Alastair was too busy writing columns and presenting TV programmes to be there

Alastair was too busy writing columns and presenting TV programmes to be there. Now, a number of challengers have appeared on the notoriously competitive London foodie scene, making Alastair Little's famous white interior look somewhat dated.Consequently Mr Little is not at La Cacciata for more than half the week. for a start, the maestro has other things on his mind - mainly his eponymous restaurant in Soho, a spartan establishment serving simple, perfectly cooked food made with the best ingredients and no frills. There was a time, in the heady eating-out days of the Eighties, when the place appeared to run itself. The idea is to leave with a sheaf of menus and a wealth of culinary experience willingly passed on by the maestro himself.The reality isn't quite like that.

The key to my success was that I'd just come back from a week in Umbria on a cookery course run by chef Alastair Little, one of the names on the Lon-don restaurant scene; my menu was simply one of the things we had prepared in a morning. The ingredients of the course, listed in the brochure, seem like heaven: a week staying near the cathedral city of Orvieto, on the La Cacciata estate - which has a swimming pool and all amenities; cooking with Alastair every day; exciting culinary visits to local markets; riding, if you want, at the equestrian centre next door. Everyone was deeply appreciative and proclaimed me a first-class cook; praise indeed, since I'm not. My guests had marinaded olives to nibble for starters, and olive tapenade on garlicky bruschetta if they were really greedy. For pudding we had a pie filled with almond paste and ripe cherries. LAST night I had a dinner party at home. I cooked chicken stuffed with potato and fennel; I char-grilled peppers directly on the hob until they were completely black on the outside and deliciously sweet on the inside. With the "Pheasant's Eye" in the orchard here they all get picked for the house, so there are never any browned-off petals.For pots and tubs, the smallest narcissi, "Minnow", "Hawera" and "Topolino" are all pretty and long-flowering.

For those who like doubles, "Rip Van Winkle" is a name to request.All narcissi will stop flowering when groups of their bulbs get too congested, but divided and replanted in late June they should perform as well as ever. In grass they look better planted in drifts of unevenly spaced bulbs. The old recommendation to throw them out in handfuls and plant them where they fall is still as good a way as any of ensuring a natural effect.SUPPLIERS: Jacques Amand, The Nurseries, Clamp Hill, Stanmore, Middlesex HA7 3JS (0181-954 8138); Avon Bulbs, Burnt House Farm, Mid Lambrook, South Petherton, Somerset TA13 5HE (01460 42177); Peter Nyssen Ltd, Railway Road, Urmston, Manchester M41 0WX (0161 7486666)Mary Keen. I find that if you can be bothered to dead-head the narcissi, they look less depressing.