Don't you hate when you are a fully functioning adult, living a happy life only to find out that your childhood was a fraud?

Ok that may be a tad dramatic, but when thinking back to some of my favourite dishes from my childhood the situation rang true. I loved eating out at Chinese restaurants as a child. Growing up in Pueblo Colorado, Mexican food reigned supreme. There were other world cuisines, but they were few and far between.

My favourite Chinese restaurant in Pueblo was The Mandarin. I'd always go there and order among other things 'Happy Family' and crab rangoon. You can order Crab Rngoon in most Chinese restaurants across the states. Crab rangoon are wan-ton wrapper dumplings filled with a combination of cream cheese, crab meat, spring onions and garlic deep fried to golden brown perfection.

After about 10 years in the UK I began to wonder why I never saw them in the plethora of Chinese restaurants here. That's when my childhood became a sham! (Sorry with the amature dramatics). My childhood was not a sham, just my favourite dish served at Chinese restaurants was a fraud.

Chinese New Year may have come and gone, but remember Chinese food is not just for Chinese New Year; it's for life!  I've loved Chinese food since I was old enough to make my own decisions about what I want to eat.

I never really been 'into' cooking Chinese, being more of a Chinese restaurant enthusiast.  But recently I find that I'm doing more cooking of it at home. I would probably put it all down to Momofuku. That's right Momofuku made me do it. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

I'm a huge fan of smoked flavours in food and drink.  After playing around with recipes from Momofuku, I've become slightly obsessed in using smoked flavours in food where it would not normally be found. 

In this recipe I combine smoked chicken with pork to make an Chinese dumpling.  If you can cold smoke your own chicken legs, by all means go ahead, But I get my smoked chicken legs from the local Polish supermarket. If you can't find smoked chicken legs, use 2 chicken thighs and a couple of smoked streaky bacon rashers.

These are lazy-man dumpling, meaning that I leave them open around the sides kind of like a taco. If you are more of a aesthetically purist dumpling lover take the time to crimp and seal them properly.

Once you get a grip on the basic method om making pasta dough it's a simple joy to do it. I've gotten to the point that I vary rarely use the dried stuff when ever i make a pasta dish.

The traditional method for making pasta dough involves making a mound of flour on your work surface, creating a crater with high sides, then dumping the mess prone eggs in the center. I've reduced the potential mess making by starting the process in a bowl.   You can also start the dough in a food processor, much as you would for pastry dough.

I Love St Patrick's Day. This love affair is somewhat strange seeing that I don't have a drop of Irish blood running through my veins and can really live without drinking copious amount of Guinness from noon till night. I think my love affair harks back to my obsession with the colour green and the one day a year that it is acceptable (in some people eye's) to turn food stuffs glorious shades of emerald.

My finest greenification of food was a St Patrick's Day brunch back in my Kansas City days. Egged on by my best friend's love of being Irish, Jen and I hosted a day long fete of all things Irish. I was in charge of the food. We served green bagels topped with salmon and capers, green tortilla chips to dip in crab and spinach dip, green scrambled eggs and ham, cakes with green icing, shamrock cookies and the list went on and on. We washed them all down with cocktails dyed in various shades of green, whiskey and of course Guinness.

It's been ages since I've gone to those extreme measures in the greenification of food, but my fascination is still there. After beating my rather personal 'Curse of the Macarons' I thought I'd attempt a greenification of the macaron. Let me first proclaim that I'm not a master of the macaron and that this is not the definitive guide to making a macaron. There are loads of other sites out there that go into great detail on the art of making macarons.

When I came to visit the UK for the first time (about eleven years ago), I fell in L.O.V.E with the canteen styled noodle joint called Wagamamas. There are so many tasty simple dishes with my favourite being the Chicken Katsu Curry. Delicately fried panko crusted chicken breast served with sticky rice and a mildly spiced curry sauce.  

What is not to love about the dish? Bread a piece of meat, fry it, serve it with a sauce and a starch. Presto- you've got one of the many varations on a theme of fried meat and gravy. AKA: a southern boy's wet dream! 

Now add pork to the southern boys wet dream and it's XXXtra dirty!  I love all things pork and a pork katsu is is quite popular in Japan. So i thought I'd take a stab at it. I'm mad about brining pork and poultry, so I brined the pork loins in a spicy brine to impart flavour and keep moisture in them. No one likes dried out pork.

Curry was introduced to Japan during the Meiji era, when India was a British colony. When the dish was introduced to Japan, The emperor of Japan ordered the chefs to recreate it and make it their own. And adopt it they did, Curry Roux can be purchased in supermarkets. It's an easy way to get a great sauce, but it really lacks the depth of this sauce.

This curry sauce is quite a fruity affair, it goes really well with the pork katsu, sort of a nod to pork with apples. The sauce is super easy even a Japanese child could make it, so there is no excuse for you not to.

