Cherry ripe...

The previous posting lead me here... Yes, for a mere £30 a year you can rent your own cherry tree! For that, you will receive 6 newsletters in the year updating you on the progress of the crop, a blossom walk to enjoy in the spring along with your own personal (human?!) point of contact! The site claims that the average tree's yield is something like 20 kilos and considering you pay upwards of £6 a kilo in the shops on average, it looks like this is pretty good value, assuming you are able to get to the orchard of course!

Summer is icumen in?

Well, it may not seem like it at the moment, but Summer is theoretically upon us! and food festivals are taking place around the country as we speak. The Hampshire Food Festival began just yesterday (July 8th) and continues to the end of the month; but if you head a little further south you could check out the seafood village at the Dorset Seafood Festival (11th - 13th July). Alternatively, if you're planning a northerly trip this weekend, how does the Pontefract Liquorice Festival sound? Enjoy the famous Liquorice Day in the Town Centre, and sample fresh locally produced, and international Liquorice products.

If you're looking for something to tickle your taste buds next weekend, Saturday (19th July) is the first ever National Cherry Day... The culmination of 'CherryAid', a Foodloversbritain.com campaign to save the British cherry industry. There will be events up and down the country including demonstrations, orchard walks and cherry tastings at selected Marks and Spencer stores.

And talking of cherries... Actually, I think this warrants a separate posting!

All in the Method

Thought it was about time I did some new postings! I have an event to publicise, a resource to promote and some free journals to give away! This one is concerned with the resource which is called, simply ‘Methodology’. Not only is it free, but it’s also very useful for anyone interested in research methods or looking at qualitative/ quantitative research and statistics. Methodology is actually run by SAGE, so the journals section will link purely to their publications, but all other sections are totally unbiased. I’ve put a link to the site in the relevant link area to the right.

Ludlow Day

The event is another of those from the Institute of Hospitality: Heart of England branch. It takes place on Saturday 28th June at the Ludlow Food Centre. Starting at 11am, the day will include coffee, and pastries on arrival, a presentation by Production Manager George Rizzardini on the start-up, progress and future developments of the centre , plus lunch and a days programme of events incorporating tours of the production kitchens, dairy, and coffee shop. The price of the event is £12, and to book you need to fill in the booking form which can be found here.

Link Journal

Lastly for now, I’ve got half a dozen or so copies of the latest issue of Link (The HEA: HLST publication). This issue is number 21 and all the articles are Scottish-related, covering topics such as Quality Assurance; Enhancing graduate attributes and Engagement and empowerment. Please come to the Subject Librarian office if you would like a copy

Happy Easter!

As this is my last day before my Easter Hols, I thought I’d have a look at Easter Fare again.. Trying to steer away from chocolate this time.. Not literally! Oh no… Just for the purposes of this posting! Lets start with the BBC (A very good place to start?) I’m not sure whether I fancy the Norwegian ‘lutefisk’ (Rehydrated dried salt cod) ! or the polish soup with sausage, horseradish and hard-boiled eggs, or indeed the Greek Easter 'Treat' - kokkoresti (spit-roasted lambs' innards wrapped in intestine) Lovely!?!?!

Hmm... Let’s move on…How about Finland ? Mammi seems very popular.. So, what is it? A dark brown porridge made of water and sweetened rye malt, baked in a slow oven in cardboard boxes! Not terribly tempting...!

Are things any better in Germany? 'Eier in gruener Sosse', which translates as 'eggs in green sauce'? no? No, I agree.. What about Italy.. Surely, there's something to satisfy the most discerning palate here.. Lets try the Pastiera - A pie filled with Ricotta cheese and studded with Candied fruits…. oh dear... Lets go further afield... Mexico... their speciality? Shrimp fritters!!

You know what? Here's to chocolate... and hot cross buns and Simnel cake! I think I know where I would rather be spending Easter! What about you?

Hospitality News from Leisure Opportunities

I have today attempted to add a Hospitality related RSS feed from Leisure Opportunities - I thought it had worked 100%, HOWEVER, it appears that clicking on each news item takes you to the sites home page and from here you need to click on 'Hospitality' within the UK news column on the right of the screen to bring up the Hospitality News stories! I'm assuming that the news stories will automatically change within the BLOG... Rest assured...I shall be monitoring this!

