The sun is shining, the daffodils are *just* about to bloom, and there's a real spring in my step. This is due to the marvellous weather no doubt, but also because I have just acquired a new cooking skill, thanks to the fabulous Angela Malik. Asian has never been my strongest point in the kitchen, and whenever I fancy a curry/Malaysian feast/Chinese/sushi/Korean BBQ etc I tend to eat out at one of London's top nosh houses. But thanks to Angela, I am now (semi) proficient at creating my own wontons, dim sum and potsticker dumplings. There's no stopping me now!

The evening class started with an informative chat by Angela explaining her "taste sensation" style of cooking and getting us to identify which foods offer what tastes...including the ever elusive umami. Then she explained the concepts of Yin and Yang in food. The we got stuck in making a fragrant broth (very yin!), stuffing and folding wontons, dropping them into the broth and then devouring the lot...then we chopped shrimp and created a punchy filling for dim sum, steamed them to perfection, and stuffed our faces...and then potstickers! I finally learned the secret to making them crispy on the outside with bits of gelatinous softness and a tender filling...deelish.

In addition to her cooking school & deli in Acton Angela has a stall at Borough Market selling her Indian pestos, sauces and chutneys. I stocked up at the deli, and all week I've been slathering the Vibrant pesto on salmon, made it into a dressing for a hot mackerel, spring onion and chickpea salad, and mixed it with creme fraiche for a crudité dip. While my newfound cooking skills will definitely come in handy, it's always great to have somebody else do the work!!

Thanks Angela, resident chef Geoff and the rest of the team for a brilliant night...can't wait to book in for another.

It's Vegas, baby, but not as you know it! For a few years now Vegas has been reshaping its image as not *just* a place to go wild & crazy at the roulette table...umm, anybody seen The Hangover? (happy to report my partner in Sin City crime Gerard and I managed to keep all our teeth intact and avoided marrying a stripper...and each other) Not sure this Vegas revision is working, but one area that has definitely improved is the restaurant scene. Cast aside any images you may have of cheap shrimp cocktail and watered down pitchers of beer- Las Vegas has a serious foodie edge.

Well known Michelin starred chefs like Guy Savoy and Joel Robuchon have Vegas outposts, exciting new restaurants with up and coming chefs are opening every month, and there's even a weekly Farmers Market aimed at the restaurant trade, encouraging chefs to put local produce on the menu.

Eating in Las Vegas was full of delightful and delicious surprises. Sure, we checked out the all you can eat buffets like Carnival World at The Rio- the largest buffet in the world with a 300 metre long counter of food!!! All the family faves were there- pizza, macaroni & cheese, and a make your own banana split station. We gawped at the mind (and belly) blowing excess of it all, but couldn't knock its popularity- hungry punters can queue for over an hour just to get a table; they then spend at least two hours grazing their way towards digestive overload. I loved every bite!
On the other end of the gastronomic scale the choice was just as overwhelming as the Rio buffet, only studded with truffles and foie gras rather than deep fried bacon bits and cheese fries, and washed down with Californian Pinot Noir rather than Pepsi.
Buffet Brunch at the Wynn

Highlights? Sage, for the sexy de luxe atmosphere and Absinthe trolley, stellar wine list and the nicest staff;
Joel Robuchon for the OTT decor, OTT clientele and OTT food (where else do you get a take home bag of mini desserts and chocolates?); Silk Road at the uber deluxe Vdara hotel for the innovative menu based on the ancient Silk Route from the Far East to Europe; brunch at the Wynn for the all you can drink mimosas; Bradley Ogden for the finest American artisanal cheeses;
Hash House a Go Go for introducing us to the delights of the stuffed hamburger; and the all you can eat brunch at Simon - there were sooo many delicious white trash items on offer, including a belly busting breakfast pizza, a help yourself Candy Bar, and Frosties encrusted french toast. The french toast was so tasty I thought i'd make it at home and share the recipe with you...and a special Hiya! to I Knit London newsletter subscribers...this is the first regular monthly recipe i'll be writing for you!

FROSTIES FRENCH TOAST for two

4 slices brioche
2 eggs
splash of milk
70g crushed Frosties
knob of butter and drizzle of oil for the frying pan
maple syrup

Heat the butter and oil in a large frying pan over medium heat
Whisk the eggs in a shallow bowl and add the milk.
Put the Frosties in a plastic bag and crush using elbow grease, and empty into a separate shallow bowl.
Soak a slice of the brioche in the eggy mixture, turning over to ensure it is nice and moist. Now, dip into the bowl of Frosties making sure brioche is thoroughly coated. Repeat for remaining brioche slices.
Now put your eggy Frosties encrusted brioche in the sizzling frying pan for a few minutes until golden brown. Flip over and let the other side get nice and crispy.
Serve warm, drizzled with maple syrup. Deelish!
Want it for dessert instead of breakfast? Serve with posh vanilla ice cream...mmm....
Gerard...and Frosties French Toast!

