gingerbeer

my flatmate made the spring vegetable pilaf from the moro cookbook, it was gorgeous! she made roasted beets and garlic yoghurt to go with it.

I have to say, this drives me crazy Especially when friends leave people sitting there, alone.

A girl I know picks up and sniffs everything. EVERYTHING. Then she puts it down, and makes a face. If it's something that has a sauce, or a garnish, or even pizza topping, she'll scrape it all off and just eat whatever's left. Another friend refuses to eat anyhting 'spicy', and that includes black pepper.

I have a few... - As a child I once went to the house of a classmate (whose parents were very wealthy). Her mother made us sandwiches for lunch. They contained: corn chips, an insane amount ketchup, cheese and raisins. I wanted to die. - A few years ago I had a study partner who made me dinner. I watched her make it in horror. She took chicken breasts and grilled them in a pan with NOTHING - no salt, no seasoning, NOTHING. She didn't even wash them and they were defrosted so they had that scummy chicken water on them. She then made couscous, and poured about two cups of balsamic vinegar onto it. Then she put it all in a big bowl and mixed it up. She told me this was her favourite meal. - At the house of another classmate, I was fed the most gag-inducing chicken curry ever. You know how mice smell? That's how the chicken smelled. Because I'm Brown, the mother called me into the kitchen while she was cooking and asked me how my mum made chicken curry. I replied that she used spices like cumin, turmeric, chili, ground coriander, etc. This woman then proceeded to say, 'No curry powder??' dumping in half a tin of it, along with the rancid chicken, unpeeled sliced apples, and cream cheese. - A friend once made me spaghetti bolognese and for some reason my serving had a whole prawn in it. I was like '??' and he replied that one must have 'fallen' in. He ate his with hummus. - My parents went to a dinner where the host served platters of sandwiches that were leftover from a work lunchtime function. - A dessert consisting of pop-tarts with whipped cream on top. - Finally, potato salad that had still-frozen potatoes in it, and a nice garnishing of frost.

I like food porn, obviously.... The thing I really really hate is 'plumped for', as in 'I plumped for the duck' when explaining what you ordered. 'Decadent' also annoys me.

These all sound delicious, but omg, I agree with the cubano being a revelation. And I must try that egg one!

btw i just took a look at your blog - it's pretty good! i'm adding it to my blogroll

No, sorry, I didn't mean in terms of portion size, but just in terms of sheer effort. I felt like I was working to eat most of the food and I felt after that it was just rich and too overwhelming, the plates were sometimes badly put together - my foie gras specifically.

mmm scoop...

oh and right now, a three-level birthday cake with pink icing.

pasta - just plain with parmesan and lots of butter. chocolate mousse (with lots of whipped cream and chocolate shavings and maybe even a profiterole thrown in there for good measure). french toast. pancakes. waffles. nutella. garlic bread. long, thin fries - lots and lots of them. fanta. cheeseburgers. cheesecake. doughnuts. shortbread. hot chocolate. anything fatty, sugary, carb-y or fried. preferably all 4 at once.

Irrelevant - but God, eels horrify me. They are one of the most repellant things to me. I can't eat them. If I had to kill one, I'd probably scream and scream until I passed out instead.

This is a really unique cuisine that I don't think many people know about, from the community that I come from. There is only 1 recipe book, used amongst members of my community ('South African Indian Delights'), and most recipes are taught in families. You haven't eaten it if you haven't been to someone's home. I've often wondered about starting a blog with some of the recipes, because the food really is exceptional. Does anyone here have any experience with it? Our food takes its inspiration from Indian food, but is very different - it has a lot of Portuguese, African, Dutch and even Middle Eastern influence. For example, our samosas are much smaller and lighter, usually bite-sized, and made of a very light pastry. They usually contain minced beef or chicken that is far plainer but more fragrant - using lots of coriander. We have an amazing thing called popta which are little balls of fried dough, again with minced beef (and egg) inside, but the way they're made kind of creates a pocket so that the filling doesn't touch the dough - there's a little gap of air around them. Our curries aren't as rich as Indian curries, our food is usually drier and more rice-based, and the spices much more delicate. The puri is like golden pillows, to die for, and actually all our breads are really amazing. Our naan is not a flatbread but a bread roll, kind of like challah, but with a different slightly different flavour. I'm sorry for being so eager about this, but it really is an undiscovered cuisine. I want people t know about it - it's so good - and I wish I had gone home for 6 months to learn to cook from my grandmother before she died (she was the best). I should perhaps do that with my other relatives, and then share what I learn with you all

