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A sandwich
supremo found in Birkenhead's Pyramids Shopping Centre
A sandwich supremo is
having a 2nd bite of a national competition. Paula Smith, who runs
Let's Lunch in Birkenhead's Pyramids Shopping Centre is still
savouring the taste of success after her roast dinner delight earned
her the title of Sandwich Designer of the Year. Now the creative
conjurer is hoping her next pesto-themed concoction will once again
tantalise taste buds after being whittled down to the final of the
competition in May. But in the meantime, the 44 year old is
spreading the joy to her customers who are to be the first to sample
the 'simple yet interesting' sandwich.
"Winning the competition, despite entering for the very 1st time
last year was such a great achievement, I just couldn't resist
entering again. Each sandwich artist enters into 6 different
categories and out of the 6, 3 of mine made the short list for the
regional heats. I thought if I was to be lucky enough to get through
to the final again, it would be for my curry in a butty, which I
entered into the chicken tikka category. I was really surprised to
find out that the pesto sandwich had made it through in the pesto
category as it was the most simple." said Paula, who has
owned the popular eatery for almost 12 years.
Made up of toasted herb focaccia bread, spread with pesto, sliced
roast chicken, roasted peppers in garlic and beef tomatoes, the mum
of one from Wallasey said her mouth watering ingredients won her
praise for bringing out the flavour of the pesto. It was a far cry
from her more elaborate Sunday lunch sarnie which was carefully
crafted with slices of juicy chicken, stuffing, gravy and real
potatoes roasted in duck fat. And the creation only came about to
mark the tenth anniversary of Let's Lunch.
Paula explained:- "I wanted to do something special to
celebrate a decade in business so we took to Facebook and asked our
customers to give us some unique sandwich ideas. One of our regulars
came up with the idea of a roast dinner sandwich and we thought it
was great so we put one together, it went down a treat. Then out of
the blue, I had an email from someone telling me I should enter it
into the Sandwich Designer of the Year competition. It's something
I'd never thought to do before but I decided to go for it, never for
one moment thinking that it would actually win. Now we're making the
competition a regular thing and are even making room on a shelf in
the shop for some more awards."
But Paula recalled the bitter-sweet moment of scooping her 1st
trophy when after the awards ceremony at a swanky London hotel, her
husband, Lee accidentally dropped it.
"I was so elated to have won
I was absolutely devastated when my husband dropped the award on a
ceramic floor and it smashed to smithereens. He felt so terrible
about it that I couldn't really give him a hard time. Luckily one of
the competition organisers sent me a new one so now it stands pride
of place in the shop where hopefully it will be joined by another
one. My husband can't come with me this year because he is away, but
a few customers have joked that at least my award will stay intact!"
joked Paula.
Paula will put her culinary skills to the test at the competition at
the Lancaster Hotel near London's Hyde Park on May 15 when she will
present her sandwich to a panel of judges.
The winner will be announced
during a gala dinner at the hotel later that night.
Derek Millar, Commercial Director for Pyramids Shopping Centre,
said:- "We are all so pleased for Paula that she has made it
through to the finals of this prestigious awards for a 2nd time. I
know our shoppers love her sandwiches and it is terrific to see her
talents being recognised in this way."
But win or lose, it won't be the end of Paula's imaginative ideas.
"As strange as it sounds, I actually wake up in the middle of
the night thinking of unique ideas for sandwiches." |
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GMB is calling on the UK
Government to use the Tax System to curb excessive pay and bonuses
VINCE Cable has same chance as King Canute rolling back the
waves as getting the City fat cats to voluntarily take their snouts
out of the bonus troughs says GMB. GMB commented on letter
from Business Secretary Vince Cable to top companies urging them to
show restraint over executive pay and slash bonuses to restore
public trust. Paul Kenny, GMB General Secretary,
said:- "GMB has repeatedly warned since the days of Cedric the
Pig protest on excessive executive pay that exhortation will not
curb excessive pay. Vince Cable has same chance as King Canute
rolling back the waves as getting the City fat cats to voluntarily
take their snouts out of the bonus troughs. The share of
income from labour in the UK going to the top 1% of earners has
nearly doubled from 7% in 1970 to 13% in 2011. Before the recession
the top 1% of earners were raking in over 15% of all pay. See notes
to editors for the data series since 1970. This doubling of the
share to the top 1% is leaving less money for the pay of the rest of
the workforce. Fat cats like Simon Wolfson at NEXT getting all the
cream is the major reason for the growth in precarious forms of
employment like zero hours, bogus self employment, agency and
temporary work, very short hours part time jobs, flexible and casual
employment. The lesson from history is that Government has to
use the tax system to deter employers paying excessive pay. If the
marginal tax rate for earnings above £1m a year is raised to 80%
there would be a dramatic drop in numbers getting paid that amount.
That would leave more for the rest. This would help the economy will
get back to pre-recession levels as we have a very long way to go to
climb out of the hole caused by the recession. Given the increase in
population GDP per head is still 5.8% below 2007 levels. This is the
root cause of average earnings being down 13.8% in real terms since
then."
HR specialists
speak up about new labour laws in France
THE Liverpool based HR
specialists, High Performance Consultancy (HPC), have contested the
changes to working laws announced in France last week, suggesting
they are a step too far, but what do you think?
A new labour law that High Performance Consultancy says has been
shaped in France to protect those working in the digital and
consultancy sectors from responding to emails after 6pm will damage
business. They say that:- "Employers will no longer be allowed
to contact staff during the 133 hours of designated rest time during
the week. It is reported that companies must also take measures to
ensure their employees come under no pressure to read work related
emails or documents outside of the specified working hours."
Managing Director at HPC, Victoria Brown is of the opinion that the
new law may not be welcomed by employers, or in fact employees in
the UK. She said:- "Since the release of easy to access mobile
devices such as Smartphone's, it has made it easier for employees to
be contacted when away from the office or outside of office hours.
However, this development has also afforded people the opportunity
to have a more flexible approach to their work and to maintain
control over how they manage their workload. This includes more
opportunities for home working, which has allowed many to move away
from the traditional 9 to 5 working day. In the hierarchical set-up
of the modern workplace, employees typically have more autonomy over
workloads and restricting the opportunity to respond to emails could
cause unnecessary stress. This move could potentially be doing more
harm than good, as it could be perceived as de-motivating in taking
the control away from employees are wholly committed to their career
development. For some time there has been a move towards reducing
red tape for businesses, and to introduce these legislations, I
believe would be counterproductive. The Working Time Regulations are
already in place, giving protection to employees. Good employers
recognise they have a duty of care to their employees and already
have measures in place to support and encourage the right work-life
balance."
Sweden is currently reviewing working conditions and have proposed
reducing working hours to just 30 hours a week, with full pay for
staff in Gothenburg; an experiment has been based around the theory
that suggests that after 6 hours, employees become tired and
productivity is significantly reduced. So should the UK follow
those countries and do the same, or can the UK businesses and
workers seize this opening and profit from this, for example by
offering out of hour services for French Firms? |
