Northern star

M set the challenge; she mentioned that she'd heard that there are no Michelin starred restaurants in Manchester and I was intrigued. I hadn't realised that Manchester was such a cultural dearth of fine dining but after Masa in New York, I can only ask, "What do those men from Michelin know anyway?" So I hit Google and as it happens a couple of restaurants in the Manchester vicinity seem to have been singled out for their honoured stars. Northcote Manor is always mentioned favourably but seems rather 'a long way out' and definitely so does the one in Chester but Juniper in Altrincham seems a very interesting option. Okay not exactly Manchester but it has some very fine accolades and even Gordon Ramsay is quoted as saying “Paul is pure talent, driven by a great creative energy; a powerhouse of the North ” - and Michelin have deigned to award a much-hallowed star. They seem to have some intriguing menus - the all-white menu for example where, as well as the food being mostly white; Champagne is given to girls who've made the effort to wear white. We have picked a special menu night but not one with a dress code or I guess it would have to be squid ink risotto followed by caviar then blackened chicken and cavalo nero and then a tasty dessert of licorice ice cream and probably Guinness to drink (ughh!) I don't think I'll bother!

Though I did spot an “assiette of tomato” on the menu that'll have to be avoided and even a suspicious touch of goat's cheese in the dessert. I'm sure it won't be a problem to have a few little tweaks made to the menu. I look to seeing if Gordon was right. And at least we can wear whatever colour we like!

Not-so secret life of Mrs. Beeton

I am looking forward to checking out the “Secret Life of Mrs. Beeton” on BBC4 tomorrow. Some of the action was shot at the house next to mine way back in April and I am rather anorak-ishly looking forward to identifying my front door and of course enjoying a good yarn. She was a bit of a dark horse that Isabella!

Aching for Aikens

I felt that as much as I’d eulogized Tom Aikens first book in my previous post, I had not really mentioned what lay beneath the covers so I thought I should have a better look. The first chapter is quite unusually vegetables and quite rightly Tom states how important it is for us to eat seasonally as, for example he says “Buying asparagus out of season is bad for the well-being of our farmers and the stability and growth of business for the UK market. Basically, just don’t do it.” I so agree with you Tom, I get really annoyed with Peruvian tasteless asparagus or pappy out of season strawberries (M, I hope you're feeling guilty?) when we do them both so well in the UK when in season. And that’s not casting aspersions on Peru; It’s just too far for our vegetables to travel from.

And just as I suspected, it looks seriously good – how does ‘roast asparagus with pan-fried duck eggs and grilled pancetta’, ‘asparagus with asparagus mousse’, ‘cauliflower and grain mustard puree’, ‘carrots and sauternes jelly’, ‘balsamic glazed carrots’, ‘fresh peas with pea shoots, pea mousse and Parma ham’, ‘buttered peas with spring onions and lettuce’, ‘white onion and thyme soup’, ‘artichoke soup with sauternes’, ‘roast baby artichokes with thyme’ and ‘pumpkin, honey and sage soup’ sound just for starters? Or maybe from the fish chapter - ‘roast turbot with celeriac fondant, braised chicken and thyme sauce’ or ‘roast scallops with ham and leek’. There are some fantastic soups, I feel I will christen my new silver Bamix very soon!

The photographs are by John Lawrence-Jones who doesn’t seem to have worked on loads of cookbooks before but I like his clean, precise style. I really like this book, you’re not going to get lots of stories from Tom's childhood or explanations about the origins of a particular dish in the same way as you would in Anna Del Conte’s or Giorgio Locatelli’s, but you’re going to get a different passion – a passion for his perfection and I find this fascinating.

Mmmm, shiny Bamix!

I bought my shiny new Bamix today! Now I already have a fine white Bamix but at one of the food shows I attended, I noticed they now have them in silver and I very much hankered after it. At the time I couldn’t justify such a wild expense just because I wanted a silver one instead of the white one but when I was last at D’s and she bemoaned that a small accident of dropping her Bamix from a height into the floor had broken a foot and somewhat incapacitated it, I hatched a cunning plan. I thought I could get myself a silver one and sell my old one to D. She gets one that works and doesn’t have to pay for a new one, albeit white and I get a shiny new SILVER one – hmmmm. Now Bamix are very good and probably would have repaired her old one, but that might have meant an extended time 'sans Bamix' whilst it vacationed in Switzerland, this seemed a better plan. A cunning plan indeed!

