Over eating and Ossobucco

That's over-eating and so OVER eating. I'm craving home cooked, simple food. I've been doing restaurant reviews for the 2009 guide for an Australian food magazine as well as The Courier Mail Food and Wine Guide 2009 (out in October) pretty much since February, which involved a hell of a lot of eating out. All strictly paid for and incognito, mind. Somehow I don't think I'll ever get to the stage of needing to wear a wig and glasses like the venerable food critic Ruth Reichl, but having an unusual name, I use a variety of pseudonyms and try to curb my natural curiosity and not ask too many suss questions about the food. (I'll ring later and ask those)
The whole point is to get the same experience, good or bad, everyone else does. If a restauarant realises someone is there to critique them, service is suddenly obsequious, and all sort of complimentary special treats begin to appear. Which actually makes your heart sink, as it usually means another visit, perhaps on a busier night when you can blend in with the crowd.

Getting paid to eat out sounds fantastic in theory but honestly, sometimes you just feel like some soup and toast at home. Which is why, combined with the first days of winter I've been craving comfort food, mashed potato, spinach dhal, beef casserole, pasta with a proper bolognaise ragu. Tonight there is some osso bucco slow cooking as I write. (those Italians OWN comfort food!). I love osso bucco- it's not pretty, but it's so full of flavour and so perfectly warming who cares? I'm going to serve it traditionally, with some risotto Milanese. The kids haven't eaten it before, but I've prepared them with some creative white lie-ing- telling nine year old (f) that it's a special Romanian dish (her mother is Romanian) and the other nine year old (m) that it has truffles in it, (his current favourite thing to eat, after having had pasta with shaved truffles recently.) Will they like it? Do I care? Ossobucco is always better the next day in my opinion. They can always have toast.