Answers - part 2

[chickenfeet]

okoshun: There have been many favourites! Of ones I have cooked myself this one was particularly memorable. Note that the lentils with the tuna are lentilles de Puy. a very superior lentil, cooked with the smoked bacon from the hungarian pig guys from Milton. Ingredient quality is key! It was just the two of us for lemur_catta's birthday. The wine was 13th Street Reserve Gamay which is a great match with tuna. All the dishes worked beautifully and how could I ask for better company?

Of restaurant meals, I think the best was with my ex at Heathcote's near Preston in England. They have a well deserved Michelin star. We had the menu de degustation, so many couses. The ones I remember clearly were a barely cooked slab of poached salmon on a bed of samphire with a little gros sel, a terrine which was a slice through a lamb fillet that had been seared , wrapped in grilled peppers, eggplant and courgette slices then wrapped again in basil. It was served with a fresh tomato coulis and baby lettuces. The main course was partridge served over a bed of cabbage, lentils and chestnuts with a jus. Fabulous! They had a great cheese plate too though I don't remember what we drank.

Fun meal award would go to one I cooked for a friend who works for the LCBO and his wife. The fun was largely to do with confronting him with unlabelled decanters of entirely atypical wines and watching him get them spectacularly wrong! To be fair, anybody would have done. i was being very sneaky. I don't remember what we ate though.

jez_e_bel: When I read your question I had just eaten so didn't feel hungry at all. The hot and sour soup I just made, which is what i just ate, was exactly what I felt like. It was made with home made stock, Thai hot and sour paste, shrimp balls, bamboo shoots, green onions and chillis and was very satisfying.