Gay Gordons...

Remember the raffle we started with the Gordon Ramsay voucher I had won for entering a cookery competition?

Well, thanks to our generous customers, including the ladies of the NSPCC themselves, we raised exactly £669 in three weeks!

We could've raised a lot more but many of our customers whose opinion of Gordon Ramsay's foul mouth would've preferred it to be a voucher for Krimo's!

I am honoured.

Our special thanks must go to Hartlepool Mail reporter, Mark who kindly gave his time and column space for this endeavour.

Please click on the photo to read the article.

Hartbeat Competition...

Wasn't it easy!!!
When did Krimo's open its doors?
The answer was on the same page of Hartbeat...

May 4th 1985!
May the force... be with you! Remember?

The winner is Teresa Pinchen of Hartlepool who gets a £100 voucher to spend at Krimo's. Congratulations, Teresa!

Helping dish...

Some of you will remember the cookery competition I entered back in April. Just before I left for Algeria, I received my prize, a £250 Gordon Ramsay's voucher.

Well, since I won it for just doing something I love, "cooking", I have decided to raffle it and give the proceeds to the NSPCC.

Even if the winner can't be bothered to go to London for a slap-up meal, I'm certain that the voucher will easily fetch a couple hundred quid on Ebay.

We always hold an NSPCC raffle in December where we raffle a meal for two at our three restaurants so the idea to give away this voucher came naturally.

Healthy Eating Competition Winner...

A little while ago, you'll remember, Stranton School organised a healthy eating competition. Mark, the Expochef, Mr Drummond, our town mayor and I had the pleasurable task of picking the winner out of four finalists. The competition was tough! Just a fiver to produce a main-course and a dessert!
























The winner was Donna who really impressed us judges with her beautiful shepherd's pie. Enough to feed half a dozen hungry schoolchildren. As a prize, I provided the school with a meal voucher and last week, Donna and her four kids came to Portofino to enjoy her winnings.
Despite the untimely loss of her husband just before Christmas, Donna found the strength to compete and win.
Click on the link to read:
Donna's story as told by the Hartlepool Mail.

Competitive know-how...

No, I didn't win the competition but I did win a £250 voucher at one of Gordon Ramsay's restaurants in London. That'll probably be just enough for two starters!
The competition was held at Birmingham University College. The very modern kitchen where the whole thing took place cost over a million pounds! One of the cleaners proudly said that each cooker cost thirty thousand pounds.
There were five other competitors and, unlike me, they all had competed at one time or another in the past. I felt very relaxed as I had practiced the dishes quite a few times over the last two weeks.
We were all given a finish time by which we had to produce three portions, one for the official photo and the other two for the judges to taste.

I cooked my Fish Tagine and then a dish using sustainable Pacific Cod Loin.

At 2.30pm the winning chef was revealed. The other five received the Ramsay voucher.
Later the winner said he had already won another competition with the same dish. I think he is onto a winning formula.

Would I ever enter another competition again? Not sure about myself but I might help our young chefs enter and win them now that I know what is expected.

As I travelled to Birmingham the night before the competition, I ate at the Michelin-starred Simpsons. The food and service were out of this world.

Fishing practice...

For two weeks now, since I was picked for the Fish recipe final in Birmingham on 3rd April, I have been practising my fish tagine and the Cod loin compulsory dish.

We've had three lots of tagines and three different versions of Cod loin since I got the news. Good job Karen and I love fish!
I have just about perfected the first dish but I am still playing about with the second. The loin is very firm and doesn't lend itself to baking so I have cut it into medallions, grilled and served them on a tasty tomato and basil sauce with green beans.
My fishmonger must be wondering why we're eating so much fish all of a sudden.
Seven days to go!!

I will post the recipes if the judges like them.