Yuk!

"The main cause of hotel fires" said John Webber of Nairn's cook school is not cleaning the grease filters in your extraction system. We hadn't cleaned ours for about three months mainly because we were expecting to be in the new kitchen two months ago. However, we're not and the grease filters were beyond disgusting. Once they get clogged with grease there is the danger of excessive heat causing the grease to ignite and, voila: hotel flambee.

That was never likely to happen here since frying a few eggs doesn't those cause huge flames that you see on tv programmes. Well, not unless I'm having a really bad morning:-/ However, the grease filters needed cleaned and, being old, they're enormous - far too big to fit in the dishwasher and almost too big to fit in the sink. A day's soaking in strong degreasing solution has got them to the stage where they are usable.

If you find yourself in the West End of Glasgow, visit Fi Buchanan who runs the best deli in Glasgow if not Scotland. Sales of cherry tarts have probably plummeted since I left the BBC nearby, but she has a fab selection of cheeses, cold meats, olives and, well almost anything you could possibly want and quite a lot you don't know you want because you didn't know it existed. There is a connection btw, Fi used to work for Nick Nairn before setting out on her own. His loss is everyone else's gain!