GENEROSITY

Today's homemade tomato soup with spring onion and parmesan

One of my modern day heroes is Eyvind Hellstrøm, Norway's uncrowned king of TV-chefs, our own Gordon Ramsey, though much more sympathetic. After having run one of Oslo's Michelin-starred restaurants - Bagatelle - for two and a half decades, he went into television and has hosted programmes like Masterchef and other shows/documentaries where he cooks with celebrities, renews restaurants, and not least - visits people in their homes and gives them advice on healthy and easy cooking. Soups for instance, are nearly as quick to make from scratch as industrial powder packets with the instruction "just add water." Simply mix the ingredients and boil, basically. Can you imagine what's really inside that prefabricated product?

Rack of lamb - very easy and very delicious. Buy it when it's cheap in the autumn and put in freezer

He's the kind of guy that you either love or hate. I love cooking, and I love people with a passion for cooking. Oh, he's got a passion all right! If there's one TV-programme that makes me bawl with sentimentality it's the one where he moves around the country to help people turn their food routines around - and it moves him too! Especially when he can get children who've previously liked nothing to regard food as FUN! A bit like Jamie Oliver - another one of my heroes - who's set his heart on teaching people to cook healthy, tasty and simple food. And - yes, he's made me cry too!

I think it's safe to say that the combination of FOOD and EMOTIONS is my ultimate hang-up.

Duck breast - simple to cook and impresses everyone

Eyvind Hellstrøm engages people - as do most strong personalities - and many are the party conversations that suddenly involve his TV performances. Often my dialogue partners have only zapped through his programmes but still have opinions of him: He's so patronising, he's rude, he's condescending, he's bossy, he's unfeeling... and so on. After discussing this for a while, I usually call across the table to to my husband  - who knew him twenty years ago, and whose views everyone respects - and shout, "What do YOU think of Eyvind Hellstrøm, my dear?" "He's really nice, a great guy!" my husband replies - and everyone goes quiet. The lesson is: Don't have too strong opinions of people you don't know.

Self-invented scampi dish - just throw everything you like together in a shallow saucepan, heat for a while, and there you are

Sometimes it's fun to cook while you're eating - fry everything with a little olive oil on a small table grill and melt cheese on the shelf underneath (Raclette)

The reason I'm writing about my Food Hero today is basically one: I recently watched an interview with him on a net channel where he touches on the subject GENEROSITY. This is maybe THE most important word in my vocabulary and one I always strive to follow.

Generosity incorporates every good quality I believe in: Kindness, largeness, compassion, empathy, inclusion and love. And lack of prejudice not least.

In the interview Mr Hellstrøm recounts the story of how he and a friend arrived as twenty-year olds by car in a French town where they decided they wanted to spend some of their limited funds on a posh restaurant meal. They entered an obviously fully occupied restaurant and were initially turned away, when one of the waiters said, "No, wait - we'll arrange a table for you." Whereupon he and his colleague proceeded to set up in a corner table and chairs, tablecloth, silver candlesticks, crystal and porcelain, fantastic food and wine for the two scruffy young travellers. The genuine unprejudiced welcome they experienced right there and then was to determine Eyvind Hellstrøm's future - both his career and his affinity for France.

I think this story carries in it a strong symbol of generosity.

So - yes, let's be generous. In every way.

My neighbour's Japanese cherry tree this afternoon

Straight from the hairdresser's today - complete with still growing hair and a fringe (bangs for you Americans out there)