When you wish upon a star...

Whilst perusing Gordon Ramsay's latest missive a week of so ago - Fast Food, I remarked that I was thinking of how nice it would be if his next book wasn't a "get it out fast", best seller, TV-tie in but a glossy, coffee table style El Bulli type, real show-offy book to showcase his multi Michelin starred talents. Though I did acknowledge that I could possibly be in the minority with this craving and it wouldn't be as commercially viable as his lastest.
But what do I discover tonight to my utter delight courtesy of the lovely C at Quadrille (the publishers), that this autumn my wish will come true and Gordon Ramsay's Recipes from a 3 Starred Chef will be released. And also a new Simon Hopkinson -hooray! And a very interesting sounding Tuscan one which if I can remember the name of, I will definitely check out.
I think C may have been slightly alarmed about how happy I was about this little titbit of information but I was rather ecstatic. The cookbook gods had listened to me and as soon as I got home even though somewhat late, I signed onto play.com and immediately preordered my new Gordon and Simon.
Of course now I wonder if I have special powers and whether I should wish for something bigger. But what to wish for? I've been planning to tick off at least all the top ten in the Restaurants Magazine's list of the world's best 50 restaurants. But I'm off to the Fat Duck (No.2) in a couple of weeks and El Bulli (No. 1) maybe next year (a lot depends on the reservation that I can procure).
When I was in San Diego on business a couple of years ago I was really hoping I could swing by the French Laundry (No. 4), being in the neighbourhood and all. But my cunning plan was thwarted by my inability to find anyone else mad enough to accompany me on the small nine hour round trip. Okay, maybe when I said I was in the vicinity I had slightly miscalculated! So I haven't been able to add the French Laundry to my restaurant scalps yet. But to make it more of a challenge, of course, the top 50 changes every year so even though Restaurant Gordon Ramsay (which I have been lucky enough to enjoy) was 14th in the world last year, it is now apparently only 24th.
But really as much as I hope to complete my global restaurant pilgrimage one day, it's not the same sort of wish as hoping Gordon would get all cheffy on us again and give Ferran Adria a run for his money. So maybe I'll have to save my next wish and really consider what foodie item/experience is missing from my life that six balls plucked from the lottery wouldn't address.