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JAMES MARTIN NEWS-SHEET |
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While The Forum Is Closed We Shall Be Open |
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Personal Appearances July to December 2007 |
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LEEDS - Aug 9th A sell-out crowd watched James give an action-packed demo in the Cookery Theatre, where, we are told, he created a delicious array of desserts, including apple and thyme tarte tatin. He then took questions from the audience and signed autographs before judging an RSC style contest between two local restaurants. He also held a book signing session at Harvey Nichols and stopped off at a local farmers market.
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HULL - Aug 25th RECIPES As celebrity chef on the last day of Hull’s first Global Food Festival, James was kept very busy overseeing a quest to discover Hull’s fastest omelette maker and judging a grand final of their apprentice chef competition, as well as sharing expert tips and creating mouth-watering ’delicious desserts’ at his own demos. He seemed to enjoy himself, visiting some of the stalls to stock up on products for a BBQ he was planning, giving ‘Burdass Lamb’ his approval and even taking over their sales for a while! |
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DENBY - Aug 27th Even the special ‘chef tent’ brought in for the occasion wasn’t big enough to hold all the fans who came to see his demos. Tickets were sold-out long before this sunny Bank Holiday event - although he did have to compete with Punch & Judy just the other side of the lawn! Staff at the visitor centre said, “He came along last year and we were astounded by his popularity, people kept asking us to get him back.
A book signing, held in the interval between the two demos, produced a queue of such enormous proportions that he was unable to work his way through it in time. Denby Potteries very kindly produced ’hymn sheets’ with recipes for each of the dishes demonstrated - more venues should be encouraged to do this! After the second demo James was whisked away to face another book-signing session. The length of the queue at this one guaranteed that he would have been there for a lot longer than it took the now infamous Chris Start and his crew to clear away and pack for home.
Summing up the event for the local newspaper one of the event organisers said, “he dazzled everyone and had time for people”. “All the ladies commented on his gorgeous eyes”. |
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DUNDEE - Sept 2nd Two of everything seemed to be the order of the day for James’s first official visit North of the border. Two demos, featuring two risotto dishes, two fish dishes and two desserts - oh and two book signings.
However, lots of ladies with books to be signed were disappointed as each session was only due to last for fifteen minutes. In the event the second session was cut even shorter by the organisers so that James could be rushed to the airport in time to catch his plane! |
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Nice T-shirt! |
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OK, it’s Sunday, this must be Scotland. |
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MOLD - Sept 23rd FAIRTRADE AWARD James played his part in tripling the attendance figures for this North Wales food and drink festival, filling the 300-capacity cookery theatre for each of his three demos. His repertoire covered contemporary, ‘strictly tasty’ and expert recipes. We are told he was proudly showing off some new mixing bowls, with rubber bottoms, that he had bought recently in America, while filming there for the Beeb. A member of the organising team said, “We were very pleased with the celebrity chefs, James Martin was an absolute star”. And that was despite being up in the early hours to reach the event on time. For video clips from the event, including a peek at those mixing bowls, see Quick Fixes |
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Eh, where’s my cream gone? |
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MALVERN - Sept 30th From casting his expert eye over the efforts of two trainee chefs, as they each sought to impress with their ‘signature dish’, to rustling up the usual collection of delectable dishes for his desserts demo, James was once again the star of the show! It was standing room only as visitors flocked to be entertained by our favourite chef. One press officer said, “This is not the first time James has appeared here at Malvern and he is definitely back by popular demand. His command of all things edible and his rapport with our visitors has ensured a packed Cookery Theatre.”
