Quote from: Cory Ander on February 22, 2010, 11:56 PM
An option, I'd personally be in favour of, is for each person to prepare their own curries and then reheat them at the agreed venue (together with BIR curries as a reality check)....perhaps using "blind tasting" to eliminate any bias....just a thought.

I assume you refer to the separate idea of a near one-off meeting (for each local grouping) at someone's house. I agree it would make sense to have some 'control samples' from a BIR for that, but we're in danger of this thread going off-topic. Could you please open a separate thread for the proposed 'workshop' meetings, rather than confuse this 'Come Dine' thread based on a series of dinner parties. I'm interested in both. They're separate events. 

Quote from: George on February 23, 2010, 01:15 AM
Could you please open a separate thread for the proposed 'workshop' meetings, rather than confuse this 'Come Dine' thread based on a series of dinner parties

In which case, George, I'm confused 

What is the main purpose of this "come dine with me" event then (if not to evaluate each others' curry cooking prowess compared to a BIR)?

I would have thought that the simplest and most practical way to achieve this might be to do it in one hit.  That doesn't mean to say that it can't also be repeated (if that's what the group wants to do)?

Perhaps you would be kind enough to (re) elaborate?

My in-laws live near Chester so I could attend, but unfortunately not host, an evening in the Manchester / Warrington area.

Quote from: Cory Ander on February 23, 2010, 01:26 AM
In which case, George, I'm confused

I thought I'd been very clear, but in case not...

I assumed nearly everyone knows the rough format of a dinner party: friends invite you round for dinner. They invariably spend many hours slaving away in the kitchen to prepare the food, tidy up the house, lay the table, etc before their guests arrive at perhaps 7.30pm  You might start off with a drink and a bit of conversation whilst the host puts the finishing touches to the food preparation and you all sit down to eat. Guests might offer to help with food prep or washing -up but I wouldn't say it's expected. The host does 99% of the work. Now, there must be 101 variations on this theme but that's basically the format of 'Come Dine' and whAt I'm proposing on this thread. It's simple because each host does their best and we see what they can deliver. My guess is that it might reveal some excellent food. Nobody will be bringing round samples of base sauce or trying to persuade the host to use a different recipe, half an hour before you eat.

The 'workshop'/ Saturday morning/lunchtime type get together I suggested several years back would be an opportunity to meet up and 'play around' with different base sauces, compare them with BIR samples, etc. It will probably be a one-off for each bunch of people. One member would make his kitchen available.

I suggest we could hold the 'workshop' type sessions first, to see how we get on, and then move on to dinner parties later. if we want to.

OK, as long as someone brings a slab of beer as well as the cabernet sauvignon!  ;D

Quote from: chriswg on February 23, 2010, 12:46 PM
My in-laws live near Chester

chriswg,

u're pushing it - i think chester is in merseyside "hollyoaks land". no probs with u joining a North West get together.

before anyone get's upset i consider merseyside my 2nd home.

Razor,

the map shows my location ie warrington. i used to shop in longsight but get to bolton more often (closer) and gradually found i can almost get everything i need their. i do like a walk up the mile though.

Hi Jerry,

I love the mile meself mate, not been there for a few years but I'm there this coming Saturday with friends.  Really looking forward to it but it can be a bit hit and miss though!

By the way Jerry, how do I view the map?

Ray

Razor,

we stopped going for the very same reason.

to get to the map u just click on the link George has provided - u can then if u wish save it as one of your google saved maps.

Quote from: George on February 03, 2010, 10:58 PM
Does anyone know of any website or simple (free) software comprising a map of the UK on to which one can plot flags of where people live, eventually giving some indication of population distribution for a given group? Or we could do it manually.

I know this is an old post I'm picking up on, but perhaps the best way of achieving what you're talking about here is to install the Google Earth modification to SMF (the software on which the forum is built).  The plugin is here and should be a simple install, all members of the site would then have access to a map where they could drop a pin to indicate their location anywhere in the world.  Other members could view the whole map and find members by location.  It does need someone with access to the server to install it so I guess it's a question of whether admin is interested in the idea.