New Beginnings

Stop press. After years of wanting to go to Leiths School of Food and Wine, I start on Monday. I have my uniform, books, and equipment, now all I need is my timetable.

Text books for Leiths

Being completely honest with you, I don't know what form this blog will take while I'm studying there. I know I've been remiss in not posting much during my final year at Manchester, however, I hope that being surrounded by food will make it easier to write a quick post than when I was besieged by French essays. If you want more regular updates then check out my Instagram @GorgeousGateaux where there'll be lots of photos of my daily life.

Mustn't let my hand cramp

Just after my exams ended I attended the wedding of my friend Malyha and was honoured to make her wedding cake. It was a nerve-wracking exercise but, with the help of her family, I think we pulled it off and the cake made it the journey to London in one piece.

The wedding cake in situ 

This summer I worked at Caracoli again, this time front of house in their Winchester branch. This meant I prepped salads each morning and then encouraged customers (and myself) to buy their moorish cookies. It was a good way to pass the time and get together some spending money for all of the food shows I want to go to while in London (BBC Good Food's Feast, The Chocolate Show, and Taste of London, to name but a few).

Churros with liquorice, a common Danish flavour

My trip abroad was a few days in rainy Copenhagen with my mum. The rain didn't put us off and we had an amazing few days seeing what the city had to offer (clue, food featured quite heavily). The architecture is on a scale that you just don't see here, we went up to the top of the town hall's tower and alongside spectacular views, I reacquainted myself with a dislike of spiral staircases.

The view from Copenhagen's town hall

If you ever go to Copenhagen then I suggest eating in Kødbyen, the meatpacking district. There's dozens of excellent restaurants there at many different price points (be warned though that cheap is not a word that Copenhagen recognises. Even the burgers were comparatively expensive, though high quality).

Perfect fish and chips with not a seagull in sight

We hit Mother for sourdough pizza and smoked mozzarella sticks, Magasasa for slow service but dim sum on a par with Singapore, Hija de Sanchez (run by ex-Noma chef, Rosio Sanchéz) for tacos and liquorice flavoured churros, Fiskebaren gave us the best fish and chips I've ever had along with the perfect snickers-inspired dessert. For great burgers and chips Juicy Burger lived up to their name and offered a respite from the downpour on our last lunch.

Pizza at Mother

In case you're wondering, the reason the weather wasn't a problem was because I finally succumbed and bought a stylish raincoat. A stylish raincoat? Yes, Rains sells trench coat style hooded waterproofs that I'm not embarrassed to be seen in, unlike the classic British version.

Recipe testing with mini biscuits

The day after I got back from Copenhagen I moved to London and have installed myself in a studio apartment (that's part of private halls of residents, go freshers!) west of Hammersmith. This fast turnaround was because I had an internship with BBC Good Food where I have spent a happy fortnight recipe testing, assisting on shoots, and asking everyone who'd been to Leiths what their favourite moments and tips were. So far I know to do my time plans (more on those in my next post, whenever that may be) the weekend before, have a template for said time plans, get restaurant experience even if you don't want to work in one, and that the time will fly by so make the most of it!

Perks of the job: helping with bursary judging at BBC Good Food

What would you like to see here while I'm at Leiths? Photos? Recipes? Musings? Let me know in the comments.