First bite of the Apple

Well I wasn’t going to, but I was at my wits end with my elderly mobile phone having constantly drained its battery whenever I whipped it out of my handbag to make an important call. I sidled into my local mobile phone shop and whilst the telephonic vendors were otherwise engaged I had a little look at the gleaming new Apple iPhone 3GS. Hmmm it was very intriguing, it could do all manner of things I’d never realised were missing from my life but now I knew I could do such things I felt a sudden need to fill this gap. I’d been deterred from an iPhone previously because of my apparent too long nails for such touch screen manipulation but really it just takes a little getting used to. And it wasn’t long before I’d swapped networks (yes annoying there is only one that an iPhone can communicate over) and found myself a proud possessor of a shiny black iPhone. Then I immediately had to hurtle home to load all my music and see what apps I should adorn my new gadget with. And of course this being a food and travel blog that was one of my themes for app selection. Firstly I could actually access my blog on it, something my BlackBerry hadn’t been able to cope with – too many photographs or something! And within a matter of moments I had furnished myself with a plethora of colourful travel guides, a useful translation app for those tricky menu items, a restaurant locating program, the UK Michelin guide, the huge Epicurious recipe database and even a mobile Ocado app so I could order groceries from wherever I am. I used the Google maps to locate a restaurant we’d forgotten to write the address down of within hours of owning it and the inbuilt camera was also immediately deployed to snap a few of the delicious delights we ate. There’s a great collection of photographic apps so I can recolour photos or rather bizarrely make any picture I take look like a seventies cookbook image. I’ve also got a couple of painting programs so I can while away train journeys both listening to music or an audio book and creating things like the illustrative apple bite picture above, though I don’t feel Van Gogh needs to worry himself too much! I can’t really rationalise my need to have Excel close to me all the time but I blame my inner geek there and now even that desire has been sated. I noticed there was an app to help with grilling meat but feeling I know how to do that task I have managed to resist so far. I’ve also been able to hold myself back from Cooking Mama but I did plump for and am now a big fan of Cooking Quest – a hidden objects game ever so slightly based on the theme of cooking, but still fun nonetheless.
I also have ELLE à table, my French is far from fluent but I have always been fond of the pictures and trying to read the magazine and now that A-A will not be nipping over to Paris regularly it will be harder to get my French recipes magazine fix. And to try and make inroads with my clearly inadequate French I have also uploaded all Michel Thomas’ French lessons CDs. I shouldn’t be too surprised that I have found my little Apple so strangely alluring, I always was a fan of a gadget and this has got to be one of the ultimate ones. This has been my very first foray into the Apple world, I’d been one of those mavericks with another MP3 player not the one that all the boutique hotels in New York provide adapters and chargers for. No I had to be different! And that’s not just because I didn’t fancy white earphones.
As much as I had admired an Apple Mac from a distance I was determined to stick with what I know and what my clients pretty much exclusively have when choosing a new laptop but I can really see the allure.
But for now I am happy to report that I think that I am pretty covered for fruit based communications devices - I have a BlackBerry for work and an Apple for pleasure. Let me know when they bring out an Apricot or even better my favourite RaspBerry but I’ll pass on the Banana as I really don’t like the smell!

Lifting the lid on more hampers...

Just when I thought I’d fantasised about the perfect hamper enough over the last couple of weeks, what do I spy on the printer at work today but a Selfridges voucher with the magic words ‘exclusive Anya Hindmarch-designed Christmas Hampers’ catching my eye. Well, I thought it was worth a little glance at their website!
And on checking it out I was struck by Anya’s quote:

“I have always been fascinated by hampers, their history and Britishness, but am always disappointed by yet another basket whose contents I don’t actually want to keep. When Selfridges asked if I wanted to design a hamper, I leapt at the idea of not only designing a hamper but choosing what I would really like to receive in one. The sort of ‘hamper you would really like hamper'”.

And she has really gone to town on the humble hamper. The yellow accents are very Selfridges for those not in the know and the big bow and A and H and so very Anya Hindmarch, generally emblazoned across her handbags. The range start with ‘Mother’s Ruin’ a tongue-in-cheek one for the mother-in-law containing a bottle of gin and a little cakes iced with the letters H I and C!

