In which GG gets festive.

Busy week in the Glutton household. Saturday saw the annual girls' christmas dinner. This has been a tradition for six years - me, Emily Jo, Ailsa and Charlotte congregating at Sharmin's for dinner. Lots has changed, including boyfriends, husbands and locations and in fact this year was the first year that a boy was allowed to attend - Emily Jo's new baby Jonah. So, we love it. Sharmin is a great cook and a brilliant host and for me, this annual dinner marks the start of Christmas - we have pressies and dancing and I wouldn't miss it for anything.

We kicked off with some spectacular canapes - pink devilled eggs (eggs dyed with beetroot) and blue cheese and apple in red chicory leaves. Dinner was amaze. A sweet onion pie had a lovely doughy crust and a really savoury/sweet filling. This came with roasted red peppers with capers (sharply flavoured, went brilliantly with the onion pie) and a salad of sprouts, green beans and


lettuce. Dessert though, was the star. Sharm has never really forgiven herself for serving, two years ago, a ready made dessert. The excuse (and it was one we all could get on board with) was that she had just hooked up with her new man and had more important things to do than make puddings. However, on that occasion she served mini pancakes as canapes, made from mixture left over from breakfast pancakes that the new man has suggested she save for us. We were disposed to like him. Anyway, back to 2009. The dessert was a chocolate and prune steamed pudding. The prunes were puree and it had the most velvet texture, was light and rich and I had to restrain myself from wolfing it. All in all, a brilliant night.

As we speak, I am steaming three Christmas puddings. I was so worried about them boiling dry I overfilled the pans so in the mad boiling frenzy the puddings may have become a bit waterlogged, which I hope isn't a huge problem. To be honest, I imagine that anything that has an initial 5 hour steam followed by another three hour steam can stand a bit of water, but any advice, as always, gratefully recieved.

Lots of love,

GG

In which I remind people who GG is

You may be forgiven for thinking some disaster had befallen the Glutton household. The truth is I've actually been horrifically busy at work and at weekends, so I haven't really had much spare time lately. It's been quite a gluttonous couple of weeks though, and I have a lot to update on!
The nice people at Eurostar gave GluttonBoy a pair of first-class tickets to Lille. We went to Lille for our anniversary last year so we were looking forward to eating and not having to do any sightseeing. Lille, as you may well know, is a very foodie type of place and we'd earmarked a few places we wanted to go back to.
On arrival, we started with a cafe creme at Caffe Leffe before a recce in the best bookshop in town, Furet Nord. The cookbook section was of course HUGE, with emphasis on verrines (little terrines in glasses), macaroons and creme brulees. We earmarked future purchases before heading off into the old town. First stop, was Alice Delice - a lovely boutique cookware shop. Last time I bought some paper you put on buscuits to make a pattern. The shop was full of very professional serve-ware - mini creme brulee dishes, mini soup bowls and oversize spoons in which to serve canapes and amuse buches, on slate tiles. It got me thinking that the French have a very different approach to food and entertaining. They really value home cooking, regional cooking and are happy to go out for a bowl of casserole, but if they entertain at home, then it's really on - complete with professional level presentation and effort. Even things like jam making equipment were nicer - they don't use old jars from Lidl, but lovely new Bonne Maman style jars they've bought specially.
Next, was the search for Guillaume Vincent - we bought a box of ganaches last time in Lille, and they were, without exception, the nicest chocolates I've ever had. It look much walking to find it, but was worth it. The woman was being besieged by posh teenagers and look relieved to only have to deal with us and our sub-GCSE-level French. Loaded with ganaches we went off for lunch to the Estaminet we hadn't been able to get into last time. An estaminet is a traditionally Lille restaurant and this brilliant. Ooom-pa-pa music blaring, tables with checked cloths, everything came with cheese or cow innards. Really, GB was in his element, particularly when the 13% beer arrived.

