January is a new beginning, so I’ve made some other resolutions as well. You know, the usual ones—lose weight (about 4kg), exercise more (3–4 times a week for 20–30 minutes), eat healthier (smaller portions, healthier choices)…

My general approach to these resolutions is “everything in moderation”. Words to live by and, for me, much easier to stick to than some crazy fasting diet or detox.

One part of “lose weight, eat healthier” means me starting fresh in 2014 by giving up alcohol for the entire month of January (five days in and feeling good!). I did it last year and was surprised at how amazing I felt after a couple of weeks. One or two glasses of wine slows me down the next day so it’s good for me to give my body a break, particularly after all the rich foods and excessiveness of the holiday season. Once February comes my resolution is changes to allow a couple of drinks on weekends but none during the week. Again, that’s something that I did last year and it really helped how mentally sharp I was during the working week.

In terms of eating healthier I’m taking a good hard look at my portion sizes and leaving more space on my plate when I serve up food. I know I’ve been eating too much, especially at night and this affects how well I sleep. Lack of sleep in turn makes me feel sluggish in the morning and more likely to make bad food choices during the day.

I’m also trying to eat lighter in general, meaning more salads and not many heavy things like potato, pasta, pastry and creamy/buttery things. Some of my meals since New Years’ and on the menu for this week are:

• lamb and haloumi skewers with a variation on a Greek salad—lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, capsicum; no olives or feta
• slow-roasted chicken with Ottolenghi: The Cookbook’s chargrilled cauliflower with tomato, dill and capers
• BBQ steak with artichoke and herb salad (an old favourite found in the CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet Book 2
  )
• smoked salmon with lemon and garlic chive cream cheese (just a smidge!) on a slice of rye plus a simple salad—lettuce, tomato, radish, cucumber and carrot
• seared lamb with quinoa tabouli
• grilled sweet corn salad with black beans and almonds
• thai turkey salad
• Jamie’s 15-Minute Meals tuna, coconut rice and jiggy jiggy vegetables
• and another Jamie Oliver dish—Keralan veggie curry

I’ve also know that I don’t eat enough fruit. Sometimes I just forget about it for days at a time, I’ll admit I’m not a massive fan of fruit, much preferring to eat vegetables instead. So I’ve committed myself to 1–2 serves a day, which is the recommended daily intake.

What are your food resolutions for 2014?

The live show was great. I was intrigued by hearing Heston tell the story of how he got into cooking in the first place, and where all his weird and wonderful ideas for dishes come from. From a memorable family dinner in France—beautiful food and surroundings punctuated by the natural smells and sounds of the location—his life changed and he decided he wanted to become a chef. He spent years reading, learning and perfecting his cooking techniques and absorbing everything he could about gastronomy. The turning point for him was reading On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee, which taught him to challenge some of the culinary ideas being touted as absolutes or ‘the rules’ of good cooking.

Heston Blumenthal is part mad scientist (and I mean that in the nicest possible way), part genius, yet listening to him explain, it all seems to make perfect sense. He did go off on tangents from time to time during the evening but even that was a fascinating insight into how his very creative mind works.

Some may have been disappointed that Heston himself didn’t cook, but being realistic, a two-and-a-half hour live show isn’t really conducive to his style of cooking. Having said that, he did still demonstrate how to cook the perfect steak (turn every 15 seconds until cooked to your liking then rest). He also talked about the importance not only of taste but sight, sound and smell and how they affect the way we enjoy eating food.

I give you the Tim-Tam example to demonstrate the importance of smell, and this is definitely something to try at home. Everyone in the audience was given a Tim-Tam and during the show Heston told us to close our eyes, hold our noses and take a bite. He then asked us to think about the taste of that mouthful—to be honest, it was sweet but not as chocolaty as normal; a bit ‘ho hum’ really. Heston then asked us to take bite as we normally would, eyes open and noses unblocked. The difference was amazing. In the case of the Tim-Tam, you don’t taste the chocolate so much as you actually smell it.

Sight is more obvious—if the food doesn’t look appetising; people are less likely to want to eat it. Interestingly, if it’s not visually appealing, then this affects the way people perceive the taste too—they will most likely be disappointed—giving new meaning to the expression ‘eating with our eyes’.

Heston’s numerous examples demonstrated the importance of the different senses to eating and I definitely get it—enjoying the taste of a meal is only part of the whole experience. It is the sight, sound, feel and smell, together with taste, that prompt associations and memories to be created, making the overall experience more pleasurable.

All in all it was a wonderful evening listening to highly successful yet incredibly down-to-earth guy. I feel like I learned a lot about food and thoroughly enjoyed Heston Blumenthal’s passion for his work. If he ever comes back, I would happily see him again. And oh how I would love to eat at The Fat Duck!