Dinner time..

Another of the fine questions that often arrive via the website has descended into my inbox, as it were.

It's this - am I a big food fan, or as reflected in the character of Dan in the tvdetective books, rather less than a culinary star?  Poor Dan, he does get some flack - rarely if ever attempts to cook anything fresh, and very seldom takes himself out for a decent meal, let alone the long-suffering Sergeant Claire.

Well, as for me, I suppose the answer to the enquiry comes in two halves.  Firstly, yes I am a food fan.  I love great cooking, particularly Indian, Thai, Mexican, and my favourite of all, Portugese. 

When I was doing my year's journalism diploma in Cardiff I first visited a Portugese restaurant, and was absolutely stunned by the wonderful flavours and style of cooking.  I've never forgotten it and will always seek out a Portugese restaurant if there might be one around.  Their take on fish is particularly sublime.

But the problem comes when it's time to think about cooking for myself.  I can do a reasonable range of fairly straightforward dishes, but nothing too complex. I love pasta with fresh tomatoes and pancetta, olives, mushrooms, that kind of thing.  It's something Dan goes for in the books too - easy to cook but so tasty.

The other issue for me comes with organisation. Life can get busy, and just like poor Dan I sometimes struggle to get to the shops.  Which can leave a less than enjoyable hunt through the backs of cupboards for enough ingredients on some kind of theme to knock together into something approaching food.

Funnily enough, however busy, the beer section of the cupboard never seems to run dry though!  Now why aren't you surprised by that?

A final thought for this blog - thanks to everyone who got in touch with a comment on my post about dreams. It seemed to strike a chord, and I've heard some great stories of the kind of visions of the night that people suffer or enjoy.  It seems I'm not the only one who experiences some real oddities. I won't go into them here, but have marked a couple down as possibly featuring in further books!

Don't forget, if you've got a question about the tvdetective books, or any area of my writing, you can get in touch via the contact page of the site - www.thetvdetective.com/contact.html  I always enjoy hearing from you.