FASHION: Back to the jazz age

White dress and coat from Carla Ruiz (£325)

from Fenwick, York

Fashion’s in a flap as the Roaring Twenties take centre stage this spring. MAXINE GORDON throws the spotlight on the trend, while FRANK DWYER takes the pictures…

ARE you ready to become a flapper girl? Fashion continues its love affair with the past and this season it is the turn of the 1920s.
Dropped waists, beaded dresses and layers of pearls are swinging this way for spring and summer.

Taking its cue from movies such as the Oscar-winning The Artist and the upcoming remake of The Great Gatsby, the Twenties are the style decade du jour. Top designers are at the helm of this revival; their collections for spring/summer were brimming with feather trims, crystal beads and sparkling sequins.

Dress from All Saints (£295) at Fenwick's

For Ralph Lauren, the flapper dress reigned supreme; over at Gucci, it was all about the dropped waist. Feathers were the trim of choice for Michael Kors and Oscar De La Renta. Marc Jacobs worked the straight silhouette (think Twiggy in The Boyfriend) and Matthew Williamson went for all-out Gatsby glamour with a classic combination of gold, beading and feathers.



But you don’t have to cough up couture prices to copy the look. We teamed up with Fenwick’s department store in York to stage our own Twenties-inspired photoshoot.

The look is all about shape. Waistlines should be dropped, of course, but look for other features such as tunics with banded hemlines, or light knits with kimono sleeves. Opt for sheer shifts or straight-line dresses covered with beads and sequins. We found a perfect example at All Saints, now available at Fenwick.



Kimono top, Mint Velvet (£59),

at Fenwick



Accessories make the look – and add a splash of glamour. Have fun with feathers and headpieces. Take a beaded hair band and wear it around your forehead rather than in Alice fashion for instant Twenties feel.



Shoes should make you want to hit the dance floor. Pick strappy sandals in gold or some daintier court shoes with straps – perfect for a spot of tap dancing. We found the perfect selection at Kurt Geiger in Fenwick.

Handbags are catching the mood too. Clutches covered in pearls and boxy bags with crystals would complete any outfit.

We staged our shoot at York’s fabulous Grand Opera House, which is paying its own homage to the Twenties in April with a return run of the hit musical Chicago.



Starring Ali Bastian as Roxie Hart and Bernie Nolan as Matron ‘Mama’ Morton, the award-winning musical – based on real life events in the 1920s when nightclub singer Roxie Hart shot her lover and tried to escape death row – will be taking over the Opera House from Monday April 16 to Saturday April 21. For tickets, call 0844 871 3024 or visit www.atgtickets.com/york

Photoshoot thanks to:

Model: Beth Argile

Hair and make-up: Beckie Stirk (www.beckiestirk.co.uk)

Stylists: Pauline Robinson, at Fenwick, York, and Hannah Clugston

All clothes and accessories from Fenwick, Coppergate, York

Venue: Grand Opera House, York

TV chef Peter's pasta tips

MAXINE GORDON reports on the Pocklington lad who failed his cookery GCSE but went on to become a TV chef

TV chef Peter Sidwell

PETER SIDWELL has his hands full. Not only is he putting the finishing touches to a new cook book, he is opening a new restaurant and has become a father for the second time.

“I’m living on espresso at the moment,” laughs the 35-year-old from Pocklington and star of Channel 4’s cookery series Lakes On A Plate.

Yes, you read that correctly. It’s Lakes not Yorks on a plate, because Peter lives in Cumbria, running a successful foodie empire that includes a restaurant/café; a bakery and cookery school.

He lives in Cockermouth with wife, Emma, a primary teacher also from Pocklington, and their children, Poppy, four and two-month-old Thomas.

Peter’s heart still belongs to York. He loves York Market and when he meets up with his mates they return to their old haunts, Fibbers and the Stone Roses bar.

“I always come to the food festival and have a look around,” he adds.

Peter attended Woldgate school. He is dyslexic and struggled academically, even failing his cookery GCSE. He left at 16 and got a job in a pub.

“I was chopping carrots, buttering bread and making prawn cocktails up in wine glasses,” recalls Peter.

But he soon got the bug and was taken on at the Ambassador Hotel on the Mount. It’s long since given way to swanky flats, but Peter has fond memories of his time there and later at the York Pavilion Hotel.

