Good Food Blog

Lost in paradise

Posted at 11:45AM, 22 April 2010 by Andrea McGinniss - Editor, bbcgoodfood.com

The planes may be back doing what they do best and the fuss may have died down, but some of us are still stranded, part of the 'backlog' that waits in limbo for news of a seat on a flight back to normality, in my case back to bbcgoodfood.com HQ in London. They're telling me I won't be moving til May. I'm hoping that's 2010.

I've been stranded in my hometown, Perth, for a week now and sympathy has understandably been thin on the ground. Perth is, on paper, pretty much the perfect place to be 'stuck' in. It's relentlessly sunny, I've a pool at my disposal, beautiful beaches down the traffic jam-less road, my dad's flat-with-a-view to stay in and some of the best fresh seafood in the world.

Open quotationI'm used to controlling where I am, what I do and what I eatClose quotation

I'm missing London badly though. More specifically the Good Food test kitchen. And the rumbles of summer: daffodils, asparagus, strawberries and the start of Glee season 2. I'm used to controlling where I am, what I do and what I eat. Now I'm like the impatient infant, bottom lip stuck out sulkily, as I hang endlessly on the telephone for some faceless Qantas consultant to update me on my next move.

It's got me thinking, what if that freedom of choice I've until now taken for granted was permanently taken away by volcanic ash, Simon Cowell or some other unstoppable force? It's not as unfathomable as it was just a couple of weeks ago. What ingredient would you miss the most if you knew could never again get it? Mine would have to be oysters. Raw, grilled, tinned, I can't get enough of the shuckers. Fortunately as long as I'm Perth I don't have to contemplate it.

But say the unthinkable happened and I had to stay here all summer and miss out on the pleasure of biting into a dribble-down-the-chin delicious British strawberry, an al dente spear of exquisite asparagus or just a warm slice of Sarah Cook's latest cake from the GF test kitchen? I shudder at the thought. I'm off for a swim to calm down.

What ingredient, dish or foodie experience would you miss most if you knew you couldn't have it?

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Comments

  • Binder photo Emily
    22 April 2010, 2:11PM

    Emily

    Open QuoteApparently the asparagus season has been delayed a bit this year by the cold winter, so you shouldn't miss out (unless the volcano starts rumbling again). However I am sorry to have to report that we just ate fish stew from the test kitchen...

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  • Binder photo Nicola
    22 April 2010, 2:39PM

    Nicola

    Open QuoteI managed to get local asparagus in Hampshire last week...it was good! I dont like to go without fresh raw tasty veg in general. When on fieldwork I often end up in places where getting hold of a variety of veg is difficult...we normally get beans with a bit of onions and tomato stewed in with it, and if you are lucky some cabbage. All I want when I get home is something raw and fresh and yummy!

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  • Binder photo Caroline
    22 April 2010, 3:34PM

    Caroline

    Open QuoteI'd miss alphonso mangoes, also coming into season around now. Small but beautifully formed, sweet and oh-so juicy. No I really couldn't live without my little bite of Indian paradise.

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  • Binder photo Mrs Chutney
    23 April 2010, 7:26AM

    Mrs Chutney

    Open QuoteHaving been without an oven since March when it burnt out, I am missing cheese on toast and roast potatoes. I have tried to recreate the taste using different methods and failed. Nothing, but nothing tastes like home made roast, par boiled and shaked to get those adorable crinchy bits. I'm still without an oven, the replacement is on a boat somewhere, and the first thing I will cook will be roast pots and cheese on toast, just to check it works you understand.

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  • Binder photo Cassandra Amy Rose
    23 April 2010, 9:25AM

    Cassandra Amy Rose

    Open QuoteMine would have to be rhubarb and chocolate, and roast potatoes as-well. And 101 other things that I wouldn't even know I would miss until I did miss it!

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  • Binder photo drusilla
    23 April 2010, 12:26PM

    drusilla

    Open QuoteCoffee. Not strictly cooking, I grant you, but take away my caramal Macc for a week and watch me dissolve... Also chocolate. Roast chicken (with roasters - hope you get your oven soon, Mrs C!) Risotto... Stir fry... is it dinner time yet?

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  • Binder photo miniminx
    23 April 2010, 2:23PM

    miniminx

    Open Quotecheese. god help me if i ever moved to the far east......

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  • Binder photo lalybaba
    24 April 2010, 10:12AM

    lalybaba

    Open QuoteI've lived on the continent for the best part of ten years now and the one thing I absolutely have to have when I'm back in the UK is a real pork pie. It's not that I miss them exactly, I don't hanker after them I just have to have at least a taste of one once a year.

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  • Binder photo Hulda
    26 April 2010, 1:30PM

    Hulda

    Open QuoteAs an Icelander, I´m sorry to hear that you are stranded. As jealous that I am that you are in sunny Australia, a country who´s cusine I have often dreamt about, I know that home is where the heart is. Anyway the Icelandic Lamb is what I would miss the most, the flavour of Icelandic flora running through the soft, juicy meat. Hope you get home soon :)

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  • Binder photo Nicky
    27 April 2010, 4:06PM

    Nicky

    Open QuoteI'd miss coffee, and be a gibbering wreck without it..and proper chicken piri piri from The Boia Bar in Portugal..and as sad as it sounds lovely Mac Donalds breakfasts, and.. crunchy steamed carrots and cottage cheese on crusty toast with a sprinkling of cracked black pepper corns..and probably loads of other things but if i thought i could never have these things again, i'm not sure life would be worth living :)

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  • Binder photo MaryW, Finland
    28 April 2010, 4:04PM

    MaryW, Finland

    Open QuoteOh goodness, for me it's got to be real cream. We do have cream here but the richest has the same fat content as whipping, so it meant a whole raft of desserts that turned out wrong until I realised what the culprit was! Just to be able to pour some double cream over ripe strawberries, what bliss! And now I come to think of it blackberries, they just aren't avaliable here, and I keep craving blackberrie and apple crumble......no Bramleys either! I think I'll just go away and sob quitely over my cookbooks now :(

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  • Binder photo lucy_clare488
    29 April 2010, 6:29AM

    lucy_clare488

    Open QuoteI travelled round Thailand for 2 months last year and the food was really lovely, but god I missed cheese!

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  • Binder photo vickyb24
    29 August 2010, 6:58PM

    vickyb24

    Open QuoteI'm living in Argentina now and missing a few things (Marmite and decent strong cheese are high on the list). However I have a question I'd welcome help with. I have no scales so the baking recipies I find on the internet are no-go areas for me. Anyone have any ideas on measuring flour, etc. using cups? How much does a 'cup' of flour weigh? I want to make pancakes, brownies, apple crumble...mmm!!

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  • Binder photo icingonthefairycake
    30 June 2011, 7:29AM

    icingonthefairycake

    Open Quotehaving recently moved to Australia i have to say the bread and butter is nicer and you can get more or less anything you would back home. However being from Northern Ireland `i do miss potato bread, soda bread and tayto spring onion crisps. the breads i have several recipes to try so wont miss for long as for the crisps i will have to ration them between visits from family and friends.

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