Listening is certainly an art and it’s one that I must confess I’m guilty of trying to learn it as it does not come naturally. Perhaps it’s the fact that I’m so busy writing my opinions about things that means that I don’t often listen to others. I do try to listen though and I do make a sincere effort to do so. But my efforts in listening are often thwarted by my enthusiasm for a subject and I often find myself getting so excited that I blurt out things over people and my words climb all over them like an overenthusiastic (or badly trained) puppy. I swear that I am listening but I am also often so delighted to be talking to you that I appear not to be.

Mr NQN is a pretty good listener but there are times where he doesn’t. Shopping for this salad is a case in point. I was weighed down by work so I asked him to do the grocery shopping. It’s a daring task to assign to him as it often means that a second trip is needed to recover the items that he couldn’t find or purchased incorrectly. Either that or there are a half dozen phone calls from the supermarket. The poor thing…I do realise I am a nightmare to grocery shop for as I insist on certain brands.

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I had a fright the other day. I looked at the calendar and realised that we were just mere days away from Spring. “Why the alarm?” You might ask. Spring signals warmer weather and that means filmy, pretty dresses and then comes Summer which is…cue dramatic music duh duh dum…

Bikini weather!

Gorgonzola

I’ve been revelling in Winter, like a pig in mud I’ve been a indulging in stews, puddings and all sorts of delectable sweets. I’ve been feasting on poutine and foie gras in Canada and revelling in chicken in bread sauce in Sydney. I have paid no attention to the scales (actually we don’t have any which is deliberate as it can become an obsession) and now find myself in the precarious position of trying to down salads in this cold weather. I’ve tried steamed vegetables but these always seem to be pipped by lovely roast potatoes. In fact there has been a bit of a chip revival at Chez Elliott.

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For this recipe I must put my hand up for being incredibly tardy. I received the Silver Spoon for Children book last year from Phaidon before Christmas and it has taken me a long time to get to the stage of cooking from it. Of course the main obstacle was that I had no kids of my own and harassing pint sized strangers is often frowned upon. Months passed and I forgot about the book and it was only when Teena returned it to me that I remembered that I had meant to cook something from it.

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