All my guests on my blog get to create a
fictional dinner party, they choose their theme, the food they want to serve,
the country they would like to have it in or maybe their own home, anywhere
really. They choose who they would like to invite alive or not and the reasons
why they would like to have them there? They also share one of the main recipes
from their dinner. The fun begins as they think about who they would like to
have there and why. This week Jude’s dinner is about to unfold…
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| circle |
What country and its food would you have at
your dinner party?
" I would cook a dish called Benachin it's a one-pot meal from Senegal in West Africa. The dinner party would be in
Senegal out in the desert near Rufisque in a Mauritanian tent. We will be sitting on the floor on bright cushions in a circle and we would be drinking palm wine.
What is palm wine?
" It is made from tapping the sap of the palm tree and allowing it to ferment naturally."
Could you describe your dish to me?
If you have meat,
then you fry that first, take it out of the pot and put it to the side. Then
fry the onions, tomatoes and pepper; add stock and in goes the rice. The rice
takes on a characteristic orange colour from the mixture.
Then the meal is placed into this huge serving plate, everyone has this sort of pizza slice in the dish, and all the vegetables and fish are placed right in the middle of the dish. You then are ready to eat with your right hand, regardless of whether your right handed or left handed you always eat with your right.
When I ate this dish with families, the children flaked the bones off the chicken/fish and then a little piece of the chicken/fish landed in your area, and you look up and there is this little smile, it is like their gift to you. They could be eating it themselves, but the children get so much delight in feeding you."
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| one-pot |
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| music, cushions... |
Ok we have the country and food for your party
now for your guest list and why?
“Well I’m quite
specific where I would like my guests to sit so I will start with Andy
Goldsworthy. I would like him to sit on my right as I imagine him to be very
softly spoken, shy and retiring. In addition, he is the one person I would like
to have the most connection with in the room. I want him to be my guest because
I love his work. This is a man that goes out at 2:00am to build an ice
sculpture. When working with the ice he cannot use gloves, his hands turn blue
while he bites into the ice to make its shape, then licks the end of those
pieces so they can stick together. By mid morning his work is melting, it
has had it’s moment.”
Who would be sitting on your left?
“That would be
Michael Franti because in my opinion everyone should have Michael Franti at a dinner
party! He can play his songs and entertain us for the evening… then I look down
at the end of the circle, I see the three wise monkeys, and they are staring at
me.”
Who are the three wise monkeys?
“The three wise monkeys would be
Spike Milligan, Peter Ustinov and Sir David Attenborough. Spike because… well
because he is Spike Milligan! Peter Ustinov
because he has been a raconteur
all his life and I have seen him do an audience with…boy he tells a good story.
Sir David Attenborough because of all the fantastic work that he has done in
the world but the three of them together is more about the dynamics between
them. Three octogenarians creating balance and humour.”
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| three
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| balance |
I just love your dinner party so far, who else
is there Jude?
“Anita Roddick,
Dame Helen Mirren and Dame Judi Dench… Anita as I really respect the woman. I
love what she has achieved and what she has done in the world, her drive, her
commitment and her beauty, her unyielding desire to set her business up (The
Body Shop) when everyone around her was saying are you nuts… what great energy
and if she is like that in business, she must be like that in life. Anita would
just be great to have around.
Helen because
she delivered that famous line, “I want you to cook Michael for me” from the
movie, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover. I love how she smokes a
cigarette in Prime Suspect, where she played Jane Tennison role … being happy
to get her kit off, really I love everything about her. I did meet her once with
her mother at a café where I was working, she was so beautiful to her mum and
introduced me to her mum it was very brief as I was just clearing the table but
it was nice to feel that presence.
I have the same
respect for Judi Dench. I felt grief when she died in Skyfall. She is more than
just an actress; she is an icon.
I love that
these woman embrace ageing by doing it so gracefully. I imagine if Anita were
still with us, it would be the same, which makes me feel great about getting
old.”
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| happiness |
That is eight guests so far who else will join
you?
"Robert Winston,
because of the incredible work he has done with children’s development and his
presentation of this to a wider audience on television.
Brian Cox; sexy physicist and musician, what a combination. I would seat them both amongst the women. I would also
like to have my children there for the experience, for dinner and getting to
meet and chat to my guests, they can stay until Franti plays a couple of songs
and then off to bed."
To follow...
Words of wisdom from Jude
