So there I was watching an episode of Rick Stein’s Far Eastern Odyssey the other night, and the Sri Lankan curries looked so amazing I just had to tweet about them, which started up a twitter conversation between myself, @WeeRascal and @Seville_Writer, both of whom have met Rick Stein and used words like passionate, honest, charming and genuine to describe him.

I had to admit that I’d never heard of Rick Stein before watching this series, which is a wonderful combination of glorious travelogue images and amazing food porn, along with lots of good information about  the local dishes, geography and history.

So imagine my complete surprise yesterday when the doorbell rang and I received an Amazon delivery of Rick Stein’s Mediterranean Escapes, courtesy of that rascally friend of mine. I shall have to find a way of “getting him back” when he next visits (possibly in June) but meanwhile I have just finished watching the first segment of the first episode, which took place in Corsica. Next up … Sardinia. I am totally loving this!