And doesn’t it look lovely?

For those who are unaware the legend that is Bamix, they produce super fast stick blenders that can operate in any receptacle, they make amazing soups and crush ice and turn all manner of unlikely liquids into thick, frothy desserts and very importantly – are incredibly easy to wash up. Very important! And I believe Gordon Ramsay is a huge fan also! I think they’ve been going for 50 plus years and my grandmother had one. I don’t know where my grandmother stumbled across one but nowadays you can get them from Lakeland (but to be honest, this is a lower powered, lesser model), from the Bamix UK distributor or from the same people at one of the trade shows – the advantage of that is that you see them in action and they are cheaper than on their website. I honestly can’t remember the last time I used my super large food processor or my blender, the Bamix just sits on my work surface and is ready for action at a moments notice. The huge advantage when Bamixing a soup over using a blender is that you need to cool the soup down slightly before adding to the blender (in batches normally) or you may find the steam inside the blender will force the top off and you’ll decorate your kitchen in butternut squash soup as I did! The Bamix you take to the pan you cooked the soup in so no bizarre soup decoration on you or the kitchen.

And no I’m not a salesperson, just a happy customer!

Homage to Anna

I've often said how much I enjoy the cookbook club events at Blueprint Café (see here, here and here!). How could I not? The merest casual observer to this blog would know I love cookbooks and I love to eat, so what more could I want? Tonight was extra special though, many turned out to pay homage to Anna Del Conte and her latest tome “Amaretto, Apple cake and Artichokes”. This isn't surprising as her books, her food and her writing have influenced so many. I saw Antonio Carluccio, Ruth Watson, Rose Prince and an unconfirmed sighting of Simon Hopkinson. I believe Nigella was due to be here but unfortunately wasn't. Anna spoke about some of her inspiration for the menu we had tonight and she mentioned that the two most referred to recipes in her book were the plum dessert we were due to have and her infamous lemon risotto. Now I know I've made at least two references to the latter on this blog so I guess she's spot on!

Tonight's menu was:

Bruschetta

Scarpazzone Lombardo

Prosciutto di San Daniele, grissini di Torino

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Minestra di pasta e ceci

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Brasato all'aceto

Spinaci

Pure' di patate

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Gelato di crema alla vaniglia, prugne sciroppate al rosmarino Cornetti alle mandorle

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Pecorino Stagionato con Miele

Lametably my Italian is very poor but one menu item leapt out at me Pure' di patate. We are having Italian mash potatoes, heaven! And it was, creamy and with Parmesan. That means the Blueprint Café has earned a place on the Mash Hall of Fame leader board. Well done Jeremy Lee et al, I'm sure you're very proud!

The Scarpazzone Lombardo were cubes of nuts and egg custard & nice little canape. The Prosciutto di San Daniele was introduced by a nice Italian man from Negroni and was very fine indeed. The ham was exceptional as well!

The Brasato all'aceto is the tenderest beef cooked in vinegar and I had somehow mislaid my knife but as you could have easily eaten it with a spoon it wouldn't have mattered (just like one of my favourite boeuf au daube). One of the reasons I really like these events is that you dine with different people on each visit. This time I was sat with the delightful F and D. They seemed considerably less eccentric than some of my former dining companions but no less entertaining. F calls herself a recovering vegetarian; recovering in the fact that she can now eat fish and intends to move on to meat in the next few years. Her reason behind this was as a foodie she felt she was restricting herself to a too limited choice. Hmmm, maybe I need to consider such an attitude to my food black list. With that in mind I did have a few mouthfuls of Minestra di pasta e ceci to see if I still can't abide tomatoes. I can't! Maybe I need to work on this. My foodie credentials have been questioned recently because of my black list and my answer was that the avoidance of the things I don't like encourage me to be more creative with the things I do. But I can see the point I guess, how can I say I love food if I want to run a mile in the presence of tomatoes? All I can think it that the flesh of a tomato makes my flesh crawl, actually so do the seeds and the skin and even the feint whiff of them! I think I may be a lost cause!

The much lauded Gelato di crema alla vaniglia, prugne sciroppate al rosmarino was incredibly good. The plums were so tasty though personally I would have preferred them stoned as they would have been easier to eat. The Cornetti alle mandorle - melt in the mouth rosemary biscuits were just delectable. I am very keen to recreate this dessert for myself and I can see why so many have commented so favourably about it.

