Not quite to plan and the BBC Good Food Show

This weekend wasn’t quite the weekend that was planned. Kyle and I had taken Friday off of work and were looking forward to doing a long run that morning and then heading to London in the afternoon for a fancy blogger awards thing in the evening.

Unfortunately what actually happened was Kyle became unwell Thursday, I long run’ed on my own and we missed going to London. But these things happen. It’s a shame we missed going to London but at the end of the day, we can always go there another time. I can save the dress I was planning on wearing for our Wiggle Christmas party and we had a very chilled and relaxed Thursday night in (I had a take-away kebab so I was very much winning in my book).

So Friday morning, Kyle sensibly decided he wasn’t going to run and I headed off solo to run from his house to Fareham. The plan had originally been to run 18 miles, but now I was running on my own that sounded really daunting and I was less motivated to do it alone. I knew that to run to Fareham was pretty much 13-14 miles so if I fancied adding any more miles on I could, which made the run mentally a bit easier.

Luckily the route from Kyle’s was a very simple one – literally down one road. It was fairly undulating though but generally going downhill overall. I listened to a podcast and as I started running noticed my legs felt quite good. Though my brain felt a bit “meh” about running. I’d have liked to have had the company but I knew I just needed to get this done.

It was also broken up nicely because the first eight miles were completely unknown. At eight miles though I arrived at work (funnily enough the half-way between Kyle and my house is actually work) and from there I knew the way to Fareham. From 10 miles on though I was struggling mentally so switched to some music so I could switch my brain off. It was nice and flat now, but there was a nasty headwind.

Eventually at about 13 miles I arrived at Fareham. I decided to get to the train station – basically running through the centre – and that got me to 14. At this point I was feeling better and decided to do a loop off and that would get me 17 miles.Kyle and his mum were meeting me to pick me up. We had originally planned on having some brunch together but I thought it best just to head back and have some porridge back at Kyle’s as he was still unwell. After grabbing a drink from Subway (then leaving my phone there and having to race back to fetch it – whew!) we headed back.

We decided to miss going to London and just have a day chilling with Friends and another takeaway for me (well if I must… ;-)) I’m sad we didn’t get to go but equally I was happy to have a nice relaxing day. Kyle, bless him, would have gone had I really wanted to but he really wasn’t well and I really wasn’t that fussed with missing it.

Saturday I did a gentle (albeit) hilly 5k around Kyle’s – there are no flat areas in Clanfield it seems! And then headed home for back to reality chores and life. I also had a very exciting trip planned for the Sunday… going to the Birmingham Good Food Show!

Kyle was meant to join my dad and I but sadly he was still ill and eating basically nothing so realistically a two hour plus drive and then wandering around food stalls probably wasn’t what the doctor ordered. So my dad and I went alone.It was held in the NEC in Birmingham and the number of stalls was CRAZY. My dad and I are very similar in that we both love food, love cooking and also get overly excited about things like this. So in our haste to get into the actual show we forgot to make a mental note of where the car was… that’s Future Anna and Dad problems, pfffft!And when we got into the hall we were surrounded by so many different things being sold from kitchen-wear (knives, pots and pans etc.) to cheese, chutneys, cakes, meat, crisps, fruit… I mean seriously, so much!
And the best bit? All the tasters! I tried so many different things. It was so much fun. It was really busy which was the only downside – meaning it was tough to navigate round the stalls at times. And it seemed every other person had a little crate with wheels (reminding us a bit of the apprentice when people are going off to buy the different bits and bobs they needed) so your toes were never safe from being rolled over.

