In which we find out how giving away your lunch can find you a bride and win you a kingdom and how relevant that is to a delicious apricot flapjack.
In which we enter the world of Russian folklore and ask impertinent and possibly irrelevant questions about a soup called Solyanka.
In which I explain how the wonderful story of Gifts of the Magician is connected to Oxtail via an extremely tenuous link and actually quite an interesting history.
Kebabs, so delicious yet so much controversy. Do you think of elephant leg, the late night scourge of the high street, sadly grey yet so appealing after a few too many drinks? Or perhaps a shish kebab with its crispy nearly burnt edges and indigestible undercooked pepper slices? Is shawarma more your thing? Moist and juicy with garlic sauce and chilies?
As the opening post for a blog, a dish made of lentils makes for a photographic challenge. Not for me the acid bright sharpness of citrus or the mouth- watering pinks of watermelon. Lentils only look good raw, once cooked to comforting softness they lose any claim to beauty.