Mementoes of my memory tree

May your life always be filled with beautiful, exotic, deep, enriching, blossoming and blissful scents… and may you always know your own and wear it with pride. Gérard

This hand written note on the inside leaf of Patrick Süskind‘s Perfume is a memento which replays the time I had a fling with a young man, a sensitive soul, while I was in my long-term relationship. Whenever the page presents itself, the distant past flashes back. Not that I am a nostalgic by any means… I love memories. Am not attached to them yet they bring a serene joy in my life. Strange though it may sound, in the spring clean, year after year, my stash of troubled moments have been recycled into enchantment. Continue reading Mementoes of my memory tree

Casa Ali ~ March menu + <3 dinner update

14 Feb dinner update and gallery

Why did I buy into the glamour of Valentines day when after all it was a Thurs-day? The symbolic has great power to re-ignite the past in a jiffy. I love all things ritualistic which you can make your own. It was a very intimate dinner for four guests and three arrived. Sebastian my sous chef had to go rescue a friend in need who was under pressure from the enormous expectations of the day. Valentines day was worth £1.3 billion to UK retailers and American spend on the day fetched $17.6 billion.

I was well chuffed at how the evening turned out at Casa Ali. Jon and Sara both live within 10 miles of  South Norwood, where as Kehkashan made an epic journey all the way from Continue reading Casa Ali ~ March menu + <3 dinner update

Let a thousand flowers bloom

A wandering, loving and vegetarian menu

First course of JOL&ML

Dictatorial is thumbs down and negotiational is thumbs up for me – almost always! For Journeys of Love and More Love I have had to send the menu to Melbourne and to Singapore, to make sure, the taster offerings would get prepared in time. Not that magically one sends the menu/recipes and items get churned out just because I had also emailed pictures from the ‘prepared earlier’ selection. Different cities, different ingredients, not even the same continents – all different negotiations and different solutions! Continue reading Let a thousand flowers bloom