One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating

That's something the great Luciano Pavarotti said...

I have to say, I may have bored some of my readers of late, but not like I'm gonna bore you today because yet again, I'm gonna do a post about one of my favourite topics (and obviously Luciano's!), a topic that comes just after music and nature for me. That is, food.

I mean, I can't help it. I just love to eat. I know that if Moliere were around, he would be laughing his head off saying "That Knitting Songbird is a prime example of what I've been talking about all this time, she is definitely someone who doesn't eat to live rather lives to eat." I can't say that that's entirely true. But almost. I guess I'd have to put it down to the fact that I'm a Taurean. We just love our food! Here's an abstract of what I found on the net regarding us bulls:

Although their physical appearance may belie it (what are they trying to say - we're ugly???), they have a strong aesthetic taste, enjoying art, for which they may have a talent, beauty (recoiling from anything sordid or ugly) and music. They may have a strong, sometimes unconventional, religious faith. Allied to their taste for all things beautiful is a love for the good things of life pleasure, comfort, luxury and good food and wine and they may have to resist the temptation to over indulgence, leading to drunkenness, gross sensuality, and covetousness.

True, true, very true, just not quite certain about the drunkenness part. Although I do like a nice (small!) glass of French, Italian, Spanish, Australian or Croatian wine once in a while, I've been completely and utterly "off my face", as we Aussies like to put it, only twice in my life and vowed the second time never to do it again. I'm proud to say that I've kept that pledge for the past 3 years (not including Paris with Davor - but that was being tipsy after having had only two glasses of champagne, for God's sake! I don't think that counts as being drunk!). But not giving into the temptation of just one more piece of Valrhona's finest, well, that is simply too much for me. Or one more sliver of gorgonzola dolce. Or just a soupcon of creme brulee. No, for me, life is too short to withstand the pain of not giving into those temptations. I have to say that I've been relatively lucky thus far but have to keep an eye on the size of my portions as the derriere has started to look somewhat rotund of late.

I do go on...but like I said, that's me and food. But I have to share a recipe with you that I found on the net the other day by none other than Jamie Oliver, the only other person besides my dear friend Irina to have made me really think about what I put on my plate. I love him to bits because the man really does make an effort to get people out of the take away shop and into the kitchen more often. So kudos to him.

I just made this recipe today and have made been making countless trips up the stairs to my kitchen to take just one more little handful to keep me going for the next hour or so. It's Jamie's granola and it's just delish. And like most of Jamie's recipes, a cinch to make. And honestly, it'll knock your socks off and make you never want to buy that cheap (or expensive!) shop bought granola again. Another of the beauties of it is is that you can add as much or as little honey/maple syrup as you like, making it suitable for all diets including macrobiotics (have to ask Irina just to make sure) or sufferers of diabetes (you'll have to get back to me on that one Ross!). By the way, I didn't add cinnamon, don't like the taste of it too much, but you're more than welcome to add some if you like! Now that I come to think of it, could've added a handful of Valrhona chocolate chips...maybe next time...

Jamie's granola

200g rolled oats
150G mixed nuts
50g mixed seeds
50g desiccated coconut
1 tsp ground cinnamon
150g dried fruit
5 tbls honey or maple syrup
5 tbls olive oil

Preheat oven to 180c/350f/gas 4. Put your dry ingredients, including coconut and cinnamon but not the dried fruit, on a baking tray. Stir well and smooth down with a wooden spoon. Drizzle with the syrup or honey and oil. Place the tray in the oven for 25 to 30 mins. Every 5 mins or so, take the granola out and stir it, smoothing down before putting it back in the oven. When it is nice and golden, remove it from the oven,mix in the dried fruit and let it cool down.

Serve with milk or yogurt.

Can't help falling in love with you

My favourite episode of Jamie Oliver's "Oliver's Twist" series is simply entitled "Chocolate". The plot is as follows: Jamie and his wife are celebrating their wedding anniversary but have no one to look after their 4 month old daughter. So Jamie cons some chicks from his restaurant to babysit her in return for some chocolate goodies that he concocts in front of us. The recipes are typically Jamie - easy and absolutely delish. During the episode, the girls are asked why they like eating chocolate so much and one of them simply replies "because eating chocolate is like falling in love". And I completely agree with her.

Here's what Wikipedia says about chocolate and the love aspect: "Romantic lore commonly identifies chocolate as an aphrodisiac. The reputed aphrodisiac qualities of chocolate are most often associated with the simple sensual pleasure of its consumption. Additionally, chocolate's sweet and fatty nature may stimulate the hypothalamus, inducing pleasureable sensations as well as affecting the levels of serotonin. While serotonin has a pleasurable effect, in high concentrations it can be converted to melatonin which in large amounts reduces sexual drive. Finally, chocolate has been shown to contain unsaturated N-acylethanolamines which might activate cannabinoid receptors or increase endocannabinoid levels resulting in heightened sensitivity and euphoria. Although there is no firm proof that chocolate is indeed an aphrodisiac, a gift of chocolate is a familiar courtship ritual."

So there's no hard and fast evidence that eating chocolate is like falling in love. But read again the following sentence from the above extract: "The reputed aphrodisiac qualities of chocolate are most often associated with the simple sensual pleasure of its consumption." That to me sums up everything we do in life for pleasure. A scientist can't tell you what makes you feel good and not so good, what music to listen to and what to avoid, what and who to love and not to love. It's your gut instinct that tells you, your heart, there's little or no logical or scientific explanation to it. Personally, I think that although logic is all well and good, too much logic can keep us away from the people and things we love most and sometimes, instead of thinking it helps us can hinder us. We should start listening to hearts and guts more instead of our heads.

So go out and buy yourself the best bar of chocolate you can (I can recommend Lindt or Valrhona), sit somewhere nice and comfortable and have a piece or two. Or have some chocolate ice cream. Or go for a walk. Or ride your bike. Or read a book. Or strum your guitar. Or listen to some music you like. Or phone or visit a friend. Or write a blog. Whatever you do, do something you like that makes you feel good. It may not seem logical to you or the people you know, but who cares? It'll do wonders for you.

If you have a bit more free time on your hands, and you like cooking like me, here's a recipe from the "Chocolate" episode that's just divine - chocolate sundaes.



Mmmmm...all this talking about chocolate has given me a bad case of the munchies...I'm off to have a piece of Valrhona pecan chocolate...yum!

Talk soon,
The Knitting Songbird