We have a function on tonite, for which I'm hoping that everyone will be able to sit outside - on the deck and in the courtyard. Anna Robertson and team are currently over at the restaurant creating their own special blend of magic - hanging things from the maple tree and putting up fairy lights and candles and other visual treats.

Hopefully the weather will play ball, but not feeling quite as optimistic as I did on top of the Mount early this am, where the skies looked nice and blue. Cloud is currently rolling in , and I'm in 'hmmm...'mode at the moment.

Will just have to wait and see....Be such a shame if after all this  effort, people don't get the opportunity to enjoy what Anna has created - but...

Courteneys home for the weekend and she and I are going to have a mince cooking experiment shortly - as she starts to feel her way into cooking at the flat. Ironically have just read a Michael Ruhlman blog where the commentary is all about how important it is to teach your children to cook, and so far that is something we haven't really focused on with our two. Courteney makes sensational cupcakes - but has never shown much inclination towards savoury cooking, but needs must, and now she's fending for herself, she's starting to look at ways she can do it easily and nutritionally and we're happy to help.

But I digress...

we have a staff member who's pregnant with her second child, and I asked Vicki the other day what type of information she was getting from the Ministry of Health about eating whilst pregnant, becos we have had a run of pregnant women in the restaurant recently, in itself not unusual, but what has been noteworthy, is the amount of concern that some of them have expressed over what they can and can't eat.

Vicki said there is copious amounts of information.  I haven't been pregnant in 19 odd years, and I remember even back then that some of the warnings were pretty dire.

A  pregnant lady  complained last nite that she couldn't have an entree becos there was nothing on the list that she was able to eat becos she was pregnant. As Mr Ramsey would so aptly put it -  'bollocks!'

There is literally not one entree on the list that would be unsafe - no raw meat or fish, or unpastureised dairy products, so what actually is she scared off? And more importantly why is she so scared?  I didn't step in to explain that to her, becos she had made it clear it wasn't a subject up for discussion, and I don't feel its my place to intrude. But I did shake my head, and Ricks and my exchange over it, was one of discouragement. You really do wonder.

I understand the need for caution, I really do, but I do wonder about a world where we get so scared about what might possibly happen, that we avoid virtually everything except overly processed food. I just can't accept that that is a healthy approach, either on a physical level or an emotional one.

I am conscious however of a desire not to be seem to be judgemental of the decisions that other people make - each to their own, but it just seems to have been a bit of a week for it. A steak got returned on Friday nite, becos its 'welldoneness' wasn't well done enough for this lady, becos she was pregnant.

You get that!