We shouldn't have been doing this.

We cannot be trusted. With food, blogs and certainly not a free bar.

With the Victoria Line unexpectedly down, our timing was thrown out from the start - this set the tone for the whole day.

To the pub!

Feeling nice and relaxed, we sauntered back to the cookery school and spied the 'competition'. We were about to get our asses handed to us on a plate (with a sprig of parsley)

Down to business...

We chose a menu that was seasonal, yet simple. There's no need to stretch yourself when there's such lovely fresh produce around. Just make the most of it. Of course when you have two and a half hours to cook a meal, perhaps in hindsight, we could have stretched a little further. 40 minutes of prep and full cooking time complete, we had plenty of time to -distract- help our fellow chefs. To this end we compiled a montage of happy/sad faces. Here are some of our favourites ...

So what did the Fork Ups cook?

We kicked off with fresh (and seasonal, always remember the seasonal) griddled asparagus with prosciutto, Parmesan, quails eggs and a light vinaigrette.

Things to remember: 1. Left over shaved Parmesan can be scooped together to make cheese scented flowers. 2. Frying quails eggs makes you feel like a giant. A dainty, gentle giant.

For our main course we prepared a dish of Monk fish on a bed of broad beans and pancetta with a white wine jus.

Things to remember: 1. Monk fish is pricey and ugly. 2. Shelling broad beans is an exercise in tedium.

We finished off with (seasonal) strawberries soaked in Cointreau and topped with vanilla mascarpone cream.

Things to remember:

1. A well placed strawberry on a cutting board looks uncannily like the Loch Ness Monster.

2. The recipe calls for 2 tbs of Cointreau, leaving a full bottle to be added to Vodka and turned into cosmopolitans at a later date.

With everything cooked, cleaned and presented, we headed up stairs to join the other teams and sample the fruits of our labour, and that of the other teams...

...seeing everything laid out in all it's splendour, we suspected we might be in trouble...

...eating it we knew the horrible truth.

Still, there was the charity raffle to look forward to. The giant wicker picnic basket had Fork Up's name all over it. Except it didn't. The Fried Green Tomatoes DVD did. We can't complain though, it was more than we deserved.

There was nothing left for us to do. We polished off the table's wine and headed to Soho House for the after party, where we made ourselves comfortable with some new friends and knocked back enough brandy to kill a small bear. And his mother.

All in all it was a great day, and from what we can remember - which is very little - it was a great night too.

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