Bhavna, Nita... and an accident

Great to welcome back (the VERY pregnant) Bhavna on Friday and Nita on Saturday. Largely vegetarian affairs. I served a starter of baked beetroot with curd cheese, pea shoots and some wonderful cucumber pickle from my good friend @rich_graham at the Preservation Collection. I also garnished with some delicate edible kale flowers from my garden.



Main courses were both based on my barley lemon risotto, with some having pan fried sea bass, some char grilled chicken and some fennel fritters.

There were four medical professionals in Bhavna's group and this chimed quite nicely with the news I received last week that I'm back as part of the Casualty team. I heard a few horrific stories from Ashok concerning his rotations in A&E.

Bhavna's husband, Umesh (sp?) is a photographer so he took this while trying to educate me on f-stops and ISOs. The light was VERY low. Bhavna (on the right) might not look pregnant here but I had towels and hot water on standby. No idea why. No one uses hot water during childbirth do they?

I would have loved to have taken some pictures of Nita's charming and wonderfully entertaining five-some but then, on Saturday afternoon, this happened...

It might not look like much but boy... it did smart somewhat

Ironically, it was when I was cooking for my own family not for the restaurant. I grasped a metal handle that I hadn't realised was over an adjacent flame. I heard my own fingers sear. I then did a little dance and entertained some Anglo-Saxon epithets before my wife plunged my hand into some iced water. And that's how I was for the rest of the evening: one handed and wincing. Luckily I'd done most of the restaurant prep by then but I had to direct my sons to chop and add while I did the tasting with one hand, Huge kudos to them; they were brilliant.

One more thing. Sorry Farah... this is the best I could do.