I have been trying to eat healthily this January in an effort to redress the holiday gastronomic overload...but January is just SUCH a good time of year to eat out! Restaurants are calm, there are no office parties or naff roast turkey set menus, restauranteurs are quite glad to see you as Jan. can be a quiet month...AND there are so many great deals around at the moment, too. So here's a rundown of where i've been noshing the past few weeks:

Bocca di Lupo I know I have written about this place before and you know I love it, but could it possibly get any better? Yes, because they have put a truly orgasmic dish on the menu: Crescentini (fried bread) with finocchiona, speck & squacquerone cheese. Washed down with a bottle of prosecco, this is my fave way to chase away the gloomy winter evenings, preferably sitting at the bar with my friend Gerard and gossiping about everyone we know.

I consider myself a one-woman pizza patrol- if there is pizza to be had, I'm there dude. There are many styles and toppings, and pizza is a very personal thing. And no, I don't like to share, so don't ask. I have heard there are people who do like to share pizza, but frankly they're bonkers. So I was excited when my friend Mark suggested we check out Pizza East, apparently the hippest thing to happen to Shoreditch since...well...Shoreditch. First, the food: my pizza was all crust, no topping. The circumference available for the topping was about 3 inches, and had just a few morsels strewn haphazardly...the Strawberry Blonde's pizza was meant to have veal meatballs and prosciutto...two meatballs rolled up, but no ham. The crust was enormous and way too chewy; for £11 a pie it was a complete and total rip-off. This, added to the apalling service, cacophonous atmosphere and drunk and rowdy punters, makes me think this place is a lot of fuss about nothing. If I want good pizza, i'll go to Maletti. Heck even Pizza Depress is better than Pizza East.

Thank goodness a cosy and gentle lunch at The Forge made the bad memories of Pizza East float away. I have walked past The Forge dozens of times; it's smack bang in Covent Garden, uber convenient for the theatre, and full of real, live Londoners. How refreshing! The main room is all brick and leather, the menu bursting with comforting classics. My simple crab starer was super fresh and zingy. And I hear the bar downstairs is a hidden gem for a civilised West End drink- the barman is American so I shall soon be popping in to test his martini making skills.

Yesterday the Strawberry Blonde and I took advantage of a fabulous offer on at the moment courtesy of the Financial Times- take a friend for lunch for a fiver. Yes, really. And the restaurants on offer are top notch- Pied a Terre, Le Cafe Anglais, Chez Bruce, L'Anima...check out the details here. We opted for our local, Acorn House. It's been ages since I've eaten there, and I felt ashamed of that fact becauseI really like the ethos- it's a social enterprise, eco-minded, seasonal and sustainable. Plus its founder, Arthur Potts-Dawson, is a charmer. The SB had roasted pheasant, dandelion, beetroot & redcurrant salad followed by the daily fish special: pan fried mackerel with cabbage and rhubarb compote. My thai cured salmon, then bhachu Tikki chaat with pickled carrot & sweet Tamarind made me waddle home with a very content full belly. Acorn House is a lovely restaurant with a radical remit, and i'll definitely go back.

So, what to look forward to? Fino for lunch on Friday, and off to Las Vegas next week..I promise lots of gut busting posts from Sin City!

Well well well, it's marvellous when a cool head and a cool countertop come together to solve the great Pumpkin Pecan Pie conundrum of 2009. After numerous consultations (cheers Leith's Baking Bible and the Market Kitchen home economists) I managed to work out what was going wrong with my pie. As suspected, the kitchen was too hot to make good pastry; but I can't just blame the central heating. I was also reminded of the films I presented for Richard & Judy a few years back, cooking & eating regional Italian food. In Bologna, while attempting to make tagliatelle, a diminutive granny chef slapped my palms and told me my hands were too hot to make pasta. So clearly my pie failure is all my fault.

I also realised pre-baking the crust for 10 mins before filling it with the treacly pecan goo prevents any cracks in the pastry and makes for a nice, crispy bottom. Why did this little nugget of wisdom not cross my mind earlier?? Here in the UK, people take their desserts very seriously; in the US, no one would think twice about not pre baking the pastry "to save time", or opening a few cans of this and that, bunging it in a store bought pre-baked pie shell and calling it "homemade". I have realised that even after 17 years of life in London, old kitchen habits die hard.

Anyway, here is Ruth's Pumpkin & Pecan Pie...with corrected crust and in tip top form. i'll post the recipe when it's up on the Market Kitchen website. By the way, there's none left- I've dished a few pieces out the the handymen who have come this morning to hang our pictures; the rest is going to my agent.