To accompany the very fine Pecorino Stagionato con Miele which is the gorgeous ewe's milk cheese often confused with Parmesan, we had a glass of Il Moscato Grappa Nonino Monovitgno which if I hadn’t already mistaken it for my water glass of water and knocked it back in one, I probably would have enjoyed much better! The Grappa was introduced by the Italian daughter of the family who revolutionised Grappa production. When her mother fell in love with her father and then Grappa she realised that Grappa was often relegated to the kitchen and not considered good enough for the table. She went about changing this and this is the resultant drink. I’m sure it was very nice but knocking back believing it was water made me cough somewhat!

It was another fabulous evening, Jeremy Lee and his team produced some stupendous food even though Jeremy is somewhat incapacitated after an adventure on a push bike which has left him rather wrist-ally challenged! Glad to see you back though, Jeremy! And Richard and all the staff out front made sure everything went swimmingly.

I also got a brief audience with Anna, the great doyenne herself. I was able to tell her that I’d been on the photography course with Roger Stowell (who'd shot the photos in his Classic Food of Northern Italy book) and she remembered him most fondly.

And I look forward to seeing everyone again at the next event on Monday 4th December 2006 for Tom Parker-Bowles – ‘The Year of Eating Dangerously’ and I believe the subsequent evenings scheduled are:

Thursday 25th January 2007 - Sue Lawrence – ‘A Cook’s Tour of Scotland’

Thursday 22nd February 2007 - Sophie Conran – ‘Sophie Conran’s Pies’

Wednesday 16th May 2007 - Skye Gyngell – ‘A Year in My Kitchen’

Please check the Blueprint café site for details; I do think they can be a tad shy about advertising these events and they are slightly tricky to locate but here is the link when they are updated.

I’ve tried to include a couple of photos of the food from the night but it was quite dark (sorry, I mean ambient!) and I haven’t really done it all justice. After my photography course, I feel I should arm myself with at the very least a miner’s helmet and a few large white reflectors when attempting a little restaurant reportage. I am sure I’d be very popular!

At least thanks to Roger, I’ve been weaned off using flash; so unflattering for a white plate!

And on the eighth day, J read cookbooks!

At the office waiting for me accusingly in their little cardboard jackets were two more. Two more cookbooks! The new Jamie Oliver one called 'Cook with Jamie' and Tom Aikens' first one called simply 'Cooking'. And they couldn't really be more different. First of all the photography and styling of the two books are complete opposites. You'll have to forgive me here, after being totally immersed in food photography for a week I am somewhat obsessed. I caught myself staring really hard at two pears, an apple and a plum in the kitchen at work today. I think my colleagues thought I had some odd desire to consume all the remaining fruit but no, it was all about the colour and the shapes and the shadows. I stopped short of grabbing my little Leica but if I find a decent white plate to artfully arrange them on I may not be able to resist next time.

David Loftus has photographed the food in the Jamie book. He is a prolific photographer who I think has done all Jamie's books. The style suits the cooking, it doesn't look contrived, it almost looks casual as if the stylist got accidentally locked out of the studio and they went ahead anyway. The pictures aren't glossy and have a gritty realism. Jamie says that this should have been his first book as it's more of a structured 'how to cook a la Jamie'. You see more of the preparation than his previous books and I'm pleased to see that the profits go to the Fifteen Foundation that supports the young ne'er do wells that get put through catering college and may become the Jamie of tomorrow.

A strange thing happened again, I opened the book randomly and the page fell to Oozy Egg Ravioli and yes, it's that elusive recipe again the egg yolk cooked inside a ravioli only revealing it's golden core when your fork penetrates it's pasta jacket. In his recipe he uses a wall of ricotta but he said his inspiration came from a dish he had in Piedmont seven years ago, and they used mash potato. I can't believe how long I've searched for this recipe and then find three in a month. (And eventually, as you can see here, I got around to recreating it...)

I was quite relieved that the Tom Aikens book doesn't have this recipe; it would just be a little weird if I start finding it everywhere I look! The photography is so entirely different, there are less of them and they look so precise. For some reason the book doesn't look like a British cookbook, there's something unusual about it and I can't put my finger on it. It also has the certain aroma of an American magazine, when you first open it. I like this book, there's something enticingly exotic about it.