His next move was to HSBC bank, doing corporate catering, often at its capital base at Canary Wharf. However, the regular commute from York to London became too much.

“I was spending too much time on the East Coast main line and wearing a suit rather than a chef’s jacket,” recalls Peter.

So he and wife Emma took the gamble of their lives; they sold their house in Pocklington, packed a van and drove to the Lakes, where they took the lease on an old clothes shop and using all their savings revamped it into a café and deli.

“We wanted to create the sort of place we would like to spend time in,” explained Peter. They decked it out with leather sofas and the like. “But we never got to sit on them because we were so busy!”

Peter has now sold that business and focussing his energies on his latest outlet, Peter Sidwell @Rheghed, his café at the Rheghed outdoor centre at Penrith.

He is also working on a new TV series, finishing a fourth book about family meals and promoting his latest publication, Simply Good Pasta.

Divided into seasonal sections and based around Peter’s down-to-earth tastes, the emphasis is on taste and speed, as well as using good ingredients, many of them British.

This makes for some unusual combinations, such as Brussels sprouts with cream, garlic and pine nuts, but Peter makes no apologies for breaking down culinary barriers.

“Pasta is so familiar to us. If we are in a rush, we can just hit a bag of pasta and some sauce. I wanted to fuse that with British seasonal ingredients. Italian food is all about simplicity; how maybe two, three, or four ingredients at the most can make a perfect, quick, dish.”

Among the home-grown ingredients he suggests trying with pasta include purple sprouting broccoli, asparagus and even parsnip, with a dash of chilli.

“If you get the opportunity, walk through York Market and just buy what you need each day, the way the Italians do,” advises Peter.

Pasta dinners can be cheap too; especially if you avoid meat and follow some of Peter’s cooking tips.

“Slow cook some onions with garlic then add some Parmesan, and some pasta. It is as cheap as chips; you could feed a family of four for £2 or less.”

Spoken like a true Yorkshireman.

Trainspotting in luxury

HERE is the perfect hotel for trainspotters – the St Pancras Renaissance in London

The St Pancras Renaissance

TRAIN announcements as your head hits a pristine Egyptian Cotton pillowcase may not bode well for a great night’s sleep.

But happily, the announcement was to say that St Pancras station was about to close for the night.

Our suite, in the newly refurbished St Pancras Renaissance hotel has the sort of view trainspotters would sell their grannies for – straight on to the tracks.

Looking out from our 20-feet window we could also see Paul Day’s gigantic bronze, The Meeting Place, depicting a couple embracing, which has become an icon at the station.

Size matters at St Pancras. The scale and proportions of the station and hotel are hard to take in close-up. It’s only from a distance, as you exit King’s Cross and turn right that you can appreciate its full gargantuan, Gothic glory.

The soaring red-brick façade with its turreted clock tower looks as if it has escaped from the pages of a Grimm’s fairy tale.

The Gulliver scale continues inside. The corridors to our suite were as wide as a street; the windows in our room as high as a bungalow.

The hotel is a perfect stop for London or Europe-bound Yorkshire folk. Take the train to King’s Cross, disembark, and cross the road to St Pancras, home to the Eurostar terminal, as well as an upmarket selection of shops, cafés and even a Carluccio’s restaurant. And, of course, the St Pancras Renaissance.

Opened in 1873 as the Midland Grand Hotel and designed by George Gilbert Scott, this hotel was an architectural sensation. Of it, Gilbert Scott said: “It is often spoken of to me as the finest building in London. My belief is that it is possibly too good for its purpose.”

Sadly, some 60 years later, the hotel was closed. There were calls to knock it down, until a campaign succeeded in having the building listed. It was used as railway offices for the next 50 years.

However, some £200 million has been spent returning the hotel to its former glory, including restoring the ornate interiors. After 13 years hard slog, the hotel re-opened last May and is already winning accolades: it was recently voted the best hotel in the UK by The Sunday Times Magazine.



The gothic staircase in the heart of the hotel

 Its grand focal point is a magnificent Gothic staircase that coils up through the centre of the building giving you reason not to take the lift.

