I love this stuff especially the ginseng one.
However with my trip over, it is back to a frantic day at head office, a quick catch up with the ones I love in the evening but bed is a lot later than I originally intended, after all I had to finish the bottle of Californian red that my new chinese friend Gary had insisted I bring home with me.
Up at 4am on Saturday, I head to the Hawke's Bay to Judge the Edible Fashion Awards in Hastings .. I love doing this stuff, it is these provincial events that form the fabric of these communities as well as providing launching pads and opportunities for some very real talent .
I arrived in the Bay with time to spare, the new Taupo bypass has certainly made the trip a lot quicker and I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast with my fellow Judges, Ray McVinnie ( master chef ) and Sam Wallace, the news man for TV ones breakfast program .. I remember his first day as he struggled with the 6 o'clock news and weather .. I mean how the hell does anyone follow in Jim's footsteps.
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| Ray McVinnie, Annah Stretton and Sam Wallace |
Initial reactions, I was pleasantly surprised and believed I would enjoy these two males, as so often is not the case as I am largely lumped into judging situations that are a little more difficult to endure ... NO this day was looking good !!!
The content of the day simply got stronger and stronger as we judged from junior to senior level and the winners became very apparent ... The day was broken with a beautiful liquid lunch .. try the Opera house cafe in Hastings, I thoroughly recommend it.. the food is some of the best I have tried in the Bay and apparently the chef was a proderget of Ray's.
The afternoon rolled into the evening, a few more bevies shared and a quick interview for the Her digital network with Ray ( Sam manned the camera ) .. with a focus on free range , obesity in NZ ( apparently we are the 3rd fattest nation) and Master chef ( of course ) .. we dressed for the evening and headed back to complete the judging.
It is always important to remember that there can only be one winner on the night and this will always be the result of criteria and the judges preference, the results do not often match a public perception or choice (hence there is often a peoples choice award so that this voice can be heard around a capable competition )
Our choice, was a wonderful creation that was made from eggplant slices and constructed only two hours before the show. It would have been perplexing for some, I mean , two hours as opposed to an outfit that takes months to create, how can a piece like this take out the main prize ?
It is so important to remember that it is always about a great idea executed well, the time to execute is and never will be taken into account and as with business ideas, the simplest are often the best ones.
I have seem this time and time again at WOW ( World of Wearable arts event. )
Effort expended is no measure of a winner, winning can be simply a great idea executed at the highest level .
In summary, my advice is to execute, stand back and remove .. Less will always be more.
So check out the winner I love it !!! And so did the other two judges especially Ray !
So why would I, in what must appear an extremely busy life, with a family that hardly ever sees me agree to judge this event on the day after my return from China?
I suppose for many reasons .
One, it was in the Bay and I have a Dad in a rest home there and if I'm ever going to get the daughter of the year award, I need to visit more often and two, 'opportunities', I always look for them and they always appear.
Not only did I get a great interview with Ray but I made a new friend, I was surprised at how much I liked the man, he's a cross between my two closest male friends, a personality I don't often meet. I'm sure we will spend time together going forward .. and Sam he was delightful, we have decided to catch up going forward as there are things that we can help each other with, for me, a video production for the website and for Sam, some help with future projects that he has in the pipeline.
But above all that.....why not support an initiative as strong as this, that enables those creative soles to showcase their work and possibly take it to another level .. I mean I saw outfits that could easily consider application to WOW the grandmother of all these competitions.
I have already been contacted by the creator of the winner for a meet in Morrinsville next week, so who knows where this will go.
So a great weekend all round!
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