jennahan

I second the venison in chocolate sauce. I've made this several times, and it has always been a hit. I make a venison Fillet roast, and make the chocolate sauce by adding shaved 70% chocoate to a base of red wine simmered with shallots, bacon, garlic, thyme, bay leaf, and crushed black peppercorns. I serve this with a creamed cabbage, carrot, celariac mixture.

I think that what one eats pre/post work-out depends on what kind of excercise one is doing, and what one's goals are. I run 5-6+ miles when I work-out, and my reason for working out is not losing/maintaing weight, but for my physical and mental well-being. I work out at 2pm, so I have a balanced, substantial lunch at 11am (protein, veg, complex carb, h20). If i ate later, I would get ill during my run, and if I ate less, I would definitely crash. Post work-out, a muffin and a decaf-soya latte.

Depends what you mean by "stronger cheeses". Stronger in flavour? Even strongly flavoured cheeses vary in precisely what makes the cheese flavour strong. Both Gorgonzola and Stinking Bishop are strongly flavoured cheeses, but I certainly wouldn't drink the same wine with the two of them. Which cheeses did you have in mind? Even more specifically, an aged Gorgonzola and a Dolcelatte also would be better with two different wines... I've always thought the best approach to a cheese plate is along the lines of a tasting menu approach....several small slices of cheese with small (very small if you have more than a couple cheeses) glasses of accompanying wines. Otherwise, have one really great cheese with a glass of wine.

I was just about to mention this, too. It does include dried skim milk powder, which was the reason I had to stop buying it (son is allergic to milk). I too ate it cold, but would add additional dried fruit to the mixture. Alpen has a no-sugar added blend, in addition to the original. Sugar makes a BIG difference.

I have the Siemens (Porche design), which I love and use constantly. It's not cheap, but I got this one (besides the fact that it looks really cool) is: It has a shallow, removable bowl which I can use as a mixing bowel, or easily hold a large saucepan in Can measure up to 4lb+ (i've never gone above 1.5 kg, so I haven't tested the upper limits) It is very accurate at the low amounts...important since I'm often measuring less than 20gram quantities.

Baby food ( i think it was a pureed chicken and pea thing) with tabasco sauce and baby rice cakes. Disgusting.

My mother always told me to eat all of my fish because it was brain food. Now with all the research on omega 3, turns out that she was right...again. Damn.

As both a lover of cheese and wine, my favorite lazy-day supper dish is a cheese plate. THe problem I have is one which Daniel Rogov pointed out...different cheeses are enhanced by different wines (I don't think I would say that different wines are enhanced by different cheeses, though). I agree that the most versatile wines are white (actually, my favorite wine pairings are with champagne and Jurancon). Thus I find myself with several small glasses of different wines to accompany my selection of cheeses. I do disagree with Daniel about the full bodies reds and the blues, though. I find that strong blues like Stilton, Roquefort, and Gorgonzola do best with a sweet white. I actually prefer the combination of Jurancon with Stilton over the common port/stilton.

What irks me more than the stories i read above about being taken to Aplebees or McDos, is the people I am surrounded with who ONLY go to expensive and/or hip restauraunts. These are people whose preoccupation with food has more to do with status rather than true passion. They order thousand pound bottles of wine at a restauraunt just because they can, not because they really can discern the difference between a great fifty pound bottle and the one they purchased. Yes, they only eat at Michelin starred restaurants, but do they have a true passion for cooking? i'm coinsidered wierd because I want to try the local curry place to look for authentic cuisine. I'm considered strange because instead of going to yet another michelin starred place during a day trip to Paris, I'd rather go to a bistro which, although it serves excellent food, certainly is not "hip" or newsworthy. I'm considered strange because I actually LIKE to cook, and want to learn more about the history of food and why things are done the way they are. I'd rather have lunch at Olive Garden with someone who is really enthusiastifc about the food there, than go to the Fat Duck with someone who is there just to say they have been there.

A also am guilty of the sweet then salty thing. Right now, I'm relaxing in bed screaming at my husband "CAKE!" because I really, really want a big slice of moist, dark chocolate cake with a big scoop of sweet cream/vanilla ice cream. Then I know I'll want a bag of salt and vinegar potato chips. "CAKE!" Ah well, he's ignoring me. I'll just have to get out of bed and get it myself. Grrrrr.

I once went on a date with a guy who had been a friend for a while. He was a lovely friend, but I just didn't sense a spark, but decided that perhaps I was missing something and whould give him a chance romantically. Although we had been friends for some months, I never had eaten with him, unless you consider ice cream an coffees as eating. The date was going well until we were served our meal, and he proceeds to hum thoughout the entire time he was eating. It was the wierdest thing I had ever encountered! Flashes of other noises he would make in other situations went through my mind, and I knew that I had to end it right there. It was difficult to even be friends with him after that because I kept having strange images of him every time I saw him. Talk about buzzkill.

I made poulet poche a la creme (Simon Hopkinson/georges blanc recipe) the other day for friends. After pouring the sauce into the sauceboat, I used a large slice of bread to "lick" the pot clean. Wickedly good!

Lucy, You are truly an inspiration. I admire how effortlessly you cook, based on an amazing instinct for ingredients and food pairings. I am really looking forward to peering into your kitchen for this week.

