Plate to Page Workshop at Meare Court Farm in Somerset UK, from May 18 – 21, 2012
Meare Court Farm
For months I have been looking forward to this weekend in Somerset: The Plate2Page Workshop, three days of food writing and photography. “Gently” led and guided by those four formidable professional ladies:
Meeta of What’s For Lunch, Honey?
Four friends and a dog
We come as participants from UK, Germany, France, Italy, Egypt and Switzerland and leave as friends: Alexandra of Strudel And Cream, Spandana of Cook Like Mom, Djanira of Cooking with DJ, Jo of pebble PR, Juliane of Schöner Tag noch!, Nitin of Nitin Kapoor, Ruth of Bread and Milk and Berries, Françoise of Francoise Murat, Wendy of Chez Chloe and Rim from Egypt: please share your own story with us and I lok forward to exchanging recipes with you!
Busy busy, focusing!
Learning is sooo hard
So much to do, so little time
Meare Court Farm is a 15th century stone manor house set in beautiful farmland, large fields with natural hedges, pastures with cows grazing, chicken skirting around and a hyperactive border collie who loves us to throw sticks and logs.
A paradise for chicken too, not only for us
Fascination with rusty sculpture in the garden at Meare Court
Plate to Page is a very intense workshop addressing itself to food bloggers, writers and photographers. Quite wrong if you think now that this weekend was about eating and drinking. I have been stalking Ilva, Jeanne, Jamie and Meeta for months and I admire their writing, photography and the harmony and professionalism of words and photos on their blogs.
Hopefully some of it will rub off.
My weak spot is photography. I have a nice camera, Canon EOS 1000D, but I confess to taking most photos with my iPhone and its Camera Pro app.
Meeta speaks about photography: ISO, shutter speed, aperture, focus and mood. I can relate to the latter two, recognising the need for focus and loving emotional photography.
One lonely Rosemarie pear
Pear from its better side
My sneezing ratio grows exponentially with my frustration. The rainy weather in London, using the draughty tube (read about my underground nightmare here) and air conditioned hotel room are taking their toll.
But I have learnt something: I will definitely install some proper software and I am really grateful for the session on post processing and the useful explanations on PhotoShop and Lightroom. Lightroom seems to be the perfect tool for me. Photoshop is too much, too many features, too expensive for what I will use it for.
You will not notice any difference in this post’s photography: as yet, they are unedited but always with my beautiful watermark.
Food styling with salad on Friday afternoon
Food styling with fruit on Friday afternoon
Friday goes by in a whirl and I give in to my cold, sorry for having missed a beautiful dinner of traditional fisherman’s pie from Donald Russell.
Instead it is some powerful doses of Ibuprofen for the next days. At the end of this post you will find links to my friends’ post on the workshop whose brains were not addled by medication.
On Saturday we go to Brown and Forrest, a local smokery of heavenly salmon and eel, duck and chicken, even garlic is smoked. Jesse gives us a passionate tour of his premises and his products to taste.
Harmony in orange and pink
After the tasting
This is followed by lunch at the Canal Inn, the pub “which thinks it is a restaurant”, where pub grub is been taken to a higher level. Fresh, light, tasty mixing traditional dishes with new aspects. My lunch choice: fresh green grilled asparagus, poached duck egg, grain mustard spiked hollandaise, filets of Sea Bass, chunky potatoes, light cream sauce, wilted spinach, fresh berry tart, clotted cream, pate sucré, berry coulis.
The pub which is a restaurant
Starters: grilled asparagus with poached duck egg and hollandaise
The dessert
After dessert
The Canal Inn crew also caters to our physical needs at Meare Court, thank you so much.
Our next assignments bring writing and photography together: we team up and write a blog post and a journalistic report.
I love the writing exercises (they bring out the best in me which comes as a surprise as English is my second language).
In between sessions and assignments there is food and beverages, to be tasted, evaluated and above all: first photograph and then eat! Our lovely sponsors spoil us, check them out on my workshop board at Pinterest.
Tasty chocolate truffles: enjoy!
Raw chocolate truffles with intriguing fillings
Hayley, a P2P Tuscany alumni, of The Delectable Diary and Sebastian cook a delightful dinner on Sunday for us: leg of lamb with carrots and turnips.
Thank you so much Jamie, Meeta, Ilva and Jeanne: for sharing your skills, your wonderful sense of humour, your patience and support and your friendship.
Check out these links for more workshop love and reviews:
Meeta at What’s for Lunch Honey
Wendy at Chez Chloe
Spandana at Cook Like Mom
Ilva Beretta at Lucullian Delights
Comments 37
Oh Barbara, it is a good thing I am going to be eating dinner soon because the pictures and story have totally whet my appetite.
