It wasn't until I woke up this morning to see all of the news about
celebrations for the Queen's 90th birthday that I remembered that I had cooked
for the Queen on her visit to Geevor tin mine in 1980.
My experience of being a general kitchen help for chef Ann Long who
owned The Count House Restaurant, and who had been asked to prepare lunch for
the royal party, which included Prince Philip and Prince Andrew, started my
life long love of food, culminating in me being chef to the British Ambassador
to the United Nations many years later.
My job that day in November 1980, as a young naval wife and regular
customer of the restaurant, was to peel thousands of grapes for the salad, and
then to act as wine waiter.....
Here is a report from the day's event.......
The plaque unveiled in November 1980
of HM The Queen accompanied by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh and HRH The Prince
Andrew.
‘A ROYAL visit is often cause for excitement, but
west Penwith got three for the price of one. Queen Elizabeth II was joined by
her husband Prince Phillip and son Prince Andrew on the trip to Geevor Tin Mine
on November 28, 1980. After a lengthy trip down the mine, the royal visiting
party then went on to the Count House restaurant at Botallack, before heading
to Camborne School of Mines.
Restaurant owner Anne Long, was up early working on
the monarch's midday meal at the restaurant in Botallack which she has run for
12 years.
Mrs Long, said that it had been an honour to cook
for the Queen and her family.
"I didn't enter a competition to feed the
Queen, I was asked to feed the Queen. I am sure she enjoyed her food because we
spent ages preparing. We were up at 4am preparing a feast to set before the
Queen. Pineapples and peppers, chicken and seafood, and fruit and vegetables
were scattered around waiting to be used for this special occasion. A policeman
was sent to watch over us as we got the food ready.”
‘DESIGNING dinners for the delectation of Baroness
Thatcher, Princess Margaret and other world leaders was all in a day's work for
Linda Piggott-Vijeh when she was chef to the British Ambassador to the United
Nations in New York.
Her food was famous, and not just because it was
delicious. She hit the headlines for serving the French Ambassador,
Pierre-Louis Blanc, weeds for dinner.
Newly-arrived at the Embassy, which overlooked
Central Park, Linda had become interested in the foraging tours organised by
Parks department botanist and ecologist "Wildman" Steve Brill.
He showed students how to identify and collect wild
vegetables, fruits, berries, herbs and mushrooms.
So for the French Ambassador she cooked a dinner of
lamb covered with a wild black cherry-water mint jam, which included mushrooms
and a salad of wood sorrel, sheep sorrel, lady's thumb and poor man's pepper,
all harvested in Central Park.
The Ambassador said it was some of the tastiest
food he'd ever eaten – although he found it difficult to believe that the chef
was not only not French, but English.
The reputation of British food continued to rise as
Linda ensured that food from the UK featured strongly. Cheddar cheese straws
and wine from Somerset's Wootton vineyard featured on one all-British menu.
"There is risk of disaster in cooking, but if
you understand food you can turn a disaster into something else. Presentation
is most important of course, but I like quite basic food myself. My favourite
is steak and kidney pie.”
"I have had my disasters. My most spectacular
was a dinner at the Embassy for the Japanese Ambassador. I had made a huge
baked Alaska and called it Mount Fuji and when I took it out of the oven it
slid onto the floor. I have never seen anyone whisk egg whites more quickly
than I did then."
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