I thought it was among the most heart-warming, feelgood films of the year, and so joyously obsessed with food that it might be described as a feed-good movie!

She may not have got the Oscar but Meryl Streep is fantastic.  The film is fun, witty and makes you want to get in the kitchen and cook - and here at MyDish we have plently of recipes for you to get inspired…

You feel hunger pangs all the way through the film.  Platters of Boeuf Bourguignon, sole meuniere, fresh oysters, Coq au Vin and Champignons Farcis served with crusty baguettes and desserts of fromage blanc move tantalizingly before your eyes.

The DVD  includes a free cut-down version of the original cookbook ‘Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Childs’, with all the recipes featured in the film and more.

For your chance to try one of Julia Childs famous recipes, win prizes and discuss click here for more.  It’s definitely worth a watch, bon appetit!

While most cultures around the world celebrate New Year as a time of resolutions, for the Chinese, the New Year means that and much more. It is a time to gather the family, honour ancestors and celebrate with a big banquet that symbolizes prosperity in the New Year.

Most of the dishes served during the two week Chinese New Year celebration are symbolic of something positive and hopeful.
•  Chicken for example, symbolize happiness and prosperity–especially when served whole.
•  Fish, or “yue” symbolize abundance and togetherness. At traditional Chinese New Year celebrations, the fish is never fully eaten to signify that the family will always have more than enough.
•  Dumplings or “jiaozi” symbolize wealth and prosperity; their crescent shape resembles ancient Chinese money.
•  Dishes made with oranges represent wealth and good fortune because they are China’s most plentiful fruit.
•  Noodles represent longevity: Leave them whole — an old superstition says it is bad luck to cut them.
•  Lettuce or “sang choi,” symbolizes prosperity because its name sounds like the word meaning “to bring about wealth and riches.”
•  Duck symbolizes fidelity, while eggs signify fertility.
•  Bean curd or tofu, however, is avoided because its white colour suggests death and misfortune.

Try some of these lucky Chinese dishes to bring you luck for the year ahead:
Chicken with cashew nuts
Chinese Ginger Fish
Noodles
Crispy Fried Duck
Spicy Lettuce Wraps
Fortune Cookie

Invite them round and see who can make the biggest pancake or flip it the highest. To toss a pancake successfully is not as easy as it looks, the right pancake mix, a hot pan, speed and practice are what’s needed.

Click here for a traditional pancake recipe but what filling is your favourite?

Whether savoury – spinach & ricotta, Chinese crispy duck, American style with bacon and maple syrup, ratatouille or cheesy leeks… or sweet – my favourite lemon & sugar, Ice cream, chocolate sauce, banana’s and cream or French Crepes Suzette - you can use anything you like as fillings! The above recipes are just a starting point or perhaps try other recipes from the site such as Kenny’s French pancakes or coconut pancakes. Or to make a change, you could try out some savoury options with wholemeal or buckwheat flour. There are also very tasty Indian-style pancakes made with chickpea flour and spices. These are a low-fat option because they don’t contain any butter or eggs, and they go really well with a tasty curry.

Chinese pancakes (also fits in well with Chinese New Year) are also traditionally made with flour and water, without added fat, although you need a bit of oil to cook them. You could serve these with stir-fried veg and chicken or duck, with a spicy dipping sauce.

What’s your favourite pancake? Send us an email info@mydish.co.uk and let us know; we can then make sure all the best recipes are on MyDish ready for Pancake day Tuesday 16th Feb.

The Origins of Pancake Day

• Pancake Day is the traditional feast day before the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday. Lent – the 40 days leading up to Easter – is traditionally a time of fasting.
• Pancake Day became a great way to use the foods that were given up for Lent – milk, butter, and eggs. Pancakes have featured in recipe books as far back as 1439!
• Did you know the biggest pancake ever was made in Rochdale in 2004? It was 15 metres in diameter, weighed three tonnes and had an estimated two million calories! Can you better that? Frying pans at the ready.

I start by planning the theme of the menu – is it going to be British, French, Indian and then carry the theme all the way through.

I think a French theme tends to set a romantic feel to a dinner, I also find that a lot of my recipes are quite rich so I try to make sure that either the starter or the dessert is not a creamy one.
So my french menu would start with a French onion soup followed by Beef Wellington and finished off with raspberry crème brûlée. Let me know what you think and if you would cook something similar.

If you are stuck for ideas here are some more suggestion from the team.

Helga’s Italian Menu
Italian food is one of my favourites so on the Saturday night I am having a few friends round. Usually on a Saturday we go out but you know that the night before Valentine’s restaurant will be packed and serving the obligiatory set menu!!. To start I will serve bruchetta (with loads of garlic), followed by lasagne everyones favourite and for dessert yummy tiramisu. Washed down with some lovely Italian wine. On Sunday later afternoon I will cook a traditional British roast – roast lamb (we bought a whole sheep from our friends in Norfolk) for just my boyfriend Mark and me. Nothing special but Mark is a sucker for roasts so I know I am on to a winner.

Reena’s Indian romantic dinner
Here are my 3 recipes you could use for your Valentines Indian Dinner – Both the kebabs and the spicy masala fish can be prepped the day before so they are great time savers, you don’t want to spend all night in the kitchen on Valentines! The chocolate cheesecake too, start on it early eve and get it out the fridge just after your meal. The fish main course is something my mum cooks up in minutes for my dad when he’s feeling peckish, and I love it too, I never liked fish until I tried this dish so give it a go. You can easily turn this into a slightly runny curry by frying some long thinly sliced onions and a dollop of tomato puree before adding the fish.