The top of the range is the £1000 Ultimate Girl’s, which contains amongst other things, forty bottles of nail varnish. Sadly it seems I can’t be anywhere near being the ‘ultimate girl’ because as much as I always have painted nails, they are always painted in the same colour – black! Well, it keeps things simple! There is also an iPod Nano, a Dolly Parton CD (?), Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Pretty Woman DVDs and the rather wonderful little Luxe travel guides. But surprisingly the only edible thing nestling amongst all the nail varnish, cleansers and tweezers are the (obligatory frankly) Charbonnel et Walker pink champagne truffles and hot chocolate, Anya Hindmarch designed Biscuiteers biscuit tin (with one hopes some biscuits contained therein) and raspberry marshmallow fluff. So the ultimate girl likes to tweeze, anoint and polish, entertain herself by reading etcetera but doesn’t really like to eat! However as Anya Hindmarch is the legendary handbag designer there is also a yellow cracker which well pulled could turn into a designer handbag – bonus! You can even customise your gift with an especially engraved yellow leather luggage tag.

I guess if nails aren’t your thing you could plump for the ‘Glutton’s hamper instead. Here you’ll find the more standard hamper fare, mint thins and chocolate coins, panettone, afternoon tea bags, Gentleman's Relish, coffee, Christmas pudding , brandy butter, ‘The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover' DVD and A.A. Gill’s ‘Breakfast at the Wolseley’. And there is still the opportunity to win a fine handbag to go with your hamper.

There’s also a rather quirky Best of British hamper containing such iconic treats as Black Jacks, marmalade, Harrogate Toffee in a tin, Marmite (ughhh!), a tin of Colman's mustard powder, golden syrup, HP sauce, Monty Python 'The Meaning of Life' DVD and even a little Selfridges black taxi.

I thought before I closed the hamper catalogues for this year I should also check out Harrods though. Their top-of-the-shop most extravagant is the Chairman’s Choice at £5000. This is most exclusive as only eight have been made and in the handmade basket you’ll find a side of salmon, Brie de Meaux, truffle ham and Beluga caviar. And rare gems like a 30-year-old single cask Macallan 30 from Douglas Laing and a bottle of the dry Y de Château Y’quem. The seem to be a very distinct lack of nail polish and the cashmere fripperies so adorned by Snow Queens but there’s plenty of gourmet tuck! It seems that Harrods like to add to the air of mystery – lucky dip approach to hamper buying as they don’t like all the components. For example an individual item you can purchase is a box of luxury silver Pear Tree crackers which for the princely sum of £299 you can delight your guests with “a handmade crown for him or her, a booklet brimming with humour and trivia, a superb individually wrapped gift and a traditional snap”. But what sort of gifts could you expect; I guess there’s only one way to find out. Though I’m fairly sure it wouldn’t be one of those little metal puzzles or a cloth tape measure.

After due consideration I am still firmly in the Harvey Nichols’ and Fortnum and Mason’s camp and would just adore a few choice Harvey Nix goodies with a touch of F&M Snow Queen magic applied. If you haven’t seen the verbal drooling over their hamper offerings this year click here. But to be frank, as I have been privy to several conversations on this subject; especially regarding the wanton excess of the Snow Queen hamper – a princessly £25,000 don’t you know (and that’s not too many noughts!) If I had a spare £25k, one would assume I would live in a place palatial enough to house such enormously plump hampers but if by some extraordinary incredible and totally unlikely luck I was to be suddenly a proud possessor of such a fine assortment of magnificence, I’d probably have to move out. I don’t think there’s room for both me and a Snow Queen in my current abode. But a diva can dream can’t she?

And Fortnum’s if you are reading this, well done for just so fabulously trouncing all the other hampers providers in the unashamed luxury and sheer unadulterated opulence stakes this year with your Snow Queen - you are spoiling us. The Harrods’ Chairman Choice just isn’t even a contender.

Hamper Heaven!

