The U Decide funding meeting is tomorrow (Thursday 4 November), from 6.15pm to 8.30pm at Chorlton Leisure Centre. Be there if you want to help decide which local community projects get funded to benefit the Chorlton area - up for well-needed cash are Chorlton's Big Green Festival, which was where Cracking Good Food officially launched earlier this year, and Chorlton Arts Festival, where CGF held a Cooks On The Hop over the summer. After an introduction from each project, everyone present gets to cast their vote (click on the poster above for more details).
Showing posts with label launch date. Show all posts
Showing posts with label launch date. Show all posts
3 November 2010
U Decide
The U Decide funding meeting is tomorrow (Thursday 4 November), from 6.15pm to 8.30pm at Chorlton Leisure Centre. Be there if you want to help decide which local community projects get funded to benefit the Chorlton area - up for well-needed cash are Chorlton's Big Green Festival, which was where Cracking Good Food officially launched earlier this year, and Chorlton Arts Festival, where CGF held a Cooks On The Hop over the summer. After an introduction from each project, everyone present gets to cast their vote (click on the poster above for more details).
2 May 2010
GUEST BLOG: Taking part in a Cracking Good Food cooking session
By guest blogger RICHARD FROST
Cooking is universal. Everyone has to learn to cook at some point, which is why I find it baffling that basic cookery classes are so hard to come by. So when I was invited to take part in a session organised by Cracking Good Food in Chorlton, I jumped at the chance.
I was one of the first paying punters to have a go at a Cracking Good Food cookery class after stumbling across their launch day at Chorlton's Big Green Festival 2010. Well, I say "paying", but the token sum I handed over must barely have covered the cost of the ingredients. Rock bottom prices aside, I'll admit that another key motivation for signing up was the growling of my stomach as lunchtime beckoned. It was clearly time to eat.
Thankfully, the dish of the day was a vegetable stir-fry – a fabulously quick meal that takes longer to eat than it does to cook. I've made stir-fry dishes plenty of times in the past but I still found this session invaluable thanks to the friendly Cracking Cook and his constant stream of top tips and practical pointers.
For instance, I learned that cutting vegetables into thin matchsticks ("julienne") is better for stir-frying because they cook through quicker. I learned that sunflower oil is better than olive oil because it reaches much higher temperatures. And I learned that mushrooms should be tossed in towards the end because they release water that risks turning stir-fried vegetables into boiled vegetables. All simple things for an experienced cook, no doubt, but useful insights for an amateur like myself.
I was very impressed by my first Cracking Good Food cookery class and I'll definitely look out for their events again in future. It was great value, great fun and a great introduction to cooking something different. But most of all, I reflected as I wolfed down my vegetable stir-fry, it truly was cracking good food!
Richard Frost is a copywriter and press officer who lives in Chorlton. Follow him on Twitter here.
Cooking is universal. Everyone has to learn to cook at some point, which is why I find it baffling that basic cookery classes are so hard to come by. So when I was invited to take part in a session organised by Cracking Good Food in Chorlton, I jumped at the chance.
I was one of the first paying punters to have a go at a Cracking Good Food cookery class after stumbling across their launch day at Chorlton's Big Green Festival 2010. Well, I say "paying", but the token sum I handed over must barely have covered the cost of the ingredients. Rock bottom prices aside, I'll admit that another key motivation for signing up was the growling of my stomach as lunchtime beckoned. It was clearly time to eat.
Thankfully, the dish of the day was a vegetable stir-fry – a fabulously quick meal that takes longer to eat than it does to cook. I've made stir-fry dishes plenty of times in the past but I still found this session invaluable thanks to the friendly Cracking Cook and his constant stream of top tips and practical pointers.
For instance, I learned that cutting vegetables into thin matchsticks ("julienne") is better for stir-frying because they cook through quicker. I learned that sunflower oil is better than olive oil because it reaches much higher temperatures. And I learned that mushrooms should be tossed in towards the end because they release water that risks turning stir-fried vegetables into boiled vegetables. All simple things for an experienced cook, no doubt, but useful insights for an amateur like myself.
I was very impressed by my first Cracking Good Food cookery class and I'll definitely look out for their events again in future. It was great value, great fun and a great introduction to cooking something different. But most of all, I reflected as I wolfed down my vegetable stir-fry, it truly was cracking good food!
Richard Frost is a copywriter and press officer who lives in Chorlton. Follow him on Twitter here.
4 April 2010
Cracking video!
The Cracking Good Food team star in this video of the launch at Chorlton's Big Green Festival last week. As you can see, loads of people of all ages joined in with the different cooking sessions and everyone looks to be having a really great time in the Cooks On The Hop shelter!
29 March 2010
A cracking day for a Cracking launch!
Phew, we're only just recovering from the launch of Cracking Good Food at Chorlton's Big Green Festival on Saturday, when around 6,000 local residents turned up to enjoy sustainability in the spring sunshine.
The Cracking Good Food launch was a resounding success, with loads of happy customers signing up for sessions led by Kim, Lorenzo and Rob, pictured above manning the woks. Young William here even said how much he enjoyed the mushrooms in the stirfry he made - his mum Zoe (who kindly passed on the two photos below) was thrilled because apparently he won't touch them normally!
