Lolagranola74

For me it's all the answers everyone has given and all the other reasons us food-focused folks would probably give if asked why food and cooking are so important to us. Food is a vehicle, a way of conveying, of giving something to others- be it nourishment, caring, hospitality, respect, love, comfort, celebration or commemoration. Food is sustenance in every sense and it's a constant. One of my most treasured and important memories is having Passover seder in my father's hospital room as he recovered from heart surgery, joking about the world renowned restorative powers of chicken soup, feeling a connection through the food to those who have come before and the sense that these rituals of sharing, enjoying and being sustained together will carry on regardless of what else might change. Oh dear, now I've gone and made myself all emotional !!

Not sure if it's just an English thing but the blue raspberry flavoured stuff that dyes your tongue electric blue (makes for wonderful blue-tongued skink impressions)- love it in ice-pops, slushies, sherbert. Although, I do draw the line at blue raspberry flavoured candy floss/cotton candy, which I tried at the fair the other day. Just didn't taste like candy floss- although it did lead to a great series of photos of my niece and I comparing our vivid blue tongues.

Just to start with an apology (or two)- I know this is late, after all Easter was a week ago but immediately after Easter Sunday I took the pooch and went off to visit my stepdad for a week at the seaside (the British version of the beach- no sand, lots of pebbles) so haven't had a chance to post until today. Secondly, I'm aware that what I'm posting doesn't constitute dinner but there's no topic for Easter Tea and having seen everyone's gorgeous devilled egg photos I figured I could sneak this in too. So here's the Easter tea I made for my family last week... Devilled eggs- fast becoming a new family favourite, thanks to the fine folks at egullet who reminded me of how yummy they are. Easter egg cupcakes- oh Lord, these were so rich and delicious. Cupcake close up Easter cookies- bunnies and chickies- my four-year-old niece ate faaaaar too many of these and took a whole batch home too! A resounding compliment. The whole spread, which also included baguette rounds topped with garlic/herb cheese and cucumber slices, tea sandwiches filled with smoked salmon spread and watercress, and berries with plenty of vanilla-whipped cream. All that and they didn't even get me an Easter egg

If you're heading our way in the late Spring/Summer then Petersham Nurseries, on the outskirts of London and accessible by train, is beyond idyllic. It's a cafe/restaurant set in the grounds of a beautiful old garden/garden centre. You eat from linen covered tables surrounded by wisteria, jasmine, old wood, dirt floors, weathered wheelbarrows, primulas. It's just amazing, short but very eatable (?) menu- they won their first Michelin star earlier this year but have been amassing awards for ages. http://www.petershamnurseries.com/

Thank you so so much for this incredible blog- from the sausage to the strawberries, the turtle soup and catfish and most of all the jambalya. There wasn't a page that didn't leave me drooling. Living in London I can get galangal in a second, fresh-baked baklava and pide round the corner and kilebasa and pirogies just down the road, but sadly, London is waaaaaaay behind in appreciating the joys of down-home Southern cooking- which is a traegedy coz that stuff speaks to my soul (guess that's why it's soul food ). Surrounded by exotica, nothing sounds more exciting and appealing to me than the food you've shown us this week. Thanks again.

Just floored by your wonderful blog- from Polish to Asian to NOLA via SoCal, all in a week and from the comfort of my couch. Thanks so much for all the effort- it's been appreciated word by word and picture by picture.

Booked in for May 27th by which time HB will have moved on and Ashley Palmer-Watts will be in full command. Apparently we're having the 9 course taster menu although I haven't seen any mention of it on their website. If my brother doesn't hiss and grumble about me taking photos then I'll post back.So very very excited.

Have been thinking about posing this question myself for sometime... I was lucky enough to have two parents who were/are both amazing cooks, who could not have been more different in their approaches and I learned so much from both of them. My beloved dad, a restaurateur, was a fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants kind of cook- never a recipe, only owned a few cookbooks and taught me that once you mastered the basic techniques, you could replicate and invent anything you wanted. Of course, it helped that he had a killer palate. On the flip side, the kitchen looked like the day after Armageddon whenever he cooked- seasonings all over the counter-tops, flour all over the floor, congealed gravy dribbling down the cabinet doors, vegetable peelings perfectly placed for you to slip on and break your neck- and needless to say he couldn't bake to save his life. Conversely, my mom, who worked as a caterer for many years, almost never cooks anything without consulting a recipe first even if she's made it a hundred times before, has an extensive collection of cookbooks which I've claimed as my rightful inheritance, ALWAYS cleans as she goes so the kitchen is immaculate by the time the meal is served and bakes the most ethereal cookies, cakes and pies. As for me- I like to think I combine the best of both of them when I'm in the kitchen. I love to read recipes and collect cookbooks but see them as inspiration rather than prescription. One of my joys is to taste something new in a restaurant and then try to recreate it at home using the palate my dad spent years educating. I ALWAYS clean as I go but Lord knows I suck at baking!

In 2011, I will eat more of all the things I love and any new and interesting things along the way including black garlic, fish head curry and maybe even find a way to enjoy aubergine/eggplant. I will make lunch for work everyday, Chilli Crab, congee, more okra, more things in advance so there's always something dependable and delicious in the freezer. I will learn not to be scared of yeast and to make really good meringues. I will read Fuschia Dunlop's books and the Momofuku cookbook and Dan Lepard's Handmade Loaf.. and... and ...

Happy New Year to everyone. Very long-time lurker (more like the Rip van Winkle of lurkers) and first time poster- now I have a camera I thought I'd dip a toe into the Dinner thread with my Christmas dinner. Fairly traditional English Christmas meal- nothing like what I grew up with which was roast goose, red cabbage and boiled new potatoes in honour of my mother's German heritage. So here it is... and it's nice to meet you all Christmas Eve Nibbles and Bits- too knackered after cooking/cleaning/shopping frenzy. Fancy schmancy cold cuts, lovely cheeses, cheese biscuits, Turkish bread, crudites, pate- all the usual suspects. Christmas Day starter- Smoked trout rilletes with capers, cornichons and horseradish, homemade melba toasts, herb salad and fennel seed vinagrette. Roast turkey and trimmings (including my Jewish dad's legendary Christmas sausagemeat stuffing) Winter pavlovas with apricot-vanilla mousse, pomegranate, Cape gooseberries, passion fruit, candied hazelnuts and my first attempt at spun sugar- coz that's what you want to be doing in the middle of everything else, spinning sugar. Please also accept the standard apologies for poor photography skills and presentation that never looks as good on the plate as it does in my head.