He had andouillete with chips and I had chicken swimming in cheese (morailles) sauce, and chips.
You can see the horrific aftermath here:

So, sated, full of cheese, we stumbled out into Lille. We'll gloss over the horror what was the christmas market and instead dwell on Meert, which must be one of the prettiest tea rooms in Europe. Dark wood, gilt, elaborately beautiful displays, ribbons, exquisite cakes and sweets. We had a lovely tea and shared a Mervielleux and a Mille Feuille. Then, off to Carrefour for a quick scoot round for Mont Blanc chocolate pudding, vanilla sugar and some biscuits. And then home.

Lille is a brilliant place for a day out. I hate flying and being at the airport early, security etc etc, so the speed and efficiency of Eurostar is perfect for me. Add in that the staff are lovely and that you're in the centre of Lille less than 90 minutes after leaving London and it just seems like a perfect way to spend a day - stroll round the old town, have some nice lunch, and then home. Fab.

GluttonGirl

So I know it's been very quiet on the GluttonGirl front, which is breaking the cardinal rule of blogging, but in my defence work has been mental, I've been doing lots of extra-curricular things and also been flat hunting for a bigger home for the Gluttons. The least said the better about the flat hunting but suffice to say I've not been doing a whole load of cooking. Having said that, I've done a fair bit of baking but still been struggling to find my kitchen love.

Hurrah hurrah though, that is all set to change. GB and I are off to Lille on Saturday for the day, courtesy of We Are Social. We went last year for our wedding anniversary and pretty much spent the weekend stumbling from food shop to eating place and back again. I also came home laden with all manner of yummy things culled from chic delis, chocolateries, bakeries and the large supermarket. A whole suitcase worth, in fact.

This year we are even more excited as the christmas market will be on and I particularly have my eye on gingerbread, some nice meat of some kinds and almost certainly cheese. I also plan to buy some more amazing chocolates, some foie gras of some kind and also again pop into Carrefour for all manner of french supermarket yumminess. We're taking lots of bags to bring it all back and also going to the bookshop to pick up some cookbooks, as if we don't have enough. I love Lille. It is big enough to feel like a proper town, is manageable in size and its the sort of food GB and I really love - meat, cheese, beer and potatoes. None of this mediterrean nonsense. Proper, cream-filled, rib-stickers.

On another note, I also uploaded my entry into the Carnation.co.uk podcast competition - I made some chocolate caramel muffins. The prize is the chance to film a podcast (or pudcast!) with Phil Vickery.

Will update on return from La Belle France.

Lots of love

GG

In which the Glutton household gets a new addition

You may have noticed (or you may not) that all has been a bit quiet from GG lately. The house has been totally preoccupied with our new arrival, the most gorgeous new ginger kitten called, somewhat improbably, Whitney Houston. Our last cat, the beloved Polly, had been old when we got her and a sedate lady, happy to while away the days snoozing on laps. WH is only happy when she's climbing, biting, or sprinting round our small flat chasing ping pong balls. Lucky for her she's the cutest kitten we've ever seen otherwise it would be slightly dispiriting. Anyway, what with Whitney and GB working late shifts all week I haven't been doing a whole lot of cooking, and what I have been doing has been quick and not especially worth reporting.

The arrival of the cold weather though (and urrgh, wasn't yesterday vile?) means the reappearance of some Glutton household favourites, macaroni cheese, toad in the hole, pie... GB loves a pie and when he's been especially nice he does get rewarded with one - chicken and vegetable or cherry, depending on his mood.

On the subject of pie, I have three tins of pumpkin puree in the cupboard, waiting for thanksgiving. I plan a pumpkin pie (using the recipe on the back of the Libby's tin which, according to the bible that is Saveur magazine, is the best one of all and the most authentic) and possibly even some pumpkin cupcakes from the Hummingbird Bakery book. While I think that book isn't the easiest to use, the recipes are fantastic and have elicited some great comments, so I'm persevering!

