Jamie Oliver's Search for a Food Tube star. My video entry plus 'the making of my video'.

After watching some Jamie Oliver Food Tube advice videos on Youtube I set about making my entry video for Jamie Oliver's Search for a Food Star video today. Although my tiny cottage kitchen isn't exactly a clutter zone I cleared away a space by the window and arranged some food items and props for my video. When I looked at the images on my laptop screen I thought that there was too much light streaming through giving the video a washed out look. So I decamped and moved my perspective across the other side of the kitchen and cleared away the de-cluttered clutter, leaving a few interesting items on show as reference and background.

As you can see from the top picture (and hear in the video) I used a cheap tray of roasting vegetables (£1.75) for the veg element of my lamb kebabs. The lamb came from a fillet of leg of lamb brought from Tesco for about £5 on a 50% off offer. The bbq sticks were dead cheap and cost less than £1 for a pack of one hundred. So that's good going really - five delicious lamb kebabs for less than eight pounds. The Uncle Ben's Pilau rice was £1, again from Tesco, on special offer.

I set up the laptop to film my video. I have no video camera as yet. The level wasn't quite high enough so I propped up the laptop on a thick French dictionary for the perfect height. All I had to do was wait for a quiet four minutes in order to do the filming. Amazing how one minute the communal path outside the house can be deadly silent and next (just as you want to start the shoot) a child decides to squeak or the postman bangs the gate. In the end, and after muttering to myself the things I wanted to get across, I gave it a go. I was delighted that I managed it in one take! The video is supposed to be no more than four minutes long and I don't have the facility for fancy effects or editing so I kept it simple - concentrating on the giving friendly advice about the meat and tips to save money and mentioning my part in the Love Every Mouthful campaign - of course.

I hope that my video gets a good look in for the competition and that something valuable comes from my efforts. The lamb kebabs and Uncle Ben's pilau rice were a yummy lunchtime treat!