You get the impression that for Jamie it's about the quality ingredients, the taste, his family, his friends, the restaurants and his students - it's a whole Jamie lifestyle possible helped by his original shows showing him mopeding around his favourite foodie emporiums and sliding down the banisters in his old Clerkenwell flat and then of course there were the Sainsbury adverts. For Tom though, I think it's all about the food. You see several shots of him bundled up in coats and scarves standing around outdoor markets staring penetratingly at various potential ingredients. He alludes slightly to his 'enfant' terrible past but doesn't discuss the reasons behind leaving Pied a Terre and working for private house kitchens for three years. And even though he cites his ex-wife Laura as being the driving force behind him setting up and establishing his present eponymous restaurant, you really get the impression that he never actually leaves his kitchen, ever! Okay maybe to stare at food in markets but for no other reason.

I'm convinced these books would have a different soundtrack also; can a book have a soundtrack? I think Jamie would have a lively guitar band playing as he bashes up handful of herbs in his mortar and pestle and Tom would either have something extremely obscure like an impenetrable German electronic band or total silence. He does mention working in the kitchen of Pierre Koffmann where the chefs only spoke French and later with Joel Robuchon inParis where they were encouraged not to talk at all and just listen for orders. They had to hear everything first time as they weren't permitted to go back and verify the checks again! Pretty harsh, I think. He also talks about working at Joel Robuchon's where the worse job was preparing the famed pomme puree as the lengthy process (including passing the mash through a sieve so fine that you couldn't see through it) could take upwards of 2 hours! Now I want to try his mash potato even more!

I know this book looks fascinating and I cannot wait to finally get to dine 'A la Tom' but I've barely had a moment to read it. Cookbooks don't generally lend themselves to slipping in the bag to read on the tube so I've decided I need to somehow find an eighth day of every week and just dedicate it to catching up on all the fabulous cookbooks that are piling up around me.

Hmmm, that might work!

A la prochaine

K and I have been hearing stories all week about one of Roger and Jenny’s neighbours, well he was a neighbour and now they have moved across the road (at least 4 paces!) apparently they’re not considered neighbours anymore. Monsieur Couturier sounds a fantastically eccentric farmer who even in his eighties was recently fixing his roof. What makes Monsieur Couturier rather curious is not that he was fixing his roof but the fact he was up there with a chainsaw in one hand and a bottle of homemade Pineau in the other! Monsieur Couturier likes to keep an eye on everything that happens in the area and is terribly frustrated when he doesn’t know what is happening. As well as his little farm his pride and joy are his sheep, which he delights in referring to as “yum yums”. Apparently the only English word he knows! Each Christmas the sheep help feed his family of 37 (he even received a special award from the mayor for his proliferation, an example to us all!) These yum yums are very spoilt and Jenny in particular keeps them well fed with left over bread and potatoes.

We had our final full morning grabbing more shots at another market but even though the vegetables and fruit looked tasty they weren’t as beautifully arranged as some of our other well photographed purveyors of vegetables. An irate rotisserie guy pursues K as he thinks she’s taking just too much interest in his mechanism!

We have our lunch at La Forge and admired yet again the unusual décor, this restaurant favoured light fittings made from ox collars but with the über bright bare bulbs to finish it off. They also had collected various butterflies and little feathery birds and of course, some lurid artificial flowers. Roger was able to have his Eels in Parsley Sauce that he’s been craving and I had a nice piece of Peppered Steak with some Frites. There was some interesting meat lover’s option but it sounded too huge for me with the lamb tonight! I had seen an old favourite from travelling in Belgium - Dame Blanche in the menu and hoped it would be delivered with a little jug of hot chocolate sauce – but unfortunately it wasn’t!

We spend the afternoon slaving over a hot printer and commit some of our most prized photographs to fine art paper – not glossy but pleasingly matt and perfect for framing! Now we’ve just got to get them home.

For our last supper we have Asparagus and Smoked Trout with a sauce made of chopped egg, egg yolk and olive oil and seasoning, which a recipe Terrence Conran gave to Roger, back when they were talking! For main we tucked into a Gigot of Lamb, studded with anchovies and an extremely delicious and fabulous Gratin Daupinoise (how it should be!). The meal was finished off with a very fine hard Cheese and a bought Strawberry Tart. I know it’s very chic for a Parisian to grab a dessert from their local patisserie so we had our strawberry tart. Frankly though, Roger has whipped up some very impressive sweet treats for us and we didn’t need to buy in though I still have a little craving for a good chocolate dessert! We finish the remaining bottles of Christian’s wine and recall the many fabulous moments from the last week, K is going straight back to La Rochelle early tomorrow so we all say goodbye.

