Jerusalem artichoke, also called sunchoke or earth apple, has been known in Poland since the first half of the XVIII century. It is a vegetable especially recommended for diabetics because it reduces the amount of blood glucose. Those who would like to lose weight should also reach for it. Jerusalem artichoke contains a lot of potassium so it reduces blood pressure, and inulin which reduces high cholesterol.

I have looked suspiciously at the packaging of Jerusalem artichoke a few times. Only the soup I ate in a Warsaw restaurant convinced me to buy it. I prepared my own version of cream of Jerusalem artichoke. I found the recipe at www.zakochanewzupach.pl. However, I used my own spices. I served this soup with mushroom crisps and parsley olive oil. It was really excellent.

Ingredients (for 4 people):
500g of Jerusalem artichoke
200g of potatoes
1 big onion
2 tablespoons of oil
500ml of vegetable stock
400ml of coconut milk
2 mushrooms
fistful of parsley
2 tablespoons of olive oil
salt and white pepper

This year, mischievous nature tried to upset my daughter's birthday plans. Spending your birthday in bed with a thermometer isn't an excellent idea ¬– even for an adult. For a teenager it is a drama comparable to cancelled holidays. My daughter told me that you are thirteen only once. And she was right. Literally and figuratively.

I wanted to sugar the pill for her on this day and cheer her up for a bit, so I prepared a caramel cake with bananas – banoffee in the form of a small birthday cake. My sweet magic and the dinner from her favourite restaurant worked, and in the end her birthday was quite nice.

Ingredients (17cm cake tin):
150g of biscuits
75g of butter
200ml of 30% sweet cream
250g of mascarpone cheese
2 tablespoons of caster sugar
2 bananas
300g of fudge
1 teaspoon of dark cocoa