Conwy Feast.
Thanks to Salone del Gusto we only manage to take a stand at Conwy Feast once every two years as the events clash.
This year we were on the quay in the True Taste Marquee, in a prime spot opposite the chefs’ demonstration kitchen.
Thus it was we were able to watch Colin Pressdee, Bryn Williams, Dudley, Grahame Tinsley and fifteen year old Michelin-starred-chef-in-the-making Luke Thomas whilst selling Halen Môn- a brilliant and enjoyable combination.
There was music from buskers, pipes, classical ensembles and members of the public cajoled into singing, possibly for their supper.
There was sunshine, a brisk, warm wind, fine peculiarly wet Welsh rain, and a rainbow arcing across the pretty harbour filled with fishing boats and seagulls.
There was Welsh pork, goats’ cheese, great slices of egg custard tart, toasted organic granola, and pints of freshly caught brown shrimps which I peeled and heated gently in garlic butter before serving them on hot buttered brown toast for supper.
We met journalists, off-duty chefs who were brought to our stand by Halen Môn ambassadors and who left converted, weaned from their usual diet of Maldon. We met people we used to know when we made our living out of tourism, people from Probation, even people we went to university with who told us, slightly disconcertingly, that they ‘followed our progress closely’.
We sold out of some of our sea salts and all of our grinders- having spent 9 years telling people to use their fingers we have now found the perfect mill for those who don’t like being quite so hands on in their cooking and eating.
We had a GOOD time and will definitely be back in 2011.