I remember very clearly when the all new Sainsbury’s magazine was launched back in May 1993. Back then, supermarket magazines were pretty wretched; thin and cheaply produced with a dearth of compelling content. The Sainsbury’s magazine pumped oxygen into a stagnant pond and I loved it from the get go! Delia Smith and husband Michael ... Read more »
I adore flat peaches. As I’ve written before, they’re also known as doughnut peaches, saturn peaches and even UFO peaches, because of their flattened disc-like shape. Usually they’re superbly sweet and impossible to eat without dribbling copious sticky juice down chin and arms. In recent years, I’ve found them easier than ever to find; my ... Read more »
I am in the minority; I never warmed to Hakkasan, underwhelmed by all three of the holy trinity of food, service and setting. Sitting in nightclub-like gloom, eating overpriced food served by poorly trained staff just doesn’t appeal and I’ve been at a loss to understand either the Michelin star or the multitude of fans. ... Read more »
This evening I had dinner by myself and made a dish the way my grandmother would have done – simple, nourishing and delicious. We are Cantonese, from the south of China. After living many years in Europe I have observed that the Cantonese and Italians share a common approach to good food – take the ... Read more »
Back in June I spent a lovely weekend attending the Oxford Food Symposium, held in St Catherine’s College, Oxford. It’s very remiss of me not to share the experience here on the blog, as I had a wonderful time attending delightfully diverse lectures, meeting fellow delegates and appreciating the excellent catering. But I made few ... Read more »
Hyper. Adjective: Obsessively concerned; fanatical; rabid (about a given item, idea or activity). Prefix: a loanword from Greek, usually implying excess or exaggeration. Noun (American, informal): a person who promotes or publicizes events, especially one who uses flamboyant methods. Japan: An island nation in East Asia. An archipelago of 6,582 islands of which the four ... Read more »
I don’t know if it’s because of the unrelenting heat these last several weeks, making us yearn for cooling ice creams and sorbets, or because the theme of herbs really resonated with you but I’ve loved the surge of Bloggers Scream For Ice Cream entries and am delighted to share this wonderful round up of ... Read more »
It was a mini Ready Steady Cook challenge. My ingredients consisted of a large sweet potato, a white onion, plus tinned tomatoes and a can of coconut milk from my store cupboard and a wide selection of spices on the shelf. A sweet potato curry was the answer! Sweet Potato Curry Ingredients 1-2 tablespoons vegetable ... Read more »
Serendipity and silver linings. That’s how Edible Ornamentals came into being. Joanna Plumb, who runs the business with her husband Shawn, told us the story. Many years ago, her parents (who were commercial cucumber farmers) were approached by a national DIY store to grow 3000 chilli plants for their shops. Unfortunately, the DIY company ... Read more »
A picture tells a thousand words, so here are a selection from a lunch we had back in May. We’d done a few hours at the allotment that morning and went back to continue our efforts once fortified by a delicious lunch at Pera Ocakbasi. We ordered starters of garlic mushrooms and ... Read more »
The Place of Onions, in old Lille. After last night’s rainstorm the intense sticky heat has broken and today is cool, breezy, fresh… I love it! A drop of… [more]
We went to Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire at The Void this morning, an amazing VR experience where we got to be Rebel Alliance members going undercover as… [more]