I am totally inspired by people like Nordjus and Kuidaore, who are awesome.

Speaking of cooking though; a group of friends here in Geneva have started doing challenge dinner parties like we used to back home. Tonight's challenge was aphrodisiacs. I did a ginger fish recipe (my first experimentation with a bamboo steamer; hard to believe that I haven't owned one before!) and a dessert of baked ricotta with a ginger glaze. I was moderately happy with the fish; the fish itself wasn't all that fantastic, but the sauce tasted very good. The ginger glaze was very tasty and I think sat pretty well with the creaminess of the ricotta. The winner of the night for me though, was a wicked chicken 'jerk' dish made by Rosa. Mind you, her chocolate obsession dessert was also very impressive, and Rai whipped up a batch of home-made raspberry lemonade, which was very tasty and also attractive. Actually, really, all of the food was super. Gee I love having foodie friends.

Photos to follow

Next challenge... 'hidden secrets'.

Dinner with friends

Tonight I had two friends over for dinner. I whipped up a pasta dish - slow roasted baby tomatoes, drizzled with garlic olive oil and fresh basil on fettucine with slivers of parmesan on top. It didn't work as well as I had hoped but was ok.

Dessert was a bit more elegant; a bit of a training exercise for tomorrow night's dinner party.

What is it? Baked ricotta topped with a glaze made of... can you guess pineapple and mango confiture!

Got the pics from the workshop

I got sent the photos today from the Beau Rivage, of me at my workshop



Don't I look professional?

Confiture Creation

Tonight I got to play in a professional kitchen. The Beau Rivage hotel invited me to a workshop. We made Pineapple, Mango and Rum confiture... how does that sound... Good eh?

It was a different method of jam making than I am used to. Rather than stewing down the fruit with sugar, this method basically makes a clear toffee in which fruit is boiled. Adding the fruit later in the process means that it doesn't break down as much, leaving a clearer syrup and attractive jewell-like fruit.

Christmas come late

A lovely parcel came in the post last week; Christmas come late! This lovely parcel of goodies came all the way from Illinois. My pressie from the Happy Sorceress's blogging-by-mail.

So what was inside? A pretty teatowel, Christmas mug, and card and much much more.


Sexy jars of flavoured sugars.

Sweet and stripey peppermint sticks

Crunchy peanut brittle (which I just about inhaled... it was sooo nummy)

Biscotti, perfect accompaniment for a cup of herbal tea...

Thank you dear Katie!

It came!

My Christmas blog-by-mail parcel arrived at last.. a bit late for christmas perhaps but so what? I will consider it a valentines gift instead.

Can't wait to open it... watch this space!

Onion Soup anyone?

I am not feeling hugely well so have spent the weekend (and now Monday, at home).

Nothing like being sick to give you a good excuse to make onion soup...

• 1 tablespoon butter
• around 8 cups onions sliced
• around 3 Tablespoons flour
• Beef stock (hmm... how much? I think I used two litres)
  
• Salt
• Pepper
• Brandy

Melt the butter in a pot and add the onions. Cook for 5-7 minutes stirring continuously, until soft and golden brown. Once soft, sprinkle with flour and stir to coat, cooking just a minute or two. Gradually add a little stock to make a thick mixture then top up with more stock. Bring to the boil and then cover and simmer till ready to eat. Add a good splash of brandy and cook till you want to eat. Traditionally this soup is topped with crusty bread and cheese which is then popped under the grill. In the version in my photos, I used a biscuit cutter to cut out leaves from slices of toasted cheese.