The Rain Forest Canapé

It was a real treat to have Margaret, Simon and Fiona up for the weekend - at least, it was for me! And not only because I was able to reclaim the living room for a short while, Click retiring to her room for the most part, her continuous diet of soaps and reality TV interrupted at least for a couple of days. We didn't have a lot of time, just one full day, but made the most of it by spending most of Saturday at the zoo. We also had a couple of excellent meals out. Friday night's curry was a 20 minutes walk away down Lothian Road, at a place called Oman's (which doesn't seem to feature on Google at all). Superb "home cooked" curry, and a take-your-own wine and beer policy which made it a cheap night out. Saturday was Caio Roma, on South Bridge. Again, superb food and a great atmosphere.

Photo above: a brightly coloured parrotty thing hides its head
in shame, unable to compete with Fiona's style

Photo left: mini sushi; smoked salmon with mango salsa; and duck spring roll canapés

Buzzing from last week's Thai and sushi, we looked forward to having Pip back in to demonstrate canapés in his inimitable manner. More superb presentation and technical skills were required, and I genuinely felt like we were creating food which would impress anyone, and which I could turn my hand to on a professonal basis. Although I'm not at all impressed by Pip's teaching techniques (and many other attributes for that matter), he is undoubtedly a talented and creative chef. We also got the chance to repeat some of the things we'd done the week before, sushi for example, which is important in cementing what we are learning, and something we've not had much chance to do so far, although I am trying to repeat things I've not cooked before when I get the chance, like cakes and bread, with pastry next on the list.

Photo right: due to BBC cutbacks, daleks in the next series of Doctor Who will be made from smoked salmon and cream cheese blinis topped with quail egg; also featured are venison and roasted red pepper tartlets with red cabbage jam, as used in an RTA scene in Casualty; and cheese puffs with red onion marmalade which featured as asteroids in the ever last episode of Blake's Seven

You will also be delighted to learn that I have now passed my hollandaise and poached egg badge with flying(-ish) colours, having failed it miserably on that disasterous Friday a couple of weeks ago. Lizzie was underwhelmed by my attempt after tasting it: "It's just that... yes, no, it's fine". she sighed. I take that as a big tick. The problem each time has not been the colour, texture, thickness or any other feature of the sauce other than the amount of salt and pepper added. I must admit, why I get a thumbs up or down on that count remains a complete mystery to me. Lizzie is so sick of tasting poached eggs and hollandaise she audibly groans every time one is presented to her. Well, she should just have passed us all first time round.

I did actually eat the thing. Not only that but I then helped Click repeat the same exercise, and I ate that one as well. We get through so many eggs I have a stigmatic lion quality stamp starting to appear on my buttock.

So... talking of lions I segue seamlessly back to the zoo. The new chimp house is just amazing, providing the visitor with a fantastic view of the goings on of the family, as well as a superb and varied home for the chimps. We also enjoyed the penguins, one of whom (Nils Olaf) I subsequently learned is Colonel-in-Chief of the Norwegian army and has recently been knighted by the King of Norway. However, I still shudder when I think of the catering arrangements - I won't go into detail, but my family will I'm sure provide you with a detailed account of my rantings should you be interested. Put it this way, there wasn't much evidence of any canapés.