The former booking office has been turned into a café-restaurant, simply named The Booking Office. We enjoyed a tasty dinner here, the beetroot salad with blue cheese and walnut offering a fresh and earthy starter with a perfectly cooked (medium-rare) rib eye steak with thrice-cooked chips (super crispy) to follow. Lemon tart with meringue and berry compote finished things off on a satisfyingly sweet note. A quaffable bottle of Chianti and a coffee and hot chocolate rounded things off nicely – the meal for two, with drinks and tips, cost around £100, which we though was good value.

The hotel is also home to the The Gilbert Scott, a brasserie run by top chef Marcus Wareing’s team and named in honour of the building’s original architect.

Our suite was in the Chambers section of the hotel, which gave us access to a sprawling and relaxing lounge, opened from 6.30am to midnight, and the place to unwind with the newspapers or a magazine, catch the news on TV, and enjoy complimentary drinks and snacks. A buffet style breakfast is served here, and light afternoon tea is on from 3pm-5.30pm while pre-dinner canapés and drinks are on offer from 5.30pm-7.30pm.

Our trip to London was a whirlwind one; we took in two art shows (David Hockney at the RA and Japanese artist Yoyoi Kusama at the Tate Modern), as well as a trip to Spitalfields Market, fashion shopping in Oxford Street and Regent Street and to the home stores of Tottenham Court Road. So it was bliss to recharge our batteries in the hotel spa. Deep in the vaults of the hotel, the spa interior continues the Victorian theme, with ornate tiles on the wall and cavernous, pillared, spaces.


Luxury suite at the St Pancras



We loved the little touches too; gorgeous Ren toiletries in the spa and hotel bathrooms and a butler service, which we called upon once when we realised we had forgotten our toothpaste!

Oh, how the other half live.





Fact file

St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel
www.stpancrasrenaissance.com
0207 841 3400


Chambers Suites are from £330 plus VAT which includes access to the Chamber’s Club offering 24-hour refreshments and breakfast. In addition you also get a £30 voucher redeemable in the spa, a wetshave or haircut in Melogy, the men’s grooming salon in the hotel and also VIP transfers to Eurostar and the WIFI is complimentary too.

Putting on The Ritz

One of my toughest assignments(!)...
lunch at The Ritz with Simon Girling, from York,
voted 'Best restaurant manager in the world'
by Michael Winner

I track down Simon Girling, former York luggage porter, now working at The Ritz and voted the 'Best restaurant manager in the world'...

SIMON GIRLING has a folder the size of a pillow detailing his meteoric career.

This means the man described by Michael Winner as the "Best restaurant manager in the world” can easily lay his hands on the letter of appointment to his first job in the hotel trade back in 1986.

It was for a post as luggage porter at the Forte Hotel in Tadcaster Road, York.

“The wage was £80 a week,” recalls Simon, laughing at the memory. That’s around £4,000 a year – about the price of the most expensive bottle of wine at Simon’s current place of work, The Ritz in London’s Piccadilly.

We’ve come to the capital to find out how a former Yorkshire choirboy and son of a York vicar scaled the glittering heights of the hospitality industry.

It was a VIP day out; we travelled first class with East Coast, restraining ourselves at the complimentary breakfast mindful of our luxury lunch invitation from Simon.

And luxury is the right word for The Ritz. Opulent, lavish, magnificent and all the other synonyms fit perfectly too.

The interior is palatial, so it is no surprise that the Royals are regulars – the Queen had her 80th birthday party here and the restaurant was a favourite of the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret. It was at The Ritz that Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowes decided to make their first appearance in public together.

On arrival, Simon greets us in the Palm Court, where some 420 people take afternoon tea daily – spread over five sittings.

Then it is into the restaurant, where the jaw-dropping begins. You wonder where to look first – at the enormous 20-plus-foot windows that flood light into the grand room, made lustrous by gilded ornamentation and a ring of ornate chandeliers. Then there is the mirrored wall, again reflecting the light, and making the restaurant appear twice its size.

Sitting down for lunch with Press photographer Frank Dwyer, we look around to see if we can spot any famous faces. We have been told to keep our cameras away as guests do not wish to be inadvertently photographed.

There are no celebs to be spotted. Instead, the real stars are the food – plate after plate of perfection sent up from the kitchen by chef John Williams – and the exceptional staff. Service, as you imagine, is faultless, and the waiters and sommeliers offer their knowledge and insight as each course arrives.

We work our way through a light apple jelly amuse-bouche and a crisp and fresh crab and apple “cannelloni” starter before turning to the more robust dishes of turbot with mushroom and chicken jus, followed by Barbary duck with quince, swede and a walnut and Madeira reduction.