As I’ve mentioned before here, I am very susceptible to a fine hamper. And it’s not just the wicker ones, with several china (and they do have to be china) plates strapped inside their lid, folded red napkins, chequered table cloth, a battery of corkscrews, cheese and bread knives and a dinky salt and pepper mill. But I also love the baskets crammed with all manner of exotic cans, packets and bottles nestling amongst straw or heaven forbid those infuriating polystyrene chips that the moment the basket/box is open my natural static electricity tendencies causes them to leap out of the box and adhere to every available surface. I’ve had this fascination with hampers as long as I can remember; from my first doll sized hampers to the fine specimens I have today. And I have to admit to owning more than one.
Many years ago I received a couple of hampers from my then employers with a heartfelt handwritten note from the chairman thanking me for some arduous task I’d completed. And I was just beside myself. To be honest the scarily lurid green basket immediately became the property to one of my more appreciative neighbours and the goodies therein were occasionally curious and ill advised, but it was a hamper and a lucky dip and just filled me with a strange joy.
Each year when the purveyors of such wicker goodies start plying their wares, I do take a particular fascination in their extensive catalogue and pour over them making the choice of which I’d like to receive most for myself. So last week when both the elegant Harvey Nichols’ and Fortnum and Mason Christmas hamper catalogues plopped on to my doormat much studying was needed and virtual hampers were constructed.
In the pale blue corner there is Fortnum & Mason, they have a stylish slightly remiscent of flock wallpaper fronted catalogue the iconic F&M stencilled on to the exterior of their wicker hampers. They have classic baskets stuffed with sides of smoked salmon, oozy cheeses and cooked hams. They have names like Windsor, St James’, Imperial, Connoisseur, Burlington and the Glorious Three Hundred (a nod to the impressive age of the pale blue foodie emporium). The pinnacle of their hamper menu this year is the Snow Queen at the eye watering price of £25,000 – no your eyes aren’t deceiving you. It may have been a long time ago, but I paid less than that for a house, well strictly half a house as it was a maisonette! And if you’re wondering how you can get your hands on one for the Snow Queen in your life, sadly it’s only available from the UK site, perhaps it would require its own private jet.
But just in case you are wondering how much extravagant food one can fill a single hamper with, the Snow Queen seems to be an array of white hampers just oozing with glamorous items. As well as every epicurean delight you can possibly think of - (think foie gras en croûte for 25, truffles both Champagne laced and chocolate dusted and also rooted out by an obliging dog (I hear pigs are so passé) from around Perigold, Beluga caviar, lashings of bubbly, Snow Queen vodka (naturally) huge meringues and even chocolate mice), there are softer treats. There are cashmere doodads to envelop every part of a snow queen, from slippers to robes, wraps, scarves, gloves and even a hot water bottle cover. There are silver picture frames, candlesticks, plump satin cushions, Champagne flutes, a Champagne jug and leather knick-knacks; it's just a bounty of diva-tastic adornments. Those Snow Queens certainly know how to live it up, check the full contents here.

I must admit the thought of a Snow Queen always seemed a little alluring, I know she’s the baddie but she gets to swan around in fabulous fur trimmed hats and cloaks tended by minions, permanently surrounded by snowflakes and sat regally in her chic white sleigh whilst plying young boys with Turkish Delight (oh no that might be white witch cavorting around Narnia in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe) and then swooping off to her icy palace near the North Pole. The bad ones always get the best lairs!
Such an indulgent, extravagant, aspirational and entirely unattainable hamper it may but I bet whoever put it all together had a ball. Hmmm I wonder if hamper consultants need a new recruit.
Then in the black and white corner we have Harvey Nichols. Firstly Harvey Nix doesn’t favour the large wicker basket, fastened with leather strap as Fortnum’s do. Not that these are not really lovely but I do ponder as to what the serial hamper receiver would do with all that wicker. Maybe there’s one to take the cat to the vet, one to house all those food magazines they haven’t brought themselves to recycle yet or of course replenished with picnic sweetmeats and hoisted to the nearest grassy knoll. But if you truly did receive one every year, and frankly I am enormously jealous, what would you do with them all? My town is very aggressive with recycling, we have the paper, cardboard, glass, cans, plastic and food waste collected, but no one has ever mentioned what to do with a surplus of wicker baskets. Maybe Harvey Nix considered that or more likely wanted to continue their sleek photographic image theme onto the packaging and eschewed the basket, instead a glossy box adorned with ladies feasting on spaghetti or old Italian men looking a little grumpy will protect the enticing goodies therein.
This time the hampers (some say boxes) are called Epicurean, Connoisseur again, Fashionista, Festive, Contemporary, Indulgence and their top prize – the Ultimate at £2,500. I actually read the Harvey Nix catalogue first so was thinking of the wild excess that is until I turned the pages of the F&M booklet.
The Ultimate is not chock full of cashmere and crystal fripperies but instead has every distinctively designed packet, tin and box you can think of. There's the infamous image of the pig's snout on the mushroom and truffle sauce, the large operatic diva on the pandorinos, the chocolate besmirched boy on the coasters, the beach bums on some biscuits and my favourite the Baci woman on placemats, cups and sweet treats. There are also some rather fetching Peugeot salt and pepper mills, the obligatory Champagne flutes with some fabulous Krug rosé to christen them with, a spice grinder, truffle slicer and a rather splendid Wusthof knife block set. For the full list, click here. Though out of the twenty four hampers I am not sure if this is what I would plump for, if pushed to select a favourite as for example I has some wonderful knifes already and how many knife blocks does one very compact kitchen need? No I’d picked 'Indulgence' – not just because I love the name but as I’m fully knifed-up but don’t yet possess the espresso cup and saucer set that frankly every coffee hater needs. And there still an abundance of little goodies to admire, and I do so adore their packaging – I know it shouldn’t matter but it just does!