I bought a white chocolate praline filled cake pop from one stand and amazingly managed to wait until I got home before I ate it. Omg SO good. SO so good.I also bought myself one of those German marshmallow teacake things (I say German only because the last time I saw one was in Germany – they seem to be quite popular in the Christmas markets there).I went for a white chocolate covered one and it was very tasty! That I ate that immediately.Eventually just before midday (we’d arrive just after 10am) we decided to actually have a proper lunch. We chose a Greek chicken salad from the Street Kitchen company and managed to sit down and enjoy a very tasty meal. The flat bread was divine! As was the feta sauce.We were wise to eat early as later on this same area was rammed with big queues. Whew! Then I became far more selective on the tasters I went for as I was now ice and full and my initial excitement had died down to a more manageable level.What was very bizarre was the large number of people choosing to eat at the cafe that was ALWAYS at the venue. Why would you have a canteen-style lunch somewhere that was available year round when you have hundreds of stalls available to you to try interesting and local cuisines?? Very odd.

I was amazed to see a stand purely for apples (Kanzi apples) and they were handing out slices. My kinda stand!They were selling two packs of four apples for £1 – what a bargain. After telling the man how much I loved apples he gave me a third for free! Woohoo! And they are VERY tasty apples.

Then we headed to watch James Martin do a live cooking show (we had tickets for this alongside our regular entry ticket – we also had fantastic seats!). I didn’t know too much about him but my dad was a fan and I was ready to sit down. Let me tell you, he was fantastic. The cooking alone was brilliant but his personality and humour was hilarious. He cooked a creamy tomato soup with bacon waffles to start, tomahawk steak with lobster mac and cheese and followed it with banana pecan French toast.Of course we could only smell how good it was but it looked AMAZING. He made several jokes about how he wasn’t into the healthy cooking and that while Joe Wicks’ style might be “Lean in 15” his style of cooking was more “Fat in 5”. He had no airs and graces, he was very down to earth and cheeky. I’m now a big fan.

My dad and I then merrily headed to the car park where we then spent a solid 20 minutes looking for the car. Geniuses.

Have you ever been to a food show?

Do you have any favourite chefs?

Do you get ill often?

7 Replies to “Not quite to plan and the BBC Good Food Show”

  1. That’s a shame that Kyle was ill, hopefully he’s better now. A food show doesn’t sound like it would be good if you were feeling at all dodgy.
    I’ve been to the cake and bake show a few times and that’s quite good for extras like aprons or cake stands as well as admiring all the talented people who do amazing decorations.
    I went to Christmas at Kew this weekend and they had a stall of those marshmallow things too (and I’m sure I’ve seem them at the Bath Christmas markets too) 🙂
    Maria @ Maria Runs recently posted…And now it’s December!My Profile

  2. I wish I was so good at tricking myself into running just a little further on my long runs!
    Ah your day at the food show sounds so good! I’m with you…why would anyone eat at the canteen?! What were they thinking?!?!
    I’ve only been to local food festivals, but love anything like that.
    Mary recently posted…My love of parkrunMy Profile

  3. Ugh there is something going around right now! My mom was sick, then she gave it to both my dad and little sister. And then at the gym two of my co-workers were sick. I was basically in a sickness war zone! lol I upped my vitamin C intake this week for sureeeee. Fingers crossed I don’t catch anything!!

  4. I’m sorry Kyle was unwell, hopefully he’s recovered now. There’s definitely something going around at the moment, quite a few people in my office have been off work this month. I’m eating loads of oranges and just hoping for the best, I don’t want to be ill at Christmas again this year. I spend so much time on trains I think it’s not a matter of if but when!
    I’ve never been to a food show and had no idea there was a food show in Birmingham. I have been to a gin show if that counts…
    I used to quite like Jamie Oliver and his friend who had the farm. I can’t remember his name but he had his own TV show ages ago.
    Emma recently posted…Christmas Gifts for RunnersMy Profile

  5. I really enjoy your blog! I saw you and Kyle running in Titchfield yesterday morning as I was driving to work – I almost gave you a toot because I read your blog and follow you on Instagram, but then I realised you would have no clue who I was. Haha!

  6. I don’t have a favourite chef but do enjoy cookery shows, especially when they mix things I’d never think of mixing.
    I used to be ill all the time but since improving my lifestyle I’m actually *touch wood* hardly ever ill!

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