Simon Girling expertly flambés
Crepe Suzette in the dining room
at The Ritz, London

For dessert, a portable stove is wheeled out and Simon flambés some Crepe Suzettes to be served with ice-cream.

Armchair cookery fans may have seen Simon before. The 43-year-old took part in Michel Roux’s Service on BBC2, training participants in how to prepare Crepe Suzette.

As one of the leading hotel managers in the UK, Simon was an obvious choice for the TV series which aimed to instil the values of good service into young Brits.

Encouraging more home-grown talent into the industry is one of Simon’s passions. “In France or Italy, what we do is seen as a respectable profession. But this isn’t so in England, that’s why we have so many people from overseas working in London.”

And yet, Simon is the exception. His career spans 26 years, during which he has worked in some of the UK’s leading hotel restaurants and with top chefs including Phil Vickery and Gary Rhodes. He has amassed many admirers and accolades en route.

And yet Simon’s feet remain firmly on the ground, in solid Yorkshire style. Of Michael Winners’ proclamation, he says: “I am very proud of it… but how can someone have eaten in every restaurant in the world? I’m sure a lot of French maitre’d’s would have something to say about it!”

Winner is just one of the scores of celebrity guests and clients Simon has served. The Ritz has six private dining rooms and, as we arrive, Simon has to dash off to meet and greet a VIP. Quizzed later, he refuses to divulge the identity.

“The reason people come here is that we are very discreet,” he says.

Simon has recently been promoted and is now an executive in charge of food and beverage at the hotel. It’s a world away from his first job lugging luggage at the Forte in York.

And yet it was almost by chance that Simon happened upon his career.

He left his home in York aged nine to board at Ripon Cathedral Choir School – and didn’t return until he was 18.

Instead of taking A Levels he joined the RAF as a trade musician, playing the flute, saxophone and piano. But Simon’s real passion was for sport. He wanted to change to PT instruction, but the RAF wouldn’t allow it. So he left and returned home to his parents in York.

His dad, Andrew, was the reverend at the St Edward the Confessor Church on Tadcaster Road.

“I left home aged nine then went back at 18,” recalls Simon. “That’s really awkward when you have been you own man since the age of nine.”

“By sheer coincidence, the only reason I fell into this business was that there was a hotel next to dad’s church. I went round, knocked on the door, said I lived next door and needed a job. They said they had a job as a luggage porter. I took it and thought it was something I would do for three or four months. But I loved it. It wasn’t so much carrying bags but the whole hotel environment that I loved. I knew this is what I wanted to do.”

Simon hopes his story can encourage other young people. “You don’t have to go into a job or a career at a high level. Just get a job and work your way up,” he advises.

It takes stamina and attention to detail to succeed in the hotel industry, two qualities that Simon has in abundance.

His days are long, often stretching to 12 to 14 hours. It begins with the school run before taking the train from his family home in Surrey into central London. At The Ritz, his day is split in half: in the morning and afternoon there are meetings as well as overseeing the staff and lunch service, for which Simon and his team wear morning dress. After 5pm, he changes from tails into a DJ, ready for dinner.

He has Sundays and Mondays off. Sunday is a family day, usually spent ferrying his children, Oscar, eight, and Zara, five, to various sports activities. On Monday, he goes swimming or does a spot of gardening. He admits the schedule is gruelling and says it’s just as well his wife, Jenny, also works in hotels and understands the demands of industry.

“There is a price to pay,” says Simon. “I work long, hard hours, but I enjoy it so I don’t mind.”

During our visit, Simon displays his forensic attention to detail. Outside, he notices some of the light bulbs on the iconic ‘Ritz’ sign are out and is straight on to his mobile, calling housekeeping.

“I’m very particular,” he says. “I’m very fussy with the way things are. And I am very organised. I believe these are the strengths that relate well in this business. If you look around this building, you will see that everything is immaculately placed.”

Ultimately, says Simon, The Ritz’s appeal lies in its fabulous interiors and faultless food and service.

He says: “There is just no place like it. We fly the flag for British cuisine in an opulent hotel.”

Fact file
Lunch at The Ritz starts at £45 for the three-course menu of the day. The five-course tasting menu prepared by chef John Williams costs £99 or £160 when matched with wine for each course. Afternoon tea in the Palm Court costs £42.