To compare the hampers from Fortnum and Mason with those from Harvey Nichols is almost not possible as they are just so different, but if I was selecting my own ingredients for my perfect hamper – The Diva let’s call it, I would have a mixture from both. In the Fortnum’s one you have the making of a full gourmet meal, I’d want the foie gras en croûte and the fresh white truffle of course, the Beluga just because and the smoked salmon. I would have to have the sublime truffly cheese Boschetto al Tartufo and the crab terrine. Now Harvey Nichols speciality is all the great store cupboard ingredients to accompany the above so I’d want plenty of risotto rice, aged Balsamic vinegars, the aforementioned mushroom and truffle sauce, white truffle oil, lemon oil and all the other wonderful little condiments they do so very well in their fifth floor gourmand paradise. Maybe the espresso cups, though Baci di Dama is my favourite image so I’d maybe just have all of those. I’d have the olive wood cheese board to top with the cheeses and any sundry cheese knives they have. As the moths have been merrily making my cashmere their personal playground perhaps I fill the corners of my hamper not filled with some ginger chocolates, macaroons and pink Champagne with some silver of cashmere loveliness. Oh and the whole lot could go in one of the white F&M hampers as I suspect I am part Snow Queen.
I realise not many probably share my fascination for 'hamper porn', but they make me very happy and I just can't help but be drawn to those shiny catalogues, hmmmm hampers!

A Serious fan!

I mentioned recently my joy at finding another seriously good dessert from those clever Serious Food people. This fabulously photogenic Gianduja Mousse with Sea Salted Caramel in their slinky newly revamped ceramic pots was their latest creation to adorn my ever popular heart-shaped plates and it tastes even better than it looks.

And then I heard from the Serious Food PR people, it seems my adoration hasn’t gone unnoticed. Each month fellow Serious Food lovers are sent a newsletter with news on their brands, some recipes from their chefs, details of some tasty competitions and a Serious recommends section.

This month Serious are recommending checking out “Come Dine with Me” (which is definitely one of those shows that make you shout at the TV “why on earth did you say that/cook that or feed that to your unfortunate sadly delusional guests?”, the Food Lover Britain website to enlighten discerning food lovers as to their local foodie treats and finally a blog – in fact this little old blog. Well thank you kindly, Serious Food – the feeling is mutual!

Another seriously good Serious Food

Those people at Serious Food are very good! I have adored their hot chocolate fondant in the dinky little cup from the moment I first clapped eyes on them in Waitrose and then met the ever so delightful Serious Fooders at the Taste of London festival last year. And they are as lovely as their desserts.

Then I discovered a new fabulous addition to their range in a new gorgeous little white ceramic pot. The revamped pot has three little dents for your middle fingers on one side and one more for your thumb on the opposite side. That means that you can grip your chocolaty dessert comfortably and not let one morsel slip through your fingers – clearly pretty critical! And you have to admit it looks ever so fine crowning my YSL heart-shaped (so beloved of N!) porcelain plates and finished off with a similarly shaped Alessi espresso spoon.

And the delicious new pot of loveliness? That would be (I hope you’re sitting down M?) Gianduja Mousse with Sea Salted Caramel and it has a twin. And what you get in your gently dimpled cup is a sea salted caramel sauce topped with a gianduja chocolate praline mousse, decorated with chocolate shards and roasted hazelnuts. Oh my! And it is as good as it sounds!

For the curious amongst you Gianduja or sometimes called Gianduia is a hazelnut and almond sweet chocolate speciality of Turin. I also believe that Nutella is a distant cousin, a product that I can honestly say I don’t think I have ever tried, perhaps my dislike of peanut butter sublimely armed me against it.

