We went out to a local café from breakfast and I had my favourite Eggs Royale (poached eggs with smoked salmon on an English muffin with hollandaise) and a large cappuccino.

Dinner will be linguini with smoked trout and crčme fraiche.

Seems I'm having a fishy day today.

Apple Fritters at Applewood Farmhouse Restaurant near Pigeon Forge, Tennessee!

lunch@Hampshire UK

One of those days when you have to get up very early tommorow morning to get to LHR by opening with a margin because it's the wife's car .....

So!

Roasted onion humous with scraps of dipping pitta.

Follewed by:

Welsh Lamb leg steaks bashed thinly and bbq'ed with baked onion rice with tomato and cucumber and feta and red onion salad with vinegarette.

Rioja in abundance. I want to doze this afternoon.

Elsanta strawberries with Ben and Jerry's.

Now doze ........ then irritate wife by getting her up and off.

Excellent taste for a North London Gal.

Only one minor gripe ..... espresso for brekkies (preferably with a cheap Spainish brandy) - Capo's for matins is a "no no" and only for after lunch with a nice sweet tart. Well, that's my view anyway. ^

Can I tempt you to start smoking your own trout now I know that you outrank me and are better than me at bread?

Are you casting aspersions on my north London background?

Eeww espresso - can't do black coffee. My husband is permanently high on espresso but I need the milk.

I am sure that I am not better at bread than you but if you smoke your own trout I'm very impressed. I don't really have time (I work full time - luckily from home or I wouldn't have any time at all) and that's why god invented Waitrose

And as for a sweet tart - well, the least said the better

PS - Just seen your lunch menu. Lovely, what time shall I be round?

North London?! As you know - we all pretty much know each other!? Let's home in ..... did you use to go to the the Country Club at Belsize Park? Any of the charity dos? That's a start!

Well, if you work from home then I think you will find that God invented Ocado rather than Waitrose for you .... it is boring but it has changed our lives. You are able to plan meals completely rather than just wandering around and grabbing at random ... and the food isn't from the shelves.

Well - you'll need to be a bit quick because we are off to the land of of the three "S"'s ie stelze and schnitzel and strudel in the early hours ... She needs her injection of wandering and eating etc.

I have a theory about your challah. You were so pleased with your plaiting that you took a photo and forgot the poppy seeds. It is a really good loaf ... I find myslef thinking about it. Much better than mine! Did you see their plaiting attempts on the bread baking series?

It reminded me of my adjustment of the old JC kibbutz joke.

"Man from Hampshire seeks a gal from North London. Must be attractive with a great sense of humour and able to make challah. In the first instance please send a photograph of the challah ......"

No to the country club at Belsize Park (I'm probably not that posh ). Did you live in Belsize Park?

I do use Ocado actually. I love them and that way I don't need to spend my weekends in Waitrose - I just run there for top ups and we have 3 in the near vicinity.

The challah is something I am pleased about but I daren't try anything beyond a 4 braid. I'd love to try 6 but I'd probably tie myself in knots. Didn't the British bake off contestants have to do a 12 braid or something ridiculous?

I've heard that challah joke before but a different version

Have fun in (I assume) Germany....strudel.....mmmmmm

Vienna!

And the other version is tractors I believe.

No - use to live at Barbican when it was called Old Street or Whitecross Street and use to go on the bus to the school in Stepney. And Brady when it existed. And it was I think either a nine or 12 plait. Horrible.

The best thing I ever tried on the strudel front was because I loved properly home made strudel ... and also love baclava ... I did a sort of bacstrudel. I layed the filo like a baclava shape but with the apple and nuts and fruit (with a squint of calvadso) etc in the bottom section with a filo seperator and then did some baclava layers on top. Ended up diamond shaping it like baclava with a syrup topping that soaked in.

It was something everyone would scratch their heads about and ask was I on drugs when I thought about it. But once I had it in my head I couldn't get it out until I made it - but I feel I invented something that was perfect for me and the family who all thought it unique and exquisite. I get requests.

Vienna - you have to have sacher torte. Lovely!

HHmmmm not sure about the baklava/strudel combo. No one makes strudel like my grandmother used to.

She died 6 months ago aged 96 and was cooking and baking up until the end.

We really like Sachertorte. When my wife use to have a glum day or two I would order her one and it would arrive by UPS a couple of days after ordering it from the hotel. The only objection is that it always seems a touch drier than it need be so I decided to have a go and I made a Sachertorte a couple of weks ago. One of those things you simply want to do to see if you can. It was as good as I had bought but wasn't as smooth and as elegant but tasted better.

I then made exactly the same thing again but using red cherry jam rather than apricot and using some kirsch. The daft thing is that it is more expensive to make than it is to have it DHL'ed from the hotel.

I love chocolate and cherry together.

Actually I love chocolate with pretty much anything lol

I've had a baklava shake in Singapore. Also, a while back I saw a recipe for baklava cheesecake. What the hey indeed.

How do either of those sound?

Cheesecake, maybe. Shake

I just took three trays of balsamic roasted vegetables out of the oven.

good stuff ! (especially with the cool weather we've been having in Chicagoland)

Speaking of balsamic, dinner at home consisted of grilled octopus, sliced then placed over a salad of arugula, garbanzo beans & roasted red peppers with a homemade balsamic dressing. So easy & delicious.