Find out more at theritzlondon.com


We travelled by East Coast trains to London. Standard advance returns booked online via eastcoast.co.uk start from £21. For times and fares you can also call 08457 225225 or visit staffed stations and agents.

COMMENT: Why we need to read to our kids

EARLY LEARNING...  An old picture of me reading to my
daughter  Eva at York Library back in 2004 when she was about two!

A WAR of words has broken out between the chief inspector of schools and teachers over literacy standards in primary education.
Sir Michael Wilshaw, head of Ofsted, claims England is being overtaken by other leading nations because progress on literacy has stalled.
Sir Michael said one in five children was not reaching the standard expected (level 4) at the end of primary school, arguing that this puts them on the back foot moving up into secondary school and then into the jobs market.
Teaching unions take issue with Sir Michael's claims, discrediting the data used. Undeterred, Sir Michael is laying down the gauntlet, with a ten-point plan to improve literacy levels in primaries. This includes phonics checks on five and six year olds to make sure they are picking up the building blocks for reading and giving parents information about their child's reading age as well as how they are doing against national targets.
These moves should be welcomed. Anything that improves children's ability to read and write has to be applauded  especially methods proven to work, such as the phonics which focuses on the sounds of letters and groups of letters.
Giving parents more information about their child's reading age should help too. This way, parents can make sure the books they buy for their children, or the ones they choose at the library, are age-appropriate. There is nothing more guaranteed to turn a child away from books than a text that is too difficult. Teachers advise applying the five-finger rule: ask your child to read a page of a new book and count on your fingers how many words they struggle with. If it is more than five, the book is too advanced for them. Put it back until they are more confident and skilled readers.
Of course, this all presumes that parents are actively involved in their child's literacy development  and this is not always the case.
Research by the National Literacy Trust found that a third of parents did not recognise that they were the most important influence on their child's language and literacy development.
It also discovered that learning at home had the biggest influence on the achievement of a child and was a more accurate predictor of future success than the family's income.
On the back of this, the trust has launched a Words For Life campaign, urging parents and carers to commit more time to helping children develop their literary skills.
A quick browse of its website (http://www.wordsforlife.org.uk/) provides plenty of ideas and tips on how to get involved with your child's reading and writing.
It provides a helpful “milestones” section which you can use as a checklist to measure your child's development. There's also a section on “fun things to do together”, again broken down into age categories. Here, you can download stories to listen to, learn how to create a family history book together and even write your own comic adventure, using an exciting template of ready-drawn images.
There are some tips for reading bed-time stories from top children's author Michael Rosen as well as lists of recommended reads, split into age groups, including stories for football-mad kids and fact-based works for children not so keen on fiction. There are even some “free books” to download with related fun worksheets attached.
The aim, clearly, is to make reading enjoyable. The key to turning the reluctant reader is not just to help the child learn the fundamentals of the process, but for them to discover the pleasure in it to.
World Book Day takes place every March and this month pupils have been dressing up as their favourite characters and spending free £1 tokens on books of their choice.
That's all well and good, but we have to make sure that the association between having a good time and reading a book is not just a one-day-a-year affair.

RECIPE: Slow cooked pork ribs

Slow cooked pork ribs

I LOVE pork ribs, but never made them, fearful they would be a faff.
But I have just bought a slow cooker and with a slow cooker, nothing is a faff.
With this recipe, adapted from Heather Whinney’s The Slow Cook Book, I could have put the ribs in the slow cooker, poured over the marinade and turned up eight hours later, dinner done.
But I couldn’t resist letting the ribs soak overnight in the lovely treacly-looking marinade. I’ve no idea how this affects the ribs, but the end result was sensational. The meat was dark on the outside, amazingly tender and flavoursome underneath.
I have given the method too for cooking these ribs in the oven. Serve with rice and some stir-fried veg to make a meal of it.

Chinese sticky ribs

(serves 4-6)

Ingredients:
Two racks of pork ribs, about 20 ribs (about 1.5kg – ask your butcher to chop them up for you)
salt and pepper to season

For the marinade:
2 tbsp oil
4 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp clear honey
6 tbsp teriyaki sauce
1 tsp five-spice powder
Juice of two limes
Pinch of dried chilli powder or flakes

Method:
In the slow cooker:
You can either:
1.Season the ribs, put them in the slow cooker, pour over the marinade, and cook on the “high” setting for four hours or “low” setting for eight hours
OR
2. Season ribs, pour over marinade then leave overnight in fridge. Then cook in slow cooker as above.