That's true and I am wondering if I will have enough descriptions from books - perhaps branching out to general representations of food at some point would be worthwhile. I need to choose illustrations carefully, I guess, as I don't want them to be any less than the text, if that makes sense.

Oh no, I was just wondering generally Coming from an Indian community, some dining habits I saw in Indian restaurants in the West always alarmed me...

(the restaurant). Ok, honestly, this was one of the best meals I've ever had in London, and I've eaten a LOT. We got there really late (I know waiters hate that), but they were so incredibly gracious. A friend arrived even later, and the kitchen made him something despite having been halfway through cleaning up. My main, of lamb and barley, was so good. The lamb was perfectly cooked and the barley was light. I had the meringue for dessert and everyone at my table kept eating it. Same with my starter (perogies) - I couldn't keep them on my plate. I was initially suspicious of a menu produced with mostly London ingredients (was definitely alarmed at the idea of eating pigeon for that reason) but it surpassed my expectations. Also, it had one of the nicest dining rooms I've been in.

Nope, I had ALC, with the waiter's advice. After having had it I was glad I didn't have the tasting as my father initially wanted to, because I think that would've been even more to get through

What does everyone think of their burgers? They're pretty good, I like the bun especially. I've found that the meat can be disappointing though. A far better burger is at The Prince Regent on Gloucester Road - seriously, this is the best burger I've had in London. Even their giant doorstop chips, which usually put me off, are quite good.

I had this recently! It was great! The tea kept coming - fresh and hot - and the cakes in particular were perfect. I'd like to go somewhere else now for comparison. Does anyone have any ideas?

I went there recently for a friend's birthday, has anyone else been? To be honest, while it wasn't bad at all, and it was good, it was slightly disappointing. The dining room was lovely, the amuse bouch delicious, the starters great, but my main course - veal - was so rich and meaty, served with seemingly several unnecessary sauces, foams, etc. The chocolate cherry souffle was also very disappointing - it tasted like uncooked chocolate and eggs.

Ooops, and I agree about the amuse bouche, though, those were wonderful!

I went to Pied A Terre about 6 months ago. The dining room was quite gloomy, and although some individual dishes were excellent as I first began to eat them, at the end I just felt like it was all too much, too heavy, too rich. The foie gras especially actually put me off foie gras generally for quite a while. I didn't walk away feeling good. Like Food Snob said, eating there was like effort or work. Not to mention that someone there seemed to have stolen our credit card details.

I don't know why, but as a person who will quite unfortunately eat both KFC and McDonalds with little resistance, Taco Bell really scares me. The food just tastes awful, and my stomach always feels uneasy afterwards. I'm surprised that some things are prepared on site!

I was just in the middle of studying on a cold day with not much food in the house. I had some slightly stale bread, so took some good quality Italian salami, ordinary tomatoes and mature cheddar, melted some butter in a pan and made a really good toasted sandwich. Simple and delicious. What are your favourites? As a child, my mum used to make really good steak and mustard ones, as well as ones with leftover minced beef. And there is always simple cheese.

I too was a FoF child. In my case, it was because I read that McDonalds was destroying the Amazon, and I figured that the FoFs weren't contributing to that so it was a safe choice. Also, they were just yummier. Interestingly, as an adult, I've never ordered a FoF. I grew up in Australia, though, and am now in the UK. For some reason McDonalds is better tasting in Australia, as are KFC and Nandos (I think McDonalds still fry their fries in tallow, for one thing?), so now I'm afraid to eat one here in case my memories are ruined.