A Balinese supper club dinner was possibly the best way to round off the bank holiday weekend - and just a stone's throw from Reading town centre. Pop-Up Reading are a wonderful tour de force duo of Laura and Josep who, amongst cooking for other events such as Repast in April, invite you to their beautiful home, and host a wonderful dinner party. I wondered why on arrival I was so excited exactly - as I sipped my coconut, ginger and lychee cocktail, I realised. The first thing was the feeling of sheer delight in not being able to predict what I'd eat (I'm guilty of knowing the menus too well in Reading's limited, but excellent, non-chain selection), and secondly I was meeting new, like minded people, that are truly passionate about helping to propel Reading to the forefront of independent and amazing local food and culture. I realise we are really going against the grain here. Perhaps that is what is all the more fun, taking on such a challenge. There I was thinking I had already encountered all the local significant tweeters in '#movementrdguk' as I'll call it - well, I was excited to be proved wrong! During the evening I met friends of @SedgwickMeads (local mead), Epoch3 (lovely vintage furniture on Caversham Road) and I had the privilege of my dinner neighbour being on the brink of launching E.C.Peasy Creations (Facebook page being launched as a I type) and their first event is June 11th outside Epoch3, selling vintage tea cup candles. This felt like collaboration in its element. Needless to say, we bonded over some delicious food, and later that evening collaborated on twitter. The balinese food was superb - authenticated by the majority of the dinner guests who had been to Bali before. Not a noodle in sight, which surprised me at first, but then I realised whilst tasting the sea bass steamed in banana leaves, followed by yellow rice and duck curry, that we were eating the real deal here. I'll be signing up for another culinary treat with PopUp Reading very soon, and can't recommend the experience enough. They even cater for parties and events, if you don't fancy an evening with strangers. Although, if there is something worth bonding over with strangers - it's got to be great food. 

PopReading recently joined forces with Tamp Culture Coffee (you can find them outside Bluegrass and the back of John Lewis) and The Jam Lady (@CavJamLady) at Mya LaCarte in Caversham, to offer the lucky local residents a wonderful local  #rdguk collaboration that was Artisan Bakery Community - and what a success it was. Amazing coffee, superb sourdough bread and pastries, complemented with wonderful home made jam. And the crux of it - amazing people all wanting it to be a huge success (sounds cheesy...it was in fact, jammy!). Such a buzzing success, that they will be returning on July 31st to do another one! Top Tip: get there early, or the bread and jam will have sold out! 

At this point on the topic of local innovative foodies, I feel it only right to mention another local hit, @ilovepaella located at The Horn pub (yes, really) near to RYND. Enrique makes the best Spanish tapas and paella for miles, and @CavJamLady's tomato jam with the grilled goats cheese isn't to be missed. I suppose my dream is to be drinking @TheTastingHouse wine with my tapas there.

This post is certainly a little different, shall we say, to my usual posts - however, the essence of it is the importance of positive collaboration, networking and promoting great colleagues and friends, to make our community a better place. This is surely integral to the success of any organisation.

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