when friends visit, it's always a great excuse to eat out. So when our dear pals Alan & Nick came down from Glasgow and offered to take us out for a meal, I spent the better part of an afternoon just deciding where we should go. Lots of restaurants are shut on Sunday night, so that automatically discounted many of our faves like Bocca di Lupo and Great Queen Street. I wanted to try the new Pinxitos in Bloomsbury, but that was closed too. I called Yalla Yalla, but the whole restaurant had been booked out for a private party. So back to a tried and trusted favourite, St John Bread & Wine. For the uninitiated, it is the sister restaurant to St John, renown for the nose to tail eating its owner Fergus Henderson pioneered. SJB&W has more of a bistro feel, with a menu organised by the clock-hour when dishes are available (6pm smoked sprats, 7pm snails on toast...) a killer wine list and a scribbled board of specials that get crossed out as the dishes are ordered.
Our happy band was completed by two more chums. H ordered the deep fried crispy pig's tail, "for novelty value". When it was placed on the table, it looked like...well...a deep fried crispy pig's tail, all curly cued and cute. But she couldn't eat it. Luckily the Strawberry Blonde (being Northern and that) dug in with gusto, lip smacking the gelatinous fat and shreds of deep pink meat.
My girolles, lentils and goats curd was rich and earthy and perfect for a crisp autumn night. We also shared, amongst other things, a whole crab, beetroot & ticklemore salad, a ruby red Angus flank steak, snails on toast, salt beef with picalilli, a quince trifle, ginger loaf with butterscotch sauce, and a plate of cheese. Wine drinkers washed it down with a Picpoul de Pinet white and a Cotes de Catalanes red. Great friends, great food...what else is there in life?

The scent of pumpkin pecan pie has been haunting me all week. I've been recipe testing for my imminent appearance onMarket Kitchen, the Good Food channel's foodie magazine programme. Now, I have appeared on the show dozens of times talking about everything from LA food trends to whoopie pie. But this week will be the first time i've ever COOKED on the show, and I am pretty darn excited (and a little nervous too!) I'll be making a recipe inspired by my grandmother's Thanksgiving desserts- Pumpkin Pie & Pecan Pie. But instead of having to choose between one or the other, I've combined them both in one pie. Here's a picture of my fabulous grandmother, Ruth, who inspired the pie...she's 91 !!!
The bottom layer of the pie is gooey mapley treacly pecans, and the top layer is a refined pumpkin custard. I have made two test pies so far, and have encountered a number of problems (new cooker in new flat and haven't got used to temperature variations yet; new flat is centrally heated beyond our control so kitchen is too warm to make good pastry; i used a pie tin with removable bottom and all the treacly stuff seeped out onto the bottom of the oven...etc etc blah blah blah)
I'm getting there...and making my third and final test pie today. With 24 hours to go before filming, this one better be perfect. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

It's been a few weeks since my last communiqué, but I have an excellent excuse: the Strawberry Blonde and I have moved house. We have left the riverside confines of Wapping for the wilds of Bloomsbury. One of the best things about moving house is that we had an excuse to eat out just about every night for 2 weeks while chaos ruled at home. Who wants to cook when there are boxes to be unpacked and knick knacks to arrange? Not moi! We tried some local restaurants in our new neighbourhood made famous by Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf and other literary greats. La Woolf once said "One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." Who am I to argue?


Cigala is an adorable tapas restaurant on Lamb's Conduit Street, with Jake, one of the founders of Moro, in the kitchen. They have a fabulous wine and sherry list with a wide selection by the glass, including the stellar Alella (white, red & a lusciously rich red dessert wine) from a vineyard just outside of Barcelona- must check it out on my next city break!

We also checked out Ciao Bella, just a few doors away from Cigala. It's cute in an olde-worlde-rustique italiano kind of way. Everyone I have spoken to about Ciao Bella raves. We found it...well...as my Italian grandfather would say....mezze mezze. The Strawberry Blonde and I have been spoiled by having Il Bordello on our Wapping doorstep for two years. No one beats them for quality, friendliness, menu and most importantly taste.

Our fave new find is literally a hole in the wall. The Espresso Room on Great Ormond St. just across from the famous childrens hospital serves the most divine espresso in thimble sized tumblers. The coffee is clean, rich, with citrus and chocolate notes, and a big hit of buzz to boot. They have a selection of posh sandwiches, pastries and brownies from nearby tea boutique Bea's of Bloomsbury. Charles Dickens loved London's coffee houses so I am sure he would approve.

And when I finally decide to head back into the kitchen, finding fabulous ingredients will be a breeze. We happen to have a sweet little deli and grocers round the corner, too. Kennards stocks lots of fresh breads, vegetables, salads, cheeses- and most impressively- fresh fish which is delivered to the shop every day by the fisherman himself- no Billingsgate middleman required. This keeps the prices low and the freshness high- a real luxury for a fish lover like myself.

Life in Bloomsbury....what's not to like?!

Few things are more exciting than getting the latest copy of Gastronomica in the post. For the uninitiated, Gastronomica is a journal of food and culture, and always has fabulous articles written by academics, food journalists, and writers from across many genres and disciplines. The photographs are stunning, too- in the Summer 2009 issue check out the photo essay by Pinar Yolaçan- a series of portraits of women embellished with what Americans call "variety meats". I got hooked on Gastronomica when I read an article about where Fluff comes from- yes, that gooey, nutritionally vacant marshmallow goo commonly eaten with peanut butterin the classic "Fluffernutter Sandwich". Who thought an academic approach to Fluff was possible?!
In the latest issue you can read about Eating with Your Hands, How The Carrot Got Into Cheese, and A Lamentation for Shrimp Paste. In the words of Gertrude Stein, "Nothing is more interesting than that something that you eat."