'With a slurp slurp here and a ....... (Floyd Around the Med - Keith Floyd)

Member Name: idodoyou

Product:	Floyd Around the Med - Keith Floyd
Date:	23/01/02 (1771 review reads)
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..... slurp slurp there'

I just love cookery programs. And it's such a great shame that 'smell~a~vision', or even 'taste~a~vision' [now, wouldn't that be great?] hasn't been invented ....... yet! [not holding my breath though]

Now, before you rush towards the NU and head off to comment, I know this isn't the right category.
And, if I was about to wax lyrical on the finer aspects of culinary optical offerings, I'd agree with you.
However, I'm just setting the scene, so bare with me

Since the nice people at SKY Digital brought us the UK FOOD channel several month's ago, I have been glued to Keith Floyd [ooo err missus!]. I'm also, at the minute, on holiday with the guy.
We are doing the Med y'know?
Or rather he is, and I'm stuck at home in chilly ole blighty getting more colder and hungrier by the minute.

Well, I would have been if I hadn't had the foresight to have bought the book that accompanied the series last year [repeated on UK FOOD at the moment].
Oh, and I've turned the heating up too, so I've sorted the cold thing out as well ;)

Anyhoo, after seeing Floyd start out on his gastronomic adventures the other week, a small light bulb suddenly lit up and started flashing as I had an idea.
With the renewed vigour of a young lady [what am I talking about ~ I am a young lady] I bounded up two flights of stairs and plucked my copy of the aforementioned book, and subject of this category [that's if there is one? As I write, I have no idea but if you will be reading this .... there wasn't at the time!!] from the shelves and opened the pages eagerly and salivating like a rabid dog.

I was on a mission!
I was going to do some cooking!

Of course, while I was making 'Sauté of Chicken with Pistachios and Orange Sauce ~ Turkey, page 70 [of which went drastically wrong and ended up looking equally a
s awful as it actually tasted ~ once I'd summoned up the courage to sample the ghastly looking concoction, that was] my mind diversified from food making to op devising [mental note ~ concentrate on one thing at a time Lisa!]

As I said, this book was published and brought out last year to accompany Keith 'just have a little slurp' Floyd and his cookery program, cleverly entitled 'Floyd Around the Med', by Harper Collins. Originality at its best hey? Not!
Retailing then at £14.99 but on sale for a mere £9.99 at the Supermarket chain that I hate, but where every little helps. I just had to snap it up [well, I had thing with a Tunisian guy at the time, and although it was not my intention to actually cook for him [I wasn't his mother y'know] I wanted to know if I could if had to!!]

Weighing in with 144 pages of which the majority are laden with glossy and mouth-watering [err, except the ones with Keith?s legs on show ~ bluerghh!] pictures of culinary delights that do nothing except to enhance the recipes listed and help the ole taste buds on their way to drying up completely.
Oh, they're not always that helpful y'know? I mean, they do have a way of undermining your confidence, especially since the pile of cat sick [sorry to be so graphic] that you have just spent hours preparing looks nothing like the picture in the book.
Spattered in amongst the piccies of bright cherry red shiny peppers and plump freshly caught Mackerel, we have views of the country that he visited in that particular chapter.
Churches and Mosques. Quaint little fishing villages, and big affluent marinas.
The local markets and big Souks of Tunisia and Morocco.
Postcards and the traditional holiday snapshots. Simple, but extremely effective. Just about the right amount of snaps to set the pace I reckon.

The book is set out into 6 chapters with an introduction and an index.
Now, the chapters represent the count
ries that he took in on his way, and so, they are labelled as such. Y'know, Greece, France, Turkey, Spain, Tunisia and Morocco, and Egypt. Although, if I remember rightly, that wasn't the order in which he actually did the travelling in?

Firstly, the introduction, well, they do tend to come first don't they? And a little taster of things to come from good ole Keith himself, this is basically a one-man book y'know. And, never actually ever coming across any of his written work before, it really is quite good. Easy to read and you can imagine him standing in front of the Acropolis in front of a camera saying all that. Of course, he was standing in front of the Acropolis in front of a camera spouting all of that a couple of weeks ago, so I guess my imagination has a head start.
It's not long, a page that's all, but you don't need more.