More soon, lots of love

GG

In which Glutton Girl feels a bit sad, then a bit better

So, as you can imagine, with a name like Glutton Girl, I'm not exactly sylph like. You don't need to take out a window to get me out of the house, but still. But my husband likes me and as much as I would love to be slightly slimmer, I love food too much to say no to a second helping. Or even a first helping. But, this week, the doctor was a bit mean and told me to lose weight and lower my blood pressure. Now I have no desire to become a diabetes-ridden hag, so have decided to take action before I'm forced to really give up what I love most. The question is, is it possible to be a low-cal Glutton Girl? Big flavours are the way to go, so I'm thinking pan-Asian. Vegetarian is good also so I'm thinking south Indian. Giving chicken some flavour would help, so I'm thinking Lebanese/Arab spicing. Actually, doesn't sound so bad. Tonight's dinner (planned before the advent of the new regime) is paella with chorizo, pork, spinach and peppers. Apart from the chorizo its not the worst thing in the world. And tomorrow the lunchtime walking club starts at work, Saturday is the first bellydance class and next Thursday is my first session... of boxing training! And not just to bop the doctor on the nose.
Will keep you posted on how it goes - fingers crossed I don't go too crazy...

Lots of love
GG

In which GG does not go to Norway

So, I love Norway. I love the scenery, I love the people, I love the way of life. Mostly what I love are the two of my closest friends that are Norwegian - Barbie who lives here and Ingrid, who now lives back in Norway with her English partner Harvey and their beautiful beyond words daughter Molly.

And this weekend, after what hasn't been the easiest year in the Glutton household, I was due to spend a weekend in Norway with Ingrid, Harvey and Molly. Nothing fancy - some light baking (more on that shortly), a little bit of sitting on the veranda wrapped in blankets looking out onto the fjord and waiting for a big boat to come past so we can all shout Big Boooooat, some gentle strolling to the organic farm for the most expensive coffee in the western world. As I say, nothing fancy, nothing that's a showstopper, but just quiet, understated, good for the soul loveliness. And that is the essence of Norway right there. They don't boast, they don't showboat. They just have a nice life. And Ingrid's white wooden Captain's house on a hill, overlooking the fjord, in a little village called Hvitsten, is as nice as it gets.

So, GG and her husband don't go places without stuffing themselves. Norway, it has to be said, is not known for being foodie. But, what they do, they do well. Local, traditional, simple and plentiful. And really good sushi. There's lots of food things we look forward to when we go to Norway - here are the highlights:

Polse - Norwegians are mad for hotdogs. Every newsagent or cafe will sell them - you can have them boiled or grilled (grillepolse), in a bun or a kind of potato pancakey thing (lompe), with potato salad on top (potetsalat) and always with ketchup and mustard (sinep). You see how I'm picking up Norwegian? We love polse and it is the first thing we eat off the plane and the last thing before boarding.
Holiday Dipmix - this is a spice mix you stir into sour cream as a dip and I love it. Comes in packs of three, I have to stock up when there.
Jelly Ladies - In Norway, they have Jelly Men, Jelly Shrieking Children (modelled after the famous sculptures in Oslo's park) and, best of all, Jelly Ladies with boobs. Really.
Banse Mums - marshmallow bears covered in chocolate
Chocolate - there is something about the Norwegian national chocolate that I love - rich and creamy and available with almonds, fruit and nut and with bubbles. Also with bits of Dime bar in it. And talking of Dime bar, they do packs of Dime bar sprinkles.
Brunsaus - yummy gravy
Bolle - sweet buns of all descriptions. Ingrid is an incredible baker. Last time, in the summer, she whipped up a batch of three different sorts of bolle without breaking a sweat. These are the national buns of Norway and available with raisins, with icing, with icing and coconut and in the best variant of all, the School Bun. So named as it is the official bun school children take to school - so no one has a better or worse bun than anyone else (I might have that wrong but that is a very Norwegian kind of concept, so it may as well be right). A sweetish dough, with an indentation filled with custard, baked, iced and covered in dessicated coconut. I cannot get enough of them and just the sight of them makes me happy. Ingrid, for the record, is the sort of friend everyone should have - makes buns because she knows you like them.
Apple Pie - at the Oslo ski slope, near the top of the train station, is a restaurant in a beautiful log cabin. Both times I've been there the weather has been atrocious. The first time I was soaking wet and freezing with the wrong shoes for snow. The restaurant is heaving, full of people who've earnt good food, log fires, antlers etc. And a couple in traditional dress celebrating their wedding. It sells really delicious Norwegian food like smorgasbords etc but the star of the show is the apple pie. A square sandwich of crisp, dark puff pastry filled with juicy apples, topped with a whopping swirl of cream. The second time we went we walked for nearly 30 minutes through snow so vicious I couldn't see 2 metres in front. And it was worth every step.
Brown Cheese - I hate it, but is it the national cheese - eated with bread and honey. Uuurgh.
Cloudberries - yellow berries, picked by Ingrid's lovely parents who have to walk for hours in the mountains up north to find them. Frozen, served at Christmas. Love them

