Spot On AmnesTea 2010

Last year we held an AmnesTea where Stephen works. Everyone brought in a dish and a small donation and we spent lunch chatting and eating. We raised a respectable amount and had fun doing it so another one was ordered for this year.

Strangely I scaled back on my cooking, I know that's not like me at all, but I did spend most of this year eating the leftover chilli and with everyone else throwing themselves into the spirit of things we needed twice the table space anyway. My contributions were a Coffee Cake (I know I make a lot of these but I will not apologise, they always go down well!) and a focaccia in three sections - one olive, one tomato and one rosemary and sea salt.

No regrets: everything was lovely and I got to spend time with my boyfriend and some of my favourite people. Then I went home and slept off the massive amount of food. And for the bit that really counts: we opened up the donation box and found a small but perfectly formed chunk of cash. After our success with these invite only events I'm wondering about doing something more public next year. And if you want to host a similar event you can find out more here.

AmnesTea Party

Our AmnesTea went well. We managed to raise £25 for Amnesty International and eat a lot of yummy food.

It had turned into a bit of a potluck and Stephen's colleagues impressed us by bringing plenty of good food as well as the much needed donations.

We contributed a big pot of chili (and after carrying that to his office my arms refused to work for the rest of the day!), the rolls, and chocolate cut out cookies from everyone's favourite new book Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. We went for a mix of Christmas shapes and apples for the Mac users. Our dishes were joined by yummy brownies, cheese straws and sausage rolls, lovingly hand made. Lovingly carried in were tonnes of snacks which I'm told kept the office fed for days.
(There was plenty of other stuff too, it was a real community effort, but I'm lovingly forgetful so please don't take offence if I've missed you out.)

On the cooling rack...

Pull apart rolls made from the usual recipe. A bit squished together but I think it worked. It's for tomorrow's AmnesTea. I'll also be providing chilli and cookies. It's turned into a bit of a pot luck but we should be able to raise some money and have some good food.

All the fun of the... massive amounts of free samples

Today we went out to the small but cool Torbay Food and Arts Festival at the Market Forum. There was a fair amount on show and we managed to come home with quite a bit of reasonably priced swag. Although when you have three different people selling olives it's quite easy to get a competitive price. Our goals are always the same at these things. Stephen likes to come home with some new fudge, jam or honey and some new cheese. I like to come home with something fun and exotic that I can't get anywhere else. That and home-made chutney.

Stephen managed to get everything on his list. and I got to try some truly awesome free samples. Olives, Bombay potatoes, anything that come with a tooth pick. The ice cream stall even had a pot of lemon sorbet so, of course, a picture had to be taken with me looking stupid next to it.


The one thing I wanted to try - the Thai food - I wasn't able too. I've got a picture of their wonderful vegetable display but all the dishes they have to offer have meat. Sad. We picked up a menu and their everyday offerings come with an extensive vegetarian selection. At least the watermelon looked pretty.


I also bought a Bombay potato spice mix which is apparently 'authentic' and 'real'. I have my doubts but it was definitely yummy. I'm not usually a big buyer of spice mixes or a fan of Bombay potatoes but being offered one straight from the pan did sway me a little. They have other flavours here. Along side that are some Szechuan peppercorns and a squash of some description.

The most exciting was yet to come. When we got home our postbox was full. Our AmnesTea pack had arrived. We're probably going to host a lunch on December 10th and if you are in the UK please order your own pack and give it a go. If you can't and you have a few spare teabags... well you know who needs them.