While traveling one of the things I miss the most is being in my own kitchen. Both Pippa and Carolyn are excellent cooks and considerate hosts and the meals I enjoyed the most were the little snacks and meals eaten in their flats. The amazing store bought hummus that Carolyn got me hooked on, which we ate with dark rye bread, cherry tomatoes from her balcony and homemade cauliflower soup (Carolyn may love cauliflower as much as I do!). At Pippa's it was the extra strong black tea and massive bowls of porridge oats with 'bits' in it which fortified us all for autumn days in Berlin. Maybe it's not jetlag, maybe I'm just having teaspresso withdrawal!

The thing I missed the most about being home is the amount of vegetables I eat when I'm at home. We all got a bit caught up in the festivities of each other company and sort of lost sight of our normal healthful ways. Can anyone say giant gorgonzola pizza?!

All I wanted for the last few days were big bowls of gently steamed broccoli or stirred asian greens in with oyster sauce and ginger. And cauliflower, lots of it, roasted, pureed and maybe in my oatmeal just for good measure.

Sharing my true worship of cauliflower is Yotam Ottolenghi, owner and patron of Ottolenghi which we visited in Islington. He's posted a recent recipe for Cauliflower Cake and also a Quinoa and fennel salad recipe I absolutely must try. I can imagine the cauliflower cake being made with a mix of besan (chickpea) and quinoa flours to be gluten free and pack more nutrition in.

Some other things that I may just whip up now that I'm home are:

• Low-carb, gluten free Zucchini muffins
• Crockpot Pumpkin Chili with Ground Beef, Black Beans, and Kidney Beans
• Konnyaku with garlic, olive oil and chili peppers (Konnyaku aglio olie e peperoncino)
• My favourite lentil soup recipe (I could live on this)

I'm also searching for a recipe for the delicious Nonya desert  I had at changi airport. It was listed as yam and coconut desert and was a delicious desert soup of sweet potato and coconut with ginko nuts in it. Anyone?