Book review: The Dish

"Love is on the menu. With a side order of lies.

When Laura Parker first crosses forks with Adam Bayley, she's only after one thing: his custard doughnut. But when she takes a closer look she sees a talented, handsome man who outshines the string of jokers she's been dating.

There's just one problem. Adam's job means Laura has to keep her job as restaurant critic for The Dish, a secret. Tricky for someone who prides herself on honesty.

Can the truth be put on ice long enough for love to flourish?

And how can you expect your boyfriend to be honest if you're not quite telling the truth yourself?"

My review: 

This book is any foodies dream. Whether you love cooking, eating out or eating in, this book covers it all. My stomach was growling from page one at the thought of custard doughnuts, fried prawns and spicy, smoky beans. 

Don't get me wrong, it's not a recipe book. It is romantic fiction at it's finest - fun, flirty and full of fantastic food. The story follows Laura, who is a brilliant main character (and not just because of her name!). Working as a PA in a publishing company, she also is the secret mastermind behind 'The Dish' food column. When she meets Adam one hungover morning, she decides not to tell him that she has just written a seething review about the snobbish, disappointing restaurant he works for. I completely get why she did this - it's not exactly a great pick-up line, and it's clear from the off-set that Adam is one of the good guys. 

Which leads me nicely on to Adam. Oh Adam. Although he can be slightly grumpy at times and has a mysterious air about him, I fell for him immediately. He's charming, kind a and a bloody good cook - what more could you want? Any man that can turn baked beans on toast into one of the nicest meals a restaurant critic has ever had is one for me. I loved watching their relationship grow and following them on their journey. 

There's a whole host of wonderful characters in The Dish. I loved Roger, Laura's boss and also pretty much a second father to her. Her friend Sophie is also brilliant, a keen baker and eager to help Laura and Adams relationship along when issues come between them. Sandra, her colleague at work is so infuriating - a kiss arse busy-body who clearly has it out for her. However, I always think a character that provokes reaction, good or bad, is a good one as it shows the author has made them real. 

The format of the story is fast-paced and sucks you into Laura's world. I particularly liked the regular sections of email exchange within the story- they added a nice break from the first person writing and were a great way to quickly explain what was happening.  The exchanges with Laura and her work colleagues Kiki and Azeem were a particular highlight for me as they were hilarious. 

I really enjoyed The Dish, it is a fun story filled with wonderful food. It remained fast-paced throughout and Laura is a great main character who I rooted for from the very start. Anyone looking for a light-hearted, entertaining read this is the one for you. 

Sweet treats: lime traybake

Lime traybake wouldn't usually be my first choice for a cake, but we'd ended up with a load of left over limes from the weekend. We'd had friends over and made 'lovely vodkas' (aka vodka, lemonade and loads of fresh lime juice and wedges) but we'd vastly overestimated the amount of limes we needed and we ended up with a whole fruit bowl jam packed with limes. I needed to make a cake for work so I found this recipe for a simple but tasty lime traybake in Mary Berry's Traditional Puddings and Deserts. 

Problem solved! The limes were used up and I was left with a tasty cake. Win-win.

You will need: 

For the cake: 

175g caster sugar 

250g self raising flower

175 g soft butter or margarine (I used Stork) 

3 eggs

2 tbsp milk 

1 tsp baking powder 

Finely grated zest of 2 limes 

For the icing: 

250g icing sugar (sieved) 

juice of 2 limes

 Method:

• Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees
• Put all the ingredients into a large mixing bowl and beat for around 2 minutes (I used an electric mixer) until the mixture makes a light, smooth batter. 
• Grease and line a cake tin with baking parchment. Pour all the ingredients into the tin and evenly spread. 
• Place into the oven for 35-40 minutes. The batter shouldn't darken too much and remain a light, creamy colour. To check if it is cooked, place a skewer into the centre of the cake and lift it out. If there is cake batter on the skewer, it isn't properly cooked yet. If the skewer comes out clean, the cake is cooked. 
• leave to cool for a few minutes in the tray, then transfer to a wire rack to avoid the cake going soggy. 
• Make the icing while the cake is cooling. Sieve the icing sugar into a bowl and gradually add the juice of the limes until you have a fairly runny mixture. (not too runny though or it will slide off the cake!) 
• Once the cake is cooled, cover the top with the icing. I poured it from the bowl into a line in the centre of the cake and used the back of a metal spoon to spread it evenly. 

Then grab a cuppa, eat and enjoy! (and avoid the washing up....)