@TheJackB Hi, good morning to you, Jack, that was my aim, thank you so much. And once I will work with edited photos – there will be no stopping me, but on the other hand I know myself quite well!
Heading over to your place now, will I be seeing you this Wednesday? Last time was really great,.
Have a great short week, Barbara
Hi Barbara… Love those furrowed brows- we all had so much to process. It’s fun to continue reliving the weekend through all our perspectives. Hope you are feeling completely well again.
Thanks to for all your retweeting 🙂 x wendy
@chezchloe Hi WEndy, you should see those I did not publish!!! We could upload our photos to Picasa with a password link, what do you think? I would really love to see all the others’ masterpieces as well. What do you think?
Thanks for stopping by and your good wishes. Unfortunately that cold is not much better, flying did not help and pushed the infection further up but still flying high with all the impressions and the good energy of P2P!
Have a great week and see you on twitter! xo Barbara
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Beautifully told both in words and pictures. I felt transported to the gorgeous Dorset countryside. Have you attempted to smoke your own fish and garlic at home? It is not too arduous and the results are great.
Sad to hear about the cold! I think I had the same one 🙁
@kittiewalker This means a lot to me, Kittie, thank you so much! Except for smoking cigarettes I have not tried anything else yet! The smoked garlic was really delicious and went well with the leg of lamb we had on Sunday night!
Re cold: did we kiss? Of course, we did, shared misery, I’d still prefer Les Mis!
Oh what a great post – brings back such happy memories (especially Tess the sheepdog and her enormous log!!). I am so thrilled to have met and got to know you (and admire your fabulous wardrobe! Still lusting after your scarves…!), and I love your unique writing style – really distinctive. I remember that piece about the Tube every time I descend those escalators 😉 Oh – and pretty please can you mail me a high-res version of that awesome high-kicking photo??? Love it!
@cooksisterblog Oh, Jeanne, you have made my day! You and Jamie did an awesome job with the writing part, I truly enjoyed the writing exercise and I am much inclined to start an online writing thingie. Thanks so much!
You cannot imagine how much time I spent on that post, mostly deliberating and then trying to work out Photoshop, definitely not my friend! My MacBook Pro is in a summer holiday mood and doing everything the Spanish way (sorry, no offense meant, it is just a little bit manana, manana).
As to my wardrobe: you are welcome anytime, as I said to @Lori at Life, for Instance today, I should downsize!
I will send the photo to you, my pleasure! And I am happy that you like it, cannot be doing everything wrong then! Haha!
Oh B. You are such a lovely and dear person. I was so happy to have had the opportunity to meet you. Also glad that you came away from P2P with the motivation and inspiration I always hope our participants … friends … take home with them. I look forward to seeing your images now ;o) And remember … together we created awesome memories! Hugs!
@MeetaWFLH Meeta, I think I have just blushed! Thank you so much for your lovely words, right back at you! I remember that moment in our cosy conference room when you said “Shhhh” when people were talking and not paying attention and softened it by adding “I like to be the boss here” – great!
I will definitely install Lightroom 4 but you might have to wait a little bit, I am putting my webshop online on June1, some work mapped out!
And yes, together we created awesome memories and I hope we will meet one day in Weimar (my dog is half Weimaraner, the more reason to come there)! Big hugs!
Barbara, What an amazing experience! Too bad you got sick 🙁 though.
How do you find so many interesting things to experience in life!? In that you are my hero and my inspiration. Does one have to live in Basel to be so creative? Wow.
And I want one of those truffles! 😉
Lori
@Lori Hi, dear Lori, I am your hero and inspiration? You make me feel very humble, thank you so much. If I can inspire you to embark on some adventurous experiences of your own, then you make me a very happy person!
The interesting things are all out here, up to us to grab the opportunity, Basel is for me like an island in a stormy sea where I love to return to, otherwise I lead a pretty quiet life here.
And I promise you some of my own truffles when we meet. Hugs, Barbara
Barbara, you are my favourite stalker! thank you for coming to P2P, I loved our talks outdoors and i’m very happy to have met you! (see, i am leaving a comment!) xo
@lucullian Ilva, cara, did I ever tell you how much I love your sense of humour? Now I have! And you have been so good to me when I really felt shitty (excuse my French!), thank you so much!
Did your passport ever turn up? Hilarious story, I thought this only happened to me!
Cool, you left a comment – how is Pistoia these days? I long for Italy!
Big hugs, Barbara
Loved this! Such a wonderful experience… I am jealous… is that okay?
@Hajra Hey Hajra! You may be jealous if you take my cold from me!
Yes, it was a wonderful experience, mind blowing and very intense! I need a beach holiday!