Brewing, Food and Beverage...

Came across this site in my meanderings today..

BFBI

I've put a link up on the right hand side too.. You will find access to all the events they organise, via the Events calendar, and free access to back copies of the Supplylines newsletter. At present, we don't have access to all areas however, as we are not members.. So, I could really do with those of you involved in this area having a look at this site, checking out the member benefits page, and coming back to me and letting me know if it would be worth us being members. Thanks for your assistance!

The Future's Green!

Jemima Packington from Pershore in Worcestershire, could give you a few ‘tips’ for the future… She tosses her asparagus tips in the air and analyses how they land! She’s been making predictions this way since the age of 9 and says it only works with British Varieties.

Talking of British varieties, April 23rd sees the start of the 2008 (3rd) British Asparagus Festival. The Festival, which runs until 21st June gets under way with the Great English Asparagus Run, at 8am on the morning of the 23rd April, followed by many asparagus related events throughout the next couple of months including the Asparagus auction which has taken taken place at the famous National Trust property, the Fleece Inn, in Bretforton, for decades. You can even book on an Aspara’bus’ tour! I think I might just give the event a try.. and I’m definitely going to order a few copies of “a Passion for Asparagus” for the library

U C B go F A B!

If you've a little spare cash and time, why not pop along to Victoria Square in Central Birmingham tomorrow (Thursday 6th March). As part of the Fairtrade Fortnight (23rd Feb-8th March), the Fair-Trade Association Birmingham (FAB) are organising an event here, running from 11am - 3pm. There's a chance to sample some of the fair trade food products which are now available in shops around the city, listen to live music, and browse the market stalls. As you're browsing, look out for the stall highlighting the best entries from the UCB's Fairtrade recipe competition. Dishes all feature FairTrade products as their main ingredients. And look out for the Fairtrade themed cake baked by none other than UCB staff!

Brewers and CSR

The New Molson Coors Brewing Company website, outlines it’s website corporate responsibility commitments, including alcohol responsibility, energy conservation, recycling and water stewardship, and charitable giving. The company are particularly keen to receive viewer feedback on this, it’s first corporate responsibility reporting effort, by emailing them at corporate.responsibility@molsoncoors.com

Other brewing companies producing "corporate responsibility" literature which can be viewed or downloaded include Whitbread, SabMiller and Scottish and Newcastle. The Brewers of Europe organisation mention several companies and their specific initiatives within their Worldwide Brewing Alliance Document (starts on page 73). Included here are Adnams and Carlsberg (Adnams... one of my personal favs; and winners of the 2007 Carbon Trust Innovation Award) :-)

Dos and docs

I've got some spare copies of the 2007 Special issue of 'Link' Magazine - The publication of the HLST (HEA). Contents include: 'First yr Undergraduates' approaches to e-learning'; 'Virtual Learning Environments for teaching hospitality, leisure, sport and Tturism'; and 'Embedding intellectual and transferable skills in undergraduate courses in tourism, hospitality and leisure' - Please come and get your copy from the Subject Librarian office a.s.a.p. first come, first served!

In addition, I also have some information, again from the HLST (HEA) about a forum which may be interesting to some of you. It's an overnighter at the National College for School Leadership in Nottingham, on the 11th/12 th February. The leaflets I have, include a booking form, but you can also get the necessary info by clicking here and choosing the link within the first entry on the events page.

Ok, so those were the 'docs' now for the 'Dos'.....!

In fact it's another event organised by the Heart of England Branch of the Institute of Hospitality. My last entry on here was was for a previous event of theirs at the Baggies football ground, which I attended and which, despite a poor attendence was very interesting! Their next event is a trip to the newly refurbished Becketts Farm in Wythall, on Thursday 24th January. The site now has an extended farm shop, a new commercial kitchen which will be used as a demonstration kitchen & training centre for the industry as well as a conference centre & catering venue. At a charge of just £5, the event will begin at 6.00pm with a sampling/tasting session in the farm shop. There will then be an opportunity to tour the new Demonstation & Training Kitchen with some live demonstrations, and presentations.


If you would like to attend, you will need to forward a cheque, made payable to, Institute of Hospitality Heart of England Branch, to; Kathleen Russell, 2 Canal Cottages, Hanbury Wharf, Worcs, WR97DV.