#SaveourSausage - An Evening with Paul Rankin

I am a very fussy person when it comes to sausages, so I was most intrigued when last week, Squiggle and I received an invitation to go and meet with Celebrity Chef Paul Rankin at the Great John Street Hotel in Manchester as he launched his new Rankin Selection Irish Family Sausages.

Michelin star Paul Rankin regularly appears on TV and is a personal favourite of mine from his time on Saturday Morning kitchen and the infamous three egg omelette challenge. Well he is now launching his own range of traditional Irish sausages in an attempt to bring back family meal times. He is currently touring Britain and Ireland with his Rankin Challenge where he just asks that you compare his sausages against the current market leader, see which you prefer and let him know.

Which was what our evening was all about. We were given an introduction to Paul and learnt how he has been working with artisan Irish food producer, Finnebrogue, to create a better quality sausage.

The evening was full of fun and laughter, we started off with a canape reception with sausage rolls and sausages in lovely sweet chilli sauce and then shown through to the dining room. We played a game of Silly Sausage where Paul tested our knowledge on the humble banger and I'm pleased to say I was part of the winning team. Squiggle was invited to go and choose our prizes, a choice of a Paul Rankin frying pan or an all day breakfast made out of sweets, he surprised us all by going for the frying pan!

We were then served a plate of bangers and mash with an onion gravy, I must admit I was wary, I've had bad experiences with sausages in the past but I needn't have worried. The sausages were lovely, there was no "bad bits" in them which I have found with the current market leader.

Paul said that he prefers to fry his sausages for 20 minutes, I personally prefer not to stand in front of a cooker for this length of time and admit I do mine in the oven.  I noticed such a difference when I cooked these sausages at home. Firstly they didn't explode ( there is no need to prick them ), secondly there was no excess fat in the pan when I cooked them and thirdly they taste so much better than other sausages that I have tried.

Rankin Selection Irish Family Sausages are now on sale in Asda at an introductory price of £1.75 (£2.00 RRP)  for a pack of 8

I was invited to this event by Tots100 and was given a goody bag and a packet of sausages in exchange for this review. 

My right hand is better than yours!* a.k.a A day out at Britain's Got Talent.

Thursday meant my annual trip to the filming of Britain's Got Talent. I woke up to find the roads were covered with snow but that wasn't going to stop me. After dropping Squiggle off at school I set off on the 45 minute journey to Manchester.

2 and a half hours later I arrived safely in Salford and parked up at The Lowry Shopping Outlet. There was not a snowflake in sight! I headed towards The Lowry Theatre with excitement but intrepidation, were we going to have to queue up outside in the cold for hours on end on the off chance we would get a seat? No! Thankfully the staff were on hand to give out tickets this year with seat numbers on, so after a quick exchange of paperwork we had tickets in hand and a few hours to kill before the doors opened and filming began.



After a very quick mooch around the shops and the mandatory visit to the Cadbury store to stock up on some chocolate, we headed over the other side of the docks to Media City to have a quick look round there. Of course I had to check the T.A.R.D.I.S was still where I left it in the BBC reception area - one day I will be The Doctor ( well I might as well aim for the top job, I don't like being told what to do so being a companion just wouldn't suit me!)




Then as we headed back towards The Lowry, I noticed a sign for the Blue Peter Garden so decided to go and have a look at it. Now unless we didn't find the correct one, it was little more than a fishpond and a little bit underwhelming. I was expecting something on the larger side, a bit like what I remember seeing as a child when it was in London. Granted I haven't watched Blue Peter in over 20 odd years so I have no idea what they use the garden for nowadays and it might just have been the right one!

Next we passed time in the Imperial War Museum and we definitely want to go back as we were quite rushed and it was a very quick trip. There is quite a lot to take in, plenty of films to watch, displays to look at and information to read. There are replica tanks to look at and a dressing up area to recreate the look of the war. I would love to take Squiggle when he is a little bit older as I think he is too young still to understand what it's all about.



We finally made our way back to The Lowry Theatre and saw people were already queuing and being let inside, and by this time it had started to snow so we decided to go and join the queue and try to get in quickly. The queue was moving quite well until we got to the door and were promptly stopped by having a barrier put in front of us. Many people around us started whinging until it was pointed out that the judges were on their way, moaning quickly changed into excitement as it dawned on people that we were at the front of the queue, and in the best place to see them arrive! First to come was Amanda Holden who looked very cold in her very short dress, high heels and coat. She didn't hang around long and was soon escorted inside. Next to arrive was the lovely David Walliams, and bless him, he took about 15 minutes to get fromt he car to the door - why?, because he went and met his fans. he took the time to have photographs taken and shake hands with the public, and this is why my right hand is better than yours, because David Walliams shook it! Yes I managed to get a full blog post out of that one random fact, but believe me it was worth it, I'm not normally one to get star struck but by golly I haven't shut up about it since!

It's David Walliams!

We didn't get to see or meet Simon Cowell or Alesha Dixon as we were hurried inside shortly after David, but I don't think I'd be as hyper about meeting them as I was him ( no offence meant to Simon or Alesha ) We did get to see them along with Ant & Dec on stage once we were sat down, but there wasn't much interaction with the audience this year as in previous years.

Anyway the talents came on, did their bit and either got booted off or sent through to the next round. I'm not going to spoil it for you by telling you what acts we saw or how they did, you shall just have to wait for it to come on telly.

*unless of course your right hand has shaken hands with other famous people!