But the Serious Food dessert – I recommend you get your hand around that curvy little pot as soon as you can. And if Ocado had it on their books, my life would be complete and also M could taste what I am talking about. Hurry up Ocado, your public are waiting!

An underground treat

We’re going to sample the delights of Tom’s Place later but D and I have decided it might be worth a little King’s Road detour along the way! We've been distracted by thoughts of fabulous sparkly things; you see it not always about mash potatoes! MC is intrigued by our tenacity in the drizzly weather but when he realises that certain Thomas Sabo heart-shaped lovelies (see left) are in my sight, he understands.

But before the mission he wants feeding so we descend the stairs into the cool, light Daylesford Organics Café. In the centre of the room is a large solid table with tall chairs to teeter on and we’re lucky to find a free slot here. The choice seems to be between steamy bowls of organic vegetable soup, their famous artisan bread made into interesting sandwiches or omelettes.

With tonight’s fish in my mind I go for the hot and cold smoked salmon with polenta, salad and pumpernickel bread and am not disappointed. The salmon clearly has classy provenance, and the hot smoked salmon was just perfect flaking into deep rosy translucent slivers crowned with a dab of the feisty creamy horseradish sauce. A forkful of salmon with a morsel of the flavoursome soft polenta is also a very good thing! I was really impressed with the quality of Daylesford Organic produce, and they do a pretty good cup of tea as well. And another heart-shaped adornment, I think I see a theme!

I was shocked to see amongst all the goodies on sale was a vine tomato candle, almost definitely my idea of hell, but the stem ginger one that D bought me, considerably more heavenly!

A seriously good dessert!

I spotted an intriguing new dessert in Waitrose today, well new for me anyway. I was reaching for a Gü pudding but clearly influenced by M’s fetish for little china dishes I was drawn to the lovely little china cups these desserts come in.

And the dessert itself looked very interesting; they come from the Serious Food Company who make wonderful little 'only natural ingredients' 'additive-free' desserts which I think may be exclusive to Waitrose. They also do a very interesting looking trio of square crème brulees in a little divided china dish that could be worth investigating.

All you do is pop the little china cup into the microwave for 25 seconds, leave it for a minute (prefect to take a quick photograph!) and then tuck in - seriously delicious!

This is probably what I should have had for the Valentine’s Day dessert as it looked especially fine on one of my heart shaped YSL plates with the similarly heart shaped little Alessi coffee spoon. Seriously good indeed! The pudding is really good, a proper dark chocolate fondant pudding with a rich liquid chocolatey sauce, and a good size - i.e. not too big!

And as you guess, I really like the cups, for someone who would never drink coffee I have strange and unnatural feelings towards little coffee/espresso cups! Seriously odd!

So M, you do need to check out these desserts and the cups - I don't think they're available on Ocado yet, but hopefully they will be soon as they already have some of the other Serious Food Company range. You will become seriously addicted, I am sure!

Chopping - Epicurean style

I've been on a chopping frenzy! I bought a new chopping board from the Art of Living website and it's really rather good. I found out about the Art of Living site when I was looking for stockists for the Nigella liquorice espresso cups and this was one of the places recommended by Nigella's site. And I want to recommend them also, it's so rare that when you purchase something from the internet that you get a personal email about your items and when I asked if they could bring the delivery date forward, they did. I'll definitely use them again.
So whilst I was browsing for my gorgeous liquorice goodies, my eye was drawn to one of these boards. I have seen Epicurean chopping boards in cook shops but not in black before. And as everything I bought in this order was black, it seemed appropriate to continue the theme. The boards are very unusual, they are light and thin and made of wood pulp and resin which is good for your knives. They could go into a dishwasher, if that's important to you, but also are heat resistant - though I am not entirely sure I want to test that property. But what is important is that they're environmentally friendly as they are constructed of a composite laminate. The brown ones always looked a little too MDF for me hence me not being a great fan before, but who ever heard of black MDF?

And every time I chop something, I'm always reminded how delighted I am still with my fabulous drop-forged Global knife (GF32). It has a very pleasing weight and makes many other knives, even others in the Global range, just seem too light. I keep it super sharp with my Shinkansen water sharpener as I've never really grasped the steel sharpening technique and these water sharpeners are recommended for Global knives.
I do have a great chopping board already, but I wanted a second bigger one as I really like chopping things. I even have a chopping board under my desk at work in case I get the urge to chop something up there.
Does that sound vaguely sinister?

