"WHAT'S COOKING?"

It may have been a cold, wet day outside, but it was a warm, well-attended meeting that greeted our two guests – Stephanie and Kelly.

Jane was our Toastmaster and a very efficient one at that, she was assisted by David in his role as timekeeper. With General Business soon out of the way, Barbara gave a warm introduction to Patrick. This was Patrick’s fourth speech and he is developing a very confident style. ‘Plate up Like a Pro,’ took us on an experience of fine dining tips and tricks which anyone can use to make their meals more pleasurable and excite the taste buds. He introduced five basic rules to a successful food arrangement.1) have a key ingredient - which is often, but not always, meat, 2) rule of 3rds - so that the proportions remain balanced, 3) use odd numbers of items, 4) choose a focal point – this draws the eye, 5) use positive as well as negative space, it is not necessary to cover the plate completely. Accompanying these points were diagrams and pictures. Apparently plastic squeeze bottles are the ultimate foodies trick and Patrick is now armed and ready to go forth into a new era of gastronomy. Barbara’s evaluation was full of well-deserved praise for a job well-done and several pertinent recommendations.

Armed with hair net (no hairs in this soup) and pinny our very own Julia Child was up next. Jen’s speech was titled ‘Peeling Back the Layers’ and it was ably introduced by Anna. We were taken on a nostalgic tour from 1971, through 45 years of married bliss to the present day, on the back of an assortment of vegetable peelers. This very clever presentation was from an advanced manual and required the speaker to use a piece of equipment, who would of thought of a peeler in this context? Starting with the honeymoon stage of marriage, Jen told us she sought to please her man in the kitchen, but risked losing digits and criticism from peeling her veg to thickly with a sharp knife. Her thoughtful husband bought her a basic peeler, but it still cut too thick, this was followed by a more update version with similar problems. Finally she was won over by the efficiency, both in ease of use, and lack of extra waste by a state of the art peeler bought from the Show. Anna started her evaluation with the comment, ‘What a treat’ and emphasized the humour threaded throughout the speech. She also gave good recommendations for future speeches.

There is always much anticipation over Table Topics with its ‘seat of the pants’ delivery mode. Laurel was on a DIY journey and asked for help with some unfinished projects. Darryl was first up with drawers that wouldn’t slide into place. He had three suggestions, but ultimately concluded that it was better to buy a new one rather than continue battling with the problem. Mike was given the task of fitting venetian blinds with a missing drill bit, ever resourceful he had options for using smaller and larger drill bits, substituting a nail or buying a new bit. However, in the end he also thought it would be better to give the job away and get a professional to finish the job. Our last speaker, who doesn’t like to get her hands dirty if she can find someone else to do the job, used praise and cunning to get her husband to move a heavy table into an upright position. Her ingenuity and good use of descriptive words earned her a well-deserved award.

The meeting ran to time despite a packed schedule and I am sure that everyone is looking forward to more great speeches at our next meeting.

Best Speaker: Jen

Best Evaluator: Anna

Best Table Topic: Helen

General Evaluator: Linda