Oven method:
1. Season ribs and put in a large heavy-based pan and cover with water. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer, partially cover with the lid, and cook for 1–1½ hours until the meat starts to come away from the bone. Remove the ribs from the pan with tongs and set aside in a baking tin until they are cool enough to handle.
2. Preheat the oven to 160°C/gas mark 3. In a bowl, mix together all the marinade ingredients. Put ribs in a large flameproof casserole. Pour over the marinade and turn the ribs to coat. Cover with the lid and put in the oven for about one hour, keeping an eye on them to check they don’t dry out completely – they may need turning in the marinade.

To serve:

Eat on their own, or for a more substantial supper, serve with egg-fried rice, sprinkled with spring onions. If you are really hungry, make some stir-fried veggies using some of the left over marinade as a sauce.

Breadmaking at Pattacakes

Here's something I made earlier...

BREADMAKING has been on my to-do list for far too long.

Full of good intentions, I even bought some bread flour – only for it to sit in the cupboard next to the abandoned packets of dried yeast.

So what’s stopped me? Well, if truth be told, it all seemed a bit tricky.

Despite my colleague and fellow Too Many Cooks columnist Julian Cole sharing his bread recipes within these pages every month and insisting that anyone can do it, I was never truly convinced.

Also, it looks so messy, and physically tiring (all that kneading) – and it seems such a lot of effort when you can pop to the shops and buy a loaf for about £1.50.

So I was more than ready to be converted when I drove over to Welburn one Sunday morning to enrol on a breadmaking course at Pattacakes, the charming Ryedale bakery and patisserie and café-shop, just a stone’s throw from Castle Howard.

Owner and chief baker Anita Tasker runs a series of courses from the Pattacakes kitchen.

There were four of us on the breadmaking course, and after a caffeine boosting cappuccino in the café, we set to work.

We started making a rye bread. Soon our hands were covered in a cream-coloured stodge as the flour, water and yeast turned into a sticky gloop.

Undeterred, Anita kept on working her dough, until it became smooth and pliable. She pulled a chunk off and teased it apart, holding it up to the light, displaying translucent patches. “When this happens, you know it’s ready,” she said.

If our hands were getting too sticky, Anita advised us to wash them in cold water (“not hot, that will just bake the dough on to your skin!”) or dip them in flour and rub them clean.

The second method worked best for me and soon my dough started to behave. We left it to rise in a wicker basket while we got on making a batch of white bread.

This was less sticky and within minutes, we had all worked it into submission. The kneading was energetic, but satisfyingly hypnotic too.

We each used a kilo of flour, so had lots of dough to work with. Some of us made baguettes, others tin loaves and also some baps, which we topped with an array of seeds.

Fellow novice baker Dave Ferguson, on the course with his mum Sue and girlfriend Gemma Wilson, wanted to make hedgehogs. “I remember making these at primary school,” he said.

Within minutes, we’d assembled a whole tray of doughy hogs. We used scissors to snip into the top to create the spikes and added raisons for eyes and nose.

We also made a bread plait; taking three long snakes of dough and weaving them in and out until the desired shape was made. After applying a layer of eggwash, for glossy colour, we sprinkled them with the seeds.

After a break for lunch – home-made soup by the team at Pattacakes and some of our own baguettes – it was back into the kitchen and on to the final straight, olive bread.

This was my favourite to make; I found it the easiest to knead, and it was the tastiest. That was no doubt on account of the delicious produce we stuffed inside.

The trick is to roll the dough into a large rectangle, smother it in the topping of choice, fold up like an envelope, give it a twist as if wringing out a dishcloth and then leave to rise. We stuffed our loaves with a tangy red onion marmalade relish from Yorkshire’s Braken Hill Preserves and lots of grated cheddar as well as a mix of olives and sun dried tomatoes.

After five hours of breadmaking, it was time for a final cuppa and a catch-up. Here, with clean hands, we quizzed Anita on the methods we used and crib her top tips.

Then we each filled a box with the spoils of the day. I drove home with a boot full of bread – enough to have something different for every day of the week.

What’s more, I left with the confidence to finally open that bag of bread flour in the larder.


