I have wanted a copy of Ottolenghi the Cookbook since I first head about it late last year. My girlfriend Jacqueline was given a copy for her birthday in January and has been raving about it ever since. So the other day while I was at her house I quietly slipped it into my bag while her back was turned. No need to freak as we often help ourselves to each others bookshelves!



On the weekend I had my own little Ottolenghi feast. I now see why everyone has been raving about Yotam and Sami as their food is 'literally, a feast of bold colours and generous gestures. It is driven by an unapologetic desire to celebrate food and its virtues, to display abundance in the same way that a market stallholder does: show everything you've got and shout its praise whole heartedly'.



Their food is straight forward, yet highly inventive. It is 'made and served by a group of people who love preparing food as well as indulging in it, gorging on it, chatting about it endlessly. It is a way of life, somewhere between a healthy obsession and a bad habit we can't kick'. With a focus on the Mediterranean - they strive to 'surprise and stir'. They do so by 'using bold flavours and daring colours, no apologies'.