A TABLE FOR SIX, PLEASE
After eating their way through the pandemic, readers Nigel and Debs Stockton in Wakefield and friends have written a fun cookbook to raise cash for charity Hospitality Action.
The group of six good friends decided to embrace the lockdowns and as they couldn’t meet in person, they dined together virtually. The results of those dinners have now been published in a fun cookbook called QuaranDine With Us to raise funds for hospitality workers whose lives have been blighted by the global shutdown.
Nigel said: “Every few weeks we would take it in turns to pick a recipe for a given course. The recipes were shared across the group and we cooked each others’ choices, creating wonderful three-course meals.
“The group’s favourite dish is an Indian snack called bhel-puri which we served with coriander chutney. Absolutely delicious!
“Sometimes there is a theme – we had a Valentine’s dinner two weeks ago with lots of fish and shellfish. I’m sure someone said they were an aphrodisiac! And a Burns supper in January with haggis and black pudding Wellington as the main course.”
Deb said: “Most of the preparation can be done ahead of the meal, with the emphasis on quickly serving, so we can put the focus on enjoying each other’s company.
“This book captures the moments and the recipes – hugs were virtual but banter and friendships are as real as they come.”
Buy QuaranDine With Us from Amazon for £1.49 on Kindle, paperback £14.99, and all royalties go to Hospitality Action.
Dear Coleen
I’ve been having an on/off affair with a married man for several years. The thing is, our arrangement suited me in the past because I was very focused on my job, I knew I didn’t want children and I was very independent.
In fact, I actually told him not to leave his wife for me, even though at one point that’s what he wanted and it was all he talked about.
He’s still with his wife but recently, after much thinking in lockdown, I began to realise that I now want more from him.
I suggested to him that it might be the right time to leave his marriage, so we could be together properly, but I wasn’t prepared for his response.
He said he and his wife were closer than they’d ever been and he wasn’t going to leave her.
He said he thought it was too late for us to make a proper go of things and that we’d “missed our window”.
I’m not sure where that leaves me. I’m nearly 40 now and suddenly feel like I may have messed things up badly. Can you help?
Should I try to convince him that his future is with me, or call it quits and walk away?
Coleen says
Unfortunately, it’s a consequence of getting involved in an affair. You’ve finally discovered you can’t call the shots in this situation; that you’re in a relationship with a man who has a wife and another life.
Lockdown has given you another perspective – maybe you’ve been bored or just had a lot of time to think. But it sounds like it’s had an effect on this man, too, and how he feels about his marriage – he’s realised he loves this woman he married and wants to make it work.
You can’t just have something because it suits you now – you have to accept that it doesn’t suit him.
You clearly now want more from a relationship than to be someone’s mistress, so the best advice I can give you is to move on from this affair and learn from it.
You’ve already wasted several years with someone who’s taken. Use your time now to plan positively for the future – it’s never too late to meet someone else and be happy, so give yourself the opportunity to do it.
While this guy is still on the scene, it’ll be hard to move forward.
He said we’d ‘missed our window’ to make a go of it
MASTERCHEF
BBC1, 9pm
FOOD enthusiast Gregg Wallace and Aussie chef John Torode are serving up a new series of MasterChef where they’re hoping to discover passionate cooks and avoid an accidental poisoning.
You can almost hear the infamous MasterChef voiceover now, that soothing narration set to guide us through the next six weeks.
Approximately eleventy billion series in, we know the drill. Forty amateur cooks are put through their paces in intense heats, all hoping to be awarded a coveted white apron and ultimately take the crown.
With five contestants in each heat and only four aprons, competition is fierce from the get-go.
The first contestants in HQ are Tom, Mike, Dominique, Madeeha and Ross, who must cook their signature dish. “This is their chance to really tickle my palate and put a smile on my face,” says John.
“There is no reason why their signature dish shouldn’t be an absolute showstopper,” adds Gregg.
From lobster thermidor to spiced chicken, the dishes are all impressive. But only two cooks will win aprons at this stage.
The remaining three contestants will have to pull out all the stops as they whip up a dish having been gifted with their favourite ingredient.
After this, one cook is sent home, and the remaining cooks must whip up two courses to wow John, Gregg and guest experts from the food industry.
Tonight their fate is in the hands of last year’s MasterChef Champion Thomas Frake and the 2014 Champion Ping Coombes.
The heat is on to win safe passage to the quarter-finals...