BAFTA TELEVISION CRAFT AWARDS 2010

The glitz and the glamour, another year another BAFTA nomination for the team at The Mill. I may not have mentioned it before on this blog but I actually I work as a Visual effects producer in between the tasty meals I cook and eat.

After last years triumph it was bittersweet defeat for our 2 nominations (Merlin and Dr Who) in the visual effects category, at the hands of Day of the Triffords. We were robbed! ( ok I haven't actually seen it but of course I'd say that)
Ah well, thems the breaks but that doesn't mean it wasn't a fabulous night, Tattinger flowed freely at the reception in the Hilton, overlooking Park Lane and Hyde Park, the sun streaming through the large glass windows. Thank god the false eyelashes covered my melting eye makeup.

Every one looked wonderul, Tuxedos, dinner suits, beautiful ladies dressed up with Eva Peron style hair and me with my fabulous Vivian Westwood for Melissa Blue Dragon Slingbacks. Im so happy I bought them.
The awards started at 7.15pm and as we waited for our category I suddenly felt very nervous, we all felt so deserved and we were, the truth is everyone that was there was and there can only be one winner. I had my fingers crossed for Merlin, the show I produced and have since moved on from. The clip looked great, but they didn't call our name. So what to do, well with 12 bottles of Villa Maria Savingon Blanc and Bourgogne Chardonay on our table there was only one thing.

Celeb sitings are few and far between as its the Craft awards (thats the people that make the actors look good!) I spotted Karen Gillian from Dr Who, James May from Top Gear and my mother would have been excited to see the Coro Street stars accepting their lifetime achievement award.



Dinner was served after the awards three courses in quick succession. To feed a number of people such a this I imagine required a well planned in advance menu and well timed cooking to make sure everyone got a warm meal.

The Menu

To start: Warm wild mushroom and leek tart with truffle essence and marinated shallots

After a few champagnes plus three hours of mingling and awards this starter was more than welcome, we were all starving! The pastry was firm and delicious. The filling was quite nice, and thankfully wasn't overpowered by the mushroom, I prefered the leek in this dish (I'm not such a fan of too many mushrooms :).

Main: Grilled wild seabass with Pernod and dill sauce served with delonico potatoes, broad beans and asparagus. This was the only choice, interesting as I know a lot of people who aren't mad fish fans. but as I love it I was pleased. There was a lot of people to serve, the waiters plated the fish fillet, potatoes and greens seperately. It was still perfectly warm. I ate it all, but I was starving so can't really remember anything specific at on the taste at that point.


Dessert: Wild strawberry souffle and black pepper strawberries with a white chocolate ice cream. The souffle was lovely, bouncy and sweet. To be honest I couldn't pick out the black pepper in the strawberries, but they were lovely  of course as was the ice cream. You couldn't go wrong with this really.

After dinner they bought out a chocolate plate, literally made of chocolate covered in tiny other chocolates, marshmallowy goodness and some energising coffee I drank in about 2 seconds.

The after party included more wine and dancing. The DJ was the same guy as last year, with his distinct wedding style playlist with hits such as Celebration and Sweet Child of mine. To me it just seems like an event you might have a nice swing band, or jazz singer.
Big difference between this year and last year was I danced to the DJ last year, you're alot more accepting when you win.

I was very priviledged to attend this night and for now its back to work to producing visual effects at least until I get a job as a professional restaurant reviewer.

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