Vietnamese summer rolls - this is one of my favourite dishes, delicate, fresh and fragrant we take transparent rice paper and fill them with vegetables, herbs, rice noodles and then a choice of prawns or grilled lemongrass chicken then you choose one of the many dipping sauces to dunk them in to, chilli jam, sriracha (its really hot) peanut, light soya and nuoc cham.

Black bean and avocado salad served with corn tortilla chips - It's all in the lime dressing but this will cause a polite, British stand off as you work out who is going to scoop up the last bits in the dish.

Village tomato salad - A popular salad in Syria and Lebanon served with chunks of fresh bread to dip into the juices.

In the UK we regularly eat hummus cold but in Arabic countries they eat it warm too so tonight we are going to roast a tray of root vegetables and serve them on a bed of warm humus and sprinkled with sunflower seeds for a bit of crunch.

Slow roasted lamb tagine marinated with cinnamon, cumin, almonds and apricots - The last time I made this dish I left the kitchen window open and when guests came in, they said that it smelled so good, they hoped it was coming from our house and not from someone else's! Its in the oven for 10 hours so when I say slow I mean slow!! If you don't eat lamb let us know and we will rustle you up a chicken dish in its place but I promise this is delicious.

Alan is going to make his sexy Persian rice - this is a little bit of work, compared to regular white rice, but it is so worth it - the crispy crunchy butter topping is a total delight (as is Alan!)

For pudding - we always have a choice of two (or both!)

Zesty orange polenta cake with a citrus drizzle.

Fruit Pavlova - homemade crunchy meringue base filled with clouds of soft whipped cream and fruit.

Tea, coffee and after dinner mints.