What We Learned Today in Exeter

For a change of scenery we are out of the big smoke this weekend and have come all the way to the good ‘ol West Country, the land of pasties, cider and the best accent in all of Britain. We came to visit The BIG Cake Show, which is being held in Exeter at the Westpoint Exhibition Centre, and we’re writing this as we are sitting in the hotel, lapping up all that the South West hospitality has to offer.

We met organiser extraordinaire, Kim Vernon, at a special project recently (that we can reveal here soon, don’t worry) and couldn’t turn down the opportunity for a little weekend away to explore the awe-inspiring three-day event that Kim has put together! We’ve been to similar food events and shows before, and this one in particular can really compete with the best of them.

GastroGays Celebrate!

On 29th March 2014 same sex marriage became legal in the United Kingdom, our adopted home. This makes us very happy and can only hope that soon Ireland follows suit without horrific nasty debates and tearing society apart. Congrats to all of those making history today!

And no we are not planning to get married any time soon. BUT having the option to is quite nice.

Afternoon Tea at Chateau Gastreau

As much as the title may want you to believe, we haven’t gone and reviewed a fancy hotel’s fairing, as much as we’d have enjoyed that. Basically, GastroMum Bernadette and GastroDad Jimmy (Russell’s side) visited us at the beginning of March for a weekend. As it happened, it was also Bernadette’s birthday on the same weekend. Obviously not wanting to miss a trick and not get a decent present from her emigrated son, the two booked a trip over and both of us got our thinking caps on for a nice birthday surprise.

Initially, the plan was to bring all four of us out for a nice afternoon tea in one of London’s most popular haunts. Then a little thing called “reality” set in, and we realised that we are not the billionaires we think we are, so had to scale it down a bit. But we didn’t mind. We relish a challenge…