Cookbooks and Inspiration

Up until my mid thirties I couldn't boil an egg,I knew my food, had been dinning in the best restaurants in London and abroad on a daily basis for years,and loved great food and nice wines but couldn't cook at all.

I was a regular guest for spectacular Sunday Lunches at my old Friends Joe and Nicky's,their lunches were mighty affairs Nicky is a natural and great cook,and Joe a great host and bon viveur,and there was almost theatre in the way they would throw a lunch party.These were the Sunday Lunches against which all others are judged.It was some years later that the thought of those Lunches and the fact I had time on my hands that finally inspired me to try to cook.

I watched Ready Steady Cook on tv,bought a Delia Smith Cookbook,and with the help of some friends,started cooking,made tons of mistakes,but got better,I went on lots of courses and bought more and more cookbooks,still do.love them,I do think of Jamie Oliver as the modern day Delia,and in another twenty years he will seem old hat,but he made it cool for men to cook,which I am grateful for and all his recipes work,and I guess we all like to take a recipe and change it,taking it in different directions,thats what cooking is all about,Jamie more than others encourages that.

Well I am still learning,still cooking and loving it,twenty years later ,I can't think of anything better than being sat around a table with great friends good food and wine,it is the stuff memories are made of.

Look through those cook books be inspired and make something epic for lunch...Bon Apetite