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?

When I saw The Traveler's Lunchbox' 'Calling all foodbloggers' message to write about the 5 things to eat before you die, I just followed my instincts and wrote the following list in the comments section (I had not started this blog yet)

• Dungeness Crab in San Francisco
• Oysters from Etang de Tau in the South of France
• Fresh raspberries, straight from the bush, still warm from the sunshine
• Danish Fjord Shrimp
• BBQ'ed langouste from the Indian Ocean

It was a flow-of-consciousness-moment and looking back at it, I find it very revealing.

Firstly: Of my own mortality, which I apparently was either thinking imminent or non-existent, depending on how you look at it, since these are  all things I have already eaten. So did I think 'Yep, I have tasted these 5, now I can die in peace, forever happy'? Or - much more likely if you knew me a bit better - I didn't give my own mortality much thought and just went straight to the 'eat' part of the sentence rather than the 'die'.

Secondly: Apparently I am presumptous enough to think that these 5 of my own favourite things are so fantastic that other people should eat them before they die (being an ex-consultant, it's hardly surprising that I should think that I know what is best for other people).

And thirdly, 4 out of 5 of them are seafood.

Come to think of it, this stream of consciousness wasn't so far off the mark mortality-wise since, given the choice of a last meal, this is probably what I would ask for. Yes, all 5 of them. And given that these are local specialities from around the world, gathering them all would take some time, and therefore afford me a bit more time before the grim reaper appeared. Who said "cunning"?

So why did I choose these 5, out of the many delicious things I have tasted? I couldn't say. All I know is that these 5 just appeared at the tips of my fingers and from there to the keyboard.

Some of them deserve a Madeleine of their own (once the site's design has been finished by Skat, my lovely husband - I can't help giggling a bit at writing 'my husband', although it's been over a year now!), but a few words about each choice are in order, I believe:

1. Dungeness Crab: this is Numero Uno, as I simply cannot get enough crab. But the Dungeness Crab in San Francisco beats all the others I have tasted. It is truly the Emperor of Crabs, in my book (for the rest of the story, stay tuned on the Madeleines Project).

2. Oysters from Etang de Thau - these are the oysters we eat every Easter at my parents', courtesy of a friend of theirs who brings Huitres de Bouzigues, since his family owns an oyster farm. They have a nut-like, smooth and elegantly nuanced taste which is unrivalled by any others, be they from Oleron, Arcachon, Cornwall, Bodega Bay or Nosy Be (you guessed it, there is another Madeleine in there somewhere...). Incidentally, we also had these oysters the day after our wedding last year, as nothing beats oysters and champagne to prolong festivities...

3. Fresh raspberries, straight from the bush, still warm from the sunshine - the quintessential taste of summer and an eternal reminder of the huge raspberry bush in my parents' previous house. Although I live in strawberries n' cream country, I still prefer raspberries any day, dressed with nothing and preferably eaten without cutleru and outdoors.

4. Danish fjord shrimp - my family-in-law would probably not believe that this had made it to my list, but shelling these little creatures will either prolong your life ALOT, since it takes forever before you have anything vaguely resembling a portion (unless you happen to be Barbie or Ken), alternatively you might wish your life was over much sooner so you could just stop fiddling with the little microscopic thingies. The secret is to have a few portions on some nice sourdough bread and relish the time spent with family and / or friends while doing so. And drink copious amounts of white wine to keep you patient and sane, if not sober. And then take the remaining boiled shrimp, just remove the heads and the tails, lightly dust them with flour seasoned with salt, pepper and chilli and fry them. They are such an expensive delicacy that no-one in their right mind in Denmark would buy them just to do that, but having a few portions comme-il-faut first, helps to alleviate the guilt. Trust me.

5. BBQ'ed Langouste from the Indian Ocean - now, for this week's über-decadent affirmation ' I like lobster, but I luuurve langouste'. Not that I have any of them often, far from it, but given the choice I would always choose the one without the claws but with the sweetest meat. Preferably BBQ'ed. Served under a starry African sky. While on honeymoon. Or grilled by my mum, as the last meal in Madagascar (before leaving, not before kicking the bucket! Enough of these morbid thoughts, already!). And yet another Madeleine-in-Progress...

Aaaah, I feel like Sheherazade, enticing you to come back to read me, never ending a story before teasing you with a new one. In this case, 3 new ones! 1001 posts? One day. Maybe...

PS: spare a kind thought for Skat who is doing the washing-up and tidying the kitchen, so I can blog away... Thank you.