Yes, I know I've just come back from cooking and you may want to know a little more about that.However, I thought I'd take a step back and throw you a curve ball by writing about what Mat Follas and his fine brigade normally dish up. Last February, my husband, his brother, his brother's girlfriend and I had resolved that as soon as the gladiator that had slain his opponents in culinary warfare had established a going concern, we would venture west and pay a pilgrimage to this champion.None of us want to drive, so we get a train to the nearest station, and thus find ourselves in the village of Crewkerne wondering what the hell to do. There's some kind of funfair being set up, and the temptation to go on the Mega-Dance and 'llow Beaminster altogether is strong, but eventually we find a cab who takes us the rest of the way.The Wild Garlic's address is 4, the Square. Beaminster appears to comprise just this Square, so it's easy enough to find. As we stand at the door, suddenly I feel a bit weird - I'm conscious of the fact that less than a month from now, Mat is allowing me to take over his restaurant, and seeing it in real life has made it become very real.

Any weirdness is immediately replaced by awe - being pedestrians, we've lazily booked the apartment directly above the restaurant, and Katy, one of Mat's brigade, leads us up to a retro vision of wood, pale greens and lilacs (a theme carried over from the restaurant).The flat is bigger than we expected, comprising a combined bedroom and lounge area, a fully equipped kitchen diner (plus bread, butter, wine and cereals) and an ensuite bathroom.Moreover, I'm a sucker for a well-designed piece of furniture, and this flat is a showcase for some of the best including G-Plan and Ercol - a beautiful set of table and three-legged chairs which sleekly slot together to leave a clean silhouette, some Mad Men-style purple recliners, a starburst wall clock, and a glam mirrored pendant lamp.I make the other three strike a pose for posterity. It has to be done.There's time to kill before dinner, so we loaf around the stylish apartment for a while, and then decide that we really ought to get some fresh sea air.

Sadly, there is only one bus from Beaminster to West Bay (the nearest beach) and we miss it - the brother-in-law and his other half make it to the sea on foot, but my husband and I do not, as Mat has asked Terry Ireland (his sous chef and a semi-finalist in this year's MasterChef) to let me have a go at prep before service that evening.It's my first time in a professional kitchen and I mainly get in the way, so we're all relieved when it gets to 7, and I can cross to the other side of the swing door for our reservation.jiro dreams of sushi pronunciationThe four of us sit down at a gorgeous wooden table which looks like a large piece of driftwood, but in fact used to be a French carpenter's table.sushi delivery london se18It's strikingly different from the other tables, which are by Marnie Moyle andOften Thermidor is so smothered in cheese that the seafood is suffocated, but here the creamy sauce simply serves to enhance the sweetness of the delicate crab, as it rightly should.sushi grade fish portsmouth nh

As we wait for our mains, two platters are brought with five beautiful types of leaf on each for us to try as amuse-bouches. Sadly I can't remember them all, but there's ice leaf, oyster leaf and Tiny Totoro Umbrella (aka nasturtium). All mad, all exciting, the peppery nasturtium's my favourite and not just because of the Ghibli/Animal Crossing connotations.When my dish arrives, I want to sing "Under the Sea", so lively does my wee crayfish appear (and it tastes just as perky). maiko sushi menu pdfThe pork chop is a little tough, but the fat is nicely crisped, and the ground hogweed ramps up the savouriness. sakae sushi menu azusaThe purple sweet potato is soothing and moreish, with warm hints of miso. jiro dreams of sushi richmond va

The hubby's beef and smoked mash is gorgeously autumnal, the mash a sexier version of the one I'd tasted in Birmingham. Brother-in-law's beef is an even better chunk of cow than the husband's, with its frothy topping of truffley cream. And like the miso in my purple mash, there's another Japanese touch in the little tamagoyaki roll which comes with his dish - but it goes surprisingly well. By now, we're weakly scraping at the plates with our spoons, lapsing into a food coma, when Mat appears to say hello and gives us all a shot of Somerset Pomona on the house. The Lewin Apartment can be booked directly through the Wild Garlic website and costs £120-£150 a nightRoll ChocolateChocolate BlackChocolate CherryChocolate RecipesChocolate SpongeChocolate FactoryThings ChocolateCakes Swiss RollsRoll CakesForwardChocolate, black cherry and vanilla arctic roll recipe. This delicious artic roll is a must have stand-by retro pudding that is quick and easy to make.I've been enjoying Jammie Dodgers recently since discovering that 3 of the 4 flavours are vegan friendly (jammy, choccie and lemon) and of course with my love of monkeys I think the adverts are fab.

