The Month of Peas

In June we thrilled to the taste of our (first ever) home-grown sugarsnap peas, enjoying good yields eaten raw in crunchy, flavoursome salads. July will be the month of our (first ever) regular peas! We’ve been growing our own vegetables for several years now and have been enjoying savoy cabbage, leeks, tomatoes, potatoes, courgettes and ... Read more »

Restaurant Review: Les Remparts, Vannes, Morbihan, Brittany

Somewhat galetted and creped out, Pete and I decided to treat ourselves to a resolutely foodie lunch on our last full day in France. Finding ourselves in Vannes late that morning, I checked both my (Eyewitness) guide book and the printed recommendations I’d garnered online and found they both converged in an enthusiastic recommendation of ... Read more »

Chicken & Spring Onion Risotto

As I posted a couple of days ago , we cooked the whole chicken (sent to me for review by Abel & Cole). The cooking liquid turned into a fabulous stock, which was frozen in two generous portions. The meat was divided into four portions, with two of those frozen as well. The carcass and ... Read more »

Garden Bounties: Sugarsnap Pea Salad

Eating our first home-grown sugarsnap pea seconds after picking it was quite a thrill. That was two weeks ago and we harvested about 12 pods and munched our way through them as we picked. A week later, just before leaving for France, we picked another 15 or so. They never made it into the house ... Read more »

Vive La France!

I am a travel snob, I admit it. I adore France but, in most of our many trips there over the years, I have avoided Brittany; put off by it’s reputation as the Chianti of France – Brittanyshire, as it were. Instead I’ve spent many, many happy trips exploring regions including Limousin, Poitou-Charentes, Champagne, Picardie, ... Read more »

Serendipitea!

You know how sometimes, you experience those perfect moments of serendipity which lead to wonderful moments and new friendships? One of those moments came together for me on the first Friday of this month. Just a few weeks before I started my blog, Pei Wang started his. In his case, he took a far deeper ... Read more »

Kavey: The Wonder Years

A few weeks ago I asked readers and friends to pose those questions they most wanted me to answer in an self-introductory blog entry. I was overwhelmed by the number and variety of questions and it’s taken me quite a while to pen my (sometimes long and rambling) answers. This first set of questions takes ... Read more »

Restaurant Review: Underwhelmed by Hakkasan

A friend suggested meeting for a quick and early dinner last Thursday evening, before she went on to a show (which I declined). Having been before, and knowing I hadn’t, she suggested we dine at Hakkasan. Several years behind the hype, I was still keen to sample the delights of one of few Asian restaurants ... Read more »

Pimm’s o’clock at two White Horses (Restaurant Reviews)

The end of May bank holiday was so gloriously sunny, it really seemed to herald the coming of summer. We took it suitably easy with a little gardening, a little DIY and a lot of relaxing and good eating! On Saturday Pete and I drove up to Burnham Green (Hertfordshire) for a country pub lunch ... Read more »