Some of my Favourite Things

I eat a lot. And when I'm not eating I think a lot. About food. Literally every minute of every waking day I am thinking about food. It is an obsession, my life really does revolve around food. I go with the old saying 'everything in moderation' and eat fairly healthily most of the time but of course everyone needs the odd treat! Here are some of my favourite things to eat, in no particular order. Except the top one - I think that really is my ultimate culinary conquest.

1. Cheese. Cheddar, brie, gorgonzola, feta, halloumi, parmesan, mozzarella, stilton, camembert (oh camembert! Bake in its box with some garlic and thyme until seductively oozing and use big chunks of crusty bread as a vehicle to transport the melting cheese to your excited mouth. Sorry - that actually sounds like food porn. But I like it!) Any cheese is good cheese. I love to eat a thick slice of super mature cheddar when it's so strong that it makes the back of your jaw tingle. Or I love melted cheese on pizza, pasta and mashed potato. And then there are soft cheeses - I often stuff chicken breasts with cream cheese and herbs then wrap in Parma ham and bake in the oven, simple yet delicious. And I love carrot cake topped with cream cheese frosting laced with a hint of orange. And don't forget cheesecake! In short, I love cheese.

2. Chocolate. I think chocolate would be in most people's top ten foods and I am certainly no exception! I could (and often do) eat chocolate every day but I must confess that I don't really go in for the posh stuff - give me a toffee crisp any day and I will be happy as a kid in Willy Wonkas chocolate factory. I love chocolate biscuits too: Maryland cookies, chocolate digestives, bourbons and chocolate hobnobs will always be invited to take a seat next to my cup of tea. (Though I will leave my ULTIMATE favourite biscuit till later on.) Even when cooking, I often prefer to use milk chocolate in recipes (shock horror say the food snobs) as I find sometimes dark chocolate can be a little too bitter, though sometimes of course that is precisely what you need. I will post my favourite chocolate recipe at a later date. It is a chocolate and salted caramel torte and is, in my humble opinion, a mouthgasm.

3. Tomatoes. I eat tomatoes nearly every day, raw or cooked, they are a deliciously healthy and versatile superfood. Little fact for you, lycopene, an antioxidant found in tomatoes, has cancer fighting properties and is more prominent when the tomatoes are cooked. So do yourself a favour and make up some pasta sauce! I eat tomatoes grilled for breakfast, sliced in a salad or chopped into some couscous for lunch, baked with balsamic vinegar and herbs as a flavoursome side dish, roasted and blended into soups, sauces and marinades or added to pizzas, lasagnes and roasted vegetables for dinner. The list of uses for these cheap and cheerful little red fellas is endless and I love to find new ways of using up some rogue tomatoes lying sadly in the bottom of my salad drawer. Sun dried tomatoes are also a fabulous store cupboard ingredient as they are so packed with intense flavour and I would be lost without a tube of tomato puree.

4. Salt and Vinegar Crisps. Yes, very specific here, not just any crisps but salt and vinegar flavoured crisps. McCoys are my brand of choice but they are terribly high in calories for something that only fills you up for a short while. I only have 'proper' crisps as a treat, sticking to low fat versions such as skips on a regular basis. I only have to sniff a salt and vinegar crisp and I'm a dribbling wreck. I also use crisps to crumble on top of mashed potato with cheese before baking in the oven. Yum!

5. Custard Creams. The ultimate biscuit. I love the look as well as the taste of custard creams. Those lovely tactile indentations on the biscuit look so posh. Marks and Spencer sell a tin of these biscuits in a tin that looks like a custard cream - genius! I love these dunked in tea, but only a little dip is needed, no long hot soaks for these babies. I did once sit with a cup of tea in my lovely Cath Kidston mug and made my way through a whole packet of these without hesitation. Though, rightly so, felt pretty guilty afterwards. It wasn't my fault though, these biscuits should never be allowed to be sold, its just too dangerous!

6. Cherries. The cutest fruit in the world when you get a double dangler. I love cherries when they are a deep, dark burgundy colour and you can imagine a glamorous Hollywood scarlet sitting in a ball gown seductively eating a bowl of cherries in order to woo a tall, dark handsome detective dressed in a mac and hat. Am I going too far here? My favourite thing to cook with cherries is a clafoutis, basically a sweet Yorkshire pudding batter with cherries baked into it. It is light and fluffy and delicious served hot with cold cream poured over. I also like to make a cherry trifle using a little kirsch to soak the sponge fingers. As well as the fresh fruit I love anything cherry flavoured: cherry jam, cherry and coconut loaf cake, cherry yogurt but most of all those super sour cherry flavoured sweets you get at the cinema pick n mix!

7. Barbecue Sauce. Whenever I go to a grill house I always hope barbecue chicken is on the menu. Normally a chicken breast topped with bacon, cheese (occasionally mushrooms) and gallons of sweet, smoky barbecue sauce is a lovely flavour combination. I often recreate this popular restaurant dish at home, making my own barbecue sauce if I have time, or using a good quality bottle if not. Either way, it is rich and delicious and I could eat it almost every day. I sometimes but cooked barbecue chicken to have with cous cous and salad for a healthy lunch and I also like it rolled up in a tortilla wrap. My favourite pizza is ham and pineapple but my second favourite is barbecue chicken, especially if it also has sweetcorn on and I have extra barbecue sauce to dip my crusts into. You can easily make pizzas at home and these are often so much healthier than those you get from take-away houses. One last thing to do with barbecue sauce - use it as a sticky marinade for sausages.

8. Fresh Crusty Bread. I cannot resist the smell of bread. If I walk past a bakery or even the bakery section of a supermarket my tummy starts rumbling immediately even if I have recently eaten! I love fresh tiger bread carved into thick slices and loaded with good salty butter and if I want something sweet will also spread on some good jam or golden syrup too. There is nothing better than having a lovely fresh loaf on a saturday afternoon filled with your most favourite sandwich ingredients. This varies a lot for me. Sometimes it's ham, cheese and pickle, sometimes egg, cucumber and salad cream, sometimes roast beef, horseradish and watercress, and sometimes fish fingers with salt, vinegar and ketchup. Adding salt and vinegar to a fish finger sandwich is a recent, and utterly delicious, discovery, recommended by my friend Katie. Baking bread is also a marvellous experience, the satisfaction you feel when the house is full of that lovely warm aroma. My favourite bread to make is a focaccia topped with roasted peppers, lovely dipped in a rich extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar combo. I love my weekly bread treat, and after a week of eating brown Nimble bread (two slices are under 100 calories) it is totally deserved and celebrated.

9. Onions. I have to include onions in my favourite foods as I cook with them practically every day. Nearly every recipe I use starts with onions, and although this is the job I hate the most in the kitchen (not yet discovered a way of not crying) I understand that it is totally necassary in order to give the finished meal the best flavour. I like onions raw as well as cooked, but my favourite way of eating them has to be in a red onion marmalade. The sweet, sticky, richly spiced jam is fabulous spooned on top of sausage sandwiches and also with cheese and crackers. I made red onion marmalade as gifts for Christmas last year and it was very much appreciated. For me, a life without onions is just not worth living.

10. Peshwari Naan Bread. Oh the joys! I love an Indian takeaway and this is my favourite part. Soft, pillowy naan bread filled with coconut, honey, almonds and raisins. It is so sweet that I usually eat half of it with my curry, using it to mop up the spicy sauce and save the other half to eat afterwards in place of a dessert. I have to say though, shop bought versions do not measure up, it has to be the real deal. I think I may have to go order myself a friday night takeaway treat now.....