The breadmaking course costs £50. For more dates and to find out about other courses, ring Pattacakes on 01653 618352.


Anita is also involved in a new venture, Cake Together, where people bake and bring their results to Pattacakes, where Anita will host a supper and where everyone can try each other’s bakes. The aim is to raise funds for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance. The next event will be on April 17. To book a place or find out more, telephone 01653 618352.

Dawn makes hats fit for Kate

York milliner Dawn Guibert who
designed a hat worn by Kate Middleton

York milliner Dawn Guibert is at Cheltenham races this week – getting her 2012 season off to a flying start

DAWN Guibert still remembers the shock she felt when she picked up a magazine to find Kate Middleton wearing one of her creations.

The York milliner picks up the story: “Kate Middleton had gone to Get Ahead Hats, where I supply hats.” Kate went on to wear the hat at a society wedding… and was photographed by the paparazzi.

“That hat was everywhere!” recalls Dawn. “For about a month, it was in every newspaper and magazine. Nobody knew I had made it.”

The hat had a special poignancy for Dawn. It was part of a collection she designed following the tragic death of her first-born son, Jem, who was born prematurely and died in her arms at just three days old.

“Because these were the first hats I designed after my child died, I named each of the hats after a gem stone. The one Kate wore was called Jet.”

Although Dawn makes hats for Get Ahead Hats, she has also launched her own exclusive, bespoke range, simply called Guibert.

“All Guibert hats are one-offs,” explains Dawn. “Most are commissions. Guibert hats are for hat lovers… to buy a Guibert hat you really have to love hats. They are a work of art.”

It can take three times as long for Dawn to make a bespoke hat, which can cost from £250 upwards. Her most expensive commission so far cost £1,200. “This was for Eddie Stobart, the haulage company, which wanted a hat for Ascot to promote the business,” explains Dawn. For this, Dawn made 45 fabric roses by hand, in six of seven different colours, with the same number of hand-made leaves and the name ‘Stobart’ emblazoned across the back of the hat.

She prides herself on the attention to detail and traditional craftsmanship. All her hats are hand-blocked and stitched and she uses fabrics rather than sinamay 90 per cent of the time.

“I’m trying to bring the art of millinery back into the industry,” says Dawn, who is married and has a son, Sam, aged four.

As a child, Dawn used to make clothes and went on to study fashion at college.

“I wanted to be a sculptor, but went into clothes design, then made hats, which is a combination of fashion and sculpture.”

Dawn’s artistry is evident in her work. In the new Guibert collection for 2012, we find hats that look like snakes twisting up through a large silk flower and a pill box hat in purple metallic fabric with giant roses and netting as a finishing flourish.

Fashion trends are also evident in the new collection. “Vintage clothing is very popular so there is a vintage style hat this year, which takes you back to the days of Audrey Hepburn,” says Dawn. This hat is in black with white polkadots and is finished with a bow in the same fabric and a large white flower. It looks perfect with a little black dress and a pair of long gloves.

Metallics are another big trend that Dawn has incorporated in the new collection.

Dawn is becoming well known on the racing circuit for her super-stylish designs. TV presenter Zoey Bird, who presents At The Races on Sky TV, is a fan and wore Dawn’s creations for all four days of Ascot last year. This week at Cheltenham, Zoey will be wearing a Guibert hat when she comperes the best dressed lady event.

As for the fashion, Dawn expects Cheltenham to produce its usual stream of classic outfits.

“It’s very twin-set and pearls,” says Dawn. “It’s a very classy affair.”

And her outfit? Dawn says: “I’ll be wearing a new coat from Pinko and a tartan and velvet hat.”

A Guibert one, of course.

Find out more at guibertmillinery.com

Stalk this way

Rhubarb growers... Janet Oldroyd-Hulme and her husband
Neil at their farm at Rothwell, West Yorkshire

MAXINE GORDON heads over to the ‘Rhubarb Triangle’ for a true Yorkshire delicacy

IT is a scene that has remained unchanged for five generations.

In candlelit sheds, men and women are bent double, picking rhubarb stalks the length of their arms.

But this isn’t any old rhubarb.

This is Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb; the gold standard of the industry; the real McCoy.

The tell-tale sign is its astonishing colour, a soft pink, a shade not often seen in Yorkshire at this time of year.

