As I mentioned I am on Market Kitchen all this week cooking down at the world famous Borough Market in London, a real haven for food lovers! I really loved the day recording down in the market as it was a lot more hands on, and we got to actually shop around for some of the ingredients, plus there was a bit of time for me to nose around the great selection of veg and food products on offer. We recorded all five shows in the one day, so let me just say it is a LONG day! I arrived at about 8am and didn't leave till around 9pm that night, but despite the long hours and the freezing cold, the amazing team really made recording an absolute pleasure.
There was a crack team of five food super heroes producing the content for the show down in the market and these guys really work hard! I have a feeling they have posed together for a photo before because when I told them I wanted a picture, they very naturally assembled themselves in that formation! Let me introduce you to them, Leonie in the middle is the home economist and she spend loads of time compiling info on each of my recipes, the woman is like a human food encyclopedia and was on hand with great one liners to stick in to my piece! Rasheed there with the clipboard is the producer and made sure everything ran smoothly and kept my spirits high throughout the day, he is a former chef and he too has a fantastic and extensive knowledge of food!
Robin with the glasses and hoody, is the hard core camera dude, who is clearly an expert at his job, as he showed no signs of loosing his patience with me even after my 15th take on one shot! He was full of advice and really helped me keep things moving along throughout the day. Olga is the foodie equivalent of a rockstar music video director and kept me so motivated all day long! She is a bundle of energy and was lots of fun to work with. Last but not least in blue hoodie is Dan, and he is literally a professional feeder! I think I saw a documentary about people who kept their partners overweight by feeding them a constant supply of junk food, and I am fairly sure Dan could be guilty of this. (note: I just googled feederism and apparently feeders derive a sexual pleasure in feeding their partners, sorry Dan maybe your not one!) He is solely responsible for introducing me to curly wurly cake! (I know, I know, recipe coming soon!)
In terms of recording, I much preferred cooking direct to camera, although, I've watched the slots last night and tonight and I'm kind of coming across like a duracell bunny! Extremely excitable but I blame the cold! One of the biggest problems of the day was keeping the frying pan hot, because of the bitter cold weather, every time I would add something to the pan, it would cool down, but Leonie did come to the rescue by erecting a portable metal guard which she would stick around the hob and we would stop filming in order for it to heat up.
I was actually flying to Sweden the following day to go skiing, so luckily had packed thermal underwear (I know, sexy right?) which after about five minutes of arriving I ran across to the nearest toilet to to change into them! So if you are wondering just how many layers I am wearing, I think the total came to seven, but I was still cold! We finished up after a long day with high spirits and lots of laughter! The dishes I cooked which will be coming up on the show this week are mackerel with chorizo potato salad, healthy Singapore noodles, healthy paella, aromatic duck salad, and one more which I has completely slipped my mind, so it will just have to remain a suprise for us all for now! :)
