Who would have thought that being happily pregnant, non-nauseous and working reduced hours would result in LESS blogging?

Well, not me for a start. Yet, somehow, that is exactly what is happening. I blame it on trying to spend as little time seated on a chair as possible, since the ensuing swollen legs are anything but pleasant. However, physical discomfort aside, my inspiration has been waning. I have even (almost) stopped taking pictures of my food and Skat is therefore enjoying it at the right temperature at the moment. Sorry Skat, but I hope it doesn’t last! I miss blogging, I miss my food obsession, and yet time goes by without any new posts. Desperate situations call for desperate measures!

So to swing (metaphorically. I’m not swinging anywhere at the moment!) back in the saddle, I decided 2 things, both of them brought on by Johanna of The Passionate Cook fame:

1. I would join a food-blogger event at her house, thereby meeting fellow scribblers for the first time, for an Indian Cookery session (more on that in a later post – I hope)

2. I would volunteer for a slightly masochistic MeMe. As Johanna put it “It's all about revealing more about the people behind the blogs, but not just what the blogger is happy to share, rather he/she is put on the spot and has to answer the questions that are put to him/her. You sign up to be "grilled" rather than being nominated, so I have put this on myself... and to continue the daisy-chain, you, too, can sign up to receive a set of questions from me, which you will in turn answer on your own blog*.”

Johanna sent me the following questions after the cookery session (oh, those lentil dumplings!):

Coming from a multi-cultural family and living in a foreign country, which cuisine takes the upper hand in cooking and why?

For those of you who hadn’t noticed yet, the multi-cultural bit is: a Danish Dad, a Franco-Danish Mum, childhood in Africa, married to a Dane and living in London.

So, do we eat Pork & Potatoes, Steak-Frites or Fish’n Chips? Well, neither, really.

My Mum’s cooking was always very cosmopolitan, although influenced by her own Mum’s French cooking. As far as I can remember, my Mum learned Indian and Chinese cooking in Kenya, Vietnamese cooking in Burundi and Lebanese in Mauritania, all depending on the nationality of her friends of the moment. How she ever got hold of even 10% of the necessary ingredients is beyond me. In London, I have the luxury of not needing to worry about ingredients, as everything is available and often in a normal supermarket.

Back to the question, which cuisine inspires me? To be fair, I would think a mix of French technique and British adventurousness. There are no taboos and a limitless taste for trying unknown things at the moment, in this country. Coupled with an instinctive taste of mine for seasonal vegetables. And there’s probably my only gripe with British supermarkets: there is not enough focus on what is in season. In Denmark or in France, it’s very obvious that the seasonal stuff is the cheapest, the most plentiful and the first thing you see when entering.

Apart from the ‘Tastes of my Background’. the biggest influence on my cooking is probably South-East Asian as I can’t seem to get enough of lime, chilli, ginger, garlic, etc.

Greatest regret in your life so far?

If the definition of regret is ‘something I could have done differently’, then - at the risk of sounding corny and unreflective - I’m not sure I have any serious regrets in life. My childhood was blissful and full of adventures, I studied what I wanted to study (even though I didn’t really realise it when I started at university). I didn’t know what kind of job I wanted, and drifted into consulting. With hindsight, that was probably not the right ‘shelf’ for me (more on that later), but if I hadn’t gone down that well-trodden path, I wouldn’t have been able to walk up the garden-path with Skat, whom I met at work. So how could I even contemplate regretting my career choice?

My current job could give me plenty of cause for regret, but again it allowed Skat and I to fulfil our dream of moving to London and finally living in the country permanently. Frankly, what’s to regret about that?

Where is foodie heaven for you? Where would you settle down if you were following your appetite?

Foodie Heaven? Oh gosh, where to start? Does that mean where an unforgettable meal is guaranteed? Where I could get all the ingredients I need for my kind of cooking? At the moment, I think London is hard to beat for sheer choice, but our trip to San Francisco last year is very high on my list of amazing foodie-moments (those Dungeness Crabs…). Anywhere which has lots of fresh veg and preferably access to yummy seafood, would be a suitable candidate. My parents’ local market in the middle of France is proof that proximity to an ocean is not a requirement per se.

