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!

Tea time again

Remember I mentioned the Sikkim tea at Kim's Coffee House in Saffron Walden? What do you mean, no?!

I love this tea and I have sampled it several times when I have visited the coffee house. On our last visit we picked up a leaflet which gave some information about the supplier, the Kent Tea and Trading Company. We visited their website and were pleased to find that we could order the tea to be delivered to our very home, for enjoyment in our own little mugs and everything!

It's delicious - a second flush, so quite a lot of fruitiness and moisture, but with the distinctive Darjeeling edge. I always want to describe that as 'tobacco taste', no matter how unappetising it sounds.

Anyway, if you like your Himalayan silver tip teas, I'd recommend it. So, some good things do come out of Kent, then!

Next time you're in the Maldives

Ok, so this is a bit self-indulgent. Even if you are about to go on holiday to the Maldives it's unlikely you'd go to the same resort as I did. And it's not the sort of place where you can pop over to another island for dinner! Nevertheless, I was pleased enough with my Maldives restaurant experience to write about it.

The resort we visited (Komandoo island) has an a la carte restaurant called Aqua, which opened fairly recently. It gives the chef a chance to be a little bit more experimental and extravagant with food than he would in the 'all-inclusive' restaurant. Generally food for holiday-makers in the Maldives tends to be good, but unimpressive. It's healthy, well-cooked and often delicious but unmistakeably mass-produced and calculated to please all. So I was delighted to be offered an alternative, and I was very impressed and pleasantly surprised by what we found.

I ate an amazing seafood and pasta dish with tomato sauce, a lobster bisque, lemongrass and curry soup, reef fish served with potatoes and salsa, plus too many amuse bouches to mention. This is on several occasions, of course, rather than at one huge blow-out ...! The food has Maldivian, Indian and pan-Asian influences, with distinctly European presentation. I think I'd even give it one of my highest accolades: it's London restaurant standard!

So, if you are ever passing ...! Actually, I just noticed on the island's website that Aqua is "designed to offer our guests a culinary art beyond their expectation", which is more or less what I just said, but shorter!