Anne Summers throws down the olive-oil-mash-in-eight-minutes gauntlet to Yotam Ottolenghi (Letters, 27 February). I had the good fortune to attend an Ottolenghi demonstration in 2010 at Leiths. Most visiting chefs managed four or five, or at most six, quite complex dishes during a three-hour demo: Ottolenghi managed nine – all delicious – without breaking sweat, while simultaneously interviewing 48 diploma students about their hopes and interests. I fear she’d lose the bet.
Julian Parker
Louth, Lincolnshire
• I’m devastated by the suffering of the unfortunate people in south-east England (Travel chaos and school closures likely as heavy snowfalls hit UK, 27 February) and would like to appeal to my fellow residents of North Yorkshire to do what they can to alleviate the agony. Send whatever you can to help – woolly hats, scarves, gloves, wellington boots, thick socks, gumption, balls…?
Wilf Hartley
Northallerton, North Yorkshire
• Given today’s weather it seems (in)appropriate to recall that at my convent grammar school in the 60s our mnemonic (Letters, 27 February) was: “Signs of heat? Take off all coats and hats.”
Pauline Butler
Durham
• In the late 1940s I learned the planets in order from the sun. Men Very Easily Make Jugs Suit Useful New Purposes. It worried me a bit when Pluto was downgraded.
Sal Shuel
London
• Re your article (Blair rejects author’s claim ex-PM is ‘liar’, 26 February), in the words of Mandy Rice-Davies: “He would, wouldn’t he?”
Louise Morrey
Barlow, Derbyshire
• I’m sure I’ve read these Groundhog Day letters before (Letters, 27 February).
Pete Bibby
Sheffield
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