Then there is the taste. Not the tongue-sticking tartness of the more common outdoor variety. This is a lighter, more tender, and sweeter stalk.

Such is its superiority, Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb now has protected status from the EU, in the same way as Champagne, Parma Ham and Jersey Royals. This means only produce grown from within the forcing sheds of the ‘Rhubarb Triangle’ between Leeds, Bradford and Wakefield can call itself Yorkshire Forced.

Forced rhubarb owes its special colour and flavour to two things; location and method of production.

Forcing sheds were set up in the shadow of the Pennines, providing the perfect growing conditions. Rhubarb likes frost, rain and the cold – in perfect abundance in this area of West Yorkshire. Also shoddy – or wool waste – was in ready supply. This was used to fertilise the fields, providing necessary levels of nitrogen, on which the plant thrives.

The method of growing is particular too. Rhubarb roots are cultivated outside for two years, but no crop is taken. Instead, all the plant’s energy is kept in its root. Then after a frost, the root is carefully lifted and laid inside giant sheds. These are kept in the pitch black and given heat and water. Deprived of light and food, the plant is “forced” to produce its stalks in search of sustenance. Under these conditions, the stalks grow rapidly; about one inch a day.

The season for forced rhubarb is short – just a few weeks over winter, depending on the weather. The mild spell at Christmas followed by a late frost caused havoc with producers this year and put production behind. The season will be over by the start of April, although fans can ensure it lasts longer by buying in bulk and freezing. Forced rhubarb can be frozen in both raw and cooked form.

Leading growers Oldroyd & Sons at Rothwell, near Leeds, run popular tours of the forcing sheds.

Janet Oldroyd-Hulme – dubbed the High Priestess of the industry – lead the tour I attended this week.

As we tentatively took our places inside the giant shed, candlelight gently flickered in the area around Janet. She shone a torch around the shed so we could see how enormous it was. It was quite something to see row after row of pink stalks standing to attention and waiting to reach the acquired length before being picked.

I was warned to look and listen. “Sometimes you can see the rhubarb move as it grows… and you can hear it ‘pop’ as it bursts out of its bud,” explained my companion for the day, Elaine Lemm, a self-confessed rhubarb geek who has even written a book about the stuff.

In its heyday Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb was a much sought-after product. Until the 1960s, a train dubbed the ‘Rhubarb Express’ left Wakefield station nightly bound for London with 200 tonnes of freshly picked stalks.

Today, just 11 large-scale growers are left in the region, from a high of 200.

But the vegetable (it is only classed as a fruit in the US), is enjoying a revival, with chefs and foodies returning rhubarb – especially the forced variety – to their menus.

Stephanie Moon, chef at the top-rated Rudding Park Hotel at Harrogate, cooked an assiette of rhubarb for the British TV show The Great British Menu.

“Rhubarb is very much a flavour of today,” Janet tells her audience. “Blueberries and cranberries are popular too as people go for a tart flavour.”

And she says rhubarb can be used in savoury dishes too. “With a bit of imagination, you can use it in a variety of ways.”

Elaine Lemm certainly believes this. Her book, The Great Book of Rhubarb (Great Northern, £7.99) is full of interesting ideas with rhubarb; yes the humble crumble is in there, but so too are recipes for rhubarb with chicken, duck and mackerel.

Over a cuppa and a biccie, Janet gives visitors an informative talk about rhubarb. Besides its culinary uses, the plant is also being used by the medical and cosmetic industry. “Rhubarb is a natural cleanser,” says Janet, who recalls farm workers using the vegetable waste to rub oil and grease off their hands.

Medical researchers are also investigating the use of forced rhubarb in the fight against cancer. They have already found that the rhubarb stalk contains natural polyphenols, which are enhanced when roasted.

Janet, who used to be a medical researcher, said: “Plants produce polyphenols when they go under stress. We need polyphenols because they act like super sponges and pull out pollutants and free radicals. When we eat rhubarb it helps keep pollutants out of our bodies and can help reduce your risk of getting cancer.”

Researchers are also looking at how to use rhubarb in anti-cancer drugs.

Rhubarb’s first use was for medicinal purposes (to treat everything from diarrhoea to venereal disease) so Janet says it should not be so surprising if the medical establishment embraces it again.

She said: “Rhubarb has been a great friend to mankind. Hopefully it has got a massive future.”