Maybe it was because I was pre-menstrual, or my particularly full-on stressy week but I was bereft of inspiration for the menu. I even asked Twitter for suggestions of what to cook. I received a reply from comedian Hardeep Singh Koli:
“Smoked aubergine and pea curry?”.
“Wanna cook it?” I asked cheekily.
Turns out he does. Hardeep was a finalist in celebrity Masterchef. He will be cooking for The Underground Restaurant one night in May.
Me: “Can I have the address of the party? and can I have the number of the friends? I’d like to check with the mum”
Cue shouting “OH MY GOD you are RUINING my life. I’m fifteen, I can do what I want, I should be able to go wherever I want without you knowing! NO other parents need to know this. YOU ARE MAKING ME LOOK BAD!!! You never want me to go out. Fine I’ll stay in.”
“All I want to know is the address and the number just in case. If something happens to you, you don’t come home and I call the police, what can I tell them? ‘Oh yes she went out, no idea where and no idea who with?'”
“I’M FIFTEEN!!!”
“Yes still a child legally.”
“You are so controlling”.
“Yes I am. It’s called parenting.”
“I’m so relieved that another mother also wants this information.”
We discuss what time the cab should come to get the kids (sorry ‘young adults’). My teen in the background “Two o’clock”
Me and other mum: “One o’clock is quite late enough for fifteen”.
My teen: “NO ONE GOES HOME AT ONE O’CLOCK. I’m not a baby”
“The Fat Duck. I wouldn’t go there again” declared the uncle “Snail porridge! I prefer Pepe’s near JFK “
The cameraman from ‘Tonight with Trevor Macdonald’ came with his lovely girlfriend Victoria who was a presenter on ‘Wish you were here’ I think. ‘Tonight with T.M’ was on Friday night (if anyone has a link please send it to me). I didn’t watch. But I was told presenter Johnny Maitland was going on about how much money I am making. Complete bollocks. In fact Ms Canal Explorer is doing the accounts at the moment and I will be posting them up here for everyone to see…
ahackinhackney
Another resounding success MsML… so glad your muse has returned… (not that it/she ever went away)… great post…. most inspiring
AHIH xx
Helen
I have a confession to make….I think I have a vague memory of using some earbuds in your bathroom when I was there! Sorry about that. I must have been desperate. As desperate as a woman can be to clean her ears anyway.
MsMarmitelover
Haha helen. I’d do the same thing! Think of it as yet another benefit of going to a home restaurant.
Michael
Totally with you on Borough Market. I live a few minute walk away, and only go there to buy things that are really hard to find elsewhere (Burrata, some of the artisan breads etc).
On the plus side, if you go stupidly early in the week for the wholesale market you can still pick up past-best raspberries in summer for jam etc. At least, you could last time I checked.