I'll post more about Christmas in Norway nearer the time. But for now, as I'm not flying North tomorrow, this will have to suffice. Saturday will hopefully see me visiting Scandinavian Kitchen in London and trying not to cry. And you know what I've learnt - if someone who has your passport offers to put it in the post back to you, insist on special delivery.

ha det from GG

In which GG regains her cooking mojo

As I think I've mentioned, I am going through what might be called the seven year itch of cooking. I love it, I want to keep doing it, but the monotony of putting a meal on the table night after night is beginning to feel like a chore. And it is times like this that I have to do something which reminds me why I love food and what I love so much about cooking it, especially for others.

Typically Jewish, for me cooking is all about making something delicious for other people. When someone has gone to effort for you, baking you a cake or making you dinner, it makes you feel loved and cherished and looked after. And I like feeling that I am doing the loving, cherishing and looking after. And also I think it makes up for me being a grumpy old bitch most of the time.

The long-awaited rescheduled dinner with two very dear work colleagues finally arrived last friday. And being off work (a miracle in itself worthy of a celebratory dinner) I decided to spend the day in a gentle kitchenness. One of my colleagues is a vegetarian, which I always find a challenge, and the other most definitely not, so finding food that was filling and hearty and delicious and also, to be honest, a bit show-off-y was a tricky and the main course had kept me worried for weeks.

The starters were easy, I was planning mezze. While I wouldn't dream of doing tapas, as it means loads last minute and you spend the whole night in the kitchen, the mezze were done in advance. I made hummous (sprinkled with a light dusting of sumac), baba ghanoush, flatbreads (sprinkled with either nigella seeds or sesame seeds), various pickles (including pink turnips!), beetroot with yoghurt and parsley and labneh. The latter I had very fond memories of, from my brief stint in restaurant PR and a fantastic lebanese restaurant called Fakhreldine, which served it. I seem to recall theirs was quite creamy and unctuous but mine was more the texture of ricotta with the taste of a young goat's cheese. Whatever, it was de-fricking-licious and I've enjoyed the leftovers all weekend. It was made by mixing greek yogurt with salt and leaving for 24 hours to drain in muslin. Glutton Colleagues (and I mean that most affectionately) were hugely appreciative, made lots of delicious noises, couldn't believe I'd made it all myself. Honestly, you couldn't ask for better guests.

Main was a fairly standard spinach and ricotta cannelloni (yummy though) but the star of the show was the honey halva parfait. Now I take no honours for this - it's straight from my Jewish Princess Cookbook, but you know that anything from that is likely to be good. I've made it a few times now and it is failsafe, delicious and ridiculously impressive. It is also the sweetest foodstuff you'll ever put in your mouth so it was perfect for me and one of my guests who's Iranian. The other Glutton Colleague actually giggled as she ate it, which has to be a good sign. In an attempt to soften the blow, I served it with cinnamon poached pears, which turned out to be a perfect marriage.

And we had a shisha! And it was delicious!

