Spanish highs

I wasn't disappointed by Spain, you'll be glad to know!

The food adventure started with a visit to the Delicatessen in Tarifa, which serves pretty good jamon iberico by the racion (sort of medium-sized portion). They also make a fantastic salad of asparagus on a bed of salmorejo (a sort of tomato sauce/soup) and delicious Cava. It's in a lovely location, perfect for sitting in the shade for hours with a book.

Next we ventured to Jimena de la Frontera and found a small, typical Spanish bar on a noisy hill (Jimena is a very steep town, so almost everything is on a hill!). We ate fantastically good ham, a tortilla de patatas and some asparagus. As I was saying before, almost any bar in Spain will have some tapas available and it's usually pretty good no matter how basic the place looks!

We also had a couple of picnics with food bought from Eroski, the Tesco-style supermarket. Even fairly inexpensive supermarket-bought ham is good in Spain, so you just need to buy some bread and cheese to go with it.

Some parts of Spain now have fancy 'fusion' restaurants - one of the best we tried was Posada La Sacristia in Tarifa, although the one in hotel Escondite del Viento was pretty good too. I ate local fish with tabbouleh, salmon and tuna sashimi, a tuna thing with rice, banana fritter and a salad with guacamole - all very delicious.

But I can probably eat that stuff anywhere and it isn't why I go to Spain. It's all about the ham!!

Hurry up with the jamon

In fact I couldn't wait! I went to Meson Los Barilles in Spitalfields to start the Spanish food experience a bit early.

In my experience the food, presentation, decor and service in this place feels fairly authentic. It feels, smells and tastes like many restaurants I've been to in Spain, particularly in the south. A few of the tapas seem a bit 'fancy' but all the staples are there and it's a comfy place to sit and eat for an hour or two.

The ham wasn't great, though (only bog-standard serrano, not 'the good stuff') and I'm hoping to find better in Spain.

Jamon jamon

I'm going to Spain next week, so I'm very excited. I'm mainly excited about the food - in fact I can hardly wait!

I guess Spain isn't renowned for its excellent cuisine, but its signature food is simple and delicious. You don't need to do anything fancy with Pata Negra ham - just slice it. You can't go far wrong with a tortilla espanola or a handful of Marcona almonds. You'd be best advised to put olives in a dish and leave them be, rather than trying to infuse them with garlic oil or stuff them with an anchovy.

I look forward to my annual jaunt to Spain for just this reason: it's easy to pitch up at almost any tapas bar and order some ham, olives, a tortilla and a nice glass of red wine, which will all be delicious. Far better than complicated messed-with food at some fancy faux-Spanish place.

Bog right off

I was more than a little bit annoyed that the government recently criticised supermarkets for offering 'buy-one-get-one-free' offers. An MP complained that this increases the amount of food we throw away, and said we shouldn't "be tempted by buy-one, get-one-free, three-for-two or two-for-ones".

Well, who asked her?! I'll be tempted any time I feel like it, missy. The general public should be grown-up and self-sufficient enough to decide what food they need to buy and withstand a bit of blatant sales temptation every now and again.

I love BOGOF offers and I'd really miss them if they stopped. I buy quite a similar batch of things each week, so it makes a lot of sense for me to get two at the same time and store them. That's what cupboards, freezers and tupperware containers are for!

Rather than penalise those of us who make use of the offers, how about providing recipes for the others to use up their spares?

Thai curry again and again!

Y'know, there's been talk. I haven't been talking, but there has been talk* concerning my fantastic new green Thai curry recipe.

One of the best things about the Taste of London festival was the free brochure, featuring recipes from some of the attending restaurants. I've been interested in learning how to make a good green curry for a while (because I like it but find restaurant versions too hot for my preference). So I was pleased to see that the Blue Elephant had published their recipe in the brochure.

Of course, I shamefully adapted it and took a few ideas from delicious magazine's 'freeze ahead' version too. This recipe should make enough for four modest portions, so if you're cooking for two you can freeze one batch and easily heat it in the microwave later.

I make mine with chicken, so my first step is to cut two large breasts (no comment) into chunks and fry it over a low-ish heat in a big wok, with a bit of vegetable oil. Once it's starting to look a bit cooked, I add three tablespoons (45ml) of green curry paste. This is the only cheaty bit of the recipe: I use ready-made paste, to save all the effort of grinding and blending! The quality of shop-bought pastes varies quite a bit, as does the amount of chilli they use, so shop around until you find one you like.

Anyway - once the paste and chicken starts sizzling happily I add four or five chopped spring onions, half a chopped red onion and one stalk (stem?) of lemongrass cut very finely. You can also add some aubergine or other appropriate vegetables at this stage. After another couple of minutes, add a 400g tin of coconut milk and let the whole thing simmer for 5-10 minutes.

At this stage, add the juice of a whole lime, one torn kaffir lime leaf, a handful of basil leaves and a pinch of fresh coriander. Give it a stir - at this point it should be rather thin. My 'freeze ahead' addition here is to add 100g of ground almonds to thicken and make it go further, but this is a bit calorie-tastic! Without the almonds it may only make two portions rather than four, but it won't be as fattening. If it looks a bit gloopy once you've added the almonds, stir in a few splashes of water until it looks about the right consistency.

And that's you done: serve it with some steamed rice and Thai crackers.

*A bun for anyone who recognises the film reference and isn't ashamed to admit it!

Best possible taste

Sometimes we ask someone's opinion because we suspect they'll think the same as we do, and just want our own opinion verified. It's just nice to have some agreement and do that smug nodding.

Such was my attitude towards this year's Taste of London festival. I wanted to go along and confirm my opinion of certain restaurants. I checked the list of restaurants attending beforehand, read their menus and made a list of what I wanted to eat. Then I'd be able to go, "yes, just as I thought - Busaba Eathai does serve great chicken satay. Boy, do I know resrtaurants!"

Fortunately I left my list at home. Also some of the queues were a bit too long to handle and some dishes didn't look as nice as they had sounded. So I wandered blindly, checking the menu at each stall as I went and tasting a variety of different things from places I didn't know very well. In other words, got the best from the festival.

My highlights were sizzling wagyu beef on hot rocks from Cocoon, tunapica from Asia de Cuba, lemon tart with strawberries from Rhodes 24 and prawn pomelo with peanut from Busaba Eathai (ok, so a couple of old favourites sneaked in, and I was right ...).

The highlight of the festival overall, though, wasn't food-based. Cocoon restaurant also offered a sake tasting. We were led through six or seven types of sake by a very friendly and knowledgeable sommelier. Unfortunately it was over-popular, cramped and noisy (just in front of the food counter); it definitely merits its own stand or masterclass next year.

Biscuit princess

When someone asks, "what would you like for your birthday?" the correct response is always "biscuits".

I was lucky enough to receive some fantastic birthday biscuits this year. They came in a pretty pink tin, from Fortnum and Mason, which winds up and plays 'Happy Birthday To You'. The biscuits themselves are lemon curd, chocolate chip and shortbread varieties and are delicious with tea.

Truly biscuit royalty!