Category: Events

Looking Forward to September!

Dear readers! The summer is slowly giving way to autumn and what an August rich of activities we have had. We started new partnerships with St Magdalen Hall and Pistachio in Fields cafe and as we speak we are busy preparing the different dishes we will offer at  Pullens festival this weekend.   Looking Forward At St Magdalen Hall we catered for their summer party and at Pistachios in the fields we were given the opportunity to sell our products and display our artwork at their Calais fundraiser. Both events were successful and we met  with many new people who have a genuine desire to support our cause. We very much hope for these partnerships to be long-term and fruitful for all. At St Magdalen Hall we are planning to offer unique menus for their birthdays parties and weddings and at Pistachios in the Filed run our first Syrian community dinner in October. We thank Rob, the owner for the opportunity and his great support of our charity. At Pullens we are thrilled to have the opportunity to showcase our food offer of traditional dishes from Syria cooked using family recipes and we are honoured to be the only food provider at the festival.   September and Beyond We have received a generous donation from Team Lewis marketing Company and I have had the honour to be interviewed and featured in their book” The Silent rebellion, becoming a modern leader” which talks about my journey setting up the Refugee Café and now Plateful café etc. In September the book will be launched and my interview will be available to promote Plateful cafe extensively. Our search for a commercial Kitchen continues but not with much luck as what we have been offered is either domestic, too far, without storage etc. Since leaving Parkside Community Centre we have been fortunate to receive many commissions for large catering events at universities and also corporates and it has been very challenging to cook from a domestic kitchen. We continue to grow without a commercial kitchen to grow in!     You might know of a kitchen in your area available at peppercorn rent for our small young charity ? Having a commercial kitchen which we could call our own would make a huge difference and would mean we could train the next cohort of  6 chefs, expand our catering offers branching out to bigger and bigger events and making a huge difference to a bigger group of aspiring chefs in the area. Our beneficiaries greatest aspiration is to work, making a contribution to the local economy and society rebuilding their lives after years of trauma and upheaval. They do not want to continue to rely on benefits to survive. Being unemployed is demeaning and shameful as all come from professional backgrounds with a great aspiration to continue with their previous job,providing for their families! With your continuing support we will, one day achieve our dream and offer pathways to employment to many more refugees!

Weeks End Happy Birthday

birthday dinner event by plateful cafe

Happy Birthday I recently turned 50, and marked it this weekend with a really special happy birthday dinner in the company of some of my closest friends. The Setup We turned our living room and garden into an intimate dining space for 23 guests. I spent a good part of the preceding week trying to figure out exactly how I’d seat everyone without it turning into a game of Snake on the night —I realise that my gaming reference is really showing my age — and tried everything, including a U-shaped, T-shaped, even S-shaped table arrangement starting inside and ending outside. I learned that as soon as you introduce corners, you lose valuable seating space, so finally settled on three big tables with one on the terrace. Thank God the weather was divine. A Unique Dining Experience A huge thank you to the Plateful Cafe, who sent two refugee cooks to prepare a delicious three-course dinner, topped off with a stunning birthday cake. Faten and Sana are from Syria and the Plateful Cafe now gives them a London Living Wage. They spent the whole afternoon in our kitchen and enthusiastically showed me the cooking techniques they’re so proud of. The food was all delicious and our guests loved it all, as well as the entire experience itself. The cake was made by an Iranian refugee and tasted of orange, lavender and poppy seeds, and looked magnificent. We got to thank Faten and Sana before they left us to enjoy the rest of the evening. Cook for Syria Shout out to the beautiful Cook for Syria recipe book — a gift from Sarah and Jo — that inspired my search for refugee cooks. We Also Raised Money for Refugees In lieu of gifts, we also raised almost £800 (so far) to support the work of the International Rescue Committee who help and rescue refugees fleeing conflict and natural disaster, all around the world. It’s an impressive and effective organisation, which I’m also proud to serve on the UK board. Thank you so much to my friends who donated so generously. In case anyone else felt like making a contribution to a worthwhile cause, here’s the link to my Just Giving page. Thank You We’ve now retrieved all our furniture from the neighbour’s back yard and have a living room again. The night was a great success and my only regret is that we couldn’t have extended invitations further, but were limited by tables and chairs! Thank you to everyone who joined us. I loved it…and love you all.