2.9.04

a cupboard with the world in it

a wonderful day

have you ever been in a tiny lift in the company of a huge pot of *very* hot vegetable stock?
well, i have, and if the stock in question is conjured up by fusion maestro peter gordon it is quite an experience. not that i can tell you what was in it, peter was darting around the kitchen picking a sprig of this, a few dashes of that and tossing the lot in the aforementioned pot. half alchemist, half speedy gonzales.
peter really keeps the world in his cupboard, it' his idea after all, and fridge and most of that world i tasted in a rice made in the garden with the help of that wonderful stock, a giant paellera and two hours of unexpected sunshine.

in the meantime sri owen was preparing plantain and prawn fritters, some other nibble and a majestic thai beef salad.
which i sliced.
with dubious skill.
while copiously sweating (as per bottom right picture).
i was nervous after all: i was sharing a kitchen with the guy who single handedly brought fusion cooking (yes horrible crimes have been committed by lesser chefs in the name of fusion cooking but let me tell you, peter is a genius) to the english shores and the first lady of asian cooking.
and i'm just.. you know who i am, you've been reading my blog...

after all that sweating, the feast. we had to go back to peter's apartment as the british summer reared its ugly head once again.
it really rained hard when we were enjoying our feast.
but after the rain came an amazing rainbow.
and sri owen's dangerously good black rice ice cream with peter's coconut biscuits.
and a rare vodka from new zealand.

to cap it all up, later on that night my dear friend manuel from italian band afterhours played at the scala with greg dulli's twilight singers. but this is another story which belongs to my previous life.

ps: many thanks to the kind lisa barber for taking and donating those pictures and for making me look quite dishy...

pps: a full report of the day will appear soon in the sunday supplement of the independent