Two little pigs

I had mentioned previously that D had bought me the fabulous little salt piglets from the new Nigella liquorice range for Christmas, but I was waiting to get another salt before showing them off. I had considered the aromatic red 'piment d’ Espelette' much prized by Pascal Aussignac of Club Gascon. But then I remember that I already had some unopened Fleur de Sel from my last trip to Normandy. I guess you're supposed to display salt in one of the pigs and pepper in the other but as I insist on my pepper freshly ground, it will have to be two salts instead for me.
In the left one I have Maldon sea salt with its fat soft crumbly ever so white crystals and in the right the hand harvested Brittany Fleur de Sel (flower of salt) with its smaller and slightly off-white crystals.
And the piglets themselves are just so very lovely, pleasingly ovoid and curvaceous, they just beg to be stroked. They come complete with a little black tray to catch any errant salt crystals. Here they are with all their oily and otherwise friends lorded over by the Alessi tripod lemon squeezer - another thing of beauty!
I use pepper more often than salt so my electronic pepper grinder is very useful for one handed grinding.

This is my first foray into the Nigella liquorice range but I 'may' have some other goodies on order! What is particularly delightful about the design of most of the range (piglets excluded) is the matt black voluptuous curves on the outside contrasting with the glossy black convex interior. I first heard that Nigella was branching out from the cream and eggshell blue range (which lovely as it was, would never be happy in my monochromatic home) to the gorgeous black on my birthday whilst in Gap in Manhattan with DD shopping for crocodiles. And how did I find out about them in the middle of Gap? Because D spotted them in a Sunday magazine and immediately texted me as she knew I would just have to have them for my kitchen paraphernalia collection.
And now I do!

Object of desire

Isn’t this just such a fine specimen of kitchen loveliness? I stumbled across a competition to win a black Kitchen Aid on the Nigella site – unfortunately after the competition had ended though! I’ve lusted after a Kitchen Aid for ever so long but when I was confronted with a bargain shiny and gorgeous chrome one several years ago when a small kitchen shop at Borough Market was closing down, I came over all un-customarily practical and admitted that my kitchen is just too small to give it the sort of statue and space it deserves. And frankly I’m not a very prolific baker at all. I need to chop and blend more than mix and these jobs I generally do with my Bamix now, I really can’t remember the last time I used my food processor or blender. Though if I did have the space for one, I'd probably make bread more often and perhaps become more domestic goddess-like just so I could drool over my Kitchen Aid.

I have a picture of a whisk from a Kitchen Aid from one of Nigel Slater’s Observer cooking columns from years ago. This may be the nearest I get to having one in this tiny kitchen. Never mind I can but dream!

Nigella does Christmas

And isn't this just a fabulous photograph of the stunning Nigella?

I have really been enjoying the Nigella’s Christmas Kitchen show on Wednesday at 8pm on BBC1. She does shows like this so very well and clearly she enjoys Christmas and all the festive paraphernalia a huge amount (deep breath, D!) and she certainly does a good party! On the first episode we saw gingerbread Christmas tree decorations (I know you think it’s cannibalism flamed-haired H!) made which the aid of her children Bruno and Mimi (Cosima) who looked almost as glamorous as their mother! We also saw a aromatic spiced ham, a chocolate fruit cake and amongst other things some very interesting mulled cider. If I hadn’t already plumped for Winter PIMM’S for ‘the gathering’, I think this would be the drink.

On the second show my favourite idea was the Parma ham bundle but my version will NOT contain goats’ cheese in any shape or form but will still be very, very tasty! And another drink that caught my eye was the ‘Christmas in a glass’. The party poussins looked really great though I’m not crazy about couscous and some of the other bits so I’d probably do the little with less of a Moroccan vibe and perhaps do Jamie Oliver’s “Roasted Hamilton poussin wrapped with streaky bacon and stuffed with potatoes and sage" from Return of the Naked Chef. I’ll definitely be tuning in on Wednesday for the final episode with recipes for Spiced and super-juicy roast turkey with all the marvellous trimmings.

A lot of these recipes come from Nigella’s last book Feast and it’s definitely encouraged me to get out my copy and consider some of her recipes for this year’s festivities. In fact there’s now one heading up North to make this plan a bit easier! Ding dong merrily on high.

