Archive for May, 2010

More than meat and two veg.

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

Dearest Followers,

So if you’ve been paying attention, you’ll know that Friday was our presentation with the team from Restaurant Sat Bains – namely Sat and head chef John Freeman. Again, Mark Gillot gave a short history of the site, the construction and everything, welcoming our VIP guests to the event – all generous supporters of the project who were keen to learn more. Soon after, he handed the reins to Sat Bains himself, and the day began in earnest.

Sat was a complete natural in front of the plethora of cameras and lights and other “showbiz” paraphernalia – some might say a good choice for a new breed of TV chef! His focus, however, was totally on the food, and with John he quickly prepared the four dishes that will make up the meal we host during the competition in Madrid.

Myself and Emily Costain, on the other hand, were like the Richard and Judy of the proceedings – sat across the dining table fixed into Module 4, asking questions and tasting the delicious food! We tried to take in what we could from the masters at work, but the aim was to give Sat the right opportunities to talk through the key aspects of the meal – the ingredients being grown in the H.O.U.S.E.’s own garden, the lack of any intensive heating processes in favour of solar-powered or slow cooking, and the strong representation of classic English flavours on each plate.

After the four courses had got tastebuds tingling, there was a chance to enjoy a buffet lunch and for our guests to meet each other, to meet Sat, and to meet us – the H.O.U.S.E. student team. I personally was far too busy in interview after interview – but that’s just the glamorous life I lead now!

But in all seriousness, a lot of work went into preparing for the day huge gratitude needs to be expressed for the tireless construction team, who arranged Modules 1, 2 and 4 in the cavernous Studio 7 once again, and dotted every i so we could feel like we were in a finished home. Also, to every member of the H.O.U.S.E. team who was there to hang posters (again!) or brush down stairways or offer the bowl of Sat’s pea and mint sorbet around for tasting. And a special little extra thanks goes to Lindsay Brooke (MC for the day), and to Lucia Milone and Chris Dalton, who couldn’t be there on the day but will be cooking with us in Madrid, and put their fair share of work in.

If you want to look out for media coverage of the day, the places to be looking are:

BBC Inside Out
Central TV news
BBC Radio Nottingham
Nottingham Evening Post

and in the future, for articles in:

Nottingham City Life
Nottingham Journal
Wavelength – the Science City newsletter.

But we’ll let you know more specifically of pieces we find and enjoy. Thanks for reading!

Tom

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Previously on H.O.U.S.E…

Monday, May 17th, 2010

Ladies and Gents,

Just a quick one to say what a great day we had yesterday! Once again, the posters designed by the Comms team to tell the story of the H.O.U.S.E. were dusted off and hung in mad new ways, bringing a bit of (informative) colour to the site down at King’s Meadow Campus, Nottingham. Projectors and podiums were wheeled in, and seats soon filled with esteemed alumni, professors and other kind donators, who had kindly taken the time out to see exactly the cause they were supporting.

Director of the project Dr Mark Gillot gave a speech on the history and aims of the Solar Decathlon competition itself, and described the University of Nottingham’s role to play in that story. Ben Hopkins and Rachel Lee gave an insight into their original design for the H.O.U.S.E., and how it had adapted since then, and Guillermo Guzman highlighted the student involvement aspect of the project – as our tutor in the Solar Decathlon unit, he knows best!

Hearing these talks and being reminded how highly revered the competition is, how vitally important the cause is, how much kind support we are receiving to do it, and ultimately how unique an opportunity it is to be part of this as a lowly second-year student was a heart-warming experience even for me – a few weeks off the project will do that!

So too was tour we gave our benefactors straight after the presentation, a small walk and talk around the dormant modules of the H.O.U.S.E. This was another chance to practise our own presentation skills for Madrid, answering any and all questions our visitors had on the construction, our involvement, and the environmental credentials of the design, all whilst wearing our spivvy H.O.U.S.E. shirts!

But soon enough the groups were whisked away on tour buses, leaving us to debrief and begin preparation for Friday’s event… and maybe even some construction work too.

Tom

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