We have easily eaten the best food on this holiday ‘chez Roger’ and I feel a very worthy “trois fourchettes” should be awarded to him. And there were no tomatoes at all! It is possible to eat well without tomatoes! We did.

I’ve had a fantastic holiday, eaten some fabulous food, met some great people and have really improved my confidence behind a camera. Roger deserves his legendary status in the world of photography – especially food and I feel his energy and encouragement has helped me to really achieve something and all whilst having a wonderful time. Thank you.

A la prochaine… until the next time!

Just call me Donna!

Today I came over all Donna Hay-esque and wanted to work with stacks of white bowls, piles of stainless steel and silver cutlery and the odd lemon or fig. I became fascinated by the stacks of dishes when clearing the table after we'd had our meal last night, and it wasn't just down to the lovely red wine we’d been drinking. I started thinking about shadow and form and especially how this would affect the reflections in the shiny cutlery. I’ve also started flicking through the piles of food magazines with a rather critical eye and not just thinking about the food, as I normally would be looking at the composition and styling. How very curious for me!

Fortunately K agreed with me and we spent a pleasant morning staring at stacks of bowls and folded white napkins through a lens. Hopefully Donna Hay would approve! I also got rather obsessed by a silver apple we’d borrowed off George, which after spending ages trying to eliminate my image from the shiny contours of the apple, I then decided I might as well give in and it actually would make an unusual self-portrait!

Photographing empty bowls all morning meant we were quite keen to have a procur ourselves a full bowl. A popular place for lunch is apparently the local supermarket - Super U. Which I am assured is the local equivalent to French Waitrose! The chef is occasionally seen hot footing it down the aisles to grab a missing ingredient and like to remark with an expansive hand gesture behind her 'this is my larder!' K had a Chicken and Chips, which she said was rather good. Instead of the Croque Monsieur that I'd been hankering after I plumped instead for the today's special of Salmon with Pasta in a light sauce. I even managed to successfully request a portion 'sans tomates, si possible'! And I didn’t get any tomato!

After yesterday's disastrous chocolate tart, which was so wrong I, had a craving for a little chocolate hit and discovered that the best part of having a meal in a supermarket is that if you don't fancy any of the desserts you can go shopping. And being rather far from the nearest Gü I opted for another Pot au Chocolate in little glass dishes which was okay but I feel Gü could clean up if they desired!

We’ve been dodging inclement weather nearly every day but after lunch we decide to finally head off to the local vineyard though we opt to stay inside and not bother which schlepping through the regimented fields of vines, as I can’t really photograph in the rain. Christian who, nine years ago decided very unusually to establish a new vineyard on an old sheep farm escorts us round the quite small operation. They had never grown vines on this land previously but Christian was convinced that he would be successful and whilst working for one of the wine houses laboriously planted the vines every evening and weekend. Apparently it is almost unheard of to plant a brand new vineyard, old land gets replanted but Christian having this kind of epiphany has only been done once before in recent times. When the first harvest was ready 2003, Christian gave up his day job and worked exclusively on his precious vineyard. All the large vineyards look at him and think it odd that he doesn’t force his vines to work harder but he wants to nurture them and make small quantities of high quality wine. During the harvest, Christian employs travelling grape pickers who pick select the grapes carefully and pick everything by hand. Christian then checks all the harvest for quality and presses the grapes. Then depending on the colour the resultant juice ferments in a serious of vats or vats and oak casks. We got to taste the grape musk at various stages from recently pressed and sweet and fizzing on your tongue until a few weeks before bottling. It was a very interesting education. K purchased a couple of bottles for testing purchases for us all later!

After the visit to the vineyard it was more piles of white crockery and learning about hot windows, which many photographers would have to simulate in a studio but we have some fine windows in the cottage to utilise instead. Roger is keen to start cooking the evening meal but there’s so many lovely thing to photograph in the kitchen, it is difficult to give way for the chef!

We have a lighter dinner again, as we intend to go out with a bang tomorrow so we have a starter Ham and (the excessively photographed) Figs, the main of a very tasty Courgette Frittata and Green Salad, then Cheese and an Eton mess as a finale.

Good tart, bad tart and a fabulous mash!