The best recipes will be chosen and featured in a special recipe book with proceeds going to the Great Ormond Street Hospital Chairty . It’s all for a good cause and a simple way to raise funds for research into the cause and treatment of childhood cancer. Join up NOW!

It’s really simple to join the Bake it Better group - just click on the link and hit the ‘join group’ button - there is a simple and short registration and then you can add your own recipe to the group. Don’t forget to invite all your friends to help us create the biggest and best collection of children’s recipes. Please tell all your friends and family.

How did we get involved with Gt Ormond Street Hospital?

My Son Oliver was cared for at Gt Ormond Street with a Kidney problem – he was rushed to hospital when he was 10 years old and we stayed in the hospital for a week with Oliver on some pretty serious medicines.  When he was well and came back for a check-up he wanted to give something back to the hospital to say thanks and to help the other children.  So when we started MyDish it was Oliver’s initiative to create the recipe books as a way for people to raise funds for their own charity and today we are working with Gt Ormond Street to create a book of recipes for children.

Here is a guest piece from Oli:

Hey, You probably don’t know who I am, but my name’s Oli and I was a patient at Great Ormond street hospital for quite a while when I was younger because I was diagnosed with neufrotic syndrome, a rare urinary disease.

It was a very hard time in my life as the cure was to put me on steroids so I undoubtedly gained a lot of weight, but all of the staff at Great Ormond Street Hospital made what would otherwise be a terrible experience a reasonably pleasurable one (considering the circumstances).

In my opinion, you can never really appreciate the work which Great Ormond Street Hospital does until you are treated there. I had often been given a sponsorship pack at school which would mean that if I were to colour in a picture, my parents and people I know would give me money to give to Great Ormond Street Hospital, but from this, I just saw it as another charity, oblivious to the lives it saves and people it helps. I would happily hand over my money without a moment’s thought as to where the money was going and what it was to be used for.

For the first month or so of me having neufrotic syndrome, I had very few symptoms but after about a month, I began throwing up repeatedly and this is when my mum first decided to take me to the GP. The doctor asked me for a urine sample and, once she checked it, immediately told me I should be taken to a hospital. I was first taken to Barnet general hospital but was moved to Great Ormond Street very soon as that was where the most knowledgeable person for this disease worked. He started me on my course of steroids and I was out of the hospital within a week.

I did have quite a few relapses of Neufrotic Syndrome, but now, we hope that it has gone away for good. I could definitely not have got through this whole thing without Great Ormond Street and especially without my mum, who was with me through the whole thing. My mum is a very talented chef and is the CEO of mydish.co.uk . Check it out by the way, it’s like a website where you give other people your favourite recipes and I think it’s really cool.

Thank you mum and thank you Great Ormond Street!

Oli Savage

That’s why at MyDish we think you should ditch the January diet and indulge yourself with wonderful warming soups, stews and casseroles. These can be crammed full of lovely veg and pulses as well as meat and carbs. And why not treat yourself to a cake or two while you’re at it? A little bit of what you fancy does you good.

Remember, we’re not saying ‘be unhealthy’, we just think January’s grim enough without putting yourself on starvation rations too. It’s months until you have to squeeze into that summer bikini.

Here are some lovely tasty warming soups, stews, casseroles and winter warmers to keep out the chill.

7 Veg and Pumpkin Soup
http://www.mydish.co.uk/recipe/3231/7%20Veg%20and%20Pumpkin%20Soup

Barley Soup
http://www.mydish.co.uk/recipe/684/Barley%20Soup

Carrot and Coriander Soup
http://www.mydish.co.uk/recipe/6039/Carrot%20and%20Corriander%20Soup%20Zero%20Point

Beef Stew
http://www.mydish.co.uk/recipe/1367/Beef%20Stew

Roast Pumpkin Risotto
http://www.mydish.co.uk/recipe/1367/Beef%20Stew

Warming Winter Chicken and Vegetable Soup
http://www.mydish.co.uk/recipe/2433/Warming%20Winter%20Chicken%20and%20Vegetable%20Soup

Basic Sponge Cake

Greek Potatoes

Thai Green Chicken Curry

The Best Apple Crumble

Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Mozarella and Parma Ham

We need your special CHRISTMAS recipe!

Recipes are like places at the dinner table: there’s always room for more! And we know that there are people out there who would like your special recipes. So please tell us your Christmas specialities.

In particular we’d like to hear about:

- Your special veg dishes? Do you jazz up your sprouts?

- Spectacular stuffing. How do you make yours?

- Party tricks! What snacks keep your guests happy?

- Drinks: do you have a favourite seasonal snifter?

- Alternative roasts: if it’s not turkey, what do you cook?

- And, last but not least, we’re also keen to hear about vegan and vegetarian Christmas dishes.

Simply choose twelve recipes (one for each month): these could be your own or one of your Favourites recipes added my another MyDish members. And we’ll transform your choices into a wonder calendar. If you’re stuck for ideas, we’ve even put some together for you, to save time.

Once you’ve chosen your recipes, you can add dates to remember. Special days, birthdays, anniversaries: just pop them into your calendar using our easy-to-use software and they’ll be printed in the calendar too.

The finished calendars are glossy and professional and best of all are a totally original gift. Find out all about making your calendar here.