Check out the Dodger Monkeys You Tube channel to see even more films of them partying and how the ads were made. I've also discovered these cereal bars in a local bargain shop - B&M Bargains. I've googled all the ingredients and these are vegan friendly too and most excitingly taste like marshmallow crispie bars! If you've read the blog before you may know that we have a work Come Dine With Me club. You can view some of the past nights here and here and here. I'm still signed off work but my lovely friends brought a mini-Come Dine over to my flat last night! Jenny made the nicest vegan cheesecake I have ever tasted. She watched this video to get the basic idea and then put together her own recipe with a gingernut base and a cheesecake made from silken tofu, icing sugar and lemon juice as the main ingredients. It's Cake Liberation Front meet-up time again tomorrow. I've been busy all day baking in preparation.My contribution to the feast is Absinthe and Cardamom cupcakes. I asked a friend to bring me some miniatures back from Prague recently.

The cake batter contains a whole miniature of absinthe. I decided there was enough absinthe flavour in the sponge so I didn't put any in the icing as well and I've saved the other bottle for another batch of cakes. My icing is just icing sugar, sunflower margarine, soya milk and a few drops of green food colouring. I whipped some batches of cookies too. These Ginger Flamingos are from the Parsley Soup Gingerbread Men recipe. There's also 2 boxes of Cowboy Cookies from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar and Cherry and Chocolate Cookies from 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes. I love sushi but haven't had any for ages. This post by How Not To Be A Skinny Vegan inspired me to get my bamboo mat out again. If you've never made sushi before I can assure you that it is easy to make these nori rolls. It takes a bit of time to prepare the rice but you can go off and do other things whilst it's soaking, steaming, then resting. I went for a simple of filling this time of radish and avocado. My favourite filling is the sweet potato one from Post Punk Kitchen.

There's lots of video around to show you how to make sushi including the original first episode of the PPK where Isa and Terri make sushi and cupcakes. I've had some baby tea cosies languishing in my knitting bag waiting to be sewn up for months. I've finally got round to sewing them up and putting them in my Folksy shop. Available in black, blue and purple they are just £4 each and fit a small teapot - the type that holds 2 mugs of liquid or 4 small teacups. I see that they also do a meat free burger and a falafel mix, has anyone tried any of these? So, I'm still signed off work and waiting to see a neurologist Some days I feel almost normal, others I'm so tired you would think I'd been out all night clubbing not that I'd just had 10 hours sleep! I started thinking about juices as something that might help. Only problem was that I freecycled my juicer a few months ago! It worked but I'd not used it for ages and it was one of the things that went in an effort to maximise space in my tiny kitchen.

I bought it in the early 90's from an advert in the Radio Times! I'd started going to Dublin and to one of the first juice bars, Juice on South Great Georges Street and fell in love with juices and found them very restorative after late nights!To my delight I found a much more efficient juicer for a tenner in a charity shop last week and some nice vintage glasses for my collection too. So, whilst I have all this time on my hands I'm going to try to get into the habit of juicing. My sister has lent me some juice books for inspiration but I kicked off with my old favourite of carrot, apple, celery and ginger, yum! My favourite animals are monkeys and as soon as the new Jammy Dodger adverts came on tv a friend contacted me to ask if I'd seen them. They're great, I especially love the one where the chocolate dodger monkey is on the tannoy! Further good news is that with the exception of the toffee flavour the other 3 (jammy, chocolate and lemon) are all vegan friendly too! A post by Accidentally Vegan on Facebook this morning reminded how much I love Gianduitto also known as Gianduiotti.

They were commenting on how good the ones that Waitrose sell are. Isn't the packaging lovely too! They are £5.10 for a 150g box, definitely one to let friends and families know about when they're wondering what to buy vegans for presents! Hotel Chocolat also sell them but at £14 for a 300g box!Gianduiotto is is a Piedmontese chocolate whose shape is similar to an upturned boat. Gianduiotti are individually wrapped in a tinfoilcover, usually gold or silver-colored. It is the speciality of Turin, and takes its name from Gianduja, a mask in commedia dell'arte. My usual place to buy them is from the counter in Cafe Nero where they are 25p each! They are one of those chocolates that tastes more like a milk chocolate as they have a rich creamy taste from the combination of sugar, cocoa and ground hazelnuts.If anyone has found them anywhere else please leave a comment, I'd love to know where else they are available. Also, whilst checking the price on the Hotel Chocolat website I noticed there are some good post Easter bargains to be had.