We actually had a frost yesterday, the first in ages here in semi-tropical Fulwood. The weird winter warmth does have its pluses, however, not least in the kitchen garden here. I wrote in a previous post about liking to pick something every day from garden, conservatory or greenhouse, and a few days back had a field day with parsley, bay, oregano and sage all to hand, Swiss chard, leeks and chilies all made good use of. I worry about climate change, and parsley surviving in the depths of our supposed winter should be enough to convince even the most sceptical - though apparently Trump, surviving on burgers and fries, would need an explanation of what parsley is. And that plants grow. And where Britain is.
On a totally separate topic, though if I wished I could do a cheesy segue by saying 'and talking of hot weather, we had a meal a week ago straight out of sunny Spain...' We did, and the main course was paella, served up to a bunch of friends at the table straight from my battle-blackened paella pan. It was so beautiful, even if I say so myself who forgot to photograph it, that it could have qualified as an ephemeral work of art. Chicken pieces red with paprika oil in which they roasted before being added to the saffron-tinted rice; fresh parsley (see above); green peas contrasting with the pink prawns. Of course as it was a thing of constructed beauty it would not be acceptable to the art establishment - though I could have let it rot for a month and then maybe it would have qualified for an Arts Council grant. A chap can dream. Then wake up screaming.
People talk glibly of 'the culinary arts', but for me that's a real thing, and something to aspire to. I cook from fresh all the time, and we live well - both in terms of nutrition and flavour. But only rarely do we get to enjoy something so visually stunning. For me that is where professional cooks - for whom nutrition is a side issue at best - stand apart from worthy amateurs. I'm not going to be making sugar baskets anytime soon, or cutesy waved drizzles of sauce, let alone pointless foams, but certainly the next time we have friends round I am definitely aiming to - on purpose this time - produce something that gives people eye orgasms. The two topics - climate and food beauty - actually do come together, strangely enough, in that we are now awaiting delivery of a load of saffron crocuses, as we've decided it's warm enough these days to give them ago in suburban Preston.
