Variation on Angela Nilsen’s Carrot and Coriander Soup

On the way to somewhere else we passed a farm shop and popped in for a quick look. We ended up buying a huge bag of carrots for £2. I think about 4 or 5 kilos! Coincidentally, last weekend we picked up The Ultimate Recipe Book by Angela Nilsen, featuring a rather handy Carrot and ... Read more »

Kitchen Equipment Geeks

Pete and I are definitely becoming kitchen equipment geeks. Hence this long and rambling post about our new pans, ice-cream machine and food processor! A few weeks ago we (well, Pete mostly) decided we wanted to replace several of our very aged and cheap pans with some really decent new ones. We weren’t fussed about ... Read more »

Restaurant Review: Moti Mahal, London

Friday night one of my best friends treated me to dinner as her Christmas gift to me. We went to Moti Mahal in Great Queen Street (between Holborn and Covent Garden tube stations). Last year we went to Zaika for Christmas and we’d been planning to visit Benares this year. My friend lives in Canada ... Read more »

The Soda Bread Diaries

Having enjoyed the soda bread my friend made for a picnic in her garden recently, she sent me the recipe. It’s published in a book called The Baker’s Tale by Catherine Brown but is credited to James Burgess. The first time I made this soda bread (last Wednesday) I followed the recipe exactly and the ... Read more »

Restaurant Reviews: County Cork

We got back on Sunday from a week in County Cork with friends… Dinty’s in Union HallA tiny, simply decorated, casual pub restaurant on the harbour in tiny Union Hall, the setting belies the excellence of the food. On the first night several of us had deep fried brie as a starter – two tranches ... Read more »

Our first harvest of home-grown potatoes!

On Sunday Pete harvested the first of our home-grown potatoes from our back garden “allotment” – a variety called Edzell Blues! Of the 10 plants he’s grown he harvested the potatoes from just 2 of them which came to a little over 2 kilos. Apparently our yields would have been even higher if he’d earthed ... Read more »

Restaurant Reviews: Marrakech, Morocco

We certainly ate well during our stay in Marrakech. Chez Chegrouni (inexpensive) is one of the grand dames of the Place Jemaa El Fna and, in common with the others, has dining on the ground floor as well as on two terraces overlooking the square. Popular with locals and tourists alike so arrive early whether ... Read more »

An Introduction to Moroccan Food

During Morocco’s long history many, many different visitors, invaders and settlers have influenced it’s cuisine which is, today, a mix of Berber, Moorish, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean and African cooking. The other major influence, of course, is the availability of produce which is dependent on the climate and the fertility of the land – Morocco is ... Read more »

Tips for Marrakech

“A good holiday is one spent among people whose notions of time are vaguer than yours.” John B. Priestly For Christmas 2006 we decided on a change of scene. Together with my parents and my sister we spent 3 nights in Marrakech during which we did some gentle sightseeing, some great eating and enjoyed some ... Read more »

An Introduction to Marrakech

Overview Marrakech (alternatively spelt Marrakesh) is one of the most popular destinations in Morocco, a country situated at the North Western most corner of the vast African continent. Popular with travellers searching for the exotic, the heart of Marrakech is in it’s ancient Medina, a walled city once organised around mediaevel craft guilds but now ... Read more »