Hi all,
Again, an apology for how long it has taken me to get round to writing this up. I think i need some sort of a machine that converts my thoughts into blog posts without me actually having to sit down and type them up, as i hardly ever seem to have the time these days.
The Venue:
May's meeting was held in the wonderful Queen Vic pub in Gosforth. This pub is close to my heart as i used to live in the area and remember when it was Northern Lights before (a bit tatty and a bit rough). So, when the Queen Vic reopened I was so pleased to see what had been done with it- it is stylishly classic, the staff are briliant, and the food is rather good as well. The landlord Justin was so excited and supportive of the idea that it was a total pleasure to have organised it there.
the Theme:
This meeting's theme was Local Tipples, because what else do us Geordies like to do besides have a couple of bevvies. So we thought this would be a great opportunity to creatively use just a small selection of our local drinks in baking a pie.
I had assumed that we'd get loads of savoury pies and might struggle to get some sweet pies in this theme, but i was really pleased with how imaginative everyone was- we actually got a really good balance of savoury and sweet in the end.
The Pies:
I'm going to mainly let the pictures do the talking here:
(Pictures to be uploaded as my computer is being rubbish!)
We had mead pies, cider pies, brandy pies and a variety of delicious ale pies.
Special mention goes to Alex with her home-made Newcastle Broon ice cream to accompany her pecan and broon pie, Jools for her creativity in bringing cake in the guise of Workie Ticket Whoopie Pies, the very mysterious Hair Of The Dog pie brought by Graham ("it contains hair. And dog."), and my colleague Haymond Lam, who despite never having baked a pie before and turning up late managed to steal the show with his pulled pork and ale pie.
The People:
Our marvellous bunch of loyal regulars turned up again- it's so wonderful to meet up and have a good old natter with a whole range of really genuine, good people. We had a couple of new guests as well, and it's always brilliant to see new faces enjoying the copious amounts of pie.
As is usual, there was very little left over!
