Day 4: A relaxed and hurried day with exciting news thrown in

It's been one of those funny old days today, not least because I'm off to a special event tonight and feel that I should be relaxing and getting ready for it.

It's Suffolk's Creating the Greenest County awards and I've been shortlisted in the "Community\Communications and Events" category for my work in promoting waste reduction. As you can guess, I am very excited indeed and because I'm off to the gala celebration tonight, I thought I'd post early with an update of the Suffolk food I've managed to munch my way through today.

Hmmm, when I put it like that, I sound like the Very Hungry Caterpillar, chomping my way through the Suffolk countryside until I'm fit to burst....

Today's diary is more of a simple tale than yesterday's, which started in a very relaxing manner with coffee at home with friends.

"Coffee!" I hear you exclaim.  "That's not from Suffolk!"

True, the county's not known for having fields of coffee berries, and could not be considered to be local produce, but there is a local company that imports fairtrade coffee beans for roasting at its site in Woodbridge.  And that's what I've been enjoying all week, slow roasted filter coffee from Paddy & Scott's, a couple of guys who have received plenty of accolades from the food industry and hospitality trade.

The problem was I was so relaxed the morning, I realised that I'd forgotten to have breakfast.  This is very unusual for me, which shows how I'm out of my routine, so by 11.30am I'd become exceedingly hungry and quickly grabbed a bowl of Munchy Seeds Granola, topped with Marybelle strawberry yoghurt and chopped apple, all produced and grown in Suffolk.

No sooner had I finished my brunch,  I received some wonderful news, the kind that makes you pause and smile. It was a message from my sister-in-law announcing the arrival of her first baby and our latest nephew, who as I type is just 7 hours old...well that's a good excuse to crack open the Ickworth Bubbly as soon as we get an opportunity.

But for now, the day called for a modest lunch, with some James White apple juice and a salad courtesy of www.welovelocalfood.co.uk, including potatoes, ham and beetroot, as well as Purely Pesto's guacamole and hummus.

So that's it from me.  I've now got a "posh do" to go to and I've got to be ready within an hour.  If you're interested in keeping up to date with the results of the awards, they will be tweeted live by @GreenSuffolk on Twitter.

Hope you have a great evening and I'll be back for a catchup tomorrow.

UPDATE: 19th March

Well the bad news is I didn't win, but the good news is I got to eat even more Suffolk food.  Well, you wouldn't expect to go to The Greenest County awards and not have local food on the menu would you.  And here it is with Althorne Farm Chicken served with seasonal vegetables from Home Farm, Nacton.

I forgot to take a photo of dessert, but for the record it was Hasketon Apple and Almond Tart served with cream from Rendham Hall in Saxmundham.

It just goes to show that sourcing local food for large events such as weddings, conferences or meetings isn't actually rocket science.  It's simply about knowing where to go for the right produce.

Now I might not have won an award, but I am pleased to say, my good friend Alison Plumridge did, so here's a plug for her work at the Bury St Edmunds Art Gallery, in reducing its carbon footprint so much, she won the Green Community Building award as well as the Green Business Hero Award.  Here we are celebrating her double whammy. 

And here are the winners of the award for which I was shortlisted.  Greener Fram, a fabulous community group promoting sustainability in Framlingham, East Suffolk, who also won two awards for their great work in inspiring people in their local area.

But the best news is that The Suffolk Diet is still intact.  Thanks to the menu that evening, I managed to get through the day eating nothing but Suffolk produce, which is big win for this latest challenge.  I was as nervous about that as I was waiting for the awards announcement and can definitely say the meal was a winner!