The Cheshire Coeliac Meeting, gluten free cakes and sausage rolls

A day out doing gluten free things in Cheshire.

The bunting was out for the Coeliacs of Cheshire

I attended the Cheshire Coeliac Group Meeting in Middlewich yesterday and had a nice afternoon buying cakes, chatting to fellow coeliacs and watching the cooking demonstrations.

I bought a fair few gluten free cakes to see me through the week

Chris from the Cheshire Coeliac Group and Cakes by Noah getting to grips with Genius Puff Pastry for his gluten free sausage rolls

Here's some Chris made earlier

I bought a couple of the doughnuts from Lottie's Bakehouse - one sugar coated and one cinnamon flavour. They were both quickly scoffed

I also had a couple of wins on the raffle!

As I'd bought a lot of delicious cakes from Lottie's Bakehouse the cooking demonstration by group organiser Chris was perfect, as it gave me inspiration to do some savoury baking myself. Something I haven't done in many years. Partly because my view of food and cooking changed when I was diagnosed with Coeliac Disease, but also because Emily is such a superb cook.

Before cooking here are the rather rustic looking sausage rolls. I used Jus-Rol gluten free puff pastry and Morrisons gluten free pork chipolatas

After baking!

In his cooking demo Chris had suggested putting other ingredients in with the sausage meat. The three on the right are plain sausage rolls, while the one on the far left is filled with Tewkesbury Hot Mustard, the next one was Cheddar Cheese and the next one was pork and Bramley apple flavour in a nod to a Bedfordshire Clanger

They were all delicious. Even Emily said so!

Check out the Cheshire Coeliac Group on Facebook for more information.

More info on Coeliac Disease, its effects and how it must be treated with a strict and life-long gluten free diet can be found on the Coeliac UK website.

Cullercoats Lifeboat Charity Evening and the 'Raffletech 3010'

A Northumbrian Night fundraising event for the Cullercoats Lifeboat.

A recent visit to the north east saw our friend John 'Johnny Waffles' Moore take us to a Northumbrian Night in aid of the Whitley Bay & Cullercoats Lifeboat Guild.

The evening was held at the Cullercoats Crescent Club and was good fun, with song & dance and food & drink in a nice environment, and all for a great cause.

Regular readers of this blog will know I'm a fan of the obscure and ludicrous, but I was amazed at one of the prize draws during the night.

We've been to some interesting events on our travels - with the Thanet Ladies Auxiliary Quiz Night 2008 a highlight - but the Members Box Draw at this event was up there with the best of them!

I'm a big fan of a good old fashioned tombola and always go in for a raffle, but the Members Box Draw saw a machine called the Raffletech 3010 brought out to decide the winner!

The Raffletech 3010 - you really need to see this beauty in all its lit-up glory!

I'm not exaggerating when I say it wouldn't look out of place in a 'World of Tomorrow Feature' from an issue of a comic book printed in the 1950's!

Not winning the prize draw on the Raffletech 3010 - a pre-internet wooden cabinet technology machine

The Northumbrian Night was great entertainment - from the Newcastle Cloggies (dancers and musicians) - in good company, in a nice social club setting and some very reasonable drinks prices.

Note: I erroneously called the Raffletech 3010 'The Raffletron 3000' after seeing it on the night. Either way, what a machine!

Links:

- Cullercoats Lifeboat

- RNLI

- Cullercoats Crescent Club

- Newcastle Cloggies

Update: January 2015
A photo of the Raffletech raffle robot in action at the Cullercoats Crescent Club has been sent to me by Kay Heslop!

The Raffletech 3010 in use at the Cullercoats Crescent Club on New Year's Day 2015. I wonder if 428 was a winning number...

I'm a Raffle Prize at the MacMillan Coffee Morning at Tea Green Golf Club, Wandon End, near Luton

Tea Green Golf Club at Wandon End, near Luton is hosting a MacMillan Coffee Morning at their Club House on Wednesday 28th September between 10am and 12pm.

The event will have a small Bring & Buy sale, a Cake Tasting Competition and a Raffle. One of the prizes in the Raffle is a chance to play a Round of Minigolf with me on Tea Green Golf Club's 9-hole Crazy Golf Course!

Details of the event can be found on the facebook event page.



Link to Tea Green Golf Club's website

Link to MacMillan Cancer Support website

Blog Post - Tea Green Golf Fun Day - Minigolf Lessons