But – following my appetite or anything else – I’m not sure settling down is in the cards for our immediate future. There’s just still too much world to discover, too many foods to taste. If we get our way, BabySkat will be a globetrotting baby!

I never got to ask you when we met last week: what pays the bills?

Ah, what pays the bills? Blood, sweat and tears, that’s what!

On the way to Johanna’s house last weekend, some of the other participants and I were discussing how we would all love to quit our jobs and do this blogging-thingy full-time. Which led to the existential question: ‘Are there any bloggers who are happy with their job?’ Isn’t a blog a typical way to be creative, indulge in a bit of everyday escapism and play ‘pretend’? Which doesn’t answer Johanna’s question, I know. I’m the Executive Business Assistant of the CEO of a consulting company. Looking after a crying baby for a year should be zen-like in comparison, but don’t quote me on that in a few months’ time! Enough said.

If you could choose anyone in the world to cook for you, who would it be and what would they be making?

Hmmh, maybe a look at my cookbooks would be of some help here… But I couldn’t possibly narrow it down to one person, could I? Well, if I must, I’ll pick my favourite book and cook, ‘Made in Italy’, by Giorgio Locatelli.

I have met him twice (once at Taste of London where his wife Plaxy and him introduced us to Lardo di Colonnato on toasted bread, drizzled with olive oil and Nduja, and once at Borough Market where our favourite Italian deli was having an impromptu book signing) and his enthusiasm was so infectious, that anything that is produced by him is full of the same passion.

One of my back-log posts is to blog about the meal we had at his restaurant, Locanda Locatelli, last year. It was Skat’s birthday present for me, and coincided with finding out that I was pregnant. Yes, any food would taste great under those circumstances, but his Barolo risotto was still amazing. If he could find a way to make his work-intensive osso bucco-filled pasta gluten-free, I think I would be a very happy woman indeed.

* What next? If you'd like to be interviewed by me, drop me a line or leave a comment.

DIRECTIONS FOR THE INTERVIEW MEME
1. Leave a comment saying, "Interview me." Cut me some slack -- it may take awhile.
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. Please make sure I have your email address.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment, asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

I blame it all on Sam. Ok, no, I don't. But she did start! And now everybody's at it.

I know it's spring, but still, there's a certain chill in the air, so baring it all might be taking things too far. Actually, the chill might be able to counter-act Global Warming...

What Chill? Oh, all the fridges left open while food-bloggers around the world take photos of them, then run frantically back to them to see what that 'thing' was. Or in my case, ask Skat to do it for me (prerogative of pregnant ladies).

It's late, the bump is yearning for bed, my ankles are the size of small hams and yet I have a longing to bare my fridges to you as well. Doing so, I have realised a few things:

• I should be better at throwing things away, before they become an embarassment (eggs are a case in point)
• Having 2 fridges means both are half empty, and yet we can't use just the small one in the kitchen. Why? Because the front of the 2 top shelves is fine, the rest is like a freezer. And the landlords can't find another fridge just as tiny that will fit under the worktop. But we do like to keep the breakfast stuff etc there, so we don't have to go down into the garage (2 levels down) every time. Waste of energy to have 2 fridges for 2,5 people? I know, I know, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa...
• Considering only one of us consumes alcohol at the moment, we have an awful lot of it in the fridges...
• My carefully tended image of messy eccentric foodie is somewhat contradicted by the freaky tidiness of the cool-boxes. Who said an**?
• It looks like we live off deli food, when it fact we tend to buy our proteins on the day we need them. There is only so much meat you can buy ahead at Saturday's weeklymarket visit.
• It's finally Spring/Summer so we have an awful lot of aperitifs

So here goes:

