Does anyone feel that cherry tomatoes have been elbowed out of the way by their hybrid cousins, the grape tomato?  While I admit that grape tomatoes are much nicer to eat raw, being sweeter with a lower “squirt factor” (don’t you just love that term?) in a neat one-bite package,  I do feel a little sorry for the cherry has-beens, once on the supermarket-shelf A-List but now relegated to a smaller space amongst the masses.

I had an opportunity to revisit an earlier Sidekick recipe for a Roma Tomato and Coriander salad and decided to replace the roma with cherry tomatoes.  However, when I put the recipe with cherry tomatoes together, they lacked a certain je ne sais quoi - acidic, flat, with the sweetness lurking deep in the shadows.

The Dolphin had a Ham & Cheese bubbling under the grill so I threw the marinated tomatoes in with them and 10 minutes later, had a deliciously sweet, mellow tomato salad.

Of course, this happy little accident makes perfect sense...

The start of a new business means many, many nights in.  It’s strange because when I was fantasizing about starting up Mother I had imagined effortless days in a cute retro office wearing cute retro outfits, and lovely evenings swanning about at various events (always in a perfect dress, and with perfect hair).  Fact, as well as being stranger than fiction, is also a lot less glamourous!  These days I am more often found schlepping around in a pair of shorts and always, always with my hair tied up!  Come to think of it, I haven’t let my hair down in months – both literally and metaphorically!

Still, there are consolations.  The thrill of watching a dream materialize.  The gratification of happy clients.    The pleasure of creation.   

And…cable television.  Particularly, Discovery Travel & Living!  Most of you will probably be shaking your heads and thinking “what cave have you just crawled out from?” but I have not had access to cable TV until recently.  Let me tell you, it’s fabulous!  For those of you who take it for granted, I challenge you to watch nothing but local sitcoms for a year then come and talk to mama!

Thanks to all the cooking shows my salivary glands are edgy with over-stimulation - craving crisp grilled mackerel one second, then squirting at the thought of tangy thai chilli fishcakes the next second.  Then the stomach chimes in with demands for bilberry custard tarts…jeez.  All those voices in my anatomy can be so difficult to please!

It all started with a special request for a birthday boy. "His favourite foods are enoki mushrooms and cheese," said his doting girlfriend.

It's a well-known fact that birthdays are magical days when, no matter what your age, your every whim should be catered for.  I broadcast this rule loud and clear so that everyone (especially the Dolphin) should be left with no doubt on protocol when it comes to birthdays...especially mine!

Anyhoo, back to enokitake mushrooms.  Did you know that they are named after the enoki tree it naturally grows on in the wild?  The enoki mushrooms you find in supermarkets are cultivated and the neatest way to tell is by their colour - cultivated enoki are not exposed to light and grow up to be a whiter shade of pale, whereas their crazy wild cousins roughing it out in the big bad forest grow up to be a toughguy brown.

Even though enokitake have been used in Asian cooking for gajillions of years (ok, I exaggerate slightly) I confess I only like them 2 ways: tempura-style or grilled with belly pork, yakitori kushiyaki-style.  They are so ethereal that when added to soups or stir-fries etc, they seem to disappear, only popping up to remind me of their existence when they catch in my teeth.   

This is a cross between enoki maki and asuparabékon - enoki is clustered together and bound by salty crisp bacon, transforming into a springy little mouthfuls of delicate creaminess.

I think it's a delectable combination, but then I am so biased when it comes to bacon so you had better be the judge!