Last week was, quite frankly, a horror. I started with a long three days in Paris: as always it was a pleasure to spend time with colleagues and friends out there, but it was also exhausting, and I picked up a bug before I left. Being so tired when I returned to London, of course […]
Dinner
Crab and chilli with homemade tagliatelle
As I may have mentioned (boasted) in previous posts, Andrew has been making very heavy hints about wishing for more pasta to feature on our menus … by buying me every conceivable piece of pasta making kit to attach to my beautiful KitchenAid. Not that I am complaining – I love pasta, and I love […]
A St David’s Day feast of Welsh goodness
I am not Welsh. Well, officially I am a quarter Welsh, as my maternal grandmother was born in Aberdare (although she didn’t sound Welsh, and the only Welsh-ness I really remember from her is her love of Neil Kinnock). Plus my boyfriend is 100% Welsh, despite being born in Ipswich (he says he was born […]
Homemade pasta
Two recipes for the price of one this week: homemade spaghetti with tomato and basil sauce, and homemade fusilli with squid and prawn sauce. Spaghetti and fusilli are two types of pasta which you wouldn’t normally associate with homemade pasta, but thanks to my fabulous new KitchenAid attachment, I can make those, macaroni and rigatoni […]
- Baking
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Salt beef, bagels and pickled veggies … and lots of it
I have wanted to make this American deli classic of salt beef and bagels for a very long time. Two reasons really – firstly, I love it but when you but it in London the portions are rarely anywhere near as generous as the ones I have had in New York. Secondly it sounds like […]
- Dinner
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My favourite meal – proper pie and mash
And I really mean PROPER pie and mash, which comes from the pie and mash shop. I do not mean shortcrust pies or ‘pies’ (not in my book!) half topped with puff pastry, runny insubstantial gravies with the odd piece of meat and mashed potatoes whipped up with cream and butter. Not that there is […]
C is for CHRISTMAS! – The Ship Tavern
Oh I wish it could be Christmas every day … well, actually I don’t. I love Christmas, I really do. But if I ate, drank and made merry like this every day then I would be the size of a house. And not just a 3 bedroom mid-terrace as of today, but a stately home […]
- Baking
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Getting steamed up – steamed suet and sponge puddings
When I was younger I never really wanted what my Mum cooked me for dinner. As a child of the 80s I wanted the kind of food that Iceland still seems to sell: crispy pancakes, mini kievs, chicken dippers, potato waffles, beefburgers with processed cheese ON THE INSIDE, and lots and lots of chips. MacDonalds […]
Marvellous Mauritius – Indian, Creole and French treats
We have just spent the most idyllic week in Mauritius – a true tropical paradise in the Indian ocean, full of the friendliest people I have met, and some of the most delicious food I have eaten. Whilst I was sad to return to freezing London, it has been nice to be the only tanned […]
Seoul, I hear you calling
I always thought the Erasure song was written about the city in Korea … apparently not. It’s what I always think of when I hear the song or think of Korea anyway, despite never having been to Korea and to be honest not really knowing where it is on a map, as I am utterly […]