Still Building....

OK the webpage is still being built but at least it's getting there and I do want it to look good so it'll be worth the wait.

I've been given my timetable for Eat Reading Live and I'm pretty much going to be involved from 11am right through to the close of each day.

Saturday 4th is opening day and first to open on the Market place stage will be the one and only Gennaro Contaldo.

Gennaro has links to Reading through his involvement in the Jamie's Italian chain of restaurants. I've been loving his latest TV show Two Greedy Italians with Antonio Carluccio and I simply cannot wait to meet him.

I probably won't be able to catch all of his demonstration though as I'll be heading up to the Town Hall square stage for 11:30 to introduce the first demonstration on that stage from Tampopo.

(I'll give a full list of the demonstrations and times for both stages for both days at the end of the blog.)

Up next on the stage at 12:30 will be Strada followed at 13:20 by organic wine merchants Vintage Roots.

My next action is not until 16:00 when I go back down to the Market Place stage to introduce and judge the semi-finals of Reading, Steady, Cook 2011. Luckily for me that means I do not miss the demonstration by the amazing Daniel Galmiche.

I didn't really get to enjoy his demo last year because I was so nervous about my own semi-final so it'll be brilliant to be able to see this Michelin starred chef in action.

That'll be the end of day one so I'm guessing a few relaxing glasses of vino will be in order ready for the next day.

Sunday 5th at 11:00 I'll be kicking off the Town Hall Square stage introducing an as yet unnamed food demo which is followed at 12:30 by The Warwick which is a pub that specialises in Thai cuisine. They also run The Moderation in Caversham and The Lyndhurst just on the edge of the town centre.

Then............at 13:30 it's my own demo :-) very much looking forward to it too.

Finishing off the Town Hall Square for this year is the West Indian Women's circle. I have a soft spot for West Indian food although I don't really know too much about it other than the Goat curry we used to have at the Watford Antilles club functions that we used to go to with my mum and her buddy Ricky. Introducing the ladies to the stage will be a real treat and I cannot wait to see what they cook up.

At 16:30 I'll be hot footing it over to the Market Place stage to introduce and judge the final of this years Reading, steady, cook and I'll be doing this alongside Reading's very own food hero Paul Clerehugh.


Paul is the owner of both London Street Brasserie in Reading itself and also The Crooked Billet Gastropub in Stoke Row. It's going to be quite surreal sharing the stage with the person who was judging me last year and the person who gave me such high praise backstage after the final. It was those comments that really made me decide that I wanted to take my cooking to another level so if I use the word "inspiration" to describe him then it's fully justified.

That wraps up the Eat Reading Live festival for 2011 but I'm expecting some more events to spring up out of it as the year goes on so hopefully I can play a part in that too.

As promised here is the full schedule for the Eat Reading Live stages -

Saturday 4th

Market Place -

11:00 - 11:39 - Gennaro Contaldo
12:00 - 12:30 - Pepe Sale
13:00 - 13:30 - LSQ2
14:15 - 14:45 - Cilantro
15:15 - 16:00 - Daniel Galmiche
16:30 - 18:30 - Reading, steady, cook! Semi-finals

Town Hall Square -

11:30 - 12:00 - Tampopo
12:30 - 13:00 - Strada
13:30 - 14:00 - Vintage Roots
14:30 - 15:00 - CEBEP young chef 2011
16:00 - 16:30 - Déjá Vu

Sunday 5th June

Market Place -

11:00 - 11:30 - Las Iguanas
12:00 - 12:30 - Malmaison Brasserie
13:00 - 13:20 - Mya Lacarte
14:15 - 14:45 - River Spice
15:15 - 16:15 - Paul Clerehugh
16:30 - 17:30 - Reading, steady, cook! Final

Town Hall Square -

11:30 - 12:00 - TBC
12:30 - 13:00 - Warwick Thai bar & restaurant
13:30 - 14:00 - Ben Zagorski (That's me just incase you we're unsure)
14:30 - 15:00 - West Indian Women's Circle