With apologies to the JPCB, here is the recipe:

250g halva (any flavour but I use plain), crumbled into irregular chunks
300ml double cream, whipped to soft peaks
3 tablespoons runny honey
2 eggs
200g sugar

Beat eggs, sugar and honey together. Add Halva. Fold in cream.
Lightly oil small loaf tin and line with clingfilm
POur in mix
Freeze overnight.

The halva will sink probably, but I don't worry about trivialities like that.

So on a bus tonight going down Edgware Road, I wondered what it is about food from the middle east/Levant region I love so much. I love the savouryness of grilled meats off the griddle, dark, umami-ish, spicy and the fresh, vibrant salads and vegetables. I love the colour and the way that sort of food makes your mouth feel sparky and woken up and like it's excited. I like that its deeply satisfying but not stodgy and that it's social food - made for sharing, grazing, picking at with hands, that it has a much more sensuous quality that other types of food. Or maybe I'm being a bit of a cultural idiot and giving it an arabian nights quality it doesn't have. Of course, I love British food and food traditions too, but there is something incredibly enticing about Arabesque food.

And now I'm hungry and going to make some fishcakes. Ooh, if you aspire to be a food star - Carnation is giving foodies the chance to make a pudcast with top chef Phil Vickery and win a year's supply of Carnation (which, for the record, I love). Go to Carnation.co.uk for more info.

Lots of love
GG

Take a deep breath...

It has been a bit of a food-mad weekend. On saturday GB and I went to my niece Ella's batmitzvah - a huge deal for us Jews and a really happy occasion. I am not religious in the least and almost haven't set foot in synagogue for donkey's years, but I really loved the music and the singing, hearing the words that were familiar and seeing the men in the tallits - the white prayer shawls. I felt very connected to my roots in East European jewry and will be exploring that in more detail the best way I know how- by eating. GB and the other non-Jews in attendance were very excited by the Kiddush afterwards - a buffet laid on for special occasions. Get jews in a room and there'll be bagels and I wasn't disappointed, especially when they are topped with chopped herring, which is a really piquant, sharp topping that I love. Soft, chewy bagels and sharp herring. And fish balls (slightly sweet, very light), pastries, bridge rolls, latkes. Lovely. The evening party broke with tradition by being vegetarian in honour of Ella. Normally veggie food brings me out in hives but this was lovely. Very Ottolenghi-ish! Quiches with sharp cheese, roasted squash, salsas, roast beetroot and carrots. It was lovely to have something fresh and light, with bags of flavours, rather than the usual party 'chicken breast in sauce/bad potatoes' options.

On Sunday, feeling the need to cook after three dinners of toast last week, I made the shepherd's pie from SaturdayKitchen. This was, to be honest, a total palaver but it was the shep's pie to end all shep's pies. Shoulder of lamb roasted for two hours with shallots, rosemary, stock and red wine. Shredded into large chunks with a mix of crispy chewy and softly shredded meat, topped with buttery mash and served with vichy carrots. Three hours of cooking filled the house with the most incredible savoury, tempting flavours, which made GB think of his Welsh relatives (esp. Auntie Bhopah). I had the leftovers for my lunch today and it warmed me from the inside and also made me feel a bit better mentally on a cold, grey Monday morning. Shepherd's Pie for the soul.

Today has also been a right glutton day in the office. In our team we love biscuits and often have a pack on the go. But today, it was something special. On the treats table, we had:

- homemade mini banana muffins (from me, using up some overripe bananas)
- chocolate digestives (from Fiona)
- jammie dodgers and ginger nuts (from James)
- Vietnamese snacks (from Reshma's holiday) - these are worth some explanation. The pack was astonishingly funny (it's foam, it's egg!), they looked like macaroni cheese but they tasted like boudoir biscuits with a lingering aftertaste of pork fat. Strangely unpleasant.
- Diwali snacks from Nisha's mum, including home made bombay mix; something that was like spiral webs which were essentially deepfried sugar syrup (but were delicious); a kind of smooth, not too sweet coconut ice; a condensed milk thing which candied fruit and a date paste thing. All delicious.

