Gordon is a nice Scottish chap.  He’s got a PhD in something I know nothing about.  He’s got two lovely kids roughly the same age as my own.  I first met Gordon and his wife Fiona during National Childbirth Trust antenatal classes shortly before our first children were to enter the world over 10 years ago.  Very sadly, Fiona died following a battle with cancer last year and my only regret is that I didn’t get to know her better during that short period of time, proving that life is precious and you simply can’t waste it…

Gordon is doing an amazing job being a single parent and learning to cope with everything that goes with that.  The NCT boys are doing their level best to be supportive, which usually involves going out for the occasional beer and lending a helping hand when Gordon’s man skills require some additional ‘support’…!

Whilst this post has started on a sombre note, we should talk about the dessert course from our dinner this evening…  I have to note that this is the first ever crème brûlée I’ve eaten from a packet.  A Sainsburys packet at that!  Fair play to Gordon for admitting that he’d ‘messed’ with the original by sprinkling the sugar over the custard long before putting them under the grill for caramelisation… Brûlée herecy no less!  One of the challenges of a good brûlée is in the preparation of the caramelised sugar.  How thick should the sugar be?  What is the best temperature for the custard before you burn the sugar?  What method should be used to caramelise the custard?  Honestly, the list of variables is almost endless… Nonetheless, the infusion of blood orange in the basic custard was refreshing, surprising and proved that sticking to the original recipe of a simple vanilla custard and caramelised sugar is not the path to brûlée enlightenment!  However, next time Gordon, don’t mess with the product!!  6/10.