1. Calabrian Nduja: HOT HOT HOT and yet so moreish. Left-over from recent 'quiet night in' with tapas and great friends

2. A humungous block of parmesan brought back from Easter holiday in Milan

3. Spicy black olives - left over from Greek Salad at the weekend

4. Yummy Mozzarella, from our lovely Gastronomia deli (gobbled up, since this photo was taken a mere 3 hours ago)

5. Stinky cheeses from France, Switzerland and Holland (not sure about the Gouda with cloves...)

6. Danish cheese: sliced every morning for breakfast (should be in kitchen fridge, but it freezes easily...)

7. Left-over roast chicken: experiment turned sour. Don't try substituting grape-fruits for lemons!

8. White wine - for Skat and impromptu visits

9. Artichoke dip from neighbourhood Pugliese deli - emergency aperitif item

10. White wine jelly, soon to be eaten with the foie gras (see Small Fridge)

11. Danish Xmas Beer - only 3 left... and 6 months til' next batch is due!

12. Eggs. Organic, yes. But due date was on 25 April. YIKES!

13. Full fat milk so Skat can make our breakfast lattes

14. M&S Juices - or Aperitif for Pregnant Ladies

15. Fizzy Water - in case above-mentioned aperitif should be with bubbles and for mixing with cordials (why are there so few varieties in UK? I miss all the sirops in France...)

16. Does what it says on the tin

17. Spring cabbage - since photo was taken, have used half of it in stir-fry

18. Herbs & Salad - weekly harvest of coriander, flat parsley and mint from Green Valley, the Lebanese super market

19. Carrots

20. Asparagus - used in tonight's stir-fry

21. Leeks - one used in... you get the picture

22. African avocados - as opposed to the Hass variety, they don't go all yucky brown when they ripen and they are scrumptious spread on toast with some lime

23. Lebanese yogurt - way past sell-by date (but not even chucked out after this photo was taken)

24. Papayas - forgot to eat them for breakfast on Sunday.

25. Duck breast - went into the stir fry as well (thinly sliced and marinated in soy-based mix)

26. Left-over potatoes dressed in a truffel-oil vinagirette. Oh, how decadent! Might have to write another post on those...

27. Bacon from Borough Market - doesn't ooze water when you fry it. This one is with molasses and treacle...

28. Alcohol-free Weissbier - my sanity saver in a world of sugary soft drinks. Special thanks to The Rake for pointing me in the right direction. Very excitingly, I haven't tasted the Erdinger one yet. Am saving it for this Thursday when one of my very best friends is over from Paris and I can share a special aperitif with him

29. Italian salumi: a few slices of speck (eaten tonight with the mozzarella) and some slices of finocchiona salami to be eaten v.v. soon with truffel spuds

30. Emergency Champagne: one never know when one might need to celebrate something, even when one doesn't drink :-(

31. ... so one also has posh fizzy water for making Elderflower Presse, which at least looks like Bubbly.

And the Kitchen Fridge?

A. Organic butter for breakfast toast

B. Danish marzipan left over from xmas - shouldn't that be down-stairs? Or checked for mould?

C. Breakfast stuff: since the Danish cheese is in the other fridge, that would mean... ham

D. Foie Gras Entier: use by date 31 May. Way too much for 2 people. So, any volunteers?

E. Salad - the evil sort, all washed in chlorine and bagged up. And therefore not used yet. Only things I ever seem to throw away unused.

F. Gluten-free bread... Yes, guilty. I don't make much of it on this blog, but I am in fact gluten intolerant. As Skat says: if ever there is a nuclear war, the only thing left intact will be GF bread. It's evil. But I need a vehicle for my ham and cheese in the morning...

G. Cheese - I don't dare look at the state of it. Yes, it's orange, but that's because it's a Leicester!

H. Sloe Gin. Don't know what it tastes like, but might know in a few months' time

I. Czech salami. Holiday souvenir that just needs to be binned

J. Pesto. Tomato puree, etc.

K. Tamarind paste. Thai curry pastes. Harissa.

I. Dressing for Skat's fantastic caesar salad with LOTS of lemon juice

M. yep.

N. Lactase enzyme. Because I'm also lactose intolerant, but at the moment I can eat yogurt and cheese without problem (WEHE!!!). Not uncommon in pregnancies apparently. But my latte can only be enjoyed thanks to a few drops of this in the milk.