Cracking coordinators Jess and Adele (shown here with the official Cracking Good Food clipboard!) collected loads of feedback on what kinds of workshops the good people of Chorlton would like to see run by Cracking Good Food - from classic French to basic bread-making. We'll let you know when we have some dates in the diary so you can get booked in!
The Cracking Good Food launch was a resounding success, with loads of happy customers signing up for sessions led by Kim, Lorenzo and Rob, pictured above manning the woks. Young William here even said how much he enjoyed the mushrooms in the stirfry he made - his mum Zoe (who kindly passed on the two photos below) was thrilled because apparently he won't touch them normally!
Cracking coordinators Jess and Adele (shown here with the official Cracking Good Food clipboard!) collected loads of feedback on what kinds of workshops the good people of Chorlton would like to see run by Cracking Good Food - from classic French to basic bread-making. We'll let you know when we have some dates in the diary so you can get booked in!
26 March 2010
Cracking new leaflet!
Do you like our new leaflet? We're going to be handing them out at our official launch at Chorlton's Big Green Festival tomorrow. We'll also be asking festival-goers to fill in a quick questionnaire to let us know what kinds of workshops they'd like to see Cracking Good Food offer, so come over and give us your thoughts and say hello! Lots of the team will be around, including coordinators Adele and Jess, and three of the Cracking Cooks - Avril, Lorenzo and Rob - will be running cooking sessions in St Clement's schoolyard from noon until 4pm. It's your chance to stop and chop with the Cooks On The Hop!
20 March 2010
Cracking Good Food official launch
Cracking Good Food's official launch is approaching fast and a week today (Saturday 27 March), we'll be rocking up at Chorlton's Big Green Festival with our Cooks On The Hop gazebo!
Chorlton's Big Green Festival gives people the chance to sample sustainable living in fun and friendly surroundings, putting environmental issues centre stage with a vibrant and varied programme of live entertainment, activities and workshops. The festival is a really great showcase for local suppliers of tasty, responsibly sourced food and drink, and this year there will also be plenty of info about grow your own and allotments as the theme is "growing locally".
Cracking Good Food is really pleased to be involved and we'll be running our unique Cooks On The Hop sessions on the day, which kicks off at 11am. Make sure you pop in to the school hall at St Clement's where Cracking Cooks Avril, Rob and Lorenzo will be in action, rustling up sensational stir-fries. You get to choose your ingredients, chop them up then combine them in a wok with one of the fabulous sauces blended just for you. The best thing is you get to eat your creation, so you'll have plenty of energy to enjoy the rest of the festival!
Chorlton's Big Green Festival gives people the chance to sample sustainable living in fun and friendly surroundings, putting environmental issues centre stage with a vibrant and varied programme of live entertainment, activities and workshops. The festival is a really great showcase for local suppliers of tasty, responsibly sourced food and drink, and this year there will also be plenty of info about grow your own and allotments as the theme is "growing locally".
Cracking Good Food is really pleased to be involved and we'll be running our unique Cooks On The Hop sessions on the day, which kicks off at 11am. Make sure you pop in to the school hall at St Clement's where Cracking Cooks Avril, Rob and Lorenzo will be in action, rustling up sensational stir-fries. You get to choose your ingredients, chop them up then combine them in a wok with one of the fabulous sauces blended just for you. The best thing is you get to eat your creation, so you'll have plenty of energy to enjoy the rest of the festival!
Clare
11 February 2010
Cooks meet, February 2010
As Cracking Good Food hurtles towards its official launch at Chorlton's Big Green Festival on Saturday 27 March, coordinators Adele, Jess and Beth thought it would be a good idea to get all the Cracking Cooks together, and last Tuesday evening was set as the date.
Adele's wonderfully homely kitchen was crammed with 20 chairs and stools begged and borrowed from various friends and neighbours, and the Cracking Good Food Cooking Leaders met for a briefing about the project and a chance to try out each other's food. One by one, everybody introduced themselves to the group and described their cooking background - from restaurant pastry chefs and events caterers to local grocers and full-time mums. The coordinators outlined the aims of the network and organisation, explained how the cooking sessions and Cooks On The Hop events will work, and answered queries that were put forward.
Next came the important business of sampling the various dishes that the Cooking Leaders had brought along with them. Included in the savoury spread was a delicious homemade cheese and onion quiche, some Aberdeen Buttery Rowies straight from Rob's oven next door, Juliet's clove-laden chilli con carne, an unusual take on veggie moussaka courtesy of Unicorn's Richard and a tasty curry with lovely fresh chapattis. Steve and Jay from new deli Hickson & Black's supplied the cheeseboard and Kim rustled up a sundried tomato flatbread there and then. Anna's chocolate muffins with a cheesecake topping went down a treat for afters, while Kate's dragon cake was so beautiful noone wanted to cut into it - but we were so grateful when Jess finally took the plunge, as the sweet sponge and icing concoction was fabulous!
Clare