Durban - Colourful East Coast Radio personality Jane Linley-Thomas on her foodie secrets:
QUESTION: What meal is your favourite – and what is your least favourite? And, in both instances, why?
ANSWER: I love sushi and can eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. When the craving hits, it hits hard and nothing else will do. Nothing better over a glass or two of crisp white wine.
My worst meal is anything to do with organs and/or on the bone.
Your first food memory?
I am not sure if it is a memory or more a recall, when seeing baby pictures of me being fed by my mOm with a face smeared with butternut.
What is the first thing you ever cooked?
A banana bread loaf that was so hard the dog wouldn’t even go near it when I offered him a sawed-off piece.
What is the dish you tend to cook most often?
Truth be told, I don’t cook. My husband, Mike, learnt very early on – cook or die. I do, however, make a great salad and toasted sandwich.
What do you like and/or dislike about attending dinner parties?
Wine … I love it. But when it comes to too much wine, I hate it.
What has been your biggest kitchen disaster?
Would grilling a meringue for my matric practical qualify? Yes, I did Home Ec, can you stand it? Sorry, Mrs Powell! With three kids under the age of 5, karma knows where I live.
What has been your biggest culinary success?
I did a pretty good job of icing biscuits for my kid’s birthday ring …
How serious a wine fundi are you, and what is your favourite tipple?
I am pretty easy to please. I love a dry white and a good red, and as a gauge try not to mix … and I stay away from screw tops.
What kitchen utensil can you simply not live without?
Um, a wine opener?
What new kitchen utensil or appliance would you love to have?
An ice machine.
What’s the most kitsch thing in your kitchen?
Ooooh, I love me some kitsch, and our kitchen is full of trinkets and keepsakes. The first thing that comes to mind is one of those gold, good-luck, waving-arm cats.
What are some foods you simply refuse to try?
Organs.
What is your favourite restaurant in Durban, and what do you usually order there?
Lupa, Westville, is our favourite, and we go there at least once a week. Mike and I make time to connect over a beautiful meal. We always start with a focaccia with rocket and feta. For mains, I am such a creature of habit, and love their prawns and calamari combo.
What is your favourite cooking ingredient?
Rocket, chilli and garlic.
Who is your favourite celebrity cook – and why?
Heston Blumenthal. What’s not to love … it’s like Tim Burton meets his culinary self.
What do you rate as the sexiest of foods?
No comment.
What do you tip in restaurants?
I go for 10 percent-plus, depending on the service.
Would you send a dish back at a restaurant if you were not happy?
We recently went to a well-known fish restaurant for dinner, and it was absolutely disgusting. From the service to hygiene, vibe and food, it was all despicable.
What do you rate as your favourite fruit, vegetable, dessert and store-bought sweet?
I love avocado, a Lupa brownie and, as a spoil, Tasha’s does an insane Rocky Road Cluster.
JANE’S QUICK SMOOTHIE
Blend a cup of frozen strawberries, about one and a half cups of orange juice, a teaspoon of vanilla, a quarter-cup of plain yoghurt … and pour into a glass. Yum!
The Mercury