Dare I admit this? I suppose I would fall into the category of Lady Who Lunches. Currently I am a stay-at-home-mother of a toddler, but had a really active life prior to his birth. Prior to moving to London 3 years ago, I worked a really demanding job in SF, and my hobbies were shoe shopping, food and wine. Luckily, my friends here also have a similar profile as me (ex-career women who really enjoy food and wine, but have toddlers which really put a brake on our favorite pasttimes). Saturday-Thursday, I live the life of a typical mum, but Friday is my day off. Several of my friends also have their Fridays off, and this is the day we Do Lunch. This is the day we actually blow-dry our hair, put on make-up, throw on something fun (DVF wraparound dresses typical), and put on a piar of stilettos. This is the day we ditch the diaper bag and use a properly tiny pocketbook. We may meet earlier to do a spot of shopping (always something completely frivolous)or get mani/pedis. We usually choose a good to very good, buzzy-ish restaurant conveniently located (recent examples are Aubergine, Foliage, Greenhouse, Sketch, Zuma, Maze). We start with Champagne, and get 3 proper courses and definitely drink wine. After dessert, we have coffee and petit-fours (if available), and decide where to meet the next week. Lunch usually lasts 3 hours (sometimes longer!). For us, the point of the day is enjoying adult time at a lesiurely pace with enjoyable company. It is also a time to not be mummy and wives, but ourselves. Even if I went back to work, I would make a day as often as possible to do lunch with my female friends. I suppose for me, it's like an upgraded version of university dining hall experience. I went to an all-womens college and our relaxation time would be spending hours in the dining hall discussing whatever. I prefer my current version (much better food accompanied by something better than diet coke and bad coffee). Perhaps this isn't the lunching of the Babe Paley set, but I think that my experience is more in line with today's woman.

Instead of yearning for new places promoting the culinary avant garde, wouldn't it be better for the London dining scene to celebrate those places which are trying to do the average very well? I would rather visit a dozen Galvins than one GR @HR, but that is just me. I think that in order for London to truly be a great food city, the quality of the everyday everyman's restaurant (and I do realize that Galvin is not your everman's restaurant) needs to improve.

black truffles - overrated anchovies -underrated

or maybe even the local fish-and-chip shop

It's fantastic! 20 seconds on high...ping!...shake milk. Presto, perfectly tepid milk. Am I the only one who does the ice cream thing? Oh yeah, one other thing...I make a salted caramel "fondu" by placing the jar in for 10-15 seconds, then dipping apple slices...yum.

It's really sad how many of my "meals" are on the fly. Actually, I think that foraging is a more accurate description of the way I eat on days like this: Cheese and oat biscuits with cherry tomatoes and a fruit chutney (need to get some veg in!) Cereal Toast and butter Toast butter and jam Cheese on toast Tinned sardines on toast Handfuls of nuts Chocolate Yogurt with grape nuts and sunflower seeds Tinned mackerel When it's really dire, baby's pureed fruit pots.

I use the microwave on a daily basis: -warm BBs milk -defrost BBs food (I make huge vats of food and freeze it into individual portions...a lifesaver when I'm pressed for time and he's REALLY hungry) -defrost ice cream to the perfectly scoopable level -reheat coffee -reheat leftover takeaway food I don't think I could live without this gadget.

Having a very rambunctious two year old pretty much limits how "done-up" our meals are. I insist on eating meals with him so instead of napkins, its wet-wipes for all; plastic/melamine for BB and any breakables are placed far from him as possible thus limiting how formal the table setting gets. Unfortunately, he also limits what we eat on a normal day since I want him to eat what we eat. So, that means lots of baked fish dishes, casseroles, stir-fries, and pastas and a maximum of two courses. I'd love to have more multi-course, preparation-intensive meals, but I guess I'll just have to wait a few years. I guess I could post what I do make for him, but it would definitely lower the caliber of the dinner thread! That being said, I do insist on proper meals (no sandwiches or prepared foods), conversation, and definitely no television.

Daniel, That looks amazing, and like the perfect cure of a hangover. Must remember the recipe for the next time we have a Girl's night out.

OK...dinner for a very lazy and tired mum: Toasted Poilane bread with a thick spread of demi-sel Echire butter Two hunks of aged manchego (ok, for the second hunk I actually bit into the slab of cheese) 2 tablespoons of pear and walnut chutney bought at Neal's Yard Large glass of lovely Rioja (too lazy to go back to see which bottle I opened) For dessert, more toasted poilane bread with Echire butter, but also with some scrummy apricot preserves. Now time for a hot bath then bed....

Second, third, and fourth for Nando's (myself, hubby, and bb)

There is a georgeous Persian braised duck dish called Fesenjan. It is usually made with pomegranate syrup, but I didn't have any in my pantry, so I reduced down the juice of 2 pomegranates until syrupy. It worked very well. Additionally, I love to make a pomegranate bellini using pomegranate juice instead of white peach nectar, and floating some pomegranate seeds in the glass. I also use them quite often in a salad with Israeli cous-cous and grilled veg. The tangy sweetness and crunch are a great complement to the slight charred flavour and softish crunch of grilled veg.