Oooh, caaaake

I have run out of inspiration due to lots of work, but just popped in to say if anyone feels like cheering me up they can make me Good Food's latest cheesecake.

I'm a sucker for a good baked cheesecake, but I've never tried making one before - I might give this one a go.

The best cheesecake I ever had was at Patrick Goldenberg's delicatessen on avenue Wagram in Paris. I've just had to look up when we went, and it was back in 2004, but I can taste it even now...

You could buy cheesecake by the kilo in the deli, along with pastrami, all sorts of pickled things (including some rather marvellous gherkins), and a pretty good chicken liver pate. We sat at the tables outside, ate lots of pickled items with frites, drank lots of wine, and got serenaded by a mad accordionist. It was a top night out.

Later, we went back for the cheesecake, and returned with a large white box, which sat there enticingly in the corner of the apartment. For all of 10 minutes.

Paris nostalgique

These pictures just make me want to hop on Eurostar, and head over to Paris. I've not been for three years, and I've missed it - it's one of the few places I've visited that I've been back to, and one of even fewer that I'd love to live in.

I first went as a penniless student on an interminable coach trip, and stayed in La Defense - not the most hip of areas, but with architecture to die for, especially at night. The OAPs headed off on a Seine cruise and dine experience while we roamed the snowy February streets in search of crepes with Nutella and free museums. It was absolutely freezing, and I spent the whole time parading round in an enormous black men's old-fashioned coat, which I'd bought on Cambridge market, and a purple velvet hat. Very bohemian.

A couple of weekend trips later, it was time for our honeymoon. This time I'd ditched the hat in favour of sunglasses and sore feet (dancing in posh wedding heels really takes it out of you), and we spent 10 days mooching about the city, getting lost in the Marais, drinking champagne for breakfast and marvelling at the view from the top of the Pompidou Centre.

I've been back since (and found the best cheesecake in the world), but I now need my fix. Maybe next year...