Festive Greetings

Here at MFB we’re enjoying some quality family time over the festive period and hope all our members, readers and friends are too.

WISHING YOU MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

We will be back in the New Year – see you in 2012.

Festive Food Bank Time

Today we have a guest post from one of our longest members of Midlands Food Bloggers, Charlene from No Love Sincerer. At this time of over indulgence she highlights a cause that should be close to every foodies heart. 

A couple of months ago, Edwina Curry, a former Conservative minister, stated that she did not believe that people in this country go hungry. Do you agree with her comments?

As food bloggers we are, as a breed, usually well-fed. We cook good food, eat in nice restaurants and even get sent food for free to review a lot of the time. It is easy to forget that there are people in this country who do not have the luxury of being able to afford both heating and food. Food poverty is an issue in the Midlands, as well as a wider issue throughout the UK. This BBC article from earlier this year explains how a ‘Food Bank’ in Stourbridge saw a 45% rise in demand since 2010.

That’s why I want to tell you about Food Banks. Food banks have been set up throughout the UKby the Trussell Trust, a charity working to fight poverty. They have now launched over 100 food banks in theUK, which they report fed over 60,000 people who were experiencing food poverty last year.

You can help your local food bank by donating money, food or time. This map will allow you to find your nearest food bank along with their contact details and web address, so you can find out where and how you can help, should you wish to. There are already a number of food banks in theMidlands area, with more under development.

My nearest food bank is in Coventry , and we have been collecting tins of food for the cause at work. Supermarkets have also been getting in on the action, with non-perishable food donations being collected at most of the major supermarkets in the area. Here is an explanation of how the food bank works.

It being the season of good-will and all, I thought it would be worth highlighting this very worthy cause. I hope you will consider helping in whatever way you can.

Thanks to Charlene for this great article. 

Bite ‘n’ Write

We at MFB were very happy to hear of a food bloggers conference here in Birmingham, Bite ‘N’ Write, organised by one of our members – Annie Ko. We had managed to get a few of our lovely bloggers to go along and here is a quick overview of the day from Louise of Comida y Vida. 

An event for food bloggers right on my doorstop, a chance to learn to some information and get tips to improve my blog, and an opportunity to meet some of my fellow bloggers with whom I have tweeted with for a long time … well I couldn’t resist.

I booked the ticket for Bite ‘n’ Write so long ago, that by the time November 19th arrived I was too excited for words, if a little nervous at leaving Baby G with Daddy for the longest time yet …. 14 hours!!

So bright and breezy I jumped on a train to Birmingham and once in the lobby of New Street searched out a few of my fellow attendee’s. How to spot a blogger in a busy public place is perhaps a discussion for another day but I wouldn’t recommend walking up to a stranger and asking them if they are a blogger …. you will most certainly get a strange look!

Once the troops had gathered, including the my fellow MFB members Jules of Butcher, Baker, Julia of Wannabefoodie and Kath the Ordinary Cook, together with the very lovely Choclette of Chocolate Log Blog and Charlotte of Go Free foods, we set off for the venue. The event was held in the Old Library room at the Custard Factory.

I won’t go into detail regarding all the workshops that were held during the day as many other blogs have put it far better than I could including Louise at the Vegetarian Experience. I haven’t any decent photo’s to share with you either as was too busy taking in all the information, but here’s my highlights:

* The photography workshop by Craig Fraser of Frasershot was the best start to the day. An interesting look into how professional food photography is carried out and some simple tips to create stunning pictures at home. Who knew silver card and a tampon could be such useful tools?

* Judith Lewis of Mostly about Chocolate and SEO specialist gave an insight into optimising your blog which I found interesting but which was a tad too technical or not of interest for some of my fellow attendee’s.

* The tasting by Artisan du Chocolat was a particular high, a chocolate high that is! We got to learn all about chocolate and taste a wide range of their products. I particularly liked the mint one and the Masala Chai. I loved the look of the O’s too.

* Jeanne of Cook Sister gave a really interesting talk about writing and how to make your blog attractive to readers with tips on the design and content of the blog.

So those were my highlights, but for a fair review I must mention my disappointment with some aspects of the day. The main issue for me was the the lack of time and setting to mingle with the other food bloggers. Whilst I got to know the people on my table it was difficult to find time to meet everyone else. Also the venue was not the greatest with a serious heating problem leaving me drinking cups of coffee just to stop from turning blue, and the meaty non-indian lunch was a bit of a let-down.

I applaud Annie Ko for having the intrepidity to get up and organise something like this event, especially after such a short time blogging, and considering it was her first event it was good. However, there are many things to be improved upon and I would hope that these are put into place to make sure this can become an annual event.

I finished off the day with a get together with some of my tweeties for some delicious food and wine at Jamie’s Italian.

By Louise of Comida y Vida on behalf of MFB.

CellarVie Wines

In our opinion enjoying great food goes hand in hand with having a nice glass of wine (or two) so when we were contacted from CellarVie Wines to have a look at their new website well we couldn’t resist. There are many online wine retailers out there but CellarVie Wines stand out from the crowd with their interactive service and rewards scheme.

CellarVie Wines was set up in May 2010 by an experienced father and son team to offer a Wine Service with a difference, with their unique loyalty points system. Customers earn points for not only purchases but when registering on the site and using features such as the My Palette wine advisor. You also get points for reviewing wines and each time a friend you’ve recommended buys a bottle from us. And what do points mean? Free wine.

The other great service they offer is a food-wine matching. Tag a tweet to @CellarVieWines with hashtag #winewithfood and they will suggest the perfect drinking partner to go alongside whatever you are cooking.

So if you haven’t yet bought your wine for this year’s festivties then check out CellarVie Wines and the special discount code to our readers for an extra 30% off.

midsnov2011

Allow 30% off anything not on promotion.

• Can be used against products whose only promotion is loyalty point-based i.e. “double loyalty points earned on this promotion”
• Can be used once by each registered customer
• Expiry date 31^st December

Thanks to CellarVie Wines for this promotion for our readers and we’re off to stock up our wine rack!

By Louise of Comida y Vida on behalf of MFB