Bloom in the Park 2014 - Fiona Uyema's demo

One of the biggest highlights for me this year was the opportunity to give a Japanese cooking demonstration on the Bord Bia Quality Food Stage at Bloom alongside well-known chefs such as Neven McGuire, Donal Skehan and Catherine Fulvio. 

My demo was scheduled after Catherine Fulvio so I was delighted to get a chance to catch up with her after meeting at Ballymaloe Lit Fest in May.

The large crowds were intimidating but once my demo started my nerves turned into excitement and I really enjoyed giving the demonstration to such a great audience. Although I was demonstrating Japanese dishes most of the ingredients I used were from local Irish producers. Since Ireland is an island nation like Japan we are fortunate to have an abundance of ingredients used in Japanese cooking such as fresh fish and seaweed.

During the day I got a chance to wander around, I would recommend arriving early and giving yourself most of the day to go around to the different areas because there's so much to see. I really enjoyed checking out all the Irish artisan producer stalls and sampling their amazing products.

The following day I started to work in my own garden after being inspired by all the beautiful gardens at Bloom.

If you haven't been to Bloom you should definitely include it in the top of your events to go to next year. I promise you won't be disappointed.

Notes:
The copyright of the photos used in the post belongs to Fiona Uyema. Please ask for permission if you'd like to use them.