All hail mother nature! Today, for the second day running, London has seen it's first glimpse of proper spring. I can hear birds chirping, the faint buzz from lawns being mowed and I bet that fruit bearing trees are beginning to bud. Yes people, spring is on it's way! It's not all jubilation, there still a while for the great British fruit season to come into season.

There is one saviour of this winter into spring time lull in fruit desserts, namely the citrus desserts. I've fallen in love with this citrus steamed pudding. I've given it a rather generic title of citrus because there is not a citrus fruit that does not shine in this dessert. I've tried it with lemons, I've tried it with limes, sampled it with satsumas and even took a stab at them with blood oranges. Each member of the citrus family performed to gold medal standards in this dessert.

These little puds have a lovely spring like texture that quivers when you come at it with a spoon. My favourite part of the the puds is the little layer of curd that magically appears during the steaming process. If you serve these to friends let them think that you painstakingly layered the curd in. Keep the culinary mystery alive!

Most people remember their ‘Firsts’....Their first crush, Their first kiss, Their first broken heart and the first time that they did It!!

Well I can honestly say I cannot remember my first kiss. Nor do I have any recollection of my first crush. I do have some fuzzy memories of my first broken heart. And you guessed it, the first time i did it is rather hazy.

Before you judge me, I've not had so many encounters that I've lost count in a Michael Jordan sort of way, its just that I tend to skip over the less than memorable events in my life. So apologies if by some bizarre cosmic twist of fate you were one of those forgotten participants who just happen to be reading this.

I do know what the very first recipe I learned to cook was! To prove that I’m not loosing my mind in my rapidly gaining old age, it proceeded all of the above mentioned firsts! My gelatin loving grandmother chose the humble Macaroni & Cheese as the first dish she would teach me.

My grandmother was a very strict but loving figure at the time. She was an accomplish cook in her own right. After some badgering I convinced her to teach me how to cook something... anything! Finally she relented and tought me macaroni and cheese. Once at the stove I held the wooden handle of the avocado enamelled saucepan in trembling fear while I stirred the flour into the melted margarine with a wooden spoon to make a roux.

Why do trend makers feel the need to reach into my childhood for ideas and trend for the forthcoming culinary year? Cupcakes - Check! Mexican Food - Check! Well that's two that have made it big in recent years so I may be exaggerating it a little but...

Reading through the Guardian's Hot List for 2010 I had a enlightening flashback when I read that a childhood treat of yore was going to trump the cupcake as the ultimate must have baked good of 2010. And sure enough with my recent visit to the Soho outpost of the Hummingbird Bakery, there they were at £3 a piece! Yes thats right! £3 a piece!

Yes the humble whoopie pie. First of all a whoopie pie is not a pie at all, more of a miniature sandwiched cake. It's the lovechild of a cake and a cookie which has suffered the same identity crisis as the beloved Jaffa Cake. You can trace the roots of the whoopie pie back to the Pennsylvania Dutch of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

The basics of a traditional whoopie pie are two moist palm sized chocolate cakes with a gooey marshmallow filling sandwiched between. Knowing that my Uncle was a huge fan of Pennsylvanian Dutch cooking, I had a look through his cookbook stash that was bequeathed to me. I found a newspaper cutout recipe with some notations on it and thought that it would be a great starting point.

As part of the Fiona Beckett's Ultimate Macaroni and Cheese challenge, I’ve worked my way though countless cheeses to find the best artisanal cheese (In my opinion) to make the best straight up Mac and Cheese.

The guys at Neil’s Yard dairy must think that I’m a right cheese nutter! I have been going in day after day, trying all sorts of wonderful cheese's (after all I was looking for the femme fatal of cheese to star in my Oscar quality macaroni and cheese) and then proceeding to buy copious amounts of the stuff. Had I of tried any more of the stuff I would of been pretty cheesed off - excuse the pun!

I experimented with a Macaroni and Stilton, which blew my head off it was that strong!  A Mac and cheese from Gruyere Coolea was gritty and made for a weird texture. I Tried to coax a smooth sauce out of a red Caerphilly but failed! I then tried a tangy goat cheese which was good, but not a real Mac and Cheese. but I always came back to cheddar. A Montgomery Cheddar to be exact.

Meh- winter! It's dark, cold, and the snow is here. Christmas is rapidly becoming a distant memory with summer nowhere in sight. But there a saviour of winter; namely hearty rib-sticking slow cooked meals. Meals that simmer, blurp and plop for hours on end filling your home with the olfactic stimulation of coziness and warmth while making you salivate with anticipation. Peposo is just that.

Peposo is an Italian stew hailing from Impruneta, a town near Florence. Typically peposo is made with beef, but the preparation works really well with pork. Peposo Pork is a perfect meal for when you need to warm your toes with a belly full of heat. It's a zesty peppery meal that can easily match any chili con carne out there.

I've garnished the Peposo Pork with a Gremolata, which brings a little bit of sunshine and freshness to the dish with it's citrus and grassy green notes.

Serve the Peposo with anything starchy from a soft polenta to mashed potatoes to soak up the sauce.