Slimming World Awards dinner

Went to the SW Awards do last night in Birmingham. The Woman of the Year is Carole Wright who has lost

. . . wait for it . . .

nineteen and a half stone!!!!

She was amazing - a lovely little powerhouse of a woman who hadn't stopped smiling and talking, and was still posing for photos, hours later.

She was a very popular winner, but to be honest I would not have wanted to choose from among the finalists; they were all amazing.

The celebrity was Jason Manford (obeying "Anna's Rule" that the definition of a celebrity is someone I have never heard of before!) and he was quite good but could have done a bit more homework about what SW was all about. The general presentation was very good and they had acrobats who were fantastic. And dinner was excellent, apart from the puddings which were disappointing. And it was lovely to meet people and chat.

But it fell a bit flat after that. The sound system quality which had been pin-sharp for everything before the dinner suddenly became hopelessly distorted. Someone came on and explained about the casino entertainment out in the hall, and no-one could make out a word he was saying. And although I am sure the band was excellent, again they were so distorted that you couldn't hear any words, nor could you hear half the instruments. So that was disappointing and we left early.

But it was a great night out, and everyone gets dressed up in gorgeous dresses!
 
Ohhhh what was on the menu? x
 
The food was delicious but definitely not SW food - everyone was having a night off!!

There were two choices for the starter:
Thai crab cake, with chard, pimento and sesame salad, or
goats cheese and almond croquette and roast pepper salad

Two choices for the main course:
Blade of beef with mushroom goulash sauce on butternut squash mash with carrots and roast peppers; or
Wild mushroom souffle, butternut squash and horseradish spinach and morel sauce

(The starters were fantastic, the beef was slow cooked and so tender, the souffle was a little overcooked - all the vegetables were perfectly cooked.)

The puddings sounded great on the menu, but somehow didn't really work - the desert was called Indulgence Shots. Three little shot glasses with banoffee, Eton mess, and chocolate and cherry creme brulee.

The banoffee was OK, the chocolate and cherry was nice but there wasn't a brulee topping, and the Eton mess had no meringue in it, so was really just strawberries with a little bit of cream.

I am always impressed when catering on this scale turns out edible - the logistics are really daunting!
 
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