It’s as if I gained 5lbs just from looking at the photos! Truly delectable!….My favorite has to be the salmon, although pears have always fascinated me. Don’t you think there’s something so graceful about them? 🙂
@jpage.manuel Thanks, Joy, the salmon was really exceptionable, Jesse (the guy in pink) does a great job subtly smoking his goods, letting the natural flavours be enhanced by the smoking dust.
The other day I had a most amazing soup of sweet potatoes and pear, spiced up by some curry. I have never thought about a pear being graceful, nice thought, Is it the shape which makes them so elegant?
I loved several of these photos Barbara. What a wonderful weekend that must have been. I think several of those photos will require very little editing. Let me know how you like Lightroom. I have an older version of Photoshop, but rarely use it because it has too many bells and whistles. I mostly use Photoscape, which is free. 😀 Wish we lived closed together, we could have some photography adventures!
@jonesbabie HI Cathy, thanks, coming from me this is a huge compliment! Yes, I will let you know about Lightroom, so far I only used (if ever!) free software. I have friends who happily use Photoshop but they run an advertising company – no wonder, they are real pros.
Let’s make plans for a photographic holiday somewhere (but, please, not too cold) and get clicking!
Have a lovely weekend, any plans with your lovely grandchildren?
@Late_Bloomers yes, I can’t wait to see how you like Lightroom. And as soon as I can start saving, and stop spending on dogs, I’m in for that weekend!
As far as grands go, the twins turn 7 tomorrow, and have a party planned for our family and the other two grands at Chuck E Cheese (think pizza meets funhouse and you get the picture). I shudder to think of all the screaming kids there, but am planning to be a trooper and take Big Girl and wade in among them to capture the moment…and most likely a blog post. 😀 Hope your weekend has been good!
@jonesbabie Cathy: you make me wonder how you spend on dogs, your own or helping a pet home? Oh yes, I can relate to a birthday party in a place packed with children, they have this extra energy you need so many filters (or shields?) to protect you from.
I woke up this morning to the soothing noise of falling rain … you can imagine this will fuel my creativity on Sunday! I might even download Lightroom, but first I will finish a guest post.
Yesterday was my day off: farmer market in the morning, always an island in the hectic routine, and family for dinner: white and green asparagus, strawberries and cherries, a boost of vitamins and healthy greens!
It looks like you had a fantastic time…I am hungry just looking at your pictures. Yummy! Everything looks so good (even the pear on the wrong side…).
@JSJ2020 Coming from quiet London to a house filled with 14 females and 1 man (Nitin did well!), all eager to inspire and be inspired, wow – the energy that was set loose!
I would even eat that wrong sided pear with a lovely piece of gooey roquefort RIGHT nor! Thanks Muriel and enjoy the Diamond Jubilee!
Expanding one’s professional network and knowledge is a part of individual and business growth. I have found the energy from other like minded individuals incredibly exhilarating.
Leanne Hoagland-Smith
@CoachLee HI, Leanne, very much so, to be inspiring and to inspire! Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!
Oh my, @Late_Bloomers /Barbara…I am late to the feast. And what a delectable feast of food and photos. Your composition in the photos is exquisite, and I felt like I was right there with you. Now we will definitely have to make our “getaway” happen! We’ll be on a photo and food extravaganza!I particularly love the “wrong side” pear photo like @JSJ2020 said, and the smoked salmon?…my absolute favourite! Poached eggs and asparagus…divine.It appears that your trip was all (and more) that you hoped it would be, save for the catching of the cold. I’m sending cyber hot toddies your way. Get well soon:) Cheers and Hugs, Kaarina
@KDillabough @JSJ2020 Hot toddies much appreciated especially since there is a cold weather front heading our way – byebye sunshine and dolce far niente!
You are not late to the feast, the best is yet to come! Wait till we go to the local market and gorge on freshly picked zucchini flowers (we will fry them in a batter), wild asparagus, barbe di frate, seasoned peccorino to go so well honey, some cured cinghiale (wild boar) and tons of homemade pasta! Che vita!
Cheers and hugs across the waters, Barbara ;.)
what an amazing experience!
@tandysinclair Hey Tandy! Truly an amazing experience and I met a bunch of lovely people! I can only recommend it!
Amazing experience and your photos are making my mouth water. Hope you are feeling better? Now I’m off to salivate over some of the blogs you mention 🙂
@Lucylastica2 Hi Lucy! I would not mind some truffles right now (the craving always comes at night, strange, eh?). Thanks, I am feeling better but not up to my normal energy level yet.
Yesterday they installed glass fibre cables and my internet connection was down most of the day, therefore I am trying to catch up now.
How did you like the other blogs? Great people with so many talents ….
This looks like it was an amazing experience, Barbara! I hope you had a great time.
@annedreshfield Hi Anne and welcome! Yes, it was a great experience, very FOCUSED (haha!), inspiring and motivating!
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