brown will be demonstrating his brand new fish dishes created especially for the Yorkshire and Humber Seafood Group at their stand within the festival. Come along, pick up a free recipe card and watch Nigel prepare the dish before your very eyes. Don?t forget to wait for a taste at the end of his demonstration. 

There will be over 50 stalls and attractions at the Beverley Food Festival.  At previous Beverley Food Festivals the stall holders experienced a very successful day, several selling out and some having to have extra supplies delivered. To find out which other events Nigel will be attending visit www.nigelbrownchef.co.uk/Events.html

As a doting mum and wife of a top chef with his own food safety and hygiene training company, I was horrified by what my son could possibly find (or be contaminated by) in his halls of residence as a fresher 150 miles away from home.

A quick peep inside a student kitchen fridge is like opening the door of a potentially lethal time-bomb.

Like thousands of other parents around the country I have spent the last two years preparing to wave my precious child off to university. We travelled the length and breadth of England attending open days and departmental visits, spent hours wading our way through prospectus and faculty information not to mention the stress and worry of trying to achieve those elusive top grades just to secure a place at the university of choice; it's a cruel system that builds both hope and hopelessness in choosing a home and educational pathway for the next four years based on predicted grades, only to be confirmed or denied on results day.

Like most mothers, I made sure my son learnt all the basics of living away from home. He is competent in all things domestic; he can wash, dry and iron his clothes, change his bedding, write a cheque, shop, cook and clean up after himself, top up his mobile and remember his manners. We shopped together for his 'going away' kit, his bedding, kitchen utensils, books, pens, toiletries and a starter pack of food.

So what? Isn't that what every parent does? Hands up all those parents who did the "are you sure uni is what you really want?" talk, the taking care of finances chat, who checked to make sure their student had packed all the essential paperwork for registration, remembered their phone charger and ironed their last donation to the washing basket with just a little bit more care and tenderness than usual? You don't need a degree in statistics to work out that includes probably most of us.

But who remembered to give one of the most important, under rated lessons of all - food hygiene? A quick peep inside a student kitchen fridge is like opening the door of a potentially lethal time-bomb. The fridge may be shared by up to 10 students, all jostling for a piece of shelf space to keep their precious food chilled and fresh. The reality is, that one essential piece of kitchen equipment, namely the fridge, could be the cause of thousands of upset stomachs, vomiting, diarrhoea, fever, dehydration, hospitalisation and very rarely, but quite possibly, even death.

All electrical equipment is tested by universities to make sure it won't electrocute anyone but this test doesn't measure the effectiveness of the fridge. To keep food as fresh as possible and stop the build up of harmful bacteria it should run at a constant temperature of between 1°C and 4°C, impossible to tell if the door is being continually opened and shut by 10 people and without a fridge thermometer. All food stock in the fridge should be covered with the cooked food on the top shelves and any raw meat, fish or eggs at the bottom so that if it drips it won't contaminate anything. If the fridge is shared by several people, then label the food with a name and the date is was put in there so it can easily be removed if it's past its use-by date as rotten or mouldy food can quickly contaminate fresh food.

You've devoted the last 18 years nurturing and protecting your child, they've learnt stranger danger, cycling proficiency and the perils of drinking, sex, smoking and drugs. You willingly spent time and money making sure they have all the essential goodies to make them comfortable in their new home from home but if you neglect to teach them basic food hygiene skills, who's going to hold the bucket or mop their brow when the food poisoning monster kicks in? As parents, we can't be there 24/7, we know we have to let go, but if we're reassured our little treasures have good food hygiene knowledge and a bottle of kitchen sanitizer spray then maybe we can find something else to think about - like ourselves for a change?

For a great leaving home present for any student, buy a copy of Nigel's Studentchef Secrets DVD and booklet, it's got great budget recipes, hints and tips for cooking safely and plenty of advice about food safety and kitchen hygiene. Visit www.nigelbrownchef.co.uk/StudentChef_DVD.html

Further information about food hygiene training can be found at www.sterlingservicetraining.co.uk and www.nigelbrownchef.co.uk

It's official!

Nigel Brown is the BBC Radio Humberside Resident Celebrity Chef.

Nigel regularly appears on Lara King's morning show sharing his hints and tips for recipes, cooking and topical food related issues.

To find out more about Nigel visit www.nigelbrownchef.co.uk