Crikey. Off home for a stir fry which will hopefully be light, umami-ish and full of vegetables.

Lots of love
GG

There was a huge sugar rush for about two hours, after which we have been unutterably miserable, like toddlers at a party.

So, it's been a week of madness. I've worked late, gone to a bat mitzvah rehearsal and simply been plain tired. Tonight (Thursday) is the first night I'm actually cooking - salmon with a salad of cucumber and poppy seeds, from Ottolenghi.

I am desperate to get some cooking done. Cooking soothes me and there is something hugely satisfying about producing a meal that is tasty and looks good and makes other people happy. It must the Jew in me...

This weekend is a bit of a mad one - my niece's batmizvah on saturday, so I only really have Sunday to myself. I am making a Shep's Pie for dinner, using the recipe from Saturday Kitchen using a whole shoulder of lamb and cooking with vichy carrots. I have to say, when I was watching it being cooking I was actually drooling, which doesn't make me look great I know but it did inspire me to give it a go. Soft, tender lamb, caramelised onions and creamy smooth mash. Sitting now at my desk at work it's making me ravenous.

I also feel the need for cake. To bake a lovely, tall, sandwich cake - cut into fat wedges and eaten on sunday afternoon with a steaming mug of tea, watching a film. Hoping for a rainy sunday as hearing bluster, wearing pjyamas all day and with a vicky sponge waiting to be devoured has to be one of the nicest things imaginable. I also have a jar of dulce de leche begging to be used and The Guardian had a recipe for banana caramel cream pie that GluttonBoy looked quite excited by.

So, off home for steamed salmon with a cucumber and poppy seed salad. I don't really feel like salad but the alternative is a fray bentos pie and chips. Which, actually, I do like the sound of...

Lots of love
GG

The beauty of London

I'll make this quick as I am in an internet cafe being slowly edged out by some french students. Funny, it's normally the french being taken over. Anyhoo.

So, sometimes I get fed up of London. Of the noise, the vastness, the expense, the madness and the sheer bloody effort it takes to live here. And then I have days like today. I schlepped to Stamford Hill to buy a bat mizvah card for my niece. To my enormous annoyance, all shops shut, so I walked down to Stoke Newington, more as an excuse to have something to do.

I have a love of Turkish/Greek/Iranian/Moroccan type food that knows no bounds (excuse the digression, will make sense). One of the reasons I love Camberwell so much is a shop called the Oli Centre, a 24-hour Turkish supermarket and Persepolis - a Persian shop in Peckham. So I popped into one of the many Turkish shops in Stokey and picked up some great herbs (to make my own Za'tar spice mix), some feta and some baklava. Lovely herbs too, but there was only so much I could carry. Then, a little more of a walk to pick up a bagel or too and I was on my way home. Partly cross at that stupidly I've been going to Damas Gate in Sheps Bush for supplies, when I could have gone to Persepolis or even made the trip north of the river, but it's the infinite choice I love. Any given day of the week, if I want to stock up on Japanese ingredients, Moroccan spices, the Jewish food of my roots - I'm only an hour away from the source, with shops usually full of people willing to give me some advice on what to choose.

Tonight I'm making my first foray into Ottolenghi, with chicken with sumac and za'tar and a salad of couscous and megrabiah - although I couldn't get megrabiah and have had to settle for another type of couscous that is about mid way between the two in terms of size. And oven-roasted tomatoes, which I love. And I'll be making my lunches for the week so I don't end up eating crap baguettes.

Les Francaises have finished looking at Michael Jackson online (il est mort encore, people) and I'm going to go to - will blog on dinner tonight. Maybe even pics! Ooh, too exciting I know.

Lots of love.

GluttonGirl.

