I wonder whether chopping up the salad smaller breaks up some of the fibre so it's less troublesome to digest... or is that just too stupid??

Nigella's nice too, but her background's somewhat different, and it shows! Her books are nice though. Still one of my favourite writers is Nigel Slater, and I've never seen him on television either - he doesn't get exported. Not sure I'd be as keen on him in the flesh as I am in b&w! I looked at earlier Jamie books and wasn't keen on the writing, but this one (Jamie's Dinners) is quite natural and you can hear his voice coming through. Maybe you should write to Father Christmas and ask for a nice cookbook!