So Masterchef started again this week, been a fan of that show since the early Lloyd Grossman days. Would have loved to have a go - but no way brave enough to try...that invention test would finish me off!   Then again,that's really how my interest  in cooking started...  by necessity.

   I moved away from home in 1987 to start my student nurse training, in those days it meant living in shared student nurse accomodation with 62 others. The individual rooms in the old building were spread over two floors, with one small kitchen on each floor...with just a tiny 4 ring, temperamental  electric cooker and one of those huge first generation microwaves! In brown, they were always brown.....A few of us would get together and pool our food resources.We all had a small fridge in our rooms but they rarely contained anything resembling a decent meal..but if you wanted a party, the drinks were there! We'd gather in the kitchen,putting our various bits of food which were at various stages of (ahem) freshness  and try to work out what we could cook ...now that's what I call an invention test.

      Ever had a curry with beefburgers,tofu & swede? No? well I have and it wasn't too bad....wonder what John and Greg would make of that!!