O. Anchovies. Only ever use it with lamb or in kim chee

How's your fridge?

During our x-mas holidays in France, I was once again amazed about the quality of the food in the shops and the restaurants, considering my parents live in a pretty remote part of the country, where most villages struggle to get over the 1000 inhabitants mark. And yet, at the local butcher's in Chantelle (co-owned by the mayor who declared us 'Husband and Wife' almost 2 years ago), the holiday display looked like this:

Yes, the locals did think the 'townies' had arrived when they saw me snapping away with my camera, but Dede (the butcher) was happy to let me do my thang... And how could one resist the whole suckling pig, stuffed with some kind of pate, the small ducklings made of 'mousse de canard', the tiny vol-au-vents with snails and parsley-garlic butter, the saucissons, the... ok, you get the picture(s).

A few days later, we went to our favourite restaurant in a neighbouring village, run by a most enthusiastic couple and their two teenage daughters. Dad is in the kitchen, Mum is front of house and the two girls take turns to help their Dad during the holidays. One of them is already extremely talented, and the other is developing a very fine palate indeed, tasting everything. Maybe a fiendish food critic in the making?

We like this place, Le Prieure de Monestier, so much, we asked them to cater for our wedding with a resounding success (it's always a good sign when the wedding guests use the ubiquitous disposable cameras to take pics of the food!). So it's practically a given that whenever we visit my parents we must have at least one dinner there. And it never fails to amaze me to see, smell and taste what Thierry's fertile imagination has come up with. And how tuned into the latest trends he is. The cuisine is not your average rustic Auvergnat fare, no siree. It's sophisticated, light and innovative, and yet not intimidating to the locals who are used to something else. I must point out at this point that I like nothing more than my home region's specialities, but after a combo of Danish and French x-mas food over very few days, our stomachs were yearning for something lighter. Yes, the following is much lighter than what we had been eating until then!

Living in London and being a self-confessed foodista, I pride myself on having at least part of my little finger on the pulse of food trends. Thierry's latest invention was an amuse-bouche of cauliflower soup, fragranced with Tonka Beans. Well, I, for one, had never heard of Tonka Beans and neither had many of the people I checked with subsequently. It tasted like nothing else, and yet like alot of other things at the same time: one taste after the other seemed to appear on the tip of your tongue, swiftly to be replaced by another, familiar and indescribable at the same time. Vanilla? Cinnamon? Five Spice? No? Yes? Apparently that sensation is exactly the appeal of Tonka Beans. The chef had tried them in both sweet and savoury recipes, both infused and/or grated and had finally settled on this combo. Having not tasted the others I cannot say if this was the best, but I can say that I was a woman obsessed. So when prompted for more info, the man himself came out of this kitchen / kingdom and brought me a whole bowl of the intriguing spice.

Did I mention that it's my favourite restaurant?

On Wikipedia, Tonka Beans are described as " reminiscent of vanilla, almonds, cinnamon, and cloves: it has sometimes been used commercially as a substitute for vanilla. It is also sometimes used in perfume and is commonly used in tobacco". More worryingly, "The seed contains coumarin, and for this reason its use in food is banned in the US by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Coumarin is an anti-coagulant and can be lethal in large doses. Many anti-coagulant prescription drugs are based on more powerful forms of coumarin." GLUBS! Maybe not the spice of choice for a pregnant lady, then? Luckily, other websites are more enthusiastic about the beans: Scents of the Earth desribes the fragrance as "reminiscent of newly mown hay or a freshly cut meadow" and the beans are "said to lighten one's mood and be emotionally balancing". Maybe not such a bad choice when hormones are running havoc with your mood, then?

Not wanting to be left out, I set out to experiment a bit too. First off, a pumpkin and Jerusalem artichoke soup, with grated Tonka Bean and Chinese chives.

