Sophie Dahl revels in the joy of cooking for one on a purely selfish day. Shutting the world away and answering to no-one on a day that is indulgently independent means cruising the food boutiques and cooking simple dishes with the finest of ingredients.

In loving mood and inspired by the romance of train stations and graveyards, Sophie Dahl talks us through her perfect dishes for the three stages of romance.

Sophie Dahl shares the recipes that remind her of home and the tastes of her youth.

It's a melancholic day and there's no getting away from it. The only option is to feed this melodramatic emotion with dishes that could cheer up Eeyore.

At the end of a rotten week we all need to get away, but sometimes we don't have that option. Sophie's suggestion is an escapist weekend, in which she draws inspiration from her foreign travels so that one weekend can be made to feel like a week's holiday.

Sophie is in a celebratory mood - she is putting on a dinner party; not a stuffy, sit down affair but a deconstructed, fun event. She shares her tips for stress-free entertaining by taking us through the two days leading up to the shindig. Her plan is to create a generous banquet from tried and trusted crowd pleasers, and she'll cook as much as she can in advance and lay it all out in a display of overt opulence.