I've got competition

GluttonBoy also has a blog, called How The BBC Saved My Life. He doesn't work in an office or do much writing, but he has a very long-standing love of food and a knowledge of food history, chefs, restaurants that could only come from a true obsessive. He is also an ex-chef so has come through the ranks having to chop vegetables for years, knowing the mother sauces etc, which gives him a respect for great chefs and restaurant history.

He has also blogged about our adventures at Le Gavroche and you know what, he's pretty good and this writing lark. V annoying. So, if you want another take on our adventure there, google him and give it a read.

Lots of love,
GG

Le Gavroche. OMG

It was our 3rd wedding anniversary, and unlike the previous two years we hadn't arranged to go away anywhere. It's been a bit of a tough year in the Glutton household, so we decided to throw caution and our credit card to the winds and to to Le Gavroche. Obviously, we were looking forward to some old-school service, maybe a cloche or two, lots of butter. But it was a million miles better and more lovely than either of us anticipated.

Cold, dark and rainy. The lit windows of LG glow in the darkness of Mayfair. Apologies if this is not news for people used to dining in 2* Michelin restaurants, but it was a treat from the minute I approached the door. On arrival, I was taken to the bar. Not shown where it was, taken. Once GB arrived, they brought some lovely treats - a shredded oxtail thing in puff pastry and a salmon-y thing on a sliver of crispbread.

The menu was brought to us in the bar and GB and I nearly exploded with excitement. As I'd booked, they assumed I was hosting, so without any further comment I got the menu with the prices (GB's menu was priceless) and the wine list. THe menu was as you'd expect - top quality traditional French, brought up to date.

We asked to speak to the sommelier, and expected him to be a bit supercilious about our £50 budget. Instead, he acted as is this was, of course, the ideal budget and suggested some great wines - the one we went for was delicious and well under budget. And his niceness set the tone. While the service was classic, old fashioned, top quality service, it was done with an incredibly light tough and a huge amount of charm - it was seductive and never did we feel uncomfortable, even when we didn't know what the flat spoons were for and the nice waitress explained it to us. The room was run by a set of formidable looking twins, and she was just lovely and sweet, as were they all. And when a lady gets up to go to the loo, they escort her. Really.

So, to the food - I started with a Souffle Suissesse, which turned out to be a floating island style poached egg white in a cheese sauce. Light as air and delicious, but only ate half as it was hugely rich. GB had langoustines and pig trotter in a mustard sauce, which came under a cloche! Also deeply savoury and umami-ish.

Lovely bread and two sorts of butter - salted and unsalted.

Onto the mains - I had veal with mashed potatoes and a morel cream sauce. It was carved and plated at the table and was, without question, the nicest thing I've ever eaten. The veal was tender and soft and the morel sauce was light, cream, woody. The mash was so soft and butter, melty and just salty enough. Chris had roast grouse, carved at the table, with three sauces and goose fat crisps. Bit gamey for my liking but he loved it.

Puddings - Chris had a caramel mousse with chocolate and pears. The caramel had the lovely, burnt taste that I love and the chocolate was dark and glossy. I had ice cream. Bearing in mind how much I love ice cream you can imagine my delight when an ice cream trolley arrived. Six silver ice cream pots for me to choose from. Three sorbets and three ice creams - I went for vanilla and white chocolate, which were soft and melty, tons of flavour, sweet, comforting. I had to be restrained from licking the plate.

Petit fours, coffee (which kind of coffee, milk or cream, would you like a top up) and we staggered into the rainy night, having had about 50 staff saying goodbye and thank you to us.

Eating somewhere like this is a much-anticipated treat for us and I was worried it wouldn't feel luck much fun, or, more likely, that the food would be great but we felt out of place. But the staff were so lovely, kind, friendly. I've never smiled so much during dinner and I hope they noticed how much we were enjoying it. Michel Roux jr also came over to the table to check how everything was - nice to know the chef actually cooks in the kitchen!

Anyway, lovely lovely lovely. Worth saving up for and can't wait to go back.