Today was a jaunt into La Rochelle to do some more work on vegetables. We found a fantastic market stall that arranges their stall with little vignettes of vegetabley abundance. And around the front of these harvest festival displays are small wicker basket of beans and other legumes and each is decorated by a ring of the brightest red tomatoes. Someone has found a use for tomatoes! At the end of the vegetable market, we had espied a rotisserie with racks of slowly gyrating bronzed chickens, piles of ribs and potatoes cooked in all the lovely juices. But when we returned for our eagerly awaited hot chicken sandwiches we were 'desolee' to discover they'd run out of bread and couldn’t help us. So we went of and found a tart restaurant and I have a nice slice of Salmon and Leek Tart. They did have the Tarte flambée d’Alsace (Alsatian flaming tart), which I am rather partial to but this one looked a little custardy.

There was rather enticing chocolate tart that started to call to me so I suggested a split three ways. Unfortunately it turned out to be a rather disappointing third share of a Chocolate and Orange Tart as firstly it was covered with the thinnest and oddest custard I've ever tasted which only served to dampen the tart unnecessary, the pastry was too cooked and very difficult to penetrate and the chocolate stuff was like some hideous chocolate flavoured blancmange. Truly a disaster! We managed a couple of mouthfuls each before rejecting it outright. Waitrose and Marks & Spence both do a fine Tarte au Chocolat. How can specialist french tart shop get it so wrong?

On the way back from La Rochelle we stopped off to capture a few pumpkins and gourd shots for our portfolio. They have enormous flatbed trucks just piled high of knobbly gourds just itching to be photographed.

Fortunately Roger didn't get it as wrong and we were treated to a starter of Green Beans with Feta and Pinenuts. I’ve never been a fan of feta but I found this to be very acceptable. Jenny had made us a tasty Coq au Vin whilst we were out and this was served with a bowl of Roger’s glorious Mash Potato. I wonder if they know about my mash obsession?? And after the Cheese we tucked into a small bowl of a fabulous Brioche Bread and Butter Pudding.

Do not adjust your sets!

Clutching my tiny Leica in my hot little hand, we take lots of photographs in an impressive indoor market in Niort. Rather curiously Roger informs us, Niort is the Angelica capital of the world, though we saw little evidence of this. I never cease to be amazed in France not just by the sheer quality of the food but the enormous effort they make with the displays. There was a wall of lemons with all the lemons lined up, pointed the same way that must have taken an age to arrange. The fish are not just tipped into a shiny heap but instead carefully lined up with all their heads facing in the same direction making an iridescent carpet of glistening scales. The French laws on privacy are very strict; you cannot photograph someone without their permission and ideally a written release. I'm not concerned by this as I'm not planning to gather a lot of 'Robert Doisneau' style shots of photogenic French couples kissing each other in the street and fortunately, artichokes don’t seem to be camera shy.

However the fishmonger is intrigued by our interest photographically of his wares and modelled his impressive catch for me anyway. He also very kindly briefly liberates a lobster and crab from their tank so we can get a couple of action shots.

(Thank you to K for the inspiration of the 'smiling crab'!)
After all the snapping we went in search of lunch and despite many possible places being shut we eventually found somewhere where the wafts of garlic beckoned us in. Feeling keen to get a garlicky hit I ordered Snails in a Pastry Case. I was only slightly disappointed when it arrived sans pastry case and instead in the more typical ceramic garlic dish. At least there were lashings of garlic butter to dip my bread into.

As a 'special treat' for me we head for a tomato farm, Roger is feeling deprived after removing them from this week’s menu but after I convince him that I can be in the presence of them as long as I don’t have to ingest he leaps off eagerly! K and I head off to the poly tunnels to take artistic pictures of lettuces (as you do) but rather curiously the owner pounces upon us, as he believes us to be ‘Turkish farmers or spies (or both!) stealing his ideas’! I cannot actually say how far K and I are from looking like Turkish farmers – I am wearing Chanel for God sakes! But it does serve to show that my limited French doesn’t include “we are not Turkish farmers spying on your poly tunnels” and luckily Roger can be torn away from the tomato fields to rescue us. When he realises we a students of digital photography and not remotely interested in agriculture other than aesthetically he eagerly shows us his special tomato houses – oh goody, more tomatoes! Though I am intrigued that to ensure pollination in these huge glasshouses where there is no wind for airborne pollination they ship in boxes of large bees to perform the job. The bees live in little cardboard hives and make a tiny little bit of tomato honey – ugghh! But as tomatoes don’t produce enough sustenance for the bees they have to be fed syrup to keep them working for the good of the tomato harvest.

The afternoon was spent persuading artichokes and mushrooms to pose seductively.

