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.