The Raw food Chefs training day.

What an amazing day, I did a full day course with Russell James the Raw food Chef and man alive I have dined like a king ! Full review to follow on the website for now let me just whet your appetite with delights such as the Cucumber canapes with macadamia puree and balsamic soaked fig, Toasted and caramalized onion tart on a balsamic curst with tahini sauce, oh and not to mention the 'pi-ece de resistance' (I know incorrect spelling but hey ho) the incredible Vanilla chocolate torte with ginger cream and berry sauce, - without doubt the best dessert I have EVER had, you would never know it was wheat free or vegan let alone raw. I leant so many basics I just wish I had more time but now hallelujah I feel I can manage more than just dried apples in the dehydrator, its made going raw more real for me. Oh and was it Shirley conran who said Life is too short to stuff a mushroom ? I don't think so, not if you do it the 'raw' way. Lots more on this to follow. Till then check out his site

Susan Boyle interview....

Sometimes working with Steve Wright in the afternoon is the best fun not least cos we get all the big time celebs on. Right now theres no-one hitting the headlines more than Susan Boyle - Britains Got Talent winner and I was gutted that we didn't get to meet her but we did interview her over the phone, it was a pre-recording so I think you get to hear it this Friday.

I loved her performance, in fact it moved me to tears, I agree its the 'suprise factor' but you know what, I think its real testiment to how conditioned we are to think that everyone needs to look 'glamorous' to be succesful or have a talent.

After interviewing her though I must confess I feel concerned that she may end up being the recipient of some hard knocks along the 'media celeb highway' which in her absolutely wonderful naivity I doubt if shes prepared for. She has no idea what Youtube even is so she won't realise the significance of 100 million hits !

Lets hope shes got some genuinely caring friends and family who will support her throughout all the madness and heres hoping she achieves her dream, whatever that really is for her. On that note lets hope we all do !

As you know if you've read my chapter on wishes, and goals in Imperfectly Natural Woman I'm a big believer in writing down (and saying out loud if its not too daft for you !) exactly what you hope for in detail, if you want a partner, describe him or her - not just...'please can I have someone tall and goodlooking....but the details, his personality, his interests etc. They do say be careful of what you wish for because your dreams just may come true, be as creative as you like but steep it in reality, clearly if you ask to marry Brad Pitt its unlikely - hes spoken for - but within reason - dream a little, dream a lot - but careful that it what you really want. !

Pants !

Parkinsons Disease Society, Alzheimers Disease Society Namibia Trust for school.

I was thrilled to be the MC at the Pants ball last Saturday, heres a shot of me with the lovely Alison Meadows who organised it all, along with 3 freinds shes raised a staggering 13K so far towards this challenge which will raise money for Parkinsons and Alzheimers charities. A good wedge of their money was raised with their coconut shy, and Pants auction which they tell me involved the sale of Celeb knickers, the mind boggles as to which celebs actually wear any but presumerably less if they've given them to this worthwhile cause !

The four girls are going out to Africa in October to assist in the renovation of schools which are not maintained and have fallen in total disrepair. It was a great evening with an excellent African band and people had the most innovative ideas for the hint of Africa theme, everything from tiger skin bow ties to a guy wearing a pretend snake around his neck !

Read more about it all here http://charitypants.blogspot.com/

worms, gardening and vinegar...

I wonder if anyone heard the show I did with Diarmuid Gavin on BBC London on Saturday ? Though I say so myself it was very entertaining, he is lovely and many a female caller felt quite jealous I think, his blue eyes really twinkle when he talks all things seedlings and planting. I finally got an explanation as to how you take a cutting and how to successfully re-pot a plant - basic stuff for you green fingered types but as you well know I cheat and get my organic veg plants already established from Rocketgardens.co.uk We had Richard from Wigglywigglers on the phone and he did a fantastic job of explaining everything to do with composting including confirming that getting small boys to wee on it every now and then really does help the 'balance' - well not if you're teetering on top of the bin.....Julie from Living Clean was great giving tips for natural cleaning and there was much discussion about bi-carb and vinegar plus a few discussions about soapnuts - my turn to have a twinkle in the eye. In truth I'd forgotten how much I love doing my own radio show, I was a presenter on BBC London when it was GLR for 5 years, then Virgin for 6 years then my own Sat show on Radio 2 for 4 years so its only been the last couple of years that I've been co-hosting only and I really miss it, they do say radio is very addictive.

There was also a fun reminder of my Wham! days cos Gary Crowley's show was at midday and we were reminiscing about the first tour when I was a backing singer and Gary was the warm up act. All in all great memories then back for copious amounts of chocolate with the kids. My current fave is the Raw choccy from Shazzie (detox your world) and the Raw chocolate company. (with the odd chunk of Divine to be imperfect of course)

sproutman, juicemaster, so many natural peeps..

The natural and organic products show was fab ! I opened the show with my talk on sunday morning and it was a fantastic two days of meeting people. All my fave men were there which is all important, see Jason Vale's plug for my book on the front page (bless him) and his new Juice bars won best new food product so he told me many times hes now flogging an award winning bar !

I did a fab little interview with The Sproutman, what Jason is to Juicing Steve Meyerwitz is to wheatgrass and sprouts, actually I think it was his wheatgrass shots that kept me going for two days !

Amazing how the industry has developed in just three years since I wrote the first book, so many great new companies and new products. I'm reinspired to increase my raw food again after a few tips from Live Native and a few other enlightened souls. Quite a few people stoppd me and asked why I hadn't dragged Steve Wright along but he was on the air after all !

I now have a huge goody bag of new stuff to trial so sign up to what really works and I'll forward on some freebies, all you gotta do is promise to send me a quick review

Bed of nails !..and being imperfect

No its not some weird religious trip, I've just taken possession of the most amazing thing called a Shakti mat, it was recommended to me by Glenn and Aly (I co-author my pregnancy range of CD's with hypnotherapist Glenn Harrold) and it truly is quite bizarre. (the matt not Glenn's hypnosis) and in case you're wondering its not compulsory to eat croissants before lying on it, this is a snap taken to illustrate that I truly am imperfectly natural. !

The Shakti mat is pioneered and sold in the UK by Rose-Marie Sorokin, who I havent had the pleasure of meeting yet but I've got my eye on one of her yoga retreats. Anyway what is it ? well its a bed of nails but a softer version than Indian Yogis would use many years ago to achieve inner peace. Theirs was literally a wooden construction with metal nails, crikey the only peace was getting off it surely. This one is a soft mat but the 'nails' are plastic 'buttons' with in total 6000 points of contact with your skin. In truth the first time you lie on it you shout ouch ! it hurts like hell, but almost within seconds as you settle down it feels strangely peaceful, its said to inncrease circulation and help with insomnia, back ache, depression and a whole host of other ills. Look at http://www.shaktimat.co.uk/

Off to grab some inner peace then before I hit the Natural and Organics products show in London tomorrow, my talk is at 10am so gotta get up with the sparrows. I had hoped to get some 'outer peace' today by going to see The boat that rocked but the kids won and got to see Monsters v. aliens instead (not on at the same time, too complex to go twice) I know its had shocking reviews but then Radio is my industry and having heard Johnny Walker wax lyrical about the pirate stations I think it will be harmless fun if not exactly brain taxing. In any case Richard Curtis is officially the nicest man in the world - so there !