After a day toiling over both a hot camera and equally hot Photoshop we were ready for Roger's meal.

He'd opted for a lighter feast after last night's bathing in both duck and goose fat and we had huge Artichokes in a piquant Vinaigrette, followed by Cep and Girolle Pasta with Cheese and a plate of very fresh Pineapple to finish

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I really think with Roger's ministrations that my photography has come on leaps and bounds and I can finally be proud of some of my food photography.

I have to give some of the credit to the Leica also. As I expected, it maybe tiny but size is not everything and it has hidden depths. When I bought my new camera who knew that it would have a food photography setting? I’d seen it in the manual but no one really reads manuals so I just thought it was curious but it does help considerably with adjusting the light and white balance (do I sound more professional?) when shooting under artificial Tungsten light – so now I understand what it’s doing I am going to make fine use of it!

So don't adjust your sets I intend to have many more delectable and mouth-watering photos on this site going forward. Say cheese or maybe artichoke!

We have been confited!

We spend the morning arranging loaves of crusty bread and lemons by the pool so we can photograph them. I also spend a lot of time chasing bees (probably rather a dangerous occupation!) to try and capture one on the throes of busyness!

After our first suggested lunch spot being found to be shut for the season or just becuase it's Tuesday - either is possible - K and I headed off into the forest. And with Roger's assistance we were very fortunate to stumble across odd little place with singularly some of the most eclectic decor ever. There was a giant snake skinned hammered to one beam, there was a huge plastic globe that probably lit up but we didn't get to witness to that, there was a head of some deer like creature, random buckets lying around and lashings of huge and garish plastic flowers. And the omnipresent extra strong florescent tube lights to ensure all vestiges of ambience are totally eliminated. A truly bizarre place!

The set menu seemed rather restrictive so I had a little Foie Gras Terrine with masses of strange garnish followed by a nice Steak (again) and a bit of Gratin Dauphinoise (though slightly curdled I have to say – I am sure I could get better at Roger's) and a random extra garnish of a miniature Vol au Vent filled with Spinach. We have some nice Cheese and a rather curious Raspberry Cream Charlotte with same garish carved fruits and excessive garnish as the starter.

Clearly our best option is to save ourselves for Roger's excellent food.

And we were proved right; tonight was a wonderful starter of Mussels in water and oil (a la Elizabeth David) and then a (light?) main course of Duck Confit with cubes of Roast Potatoes (cooked in duck fat obviously) and accompanied by Haricots (which, for a change) are in Goose Fat. We then had a couple of tasty cheeses to savour with the very good bread and a sliver of Tarte Tatin and Raspberry Tart with a Creme Anglais to finish. All served with a complete absence of day-glo garnishes, amazing!

I may not need to eat again for some time!

My camera is bigger than yours...

Lunch today was in a transport cafe full of French lorry drivers. I had wanted the duck in a peppercorn sauce and Roger had wanted one of the local specialities - eels in a parsley sauce but being Monday they couldn't oblige. Instead we both went for Steak Frites followed by a selection of really good French Cheeses and washed down with a small carafe of light red wine. The steak had a great flavour, the chips were fine and the cheese was just at peak perfection. Really not bad for a transport caff!

Tonight Roger swapped his lens for a chef's hat spoonfuls of a very ripe and gooey Vacherin and the most stunning locally picked grapes. And finally, a sliver of seriously good and terribly photogenic Raspberry Tart.

The best thing about being the first to arrive is that I was able to peruse the week’s menu and request a few tweaks – i.e. the removal of the Thai Red Curry and some Egg Mayonnaise thing. Very cunning indeed! Everything else on the planned menu looks exceedingly good.
The other course attendee, K - a lovely woman who runs her own catering company in Winchester, had joined us. We have Roger to ourse and produced a rather wonderful salad of Mozzerella, Crispy Bacon with Pine Nuts and my favourite Mâche. The main course was a really delicious Roast Chicken with Tarragon Sauce and a stupendous Mash. We then had a couple oflves this week, which is rather good for us as someone else would mean less of his undivided attention!
K’s camera is a much more impressive professional looking Canon eos with a dazzling array of dials and settings and more familiar territory for Roger. It makes my little Leica look indeed very small but size isn’t everything and I am convinced my tiny little Leica can show the big boys a thing or too!

J'arrive!

- one of Roger's giant artichokes!

