The Cooperative Christmas Blogger Event

A couple of weeks ago I took a little trip to Manchester to attend The Cooperative Christmas Blogger Showcase. I never go away on my own, so it was a bit of a (scary!) adventure getting the train and staying in a hotel on my own. But it was great to get some time away from being a mum and spend some time with other bloggers.

It was literally only my second time meeting any other bloggers (and the one time before was only the weekend before!), so I was a bit nervous. Luckily I had been speaking to two lovely bloggers online for a while before who were going to be there so I had them to hold my hand!

I was also a bit nervous because I had been asked to speak on the blogging panel with two other bloggers, so I was a bit panicky until that was over!

When we arrived we were given a glass of Prosecco and then we stood around chatting until everyone arrived, with a harpist playing in the background. The room looked beautiful and Christmassy, and our glasses kept on getting topped up with the lovely Cooperative Prosecco.

We then sat down to a five course taster Christmas meal, accompanied by lots of different wine. For starter there were a few dishes from the ‘Truly Irresistable’ range: Prawn and Prosecco Verrines, Trio of pate, and Somerset Vintage Cheese Soufflé, which all looked really lovely.

Then there was an amazing party platter, with Dim Sum, Mini Sticky Sausages with Honey & Mustard Glaze & Popping Crackling and Sausage Roll Pinwheels – which were like sausage rolls but in a wheel. I really liked the idea of these but I didn’t want to fill myself up before the mains! I think I’d also done quite a good job filling myself up with wine by that point too.

The main course consisted of:

Loved by us Turkey Breast Joint, Truly Irresistible Whole Side of Salmon with Orange & Cranberries, and then from the ‘Loved by us’ range; Winter Roasting Veg Truly Irresistible Fruit & Cointreau Stuffing Parcels, Chipolata Wrapped in Bacon, Goose Fat Roast Potatoes, Carrot & Swede Crush and the very special Cranberry Sauce.

It was all so good. And then the desserts looked and tasted amazing…

Unfortunately I only got to try one as I had to rush off and do the blogging panel – which went ok I think! We were asked some questions about how we blog and our experiences and then the audience asked a few more. I felt pretty awkward the whole way through depsite haven’t drunk A LOT of wine of various colours, but it wasn’t too bad and I’m really glad I was asked to be involved.

We were lucky enough to have Simon from the Co-op on our table who ‘does all the stuff with the alcohol’ as his job (i.e I can’t remember), and he told us lots of interesting stuff about the wines on our table and even took a few of us to the Co-op’s tasting room where they try the wines. This was an amazing little room FULL of alcohol and it’s own built in spitbucket, and we didn’t really want to leave.

After dinner we drank more wine and were shown a cool mugcake demo – I have made one before at home but it failed to rise, so I am looking forward to making more of these easy little cakes now. At the end of the night we were given a great goody bag which included more Prosecco (yay!), and more great bits from the Co-op, including a mug and the ingredients to make our own mug cake!

It was a great evening, and it was lovely to spend more time with blogging friends as well as the really lovely people from The Cooperative.

Thank you to The Cooperative for inviting me to the event, and to be on the panel.