Melanie's Mostly Writing

I had a dream about Gordon Ramsay last night. I wrote him a letter telling him I was determined to work for him and I got a job. I remember making a chocolate carousel horse for dessert. I’m not sure that’s his style but it was a dream after all. Anyway he wasn’t shouty and sweary. He was really nice. I used to have some of his cookbooks. The recipes were more approachable than you might imagine.

The cookbook I used most when I was young though was Nick Nairn’s New Scottish Cooking. My mum taught me all the basics of home cooking, when I was a teenager, but with that book I learned many new things. I remember, when I lived in a little Scottish village called Portpatrick, we had French friends.  I loved having dinner parties for them and I’d cook from that book. Dominique was a chef turned Maitre d, so his praise or critcism felt useful.