Roger Stowell and his wife Jenny have a charming cream thick walled stone cottage outside the village of Vouvant. Roger is a photographer with many years of experience and worked with so many of the food writers, chefs and other foodie people that I admire. He worked with Anna del Conte on the photographs for her Northern Italy book and with Nigel Slater on a food supplement his did. He worked years ago with Terrence Conran on his Gastrodome cookbook, Albert Roux on a biographical piece and also Mark Hix when he was at the Ivy. The photography residential course – Camerahols - he runs attracts other likeminded foodies like me and as Roger is also a dab hand in the kitchen, we get to learn techniques to improve food photography and to eat his fabulous food. How perfect is that? You get to sleep in a lovely chambre d'hote across the way ran by George and Trish which used to be Roger and Jenny's old house but they wanted a place with less garden to maintain.

Roger was somewhat a pioneer in the world of food photography and prior to that worked on fashion shoots and album covers. He seems to know everyone both behind and in front of the lens. I was showing him a little booklet on comfort food that accompanied this month's Olive magazine and he knew and in many cases had worked with every photographer bar one. He worked with a then little known Elton John on his first album cover, the Rolling Stones for many years, Karl Lagerfield back in the day and currently has one of his organic food shots hanging up in Marks and Spencer's.
Clearly I am in the presence of a legendary photographer!
Jenny whipped up tonight's fare which Roger felt the need to apologise for (entirely unnecessarily) as he was collecting me from La Rochelle. We had Rilettes with Warm Toast followed by Salmon with Buerre Blanc (Roger was mortified that it wasn't homemade this time!) with New Potatoes and Minted Peas. We then had a few slivers of Rebloucon, Parmesan and Comte and a small piece of Tarte tartin. I think we are going to eat really well here.

The mash bites back!

Today I had the pleasure of experiencing one of the budget airlines so I could appreciate the true joy that is Stansted airport. It's not the airport per se that is the issue but more the whole setup and the compulsory excessive queuing. I had arrived very early (for me) and I didn't realise that you couldn't just check in, you had to stand around and then queue exactly 2 hours before the flight was due to take off. I decided that I might as well grab something to eat; as there isn't quite the selection of enticing boutiques I'm familiar with at Heathrow and selected O'Neill's as probably the best of a poor lot. You are supposed to secure a table and then order your food from the bar. This is a tricky operation for the lone traveller as securing a table means leaving your bags unattended in a crowded bar which at an airport means 'please remove my bags and dispose of in a controlled explosion'. Fortunately they were able to get me a waitress and I plumped for Sausages and Colcannon. I had meant to say "hold the gravy" but in the general excitement of securing a place to perch I forgot.

The gravy wasn't very good; it was too thick and scalding. In fact the abiding taste of the O'Neal's sausages and colcannon was burning flesh as the roof of my mouth was sacrificed to the great god of mash - Irish mash. I am afraid it wasn't a good exponent of the hearty Irish dish but the little I had sustained me until finer fare in France. Needless to say I didn't partake of any of the onboard offerings, as a) I had eaten enough at O'Neill's and I needed to leave my mouth to heal and b) due to unexplained circumstances, they had no hot food or sandwiches which I believe meant they had nothing more substantial than a packet of peanuts.

I sat and read my other new book, the rather wonderful Sudi Pigott's 'how to be a better foodie' and spent much of the flight nodding and 'uhu'ing. Clearly this book was written with me in mind! The first section is "how to be truly greedy without appearing so - and develop gustatory stamina", and the second is "the better foodie store cupboard - Prada for your larder." there's some fantastic stuff (though slightly tongue in cheek!) in this book and I do (rather anorak-ishly) have to agree with so much. I'm clearly a better foodie; well certainly pretty obsessed with all things epicurean! Though you may have spotted that already! The book is also rather fabulously decked out in pale pink and chocolate brown, it looks almost edible! It kept me very busy on the journey over to France and maybe whilst I'm here I can do a bit of Prada shopping for my larder. Well, when in France...

On arrival, there didn't seem to be a huge difference to the French countryside from the English until you looked closer. The patchwork fields are there but less green and more pale yellow almost white and brown though it's fair to say that all has been safely gathered in recently and what is left is either ploughed furrows or pale corn stubble.

La Rochelle is a dot of an airport, the KK of airports if you will. The plane next to us on the tarmac looked like it would be soon being piloted by the Red Baron! It wasn't long before we'd hit the road towards Vouvant.

The holiday starts here and the food definitely gets better!