Carlovski

Only the wicket keeper, and maybe short leg and silly point wear shin guards.....

That's what makes Britain great. No matter where you go, you can always find and indian restaurant which will be half decent. Even if it's not great, at least they make the food to order (Well some of it anyway), which is more than you can say for most pub 'restaurants'

Old proverb "Apple pie without the cheese is like a lass without a squeeze" I have made a tart with finely sliced, fairly tart eating apples, topped with parmesan.

Not so easy when you houseshare and don't have a garden!

I saw a travel programme a few months ago, the theme is one guy does a place on the cheap, and there is a woman who spends a lot. Anyway, this week they were visiting London, one of the guys suggestion was to have a wander round Borough market and just eat all the freebies! Not a bad suggestion, but I would at least buy something!

Maybe they will come around - in the UK you never used to see squashes for sale for instance. What we need is Delia Smith to mention them. That normally does the trick.

I was interested how Gordon described Jennifer Ellison as 'The best cook in the house'. Being a bit hard on Angela, Mark and himself don't you think?

Al Murray's Fish pie looked nice didn't you think?

So why is it so hard to get (At least in the uk?) I don't know of a single supermarket which sells it, odd considering they do sell other, more esoteric, and potentially intimidating vegetables. The only time I can get it is when the farmers market is in town. I think they could market the rainbow stuff at kids too.

I expected the colour to fade, but no, a bit faded but still quite vibrant.

Yes, I was attracted like a small child to the bright colours. It was help yourself (Although he also had a lot of ready bagged stuff) so I got to pick the nicest colour selection He also had some very nice broad beans. I put some of it in a sort of 'Fritatta Primavera' with some of the broad beans, asparagus and some mushrooms (Not very 'Primavera' I know, but I had some handy!). I had most of it simply sauted with some oil and Garlic, as mentioned to go with a nice simply baked sea bream (Which I had to clean and descale myself - hadn't done that for a while!)

I picked up some rainbow chard at the farmers market at the weekend. It was beautiful to look at, a mix of bright red, yellow and orange stems. Is this an actual variety, or was it a mic of several variants, cunningly marketed? It tasted pretty good too.

Well said!

We'd have to find someone to be a willing maitre'd for you to abuse too. I can imagine it though 'Lynes - thats f****ng c**p. You're not on Masterchef now'

surprised that Tommy had the energy as for tits up, Abi will have that angle pretty well covered (or more likely uncovered) in due course Along with Jennifer Ellison? That could boost the ratings.

Any chance they will let us borrow the place after they have finished? Make a great Egullet event venue. Basildog can be executive chef, the more talented among us could cook in that fab looking kitchen. I could wash up

As another confirmed Bachelor (Actually, even when I haven't been single, I always end up doing the cooking!) I can sympathise. I can't say I approve of Carb dodging (Remember when everyone was trying to adopt a mediteranean diet? More carbs, less meat? Low carb is just another fad) - Everything in balance I say. But, things that keep me going are Salads - I know it goes against the Bachelor image, but think rare beef salad with a lime/chilli/fish sauce dressing, Bacon and frisee (With optional poached egg) etc. You know. Man salads! Omelettes - Perfect when in a hurry. Grilled, marinated meats (And chicken). You can leave them ovenight in a ziploc bag, ready for the next day. I usually do with couscous (Or bulgar wheat)and chickpeas. Bit Carby again though. Soup. More of a winter one this, although I do like making refreshing (But hot!) thai style soups in summer. Make them a meal by adding prawns/salmon etc and noodles. Stir fries - they only really work for one (two at a push) so make the most of the opportunity. I had pork and asparagus last night. If you live near a decent supply Mussels are perfect for the solo diner. Cook however you like (Personal favourites include classsic moules marinere, with chorizo, chilli and tomatoes or hybrid southeast asian with lemongrass, ginger lime leaves and optional coconut milk) One cookbook which I think has good ideas for the Bachelor is Bowl Food - I was quite surprised by it, quite good recipes.

As far as I can see, the 'Chefs' are only doing on dish at a time, probably understandable, as they don't really know what they are doing, but that might explain the standing around. It does look like far too much of a pleasant working environment to be a real 'Hells Kitchen' doesn't it? They actually have personal space!

Well if Jay won't dish the dirt I think it is up to Andy to blag his way in. Go on. Take one for the team.

That's quite right. Maybe they should send Worral Thompson in to see what's going wrong..... Seriously though, What do people think of the menu he is trying to put out? He's obviously tried to keep it fairly simple, Salads, pasta, risotto (I assume this is Ramsay style risotto, with par cooked rice finished in a premade sauce), a couple of bang it in the oven mains etc. But why the souffle? Is it just to see how long it takes to give Amanda Barrie a nervous breakdown? Oh dear. I appear to have got rather engrossed in a reality TV show

I personally can't stand reality TV shows. My housemates love them however (One has applied for Big Brother every year) so caught a bit of this. I'm rapidly losing respect for Gordon Ramsay. I hope Al Murray does well out of it though - He is brilliant live, but all his TV apperances so far have been a bit rubbish.

One of the italian bread thickend soups would photograph well, especially with a hearty drizzle of EVOO. Or for real wow appeal you could try a completely clear Gazpacho variant - draining tomatoes through muslin to get tomato 'water', add delicately sliced and carved vegetables and you have a real visual stunner. Not really a home cooking style dish though!

I'm not sure, but as a rule small and medium sized mussels are better. I know in the uk, for some reason we import loads of the large New Zealand geen lipped mussels, which I find inferior to local ones. Why I don't know, they are even proudly named on menus - suppose they sound more 'exotic'.

Tom Yam (Although that is a bit close to Pho) Rasam? (Still asia, but a different part!) Don't know what the definition of ethnic is, but you could also have Gazpacho (In it's many forms), Borscht, Harira (Moroccan). Don't know what your local restaurants are unfortunately though!

I'm surprised rice isn't on there. I thought that nearly all cases of food poisoning from take out ethnic places were linked to the rice not being reheated properly (Normally by people reheating themselves, nuking the lamb curry in the microwave to 'make it safe' and then 'letting the sauce heat up the rice)