Sam and I aren’t big on eating out. Sure, we love to go out with friends but for some reason when it’s just the two of us, dinner in a restaurant hasn’t really worked. And when I say, ‘hasn’t worked’ I mean conversations are ‘polite’ and the whole evening tends to feel a bit strained. So! Because I love to cook and eat delicious food, we’ve created a home ‘date night’ which I’m hoping will be a regular occurrence. I wanted the evening to be a little bit more special than the regular dinner, so I made the table a bit prettier… (no we didn’t eat with our hands, I just forgot to put them on the table when I took these shots!) I picked up some gorgeous Lily of the Valley flowers from Flowers of Canterbury – loved these girls! It occurred to me last night why I love to cook from a recipe. It’s because I don’t really have to ‘think’ or be creative, I just follow direction from a book written by a cook who I respect, so it’s pretty likely to be awesome! (hopefully.) I also love finding out about new techniques, flavors and ingredients. Last nights date dinner was taken from Australian Bill Granger’s book ‘Feed me now!’ I own several of Bill Granger’s recipe books, and love them all – his food is always summery, fresh, simple to make and always delicious. I made baked salmon with minted peas, cucumber & yoghurt salad and sweet potato cakes. I loved this dinner! The sweet potato cakes were incredible, the combination of flavors really worked and it’s something I never would have thought of. Also loved the pea mint mash, which was really easy to make and went incredibly well with the salmon. Dessert was Strawberry Vacherin. This has to be my new favorite dessert! So so delicious, and REALLY easy. In fact, I’m off to have some with my morning coffee now…. xx   Strawberry Vacherin By Bill Granger Serves 8 (more for leftovers!)   250g ripe, best quality strawberries 250g caster sugar 4 medium egg whites pinch of sea salt To serve – vanilla or strawberry ice cream   Preheat the oven to 120 degrees C. Line a baking tray with baking paper. In a bowl, crush 4 r 5 ripe strawberries with 1 Tablespoon of the sugar, using the back of a fork. Place the egg whites and salt in a clean, dry, large bowl and whisk (hmm I used a beater..) until soft peaks form. Add the rest of the sugar gradually, whisking (or beating!) continuously, until the mixture becomes stiff and glossy. Add the crushed strawberry mixture and gradually mix through. Spoon the meringue into 8 (I did 4) mounds on the prepared baking tray and bake for 1 1/4 hours. Remove from oven and allow to cool. (The meringues can be stored in an airtight container for up to a week.) To serve, top each meringue with a scoop of ice cream and scatter with the rest of the strawberries. A.M.A.Z.I.N.G