FOOD & DRINK / Daily Bread: What the cookery school head ate in one day

IN the morning I'm always in a rush to get the children to school, and yesterday was no exception. I took a cup of fresh black coffee with me in the car (I have a special mug which doesn't fall over; it has a non-slip surface on the bottom). I also had a glass of orange juice before I left. After dropping off the kids I went directly to Leith's school and had a rather unusual day of eating. We do demonstrations three or four times a term for the students, and yesterday was one of those days. My subject was healthy eating, and I tasted teaspoonfuls of each dish before passing them round to my students. The dishes I made and tasted were: roast halibut with lentils, chicken breast with prunes, chick pea and Puy lentil salad with duck livers, spinach timbales with sun-dried tomatoes, rocket and butternut squash, spiced pears with grape sauce and Chinese fried rice. I also tasted oysters, frogs legs and snails, which were not in the 'healthy' lot as they were done with lots of butter. Oddly enough, I did not have lunch] Instead I drank a lot of water, from the tap but through a filter. In the afternoon I cooked the same food for the other group of students and again tasted mouthfuls of each. I had another cup of black coffee in the afternoon. I never drink tea, either normal or herbal, unless someone hands me a cup. At about 6pm I had an apple while the children had their tea. I played tennis from 9pm until 10pm and after that had supper. I went to The Rotisserie in Shepherd's Bush, which is a wonderful little restaurant run by South Africans. I had baby chicken with rosemary and some delicious South African Chardonnay, followed by a final cup of black coffee.

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