And looking at this book again I've had a yen for one of these big cooking pots ever since Nigella waxed lyrical about them and brought both a shiny and brushed steel version out in her living kitchen range. But I really wanted the shiny one, and it seems I could have left it too late because everyone seems to have the brushed steel one only. Shame!

Most favourite kitchen gadget(s)

I stumbled across a site today called ‘Is my Blog Burning?’ - which appears to be a site for food blogging events. I blog, I am a food blogger so I was immediately interested. They are posing a question about favourite kitchen gadgets and this has really got me thinking. I love kitchen gadgets; I have a fine, extensive and mostly shiny collection of kitchen objects but as for a favourite, hmmm…

To make it easier I will make a short list.

I swear by my Bamix, it so good for whizzing up a soup, grating cheese, crushing ice, making mayonnaise (even though I don’t like eating mayonnaise, I enjoy making it. Is that weird?) and so much more. Bamix’s are a joy to wash up which is so much more that I can say about a food processor or blender. D’s Bamix is not very well at the moment due to a small accident of dropping it and it losing a foot. It seems that all three feet are most integral to a Bamix working properly. I have been hankering after a new Bamix as they are now a pleasing dull silver colour – so I intend to get one at the next food show I attend and sell my three footed one to D. A cunning plan indeed! I also love my mandoline and my authentic v-slicer. The mandoline is better looking, shiny and industrial looking but the v-slicer is just so easy to clean which makes it a more viable option.

I have a beautiful black, granite and curiously curvy John Julian mortar and pestle but I’m not Jamie Oliver I don’t need to bash stuff every day so even though it’s very tactile and lovely, I just don’t use it enough to be my favourite

I have a favourite wooden spoon which has a china Alice in Wonderland style cake on the end for absolutely no reason whatever, but a wooden spoon could never be my favourite.

My favourite spatula type/slotted spoon/turner is an old favourite from Lakeland Limited only slightly marred by it not being heatproof so it is gradually melting every time I use it. And Lakeland have discontinued it otherwise I’d upgrade it – how tragic! I like a nice butter knife and this one has a bee on it (well it is a Laguiole) so is my favourite butter knife. My latest pastry brush is very pleasing – brushed steel and black little tendrils. I was compelled to get it after a bad experience with a Beef Wellington and a balding pastry brush that shed so many nasty plastic bristles I had to warn everyone to check each mouthful.

I was rather taken by this spoon balance for weighing small quantities many years ago in Paris but it wasn’t until I discovered it again in David Mellor I was able to add it to my collection. My favourite peeler is nice and wide and produces satisfactory curls of chocolate and Parmesan and is also a great potato and other vegetable peeler. But still not my favourite gadget! I have several excellent cheese knives but this one is very good for Brie and Camembert and is pleasingly mouse shaped.

And then there’s the top five!

Microplane graters do such a brilliant job of grating and zesting. I love the gossamer of lemon zest it produces which then just melts into my risotto or sauce or salad.

An electric pepper grinder seems such an indulgence but I do so like a quick one handed grind of the aromatic black spice to whatever pan I’m stirring. And I do use a lot of black pepper.

When magic whisks started being recommended by many cooks, it was such a revelation and it has the word 'magic' in the title. No one likes a lumpy sauce and the magic whisk can fix a multitude of sins and whip up a very fine vinaigrette or dressing. I even keep a spare one in my drawer at work - just in case!

A potato ricer - as I’ve said before it does a fantastic job of turning cooked potatoes into pleasing worms to enable creamy mashing and it saves me from having to peel potatoes – excellent! And with my love of mash it’s a close thing.

And then there is my pointiest, spotty handled, heaviest and most favourite knife – my drop forged Global chef’s knife. It feels so comfortable in my hand, and it probably gets used nearly every time I enter the kitchen to prepare any food. Saying that a knife is my favourite kitchen gadget seems so obvious but probably true, I’ve tried cooking in a kitchen with no decent knives and you realise how important they are to nearly every dish you produce. And even though some of the kitchens I have the pleasure to cook in (D and M etcetera) have excellent knives - it's just not this particular knife and I do miss the feel of it in my hand.

But to be less dull I’ll select my knife and magic whisk as my joint favourites.

Though really all of these fabulous gadgets are my favourites and I love them all dearly. And if I think about it more, I'm sure I'll find even more favourites. So I better stop now!

What's your favourite kitchen gadget?