A surprising dinner

Monday is such an unpromising night, especially when it is cold and dark - the first time of the year. Glutton Boy was not especially looking forward to dinner - I'd planned a butternut squash risotto but by the time I'd got home he'd roasted it off with some garlic. And, it was delicious - sweet squash, creamy where I'd added in butter and a really lovely taste from the taleggio I stirred in. It was smooth, spoonable, unctuous in the extreme - a perfect comfort for a dark, autumn night and making the most of seasonal produce which I love doing. I get excited by seeing new things in the shops - the first pumpkins, parsnips which I can't wait to roast in sticky meat juices, dark green leafy veg begging for tiny shards of crispy bacon, the first tins of quality street...

I'm so looking forward to my week off next week - I need to cook for love, not for the sake of putting a nice meal on the table day after day. I plan to visit some shops I've wanted to see for a while - Maroc on Moscow Road, back to Persepolis in Peckham to treat myself to some gorgeous exoticness to tempt me back into the kitchen!

Lots of love

GG

A week of cooking

It's been a busy week in the Glutton household - I've been working like a trojan and GB is winding down in preparation for starting his new job. Weekday dinners have mostly been quick, post-work recipes - tried and trusted and ones I don't need to look at a recipe book for. On Saturday I wanted to make a nice dinner for GB and I, so made the first thing ever from Arabesque - a lamb tagine with pears. I have to say, I was slightly disappointed - thin sauce (made only from water), a bit grey looking. I guess lamb and onions are not really going to be especially vibrant. It tasted lovely, served with lemony couscous, so all wasn't wasted. I spent some very enjoyable time planning the meals for the week after next- I get shopping delivered as neither of us drive so I plan a week in advance. Ottolenghi is getting a fair few outings and I'm very much looking forward to chicken with sumac and za'tar. I absolutely love sumac, which I have in stock thanks to a recent trip to Damas Gate in Sheps Bush. I'm off work that week so plan another jaunt over there to buy Mograbia (fat couscous) and some za'tar, and maybe even treat myself to some lovely baklava - I particularly like the little semolina cakes and the filo diamonds too. Yum yum.
Next week is shaping up to be a bitch of a week, so have planned some quick meals - stir fries etc, which I can sling together when I get in exhausted. The most exciting thing though is that on Wednesday I am taking Glutton Boy to Le Gavroche to celebrate our third wedding anniversary. I don' know how long it'll last but we do something nice every year - first was a weekend in Whitstable and last year GB took me to Lille for a long weekend. And talking of Lille, GB thinks he has won a day trip for two, which we'll take before Christmas and stock up on some lovely food from the delis, cake shops and even the Carrefour. Just as well as I have just run out of Mont Blanc Creme au Caramel.

I can't wait for my week off - I want to cook up a storm and also bake some sourdough and get loads of things done for LAdy Cupcake - my fledgling cake business.

Anyway, ratatouille beckons (work lunches) and I'm also making toad in the hole for dinner. Hurrah for Autumn.

Lots of love

GG

Welcome to GluttonGirl

Fast facts:
Live in London
Married to GluttonBoy
Am greedy
Have a bit of a soft spot for bakers

I also think that we have in the UK a slightly odd idea about food, either fetishistic (the most expensive, rarest, local) or we eat Findus Crispy Pancakes. Now, I'm someone who is taking the GB to Le Gavroche for our anniversaries but I also love Findus Crispy Pancakes. Food is lovely and delicious and exciting - what it isn't is the Koh i Noor diamond. I love eating, thinking about eating, reading recipes, planning meals, shopping, travelling halfway across London to the Middle Eastern supermarket to buy pickes and preserved lemons. GB manages a boutique bakery so we spend a lot of time with bakers and chefs, which I love as they are all kerazy but also super-passionate about what they do.

This blog is a diary of what we are cooking, what we are enjoying and what we think about food. GluttonBoy has his own blog - the BBC Saved My Life, so have a look for him.

Tonight, however, no cooking. It's 8pm and still in the office. GB is at work so dinner may well be toast. Better than Crispy Pancakes though...

Lots of love
GG