And anyway, there are introductions at the beginning of the chapters as well. All foody themed of course. Telling us of the wonderful produce and which dishes the country is famous for. And a little bit of where he has visited, although he doesn't tell us much.
Sometimes, I'm not saying every country he visits, he'll give us a 'postcard'. Nah, not one of those 'meant to be funny' saucy ones with two fat ladies on the front, but a couple more pages detailing some other of his culinary discoveries, or a little something about the country itself.
Keith Floyd is quite poetic y'know?
In fact, I have to admit, these short little introductory pieces could be made longer, then we can ditch the recipes [well, they don't work anyway ;)] get the 'postcard' bits added to and we would have a nice little travel book on our hands.

I like the way Floyd writes. He has a way of making you feel as if you are actually standing in the middle of a Tunisian Souk [memories or Keith?s way with words?] or maybe fishing off the coast of Corfu. Hi
s words actually let you think that the sun is on your back as you fish for Mackerel.
There seems to be no difference in his style whether it be on page or TV. He writes it as he sees it. Writes it as he would say it.

If of course, you don't actually want to read any of Keith's ramblings, you just want to use him for his recipes [do you have total disregard for the written word you ?.. you ..... recipe grabber you?] you don't have to flick through the pages scanning them until you came to a pic of something that looks tasty. Nah, none of that pallava, just head for the index at the back of the book. It's what it's there for. Here you will find all sorts listed. The recipes and some of the buildings he visited, but as I said, he doesn't go into great detail on these things [the buildings, not the recipes!] so don't be expecting dates ~ when it was built, how long it took to be built, blah, blah,blah.

The items of food in the index tend to be under headings [Noooo?] And, they do tend to be listed twice too. For instance, you'll find that 'Sauté of Chicken with pistachio and orange sauce' under 'Chicken' and 'Orange'. Not a problem, just telling it like it is.

This book is great for a couple of things. Not only can you create dishes to remind you of trips abroad, you can cook them in order to prepare yourself for trips abroad. 'Away Work' if you will?! You can prepare dishes in order to impress the neighbours, 'Oh yes, one always dines on Blanquette of vegetables, partridges cooked in vinegar and lobster in chocolate sauce'!!

In fact some of the recipes are so simple, and require no special ingredients at all. Of course though, the majority of them will need more than the larder contents, but most of the ingredients are pretty easy to come by. And ole Keithy babes has even adopted, changed around or listed alternatives for a couple of them ready for th
e British housewife.

If you are of the adventurous culinary kind, this could be the book for you. If you like the tastes and smells of Med food, well then, this is the book for you. There are 50 odd recipes and if you have been known to dabble somewhat in this area of cooking, well there might not be anything new here to tempt your taste buds. But if, like me, you've been to the countries, you've sampled the grub, and now, you are back in blighty with an urge for 'baked fish stuffed with rice and dates' [Egypt page 134], Keith's ya man and this is the book you'll be needing.

Considering that I have had this book for almost 18 months now and it's still relatively unused [one recipe does not constitute usage does it?] I really must try and get some mileage out of the pages. Out of the grub that they contain.
Why, I've seen with my very eyes how 'Mushrooms à la grecque' is easy enough to make. I've stood on the banks on the Med and smelt the fish [phew .... Corfu :/ ... although I thought Corfu was in the Agean Sea?] And I've stood in the Souks and know what authentic Lamb CousCous should taste like. I know that they can be done, and by jove [too much 'Keith' I think?] I know I can cook those taste bud tingling titbits [I know I can do the 'slurping' bit anyway] I will be reading this book again. Whether it be for the recipes or a quick fleeting glimpse as the words and pictures bring back memories of holidays passed.

From time to time, when the mood takes me and a 'clear out' is on my mind, the ole 'mince pies' [keeping in with the cooking theme!] scan across the miles of book shelves that line my room, and not once have they lingered over this book.
Maybe it's the memories that this book holds that makes me keep it? Maybe I have a secret crush on Keith Floyd? [Oh God .... I hope not!!!] Maybe this really is a great cookery book and I've yet t
o find it out? Or maybe, I hope to turn into the Mediteranean version of Mrs Beeton someday? Senora Beetoni perhaps?!?!?

Either way, idodoyou and Keith forever '..... : )

PUBLISHED: Harper Collins
PAGES: 144 including index
PRICE: Anything from £14.99 downwards
ISBN: 0 00 414087 7

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