meemalee

I went to Taste of Christmas at the Excel London today. No Christmas carol this year - I'm clearly slightly less highly strung than I was . But here's my recommendations for a wonderful day if you're visiting too. Go to the Campo Viejo stand W50. Watch the lovely Spanish Chef Jose Pizarro whip up wonderful tapas and then feast upon them. Try some of the wines. Heckle Mark Lloyd who's ably assisting. Go to the Club Gascon stand. Order the Foie Gras Popcorn - as wonderful as it was last time. Even if I still don't see the point of the baby corn. Order their Capon Mango Pumpkin too. Beautiful, especially the pumpkin puree. Guess how many meringues they have in their mountain to win a copy of cookbook Cuisinier Gascon by Pascal Aussignac . Go to the Modern Pantry Stand. Order the Organic Salmon Sashimi, Truffled Umeboshi Dressing, Yuzu Tobiko, wolf it down and lick the plate. I did. I am a tramp. Also order their Vietnamese style Duke of Berkshire pork belly, mas...

L'Enclume - Colleen Baby Potatoes, Oxeye Daisies, Smoked Eel and Purple Wight Garlic I eat out a lot, but not half as much as I'd like. And, despite what you might think, I've not actually been to that many "fine dining" establishments. I'm stymied not just by cost, but by geography - I live out in the sticks and so if I'm having dinner in town, I need to plan carefully or else risk missing the last train home . So Taste of London has always been a bit of a thrill for me - in fact, I went to the very first one, back in 2002, which was held in Lincoln's Inn Fields. I mean, what's not to like? It's a festival of the finest restaurants that London has to offer all in one spot at the same time at a reasonable* price. What's more, the head chefs themselves are usually there, cooking and dishing up in full view, and for a chef groupie like me ( sorry, Marina ), it's pretty damn exciting - like Glastonbury for the food-obsessed. * I say reaso...

I've had a blepharospasm for the past fortnight now. That's right, look it up. Lack of sleep is the usual cause, but ocular twitching is also triggered by stress. And what did I have to be stressed about? Well, you know how I've spent a lot of the past year taking the mick out of MasterChef ? Especially the beautifully be-cardiganed Toadie and the remarkable Mr Egg ? So, the other day, the lovely people at Miele invited me to the BBC Good Food Summer Show at the Birmingham NEC where they just happened to be sponsoring the MasterChef Experience . And they said "Would you like to take part in the Invention Test?" And I replied "Sure, why not?" as my brain temporarily disconnected from my typing fingers. Because John and Gregg were going to be there and god's honest truth is - I'm a little bit afraid of them. Scratch that, I'm a lot afraid of them. Like a naughty schoolgirl playing Knock Down Ginger , I've been happy to tease unseen, but...