Last Thursday evening I attended a lovely event organized by some fantastic women (Nadine, Kay, Danielle and Carrie) and hosted by Stills called Edinburgh Coffee Morning Beer Evening (Twitter hash tag* #EdCMBE). This event, regularly known as Edinburgh Coffee Morning #EdCM, decided to have a beer evening, because many people (such as me) find the Friday morning start a little too ambitious. It was a huge success and the organizers did a fantastic job. The event also raised £612.92 for The Sick Kids Friends Foundation courtesy of The Ambeciles.
The night was made even more delightful due to the very generous sponsors:
- Food by Illegal Jacks (if you haven’t been – put it on the must go list)
- Beer by Stewart Brewing (my favourite was Hollyrood – “Pale, Light & Hoppy”)
- Wine by Vino Wine Shops (really enjoyed a glass of white)
There were tons of other fantastic sponsors who donated to the raffle as well as very generous cash prizes such as Attacat – click here for a full list! I will make a special mention to Sandstorm Kenya as I was overjoyed to win the messenger bag as a prize in the raffle. Picture courtesy of Stills Gallery
The attendee list read a little like the Who’s Who of Social Media/Digital Media in Edinburgh and a worthy bunch to follow on Twitter if you’re looking for great insight, great chat and excellent blogs.
I find it next to impossible not to volunteer for everything, so when the ladies mentioned they were looking for cake bakers for their Charity Bake-off I, of course, put my digital hand up.
I haven’t baked anything from scratch in a long time but I was committed (and it was for the kids) so of course, I set out to make the best of it. After a week of fretting about what to bake and watching YouTube videos on how to decorate cupcakes (cupcakes are all the rage these days), and each time deciding that I just wouldn’t be able to pull it off, I finally Googled a perfect North American stand-by: The Strawberry Shortcake. The recipe I used is here (thanks “Judy & her Mom”).
This has been a favourite of mine since forever. A lovely sponge-cake with whipped cream and strawberries; simple, elegant and absolutely delicious. The best I have ever had was made by my the nanny of my childhood best friend Shauna – the late, sadly missed and all around beauty, Mrs. Patricia Pettifer. Nanny’s cakes were legendary and I can still taste the strawberry shortcake she baked for Shauna’s 9th Birthday party (and I think she would have been proud of mine).
So it was with obvious delight that I won the coveted Attacat Mug as the 2nd place prize in the bake-off competition. See a delightful picture of the masterpiece below – again courtesy of Stills Gallery.
I can’t speak highly enough of the hard work and dedication of all involved to make it such a successful evening. I only wish I had of met more of the attendees. I write in hope that there will be a next time, ladies…let me know if you need a hand organizing the next one!
I will definitely aim to make it to #EdCM at least once a month and would urge anyone interested in networking with some delightful, intelligent, warm and welcoming people to do the same.
Special mentions for some really lovely people I did get a chance to speak with:
@Vgibson, @GeorgiaArtus, @techsitc, @attacat_han, @craigmcgill, @colingilchrist, @noexcusesedin, @littledishy, @btocher, @shellbryson and of course…Nadine, Kay, Danielle and Carrie
*on Twitter “Users can group posts together by topic or type by use of hashtags — words or phrases prefixed with a #"
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