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CHEWTON GLEN - Oct 11th 160 guests were treated to a very special demo and meal when James returned to his old haunt for the day to prepare a three-course lunch inspired by some of his favourite dishes and created with the help of a former colleague. Demand for tickets so far outstripped the hotel’s expectations that James returned in the evening to give another demo for those on the reserve list. Lunch guests arrived to coffee & homemade biscuits, and a ninety-minute demo from James covering eight recipes, with all the usual banter. ‘Rosecot’ tells us, “He asked for a single man to whip the egg whites, the bloke was brilliant and played along with James asking ‘how stiff’ etc.” Stories, from James’s time at the hotel were related during the demo, like the one from his first day. ‘Rosecot’ again, “James driving up to the hotel, old Vauxhall Nova car, full up with his belongings etc. Misses the staff car park as he was looking at a hot piece of totty … doesn’t see the curve in the drive and drives straight into a lamp post. This bends in half falling on the car, which starts leaking oil. He then limps up the drive leaving oil streaks on the gravel and pulls up outside the main entrance where, to his horror, is the owner who calmly says ‘welcome to Chewton Glen’.” After the demo guests were given a glass of champagne and escorted through the gardens to their tables. Lunch was ham hock & chicken terrine with muscat jelly and seared oranges, followed by roast pumpkin risotto with warm salmon, scallops and langoustines. Dessert being the now infamous white chocolate, whisky and croissant butter pudding with whisky ice-cream.
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SPALDING - Nov 4th Lynne, our Free Ticket Competition Winner, sent us this report and the lovely photos It was a beautiful autumn day, and I took Mum along with me to see James. We managed to get in to the second demo of the day. James was hilarious as usual, very entertaining. He entered the cookery marquee in style, driving a brand new red BMW. He also brought along a new black Audi and a fantastic red motorbike. He made five dishes in all, in the space of an hour.
Scallops with Oriental Chilli Jam Halibut with Vichy Carrots Crab with a Welsh Rarebit topping Beef with Smoked Cheese & Black Pudding Risotto Chocolate Mousse Cake with Passion Fruit Sauce
We were lucky enough to spot James outside the marquee just before his last demo. He was having a ride around the car-park on the motorbike, having a few photos taken, before disappearing into the tent on the motorbike for his last demo of the day. He looked fantastic of course, and signed books and programmes for me and the rest of his fans. Many thanks for the tickets—Mum and I really enjoyed our day. Our thanks to ‘Bubbles’ for the link. |
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Tigger’s interview is featured in the February edition of Kitchen Garden A couple of pics appear here |
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AYLESBURY - Nov 13th Report and photos sent in by Kim from the DS boards. A sea full of ladies, with maybe a dozen or so men, packed out the Civic Centre - so when James walked on to the stage there was lots of applause. It didn’t impress him though, he told us that it made him feel like a performing seal!! 45 minutes to cook seven dishes, he said, reckoning he must have been drunk when he’d written the menu… Halibut with Vichy Carrots, Rack of Lamb with Lentils, Chicken with Warm Nicoise Salad, Sea Bass, Pumpkin Risotto, Shallot Tarte Tatin were as far as he got. There was the usual audience participation - he wanted to demonstrate where a rump of lamb came from - so he dragged a lady on to the stage and told her not to worry, that he wasn’t Welsh (the well worn sheep ref) but Yorkshire, so he asked first!! Chris (as seen on Digs Deep) was his sous-chef, who put up with lots of flak and being called ‘my Debbie McGee’ throughout the evening. After the interval he returned for the pud section - Chocolate Fennel Cake, Quick Cheesecake, Syllabub, Banana Souffles, Home-made Marshmallows with Raspberries and the trademark sugar work without which no JM demo would be complete. All the dishes were laid out at the front of the stage for people to come and look at - we were in the front row and it all smelled amazing. We weren’t supposed to try but we managed a taste of the lamb, which was divine, and a bit of the marshmallow which was heavenly but v messy with all the icing sugar that he’d dredged it with. Afterwards he signed books, wooden spoons etc I bought my book - GBVS cookbook from none other than the lovely Sally Kettle, his girlfriend, who is an absolute sweatheart, really friendly and chatty. We weren’t supposed to take pics during the actual demo, so only managed a couple, but afterwards we took loads. As usual I clammed up completely when face to face with our man, barely able to speak my own name. Didn’t manage to get a pic of me with him this time, but got him to pose with Sally for a super one - which we TOLD him was going on the internet sites. |
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Well if you told them, then I guess it’s OK. |
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To Kim……. |
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Hey, look what they’ve given me! |
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Just keep signing, don’t look at the queue! |
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Thanks to Helen for the pics |
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Thanks to Chrissie for the pics |
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All in a day’s work. |
