Love and dedication

Its 6pm on a Friday night, no plans for dinner, no cash for home delivery and the troops are beginning to 'hang around' which means its not long before the age old question "what's for dinner?'. Cheese Toasties are looking likely but I scan the book on top of the inspiration pile, Greg Malouf's Saraban, in case I find something that contains ingredients I already have.
 
Yes I have artichokes (hearts in a can), pumpkin, waxy potatoes, carrots, shallots, coriander seeds, black peppercorns, dried mint, olive oil, sea salt, saffron threads, lemon, tarragon leaves, broad beans (well not quite but canned legumes should work) and peas, no turnips or fresh green beans but 16 out of 18's not bad. And my clever partner suggests we get some flat bread from the Afghani restaurant just up the road and yes I have $2.00 for that.

An hour later, its only after we've enjoyed a beautiful Persian vegetable Khoresht (stew) with some Afghani flat bread straight out of the tandoor that I think 'wonderful food takes so much dedication' especially if ones culinary preferences are as broad as mine. And its not all about the kitchen skills.




It's pretty straight forward in the pantry of most homes I visit but mine is chokka block full of the components needed to make dishes from the cuisines of  Turkey, China, Italy, France, Lebanon, India, Malaysia, Japan etc etc ....... And then there's the cookbooks, my bookshelves are bowing from the sheer weight and the cost of all that gastronomic beauty! Although I have to say I am a little more savy these days, restricting my purchases to tomes that are actually going to get used. I supplement these treasures by borrowing from the local library (our library has a great online facility for 'suggesting' new purchases) and of course 'the net'. And there's the time needed to explore our town so I know there's a little gem of an Afghani restaurant 'just up the road' for freshly baked flat bread or a kebab when desired, how far I have to travel to get good saffron or which fruit and veg shop has artichokes when they are in season. No wonder I get labelled as food obsessed! I'm not really!!! Well maybe just a little, it was the impetuous for the last overseas trip and the last road trip to Adelaide and I'm sure it's were most of my money goes. Okay I could admit I have a food obsession but I prefer to believe its love and dedication! Come dine with me, let's dine, let's dine away - or was that fly that Frank Sinatra was singing?!*/!!