Hmmh... OK, but not convincing. The 'chokes' were probably a mistake, having such an over-powering taste.

So it was back to the drawing kitchen table. This time for something sweet, as my pregnancy has developed not only my bump but also my sweet tooth. And a new-found love of rhubarb compote which I had never attempted. Spotting forced rhubarb at the market, I pounced on it, dragged it home, chopped it up, steeped it in sugar (500g rhubarb to 300-400 g sugar), juice from one large orange and half a grated Tonka Bean. Leave it to marinate while you eat starter and main course, then pour into pan and simmer gently until it all dissolves. Having never cooked rhubarb before, I found it extremely fascinating to watch how quickly all the fibres just go limp and blend. The almost 80's neon colour is also very alluring and is truly put into contrast by a nice dollop or two of double cream. Who said 'craving'???

Finally, finally, FINALLY!!! It has taken 3 long weeks since we moved in, and at last, we have broadband. Need I describe my absolute sense of deprivation at continuing my non-blogging life? And knowing that I had promised a complete description of our Retox Weekend...

So in case you were wondering what a Retox Kit looks like, I'll have you know that ours looked like this:

Is it a wonder our backs hurt after the journey home from Auvergne? What can you see in this true Horn of Plenty?

• A whole AOSTE cured ham
• A St Nectaire cheese
• A piece of Cantal cheese
• Onion jam
• Various saucissons
• 2 foie gras entiers
• Duck gizzards
• Smoked and dried duck breast
• Shallots and garlic from Montchoisy (the chateau where we got married) - a gift from our Aunt and Uncle
• Enough chocolate to open a shop to rival Juliette Binoche's in Chocolat
• Danish marzipan and nougat

What do you mean "Is that it"? That was just for the 2^nd evening!

As announced, the first evening was spent at our friends' E & J. J had put her new sushi-making kit to good use, so while we were all sipping champagne like it was going out of fashion, she was preparing the little parcels of yum-yum. OK, this is where I need to come clean... I wasn't sipping champagne and J was preparing special non-raw maki rolls just for me since at that time I was... 10 weeks pregnant! So it was Elderflower Pressé and canned tuna or cooked prawns maki for me. Oh, the hard life!

The fantastic sushi and tuna sashimi were later followed by J's speciality from her years living in Spain: warm tapas. From the top of my head, I recall gambas in sherry, chorizo in red wine, ensaladilla rusa, mushrooms with pine-kernels... Well, you can see it for yourself. And of course a fantastic cheese platter, where the cheese was pre-cut into thin slices, like you get it in Spain. And to think that this was only the first episode of our weekend...

Knowing what our evenings with E & J are usually like, even without any champagne for me, I had been a bit Bree-ish in the afternoon and set the table for the brunch next day. Our first guests in our new home! It was such a thrill to lay a nice table, with a table-cloth, given that for almost 3 years we had been living with a Japanese-style sunken table. Very stylish and beautiful but limited when it came to number of people (max 5) and decoration. Yes, Mum, I know you are thrilled no longer having to get up and down from that table...

And it was good to have everything ready when we finally woke up the next morning, as I had been a tad ambitious about the brunch menu. Which explains why I COMPLETELY forgot to take pictures of the food!

Fruit Salad - to kick start after the night before

Your favourite fruits, cut into chunks - I used apples, pears, bananas and mangoes

Pomegranate seeds - if you buy the pomegranate whole, roll it hard on a table top before opening it. This frees the seeds from the white 'skin' inside and makes it much less cumbersome to prepare. Careful when you cut it open, as the juice will come sprinkling out!

Roasted whole skinned almonds

Orange blossom water - I used just 2 tsp for a BIG bowl, as it is very fragrant

Yogurt a la Sydney

As the name hints, we had this in Sydney years ago. There were yogurt booths everywhere, gelati booths in Italy. Each yogurt was topped with fresh fruit, and you were given scoops, just like ice cream.

You need 1 glass per person, where you layer:

1/2 banana in small chunks, mixed with juice from 1/4 lime

Natural yogurt, mixed with runny honey and fresh chopped mint

1 passion fruit

Goes down a treat, I can tell you!

Oeufs en Cocotte with salmon and coriander or "Retoxing kicks in again"

Pre-heat oven to 125 C and boil 1 l of water

1 cocotte per person, where you layer:

1 slice of smoked salmon, shredded

some chopped coriander

double or single cream (guess what I used...) to cover

1 egg, carefully broken out so that the yolk remains intact

pepper (the salmon adds enough salt)

Place all the cocottes in a roasting tray, then pour the boiling water around them, not too high so the water doesn't splash into the eggs when it starts boiling again

Place in the oven for 10-15 minutes. The egg whites should be opaque, but the yolk still runny (unless you're pregnant, in which case the yolk should be "hard-boiled")

Scatter some more coriander on top and serve with toasted 'soldiers' (bread slices cut into strips, so they can be dipped in the runny yolk. Bummer, if you're pregnant!)

Slices of Aoste ham, freshly sliced

1 whole Aoste ham

1 lovely husband who will carry the ham (and a holder) from Auvergne to London, then hang it in the new garage where the temperature is apparently perfect for ham, sausages and wine; who will cut off all the top layer of fat the evening before and then cut out enough slices on the day itself to cover a big plate which will just be continuously replenished all day long, to the intense joy of your guests.

Do not under any circumstances attempt this the evening before your wedding, in which case it would result in a groom with a big bandage on his finger, on the hand with the ring...

The board games were half-heartedly brought out, but never used, as we just lounged around for hours, eating ham and saucissons with hazelnuts, drinking buck-fizz/mimosas (champagne and freshly squeezed orange juice) and reading the Sunday papers.

When it was deemed that our bodies needed more retoxing, we did so with slices of peppered whole foie gras with wine jelly (more of that on The Madeleines Project soon) and a salad. Salad??? Doesn't that sound a bit too detox-y? Not this salad...

Retox Salad

Quantities are entirely up to you. We had bought enough for 8, but ended up finishing everything although we were down to 5 retoxifiers by this time.

Frisée or other bitter salad leaves, washed and torn

Dried and or smoked duck breast - the best is from foie gras ducks, in which case it is called magret

Duck gizzards (gesiers), sliced and fried in a pan

Walnut kernels

Dressing: walnut oil (preferably from Auvergne of course!), raspberry vinegar, dijon mustard

Mix the salad leaves and dressing (reserve some dressing for drizzling on the finished dish)

Top the dressed salad leaves, with all the other ingredients, drizzle with the remaining dressing and serve with nice crusty bread. Voilà!

Were we retoxed? I think the fact that we have decided to make it a yearly event says it all!

Oh, and then we had the French cheeses, followed by Escargots de Lanvin (traditional chocolates eaten for New Year in France) and 'sandwiches' of Danish marzipan and nougat.

AH, that question, heard one too many times during every move. Or rather towards the end. And the end is what we are aiming for at the moment, along with the Blogger's Holy Grail: an internet connection!

Last Saturday our friends helped us move most of our things from one flat to the other, but a majority of boxes still remain to be unpacked. And I just know it won't happen this weekend, as we are heading for the year's first foodie extravaganza: the RETOX!

Deciding that de-toxing in January was best left to others, we are a group of dissidents who have decided to retox. Which means a marathon schedule of:

Saturday 7 pm: sushi & sashimi, accompanied by champagne tasting and comparison

Saturday much later: Spanish tapas, once the raw fish and bubbles have settled

Sunday 11 am: brunch, with a few lighter healthier options thrown in for good measure

Sunday much later, after one too many board games: French delicacies brought back from Auvergne

Complete menu, occasional recipes and photos to follow, as our fellow retoxers might be reading this, and it should really be a surprise...

Wish our livers good luck, while you sip your aloe vera juice and feel superior in the gym