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!

Day2: Big Cook & Little Cook decide what to have for tea

So what's the worst thing that can happen when you're in the middle of a local food challenge and you're blogging about it?

Well I suppose a cat burglar could have broken in and stolen all the food...or we could have had a power cut.... been struck down by lightning...or even flooded out of house and home, with the food going soggy .

I guess those are all terrible thoughts, but when the pressure's on...so is being totally void of any form of inspiration regarding what to cook for tea! 

Therefore when I got the offer of some assistance from my 5 year old, I decided to accept his help with glee, but of course the big question was "What should we have for tea?" and "What should we do with our Sutton Hoo chicken?".

(Link to the YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6rH-F5JDqg&feature=player_embedded)

Hmm, what's that old saying?  Never work with children and animals?  Yes indeedy, but when he accepted that we were not going to cook up the Star Wars Shippy and that pasta doesn't come from Suffolk, he was happy to be put in charge of THE BIGGEST POTATO IN THE COUNTY.

...while I on the other hand "splatted the chicken in the pan" with a few splashes of locally produced rapeseed oil, chopped onions and some red pepper chutney

And in my true Ready Steady Cook technique, I also added some button mushrooms and a few spoonfuls of Greek Yoghurt.

And thanks to the hints and tips that have been coming my way on what to do with the curly kale, I took the bull by the horns and had a go at cooking it up, tossing it in some melted butter seasoned with chili powder to spice it up.

I had very little faith at the start of the video that you saw above, but I was pleased with the results, which were served with lightly pan-fried potato cubes.............or tiny square chips as my little helper called them.

So that's another main course that's been made from products that have been sourced in Suffolk.  The only exception were the chili powder and garam masala that I added, but I've decided to follow in the footsteps of Sarah who recently took the Norfolk Diet  and whose rules allowed spices, so they've definitely got a thumbs-up from me.

And if you've been wondering what occured during the rest of the day, well it kicked off happily with the same granola breakfast as yesterday, but I have to confess to tucking into some biscuits at a training course, and it's been such a busy day that I only managed to grab an apple for lunch.

But it was a very delicious apple, from High House Fruit Farm in Sudbourne.

Ah well, tomorrow's another day....and I've got something special up my sleeve which will ensure I'll be far more prepared than I was today.