Do you ever have those moments when you say to yourself “I must get back into doing that”? I had that very thought today when I visited the BBC Good Food Show in Birmingham, writes James Carpenter.

I’ve always been into cooking, simply because my mum and dad can both do it, but every now and again I find myself slipping into old ways of buying those already pre-packed meals – 2 for £6.

Watching James Martin with special guest chef Glynn Purnell on the Saturday Kitchen Live stage was brilliant. The banter between the two as they chopped and cooked was great to see; they do it with such ease. I was also feeling very hungry by the end of the show as I’d arrived having not eaten breakfast knowing very well that I could get a bacon butty or sausage sarnie anywhere in the NEC. If you get the chance to go this weekend, please do. My pal Chris Evans will be there Saturday lunchtime as a special guest on the stage with James Martin, so please go and see them in action – it’ll be a laugh. I did grab a chat with James and fellow chef Rick Stein about a little topic that I’d been talking about with the listeners on drivetime earlier this week, and that was, what homemade snacks you like to make at home. Fish finger sarnies with ketchup came out top!

So, here’s a video of my chat with Rick and James.

A little idea if you do go. Buy one of the chef’s books as a pressie; they’ll be happy to sign it for whoever. I’ve done this, but obviously can’t say who for as they might be reading this.

I received some tweets last weekend from some people saying I looked like West Brom player Paul Scharner. I was thinking “why on earth would I get some random messages like that? Surely they’ve seen him before?” It then dawned on me that he was trending on Twitter following his appearance on Soccer AM, which I’ve yet to see, but apparently he was very funny. Now, where’s my Sky Anytime?

Finally, if you missed out on seeing Stephen Merchant’s “Hello Ladies” stand-up gig earlier this month, he returns on Saturday night at the Wolves Civic. He is the co-creator of The Office, Extras and the current BBC One show ‘Life’s Too Short’. He is very, very funny and I would definitely go and see him again but I’m working. I was lucky enough to interview him a